[Cyclelicious] New comment on Bike POLITE jackets and shirts.

Carlton has left a new comment on your post "Bike POLITE jackets and shirts":

Hey, thanks, Fritz.

I tried to load to Cafepress but there's no text option as per spreadshirt. I loaded a text graphic but the baseball jersey won't accept it no matter what size I resize it.

I've also Googled lots about 'impersonating police' and found stuff about a stripogram who seemed to have been charged not with the clothing but carrying the baton.



Posted by Carlton to Cyclelicious at 11/09/2007 12:52:00 PM

[Cyclelicious] New comment on Bike POLITE jackets and shirts.

SiouxGeonz has left a new comment on your post "Bike POLITE jackets and shirts":

I feel a PhD thesis coming on: the visual pun. Enhanced opportunities for merging meanings in the post-graphic world.
I dig it.



Posted by SiouxGeonz to Cyclelicious at 11/09/2007 11:36:00 AM

[Cyclelicious] New comment on Contest: Guess the price of crude.

Fritz has left a new comment on your post "Contest: Guess the price of crude":

Thanks for the guesses, all. Comments are closed now.



Posted by Fritz to Cyclelicious at 11/09/2007 09:52:00 AM

[Cyclelicious] New comment on Contest: Guess the price of crude.

Carlton Reid has left a new comment on your post "Contest: Guess the price of crude":

Who do I contact to report Fritz for such an anti-competitive competition?

US and Canadian residents only, indeed!



Posted by Carlton Reid to Cyclelicious at 11/09/2007 07:57:00 AM

[Cyclelicious] New comment on Free bike lights for Stanford students.

Ken has left a new comment on your post "Free bike lights for Stanford students":

Recently I made the decision to give up my dependency on the automotive commute. I made the decision to localize my lifestyle by riding my bike everywhere that I possibly could. San Diego traffic, gas prices, insurance rates, countless parking tickets are just a few reasons for me GOING GREEN. I had the pleasure of speaking with Sami Tauber, CEO of Bikewear World the other day. Her sincerity and passion to help San Diegans become more environmentally and health conscious really confirmed my own desire to stop contributing to oil dependency, air pollution and a host of other negatives related to driving and start Biking! I'm starting to really understand the meaning of "Think Global, Act Local".



Posted by Ken to Cyclelicious at 11/08/2007 09:59:00 PM

[Cyclelicious] New comment on Contest: Guess the price of crude.

bitterexgeek has left a new comment on your post "Contest: Guess the price of crude":

I'm going to say $96.65



Posted by bitterexgeek to Cyclelicious at 11/08/2007 04:56:00 PM

[Cyclelicious] New comment on Contest: Guess the price of crude.

danielo has left a new comment on your post "Contest: Guess the price of crude":

$96.50



Posted by danielo to Cyclelicious at 11/08/2007 04:48:00 PM

[Cyclelicious] New comment on Pearl Izumi's got anticar religion.

cafiend has left a new comment on your post "Pearl Izumi's got anticar religion":

Humans seem to respond to simple choices rather than nuanced explanations. "Cars and Oil Bad" keeps it short and to the point.

As for a massive reduction in single speed riders when the fad dies down, anyone who sticks with it for more than a few rides is permanently hooked. You either love it or you hate it. So maybe for fad's sake you keep one around for a little longer than it took you to figure out you hated it, but not too long.



Posted by cafiend to Cyclelicious at 11/08/2007 09:57:00 AM

[Cyclelicious] New comment on Contest: Guess the price of crude.

Noah has left a new comment on your post "Contest: Guess the price of crude":

Does Amazon sell gasoline? My Explorer's runnin' on fumes. HAHAHA



Posted by Noah to Cyclelicious at 11/08/2007 08:25:00 AM

[Cyclelicious] New comment on Contest: Guess the price of crude.

Michael has left a new comment on your post "Contest: Guess the price of crude":

"Price is Right" bidding strategy will work well here...



