[Kona]

(09-15-2016 08:09 PM)Cattle Rustler Wrote:  

Did your T-hoe have those ugly gay ass "hybrid" stickers on the lower sides?



Also, is it sittin' on dubs or is it more of a off road hillbilly mobile?

It did not have the decals. The wheels were the exact same as the ones in that picture. It was an 09 bought in December of 08. The thing had a litany of problems. I didn't have it long enough to "moke it out" as we say in Hawaii. I.e. put off road tires and lift kits on it.

Aloha!

[ivansirko]

It amazes me for the most part motorcyclist drive defensively (you have exceptions of course) but bicyclists for the most part expect to be treated like a pedestrian. There are some areas where you have to "share the road" which means those cyclists pull into the middle of the road and go 10MPH.

[hv123]

(09-15-2016 05:49 PM)Diogenes Wrote:  

(09-14-2016 12:47 PM)The Beast1 Wrote:  

Is it my bad luck or am I just cursed?

Today while driving my car, I had a green light and started moving into the intersection. I was minding my own business, excited and looking forward to my weekend. Then all of a sudden THIS appears in front of me running the red light:



What gives?! Did this guy have a death wish? He had a red light and decided to plow right through it like it was a mere suggestion.

This has happened to me at least three times in my life. Thankfully I've been aware of my surroundings and been able to avoid hitting them.

And why is it when you see cyclists on the road they'll almost never be in the correct gear? You'll always see them peddling way faster than they should. Of all the cyclists i've seen on the road it was only when I moved to the UK did I see these dorks actually utilizing the most efficient gear.

Most cyclists on the road treat themselves as part vehicle and part pedestrian. Violating traffic laws whenever they see fit and assuming that vehicles will stop for or avoid them as they hang out in your blind spot.

Does this mean that I hate biking? No! Biking is awesome and an excellent way to get your cardio in. I love biking, however i'm not a stuck up tool who violates traffic laws indiscriminately.

When I rode my bike to and from class and my part time job, I was 100% in tune with my surroundings. I assumed cars didn't see me and worked around dangerous intersections by taking less travelled side streets. I also never biked with head phones on. How in the hell are you going to hear cars coming at you with some inane pop music blaring?

In case these guys forgot, here is the food chain of the road:

Pedestrian > mobility scooter > cyclist > Moped/ Motocycle > Car > Truck /bus > Tank

These guys think they're impenetrable. I am fed up with these wannabe Lance Armstrongs. No, your skin tight bike suit isn't cool. Pull your head out of your ass and stay away from busy intersections and roads!

If I remember correctly, you're based in London these days, right? In London (and in the UK generally, but particularly London) cyclists are to motorists how women are to men. Cyclists are coddled and allowed to do pretty much whatever they like whereas motorists are harassed and blamed for all the evils of the world.

Loads of main roads and major intersections in London are currently being modified to make more room for cyclists. These changes are being done at the expense of motorists. For example on Victoria Embankment and Upper and Lower Thames Street, which is the main east-west route through the centre of London, one of the eastbound lanes has been removed, leaving only one lane for vehicles eastbound. Now if a taxi stops to pick up a wheelchair user the entire eastbound traffic flow is halted for several minutes. I've no idea what happens if someone breaks down. There is a traffic jam along there 24/7 now. Similarly, junctions have been or are being modified to remove free flow (roundabouts and gyratory systems) and replace them with complicated junctions controlled by huge numbers of traffic lights. The effect of that is that traffic is halted at the lights for ages and so there are huge traffic jams. This is especially noticeable at (what used to be) less busy times, which is when I usually drive. Previously you could just flow round a roundabout or one-way system; now you have to wait for the traffic lights. Given that there are now traffic lights on a huge number of junctions, even those where the side road is not at all busy, these delays quickly add up to a huge amount of time.

If you walk around central London on a weekday, most of the vehicles you see are buses, vans, lorries, taxis or minicabs. In other words, these drivers are there because it's their job, not because they felt like a jolly jaunt round central London in their car or because they couldn't be bothered to walk half a mile. All these road changes are just fucking over people trying to do work and make a living, or trying to run a business.

I don't have anything against cyclists per se, but the preferential treatment and all the evangelism for cycling really gets on my nerves. They keep telling us that cycling has huge health benefits. But they way I look at it the upside is not at all obvious whereas the downside is very obvious. On a bike you are in an inherently precarious position. It's very easy for a driver to miss you and any sort of collision with a motor vehicle is likely to do damage. Even without any other vehicles you can easily come a cropper due to an uneven road surface or something slippery on the road. So I don't consider it a good risk/reward tradeoff. The fact that the UK won several cycling gold medals at the last two olympics is manna from heaven for the cycling evangelists. Loads of idiots are riding around thinking they're on an olympic velodrome rather than on a public highway.

I have a feeling that the pushing of cycling is just another way to reduce the standard of living of the average person on the street. When I was a teenager everyone looked forward to getting their driving licence and getting a car. Now everyone is told cars are bad (they cause climate change) and so you should have a bike instead. Fuck that.

Glad you said that as I have been feeling for years that the purpose of many laws that come in can only logically be concluded to be just to make people's life worse. Example - you can't get bags when you go shopping. Bins emptied one a decade. 50mph speed limits on A roads. Just many little things that nibble away constantly at you and make life much more of a hassle than it otherwise should be.

[Richard Turpin]

Cyclist (and driver) here.

Firstly, there’s no denying that a lot of cyclists let the side down. Partly, because they are dickheads, but partly (and this is just a theory) because cycling in traffic is such a tense, risky venture that cyclists are in a permanent state of anxiety. Every car that passes, or drain avoided is a frightening ‘What if?’ scenario.

Personally, I see cycling as a big win for lots of reasons. I commute daily to work, a 20 mile round trip. The trip is partly road, but mostly a well-maintained cycling path through woods. I can make this as slow, comfortable and pleasant as I like, or I can go for broke and try and get a good time. That’s the beauty of cycling; it can be as easy or as hard as you like. For those saying cycling doesn’t get you fit…?! Pure crazy talk.

Biking to work gets me fit. There’s just no doubt about that. It fits perfectly with my lifting routine. Whereas (excessive) running can be detrimental to lifting.

It saves me a shitload of money. Seriously, to the point of making me feel genuinely foolish for not ditching the car years ago.

It’s fun. Cycling in nature is tremendous. You can go places and take shortcuts that a car can’t.

There’s a real sense of freedom that’s hard to explain. I’ve no reg number. Nobody knows who I am. Even cctv would just catch someone with a helmet, sunglasses and scarf in the winter, anonymous.

It feels good not giving big oil and government my hard-earned taxes! Really good. Dare, I say it; ‘rebellious’.

When I ride on roads, I try hard not to be a dick. As a driver, I hate road cyclists myself, so I understand.

Cycling a threat? Maybe to fatties. Maybe to the government. Maybe to oil companies. Maybe to banks.

I’ll leave you with some nice quotes that illustrate my cycling worldview;

Quote:

The bike is an automatic life-balancing machine. A money-printing fountain of youth. The health and financial benefits can make the difference between “broke" and “millionaire.” within a few decades
MMM Blog

Bikes convert a slow human with a walking speed of 3.5MPH into one of the fastest creatures on land, with an easy cruise of 15MPH and a top speed of over 40MPH on level ground and 50+ downhill for athletic people. - MMM Source

"Bikes are virtually free, and require no insurance, registration, license, parking spaces, or any other hassle" - MMM Source

"It is not an exaggeration to say that a bicycle is probably the single most important and highest-yielding investment a human can possibly own." - MMM Blog

“When you go out and ride your bike through cold, or rain, or heat, you come back
as an invigorated champion, and you feel great for the rest of the day."

“Those who wish to control their own lives and move beyond existence as mere clients and consumers—those people ride a bike.” -Wolfgang Sachs

“When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments. Here was a machine of precision and balance for the convenience of man. And (unlike subsequent inventions for man’s convenience) the more he used it, the fitter his body became.
Here, for once, was a product of man’s brain that was entirely beneficial to those who used it, and of no harm or irritation to others. Progress should have stopped when man invented the bicycle.” -Elizabeth West

"The secret weapon in the fight against foreign oil is rusting in your garage".

[Spectrumwalker]

Cocksuckers have the whole bike lane to use and they insist on riding as close to the white line as they can making traffic still slow or swerve around them. Zero sympathies given when they get hit.

[Max RNR]

They are worse in packs. Absolute inconvenience and danger for exercise and work bikers when they are "training" on unprotected or authorized roads and trails.

[BBinger]

(02-01-2019 07:23 AM)Richard Turpin Wrote:  

Cyclist (and driver) here.

Firstly, there’s no denying that a lot of cyclists let the side down. Partly, because they are dickheads, but partly (and this is just a theory) because cycling in traffic is such a tense, risky venture that cyclists are in a permanent state of anxiety. Every car that passes, or drain avoided is a frightening ‘What if?’ scenario.

Personally, I see cycling as a big win for lots of reasons. I commute daily to work, a 20 mile round trip. The trip is partly road, but mostly a well-maintained cycling path through woods. I can make this as slow, comfortable and pleasant as I like, or I can go for broke and try and get a good time. That’s the beauty of cycling; it can be as easy or as hard as you like. For those saying cycling doesn’t get you fit…?! Pure crazy talk.