Posted by Michael to Cyclelicious at 11/08/2007 07:18:00 AM

[Cyclelicious] New comment on One literally HOT bike!.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "One literally HOT bike!":

I wonder, does it use more, less, or about the same amount of fuel as an SUV?



Posted by Anonymous to Cyclelicious at 11/08/2007 07:04:00 AM

[Cyclelicious] New comment on Folk cycling.

Fishbones has left a new comment on your post "Folk cycling":

Fishbone, do you live outside the U.S.? Most cyclists in America appear to be recent immigrants riding bikes from *Mart or yardsales and pawnshops.

I'm waaay out side the USA.

Bikes actually outsell cars by a big margin, thanks mainly to the *marts. This is having a significant impact on the ubiquity of bicycling. Which in turn affects govt expenditure and driver attitudes. Local studies show that the #1 way to improve bicyclist safety is to get more bikes on the road.

Legally, adult riders are vehicular road users. Depending on what state/province you are in the rules vary but usually there are a few cycle specific regs, such being allowed to pass stopped traffic on the "wrong" (ie kerb) side. Helmets are universally required.
Importantly, the bike specific rules are covered in learner driver tests.

The demographics of cyclists vary widely, but there's basically:
* kids on bikes
* recreational *mart MTB riders on bike paths. Adults across the spectrum.
* lycra clad sports bike (group) riders on roads. Mostly higher income - seen the cost of a trek madone lately?
* commuters - mainly white collar workers
Oh, and
* couriers.
There's a fair bit of overlap between the groups, obviously.

The road rules are regularily bent to suit reality: probably the most common would be riding on a footpath. I'd say a fair number of *mart MTB riders wouldn't know it was illegal. The couriers know but don't care.

In everyone's defence, the intermittent nature of bike paths and roads often makes at least a small amount of footpath use sensible on many, many trips.

For second place "Failure to indicate" would have to fight it out with "failing to stop at red lights/stop signs". The lycra brigade are particularily bad and are doing the cause no good on this front.

Myself I tend to jaywalk across red rather than ride as the odds of being nicked are less.

Sometimes the law is an ass - in which case we should try and change it. I'd love to see some Iowa style laws come in.

My final comment would be to draw a strong contrast between "civil disobedience" and a) ignorance or b) rules-are-for-other-people

Some of folk cycling are actually trying to change laws and attitudes from a well-informed and deeply thought out position. Critical Mass generally meets that criteria.

But I've yet to see an example of a lone cyclist riding the wrongway down a one-way street meet that criteria.



Posted by Fishbones to Cyclelicious at 11/07/2007 08:31:00 PM

[Cyclelicious] New comment on Pearl Izumi's got anticar religion.

Fritz has left a new comment on your post "Pearl Izumi's got anticar religion":

Pearl Izumi is based in Broomfield, Colorado, which broke away from Boulder County a few years ago over development, open space and tax issues. Nevertheless, no doubt many of their workers live in neighboring Boulder County and might be influenced by some of the anticar politics in the city of Boulder.

Speaking of green athletic wear companies, I should have also mentioned Patagonia, which has long committed itself to environtmental action through grants, fabrics made from recycled plastics, "green" construction in their buildings, and so forth. Still, their very attractive catalogs feature customers who travel the remotest areas of the planet to conquer nature and new and interesting ways, so even with them the message is mixed.

I'm certainly not blameless -- I love snow skiing, for example, which as an industry is destructive of the natural environment.



Posted by Fritz to Cyclelicious at 11/07/2007 11:05:00 AM

[Cyclelicious] New comment on Pearl Izumi's got anticar religion.

SiouxGeonz has left a new comment on your post "Pearl Izumi's got anticar religion":

I was thinking that somebody somewhere in the marketing process got that in and the 'higher up' dudes didn't really dig it, but it was better than whatever other lame marketing stuff was proferred. Either that or somebody's *really* patriotic in the chain of command and sees oil dependence as a threat.
I dunno, I don't see SUV folks feeling drawn by those ads, though I've never understood how guilt conflicts work in the human mind.