Biking to work gets me fit. There’s just no doubt about that. It fits perfectly with my lifting routine. Whereas (excessive) running can be detrimental to lifting.

It saves me a shitload of money. Seriously, to the point of making me feel genuinely foolish for not ditching the car years ago.

It’s fun. Cycling in nature is tremendous. You can go places and take shortcuts that a car can’t.

There’s a real sense of freedom that’s hard to explain. I’ve no reg number. Nobody knows who I am. Even cctv would just catch someone with a helmet, sunglasses and scarf in the winter, anonymous.

It feels good not giving big oil and government my hard-earned taxes! Really good. Dare, I say it; ‘rebellious’.

When I ride on roads, I try hard not to be a dick. As a driver, I hate road cyclists myself, so I understand.

Cycling a threat? Maybe to fatties. Maybe to the government. Maybe to oil companies. Maybe to banks.

I’ll leave you with some nice quotes that illustrate my cycling worldview;

Quote:

The bike is an automatic life-balancing machine. A money-printing fountain of youth. The health and financial benefits can make the difference between “broke" and “millionaire.” within a few decades
MMM Blog

Bikes convert a slow human with a walking speed of 3.5MPH into one of the fastest creatures on land, with an easy cruise of 15MPH and a top speed of over 40MPH on level ground and 50+ downhill for athletic people. - MMM Source

"Bikes are virtually free, and require no insurance, registration, license, parking spaces, or any other hassle" - MMM Source

"It is not an exaggeration to say that a bicycle is probably the single most important and highest-yielding investment a human can possibly own." - MMM Blog

“When you go out and ride your bike through cold, or rain, or heat, you come back
as an invigorated champion, and you feel great for the rest of the day."

“Those who wish to control their own lives and move beyond existence as mere clients and consumers—those people ride a bike.” -Wolfgang Sachs

“When man invented the bicycle he reached the peak of his attainments. Here was a machine of precision and balance for the convenience of man. And (unlike subsequent inventions for man’s convenience) the more he used it, the fitter his body became.
Here, for once, was a product of man’s brain that was entirely beneficial to those who used it, and of no harm or irritation to others. Progress should have stopped when man invented the bicycle.” -Elizabeth West

"The secret weapon in the fight against foreign oil is rusting in your garage".

I currently live in a country where cars and gasoline are both expensive. Two wheels are standard for people working deliveries. The first major capital investment every bicycle delivery driver makes is a motorcycle. This city is dense enough even 50cc scoots work during the day, but the 90% of motocicletas I see are 100-125 cc for that extra margin of safety the extra acceleration offers.

Theory proposes, but kinetic disposes. Compared to old country, the two wheel culture is very polite. Pedal folk and motor folk are very aware of their invisibility to drivers.

But I'm a voluntary pedestrian here in a city where the locals keep telling me motochorros and bicichorros holding up people is a thing, though I have yet to see anything suggestive of that intent since my second day here. Nevertheless from time to time when I take relaxing walks on the rambla young bucks on bicycles and foot attached wheeled toys will attempt to enforce their mistaken ideas of wheeled supremacy on the mixed-use pedestrian dominant footpath. Where timid locals get out of their way in a panic, I politely maintain my lane and the wheelfolk nearly always divert to ample space I leave them. In the other cases the the wheel folk either found themselves entering my path blind. In the rare case a wheel folk diverted too late for them to maneuver in their envelope of safety, kinetics offered a valuable lesson.

The truth is human powered wheels are toys. Leisure vehicles of the priviledged. The impedence mismatch between the mobility of pedal bikes and motor vehicles combined with their poor visibility of actual traffic means the only responsible way to take a bike on the road is with an attitude assuming every single motherfucker driving a cage just finished at least a fifth of whiskey.

During my two years in Carbondale, Illinois and many more years travelling to, from, and through Carbondale the mass bicycle jerkles did nothing but harden my heart in opposition to allowing adults to play with their unpowered toys on the road.

Imagine you are headed to a job interview. You've driven 100 miles, and you arrive to the city ahead of schedule by half the time you allocated to passing farm equipment on rural highways. You encounter a slow moving mass of bicicletas occupying both lanes in your direction where the tail is people walking alongside their toys. The more athletic fuckers are playing along side streets to burn off some energy and make finding an effective detour impossible. By luck you park your car with minutes to spare, but after trying to game hardened hr cunts during the interview you face exiting the pinko hellscape of bicicleta activism.

Smug is a serious problem in the US with "activists" and cucked bitches enabling situations where bitches are entitled above their actual station. Motorcyclists are acutely aware they lose car vs. motorcycle collisions and generally act accordingly. Motorcyclists when they protest for their interests don't do so by fucking which vehicles that could end their lives with no actual fault to the other driver's intentions. Frequently bicicletists high off of their own bean farts make themselves pests encouraged by WAPO op eds telling them "socially just" traffic laws out to accommodate their blowing red lights.

An unavoidable part of living in the US is the fact that the country is big and many places are far. If a bike "works for your commute" fine, but recognize that a Kawaskai Ninja 250, Honda PCX 150, or Yamaha Zuma offer a higher margin of safety without pissing off people who have economic reasons for choosing 4 wheels, even if a bunch of fuckers with no reason to drive proceed to do so.

[LeBeau]

(02-01-2019 08:18 PM)BBinger Wrote:  

I currently live in a country where cars and gasoline are both expensive. Two wheels are standard for people working deliveries. The first major capital investment every bicycle delivery driver makes is a motorcycle. This city is dense enough even 50cc scoots work during the day, but the 90% of motocicletas I see are 100-125 cc for that extra margin of safety the extra acceleration offers.

Theory proposes, but kinetic disposes. Compared to old country, the two wheel culture is very polite. Pedal folk and motor folk are very aware of their invisibility to drivers.

But I'm a voluntary pedestrian here in a city where the locals keep telling me motochorros and bicichorros holding up people is a thing, though I have yet to see anything suggestive of that intent since my second day here. Nevertheless from time to time when I take relaxing walks on the rambla young bucks on bicycles and foot attached wheeled toys will attempt to enforce their mistaken ideas of wheeled supremacy on the mixed-use pedestrian dominant footpath.

Who talks like that?

[Easy_C]

Funny this thread should come up now. I was in NYC and D.C. for several days during the past few weeks and I saw multiple cyclists blast through red lights and narrowly miss being turned into a neon and red colored pancake by oncoming traffic that couldn't possibly have seen them.

Personally I feel that bicycles have a LOT of utility in places like NYC where you can't easily park a motorcycle but can store a bike, but there's a massive cultural problem that goes along with it. American cyclists are simultaneously LARPing as Lance Armstrong while also schlepping around smugly imagining themselves as righteous activists for cyclists.

It wouldn't be a problem if not for the fact that the motorist usually gets cited even if the cyclist is 100% at fault. Otherwise the problem would tend to weed itself out over time.

[The Beast1]

(02-01-2019 09:35 PM)Easy_C Wrote:  

Funny this thread should come up now. I was in NYC and D.C. for several days during the past few weeks and I saw multiple cyclists blast through red lights and narrowly miss being turned into a neon and red colored pancake by oncoming traffic that couldn't possibly have seen them.

Personally I feel that bicycles have a LOT of utility in places like NYC where you can't easily park a motorcycle but can store a bike, but there's a massive cultural problem that goes along with it. American cyclists are simultaneously LARPing as Lance Armstrong while also schlepping around smugly imagining themselves as righteous activists for cyclists.

It wouldn't be a problem if not for the fact that the motorist usually gets cited even if the cyclist is 100% at fault. Otherwise the problem would tend to weed itself out over time.

The ultimate troll would be for a state government to force cyclists to register their bikes, get a cycling license at the DMV, and get bike insurance.

If I was ever in a position to push that, I totally would. Way too many of these tool bags who cycle around like you mentioned. It's high time to pour cold water on this activity.

[BBinger]

(02-01-2019 09:23 PM)LeBeau Wrote:  

(02-01-2019 08:18 PM)BBinger Wrote:  

I currently live in a country where cars and gasoline are both expensive. Two wheels are standard for people working deliveries. The first major capital investment every bicycle delivery driver makes is a motorcycle. This city is dense enough even 50cc scoots work during the day, but the 90% of motocicletas I see are 100-125 cc for that extra margin of safety the extra acceleration offers.

Theory proposes, but kinetic disposes. Compared to old country, the two wheel culture is very polite. Pedal folk and motor folk are very aware of their invisibility to drivers.

But I'm a voluntary pedestrian here in a city where the locals keep telling me motochorros and bicichorros holding up people is a thing, though I have yet to see anything suggestive of that intent since my second day here. Nevertheless from time to time when I take relaxing walks on the rambla young bucks on bicycles and foot attached wheeled toys will attempt to enforce their mistaken ideas of wheeled supremacy on the mixed-use pedestrian dominant footpath.

Who talks like that?

I do, Uruguay is a hell of a country. Everything is close except the things I hire a car for.

[BBinger]

For the record, few things are as satisfying as leaning into a crowd of roller bladers and watching the chaos that follows.