Posted by SiouxGeonz to Cyclelicious at 11/07/2007 10:07:00 AM

[Cyclelicious] New comment on Pearl Izumi's got anticar religion.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Pearl Izumi's got anticar religion":

Yeah it may be PR but on Sunday I cycled past two similar cars-r-coffins lots with my young sons. We had a great laugh over our fellow citizens' investments. Young minds are wonderful.
Jack



Posted by Anonymous to Cyclelicious at 11/07/2007 08:47:00 AM

[Cyclelicious] New comment on Pearl Izumi's got anticar religion.

Herbert has left a new comment on your post "Pearl Izumi's got anticar religion":

Well, with the rising gas prices we might be forced to ride our bikes, whether we believe in "green marketing" or not.



Posted by Herbert to Cyclelicious at 11/07/2007 06:08:00 AM

[Cyclelicious] New comment on Pearl Izumi's got anticar religion.

Steve Nordstrom has left a new comment on your post "Pearl Izumi's got anticar religion":

Its not about the people wearing the gear and their socio-economic situation: these ads get at the roadie's desire to be out on the bike more often than he or she is, and with less automobile traffic to compete with them for roadspace. They about getting more people on bikes, not appealing to a hipster subculture demographic that refuses to ride with more than one gear, and will probably exit the market just as quickly as they entered it after the fad dies down. The SUV owner who uses his or her bike 1-5 days a week instead of his or her vehicle is participating in the spirit of the message these ads send. They certainly can appreciate the desire to save money on gas through using a human-powered vehicle to get around.



Posted by Steve Nordstrom to Cyclelicious at 11/06/2007 03:13:00 PM

[Cyclelicious] New comment on Pearl Izumi's got anticar religion.

Anonymous has left a new comment on your post "Pearl Izumi's got anticar religion":

Amen.

Maybe some higher up at their company believes in the message :P



Posted by Anonymous to Cyclelicious at 11/06/2007 02:07:00 PM

[Cyclelicious] New comment on Folk cycling.

Fritz has left a new comment on your post "Folk cycling":

Doug, lane splitting (riding between two lanes) is legal only in California in the United States, but filtering forward at an intersection at the right is maybe legal on the principle that if motorists can safely pass cyclists in the same lane, then the reverse should also be true. I Am Not A Lawyer, though, and my advice is worth about what you paid for it.

I personally ride "vehicularly," but I'm also, umm, flexible about the rules. If there are only a handful of cars at an intersection I might wait my turn in the queue, especially if lane width is not adequate for safe passing. If the lane is wide enough, though, I'll filter right up to the front with hesitation. Just watch for the right hook and you should be fine.

I know a lot of people get really uptight about cyclists slowing but not coming to a complete stop at stop signs, but that pretty much matches driver behavior *shrug* I also like the Iowa yield law that Ron mentioned.

Fishbone, do you live outside the U.S.? Most cyclists in America appear to be recent immigrants riding bikes from *Mart or yardsales and pawnshops.

Thanks for the comments, all!



Posted by Fritz to Cyclelicious at 11/06/2007 12:56:00 PM

[Cyclelicious] New comment on Folk cycling.

doug has left a new comment on your post "Folk cycling":

is passing a clot of cars stopped at a light and waiting for the light in front of them illegal?

i do that because i feel safer positioning myself separate from the cars where they can see me before hammering the gas pedal when the light goes green.

i break other rules all the time. i run stop signs and, far less often, stop lights. i have rules, though: i don't go through intersections if a car is stopped or already moving through. if pedestrians are moving through the intersection, i always pass behind them so they aren't startled by me flying by at 10mph.

i also occasionally take the sidewalk (going sloooowly of course) to get past thick traffic that leaves no room even for a bicycle. i always apologize to pedestrians, but most people don't mind because most people think bikes belong on the sidewalks anyways.



Posted by doug to Cyclelicious at 11/06/2007 12:05:00 PM