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#131
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Government Bicycle Program News
On 6/28/2020 6:12 PM, jbeattie wrote:
snip It's always good to do ordinance house cleaning, but it probably had no practical effect -- unless your state has some provision allowing cities to control bikes. We still have a law requiring bicycle licenses, to be issued by the City Manager. Someone actually did contact the City asking to get a license, but it's been decades since these were issued. It's on our list of things to do to clean up some old ordinances but it's a question of priorities. We already have way too much on our work plan and we don't want to hire more staff to clean up old ordinances that aren't doing any harm, especially now, given the loss in revenue due to Covid-19. |
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#132
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Government Bicycle Program News
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#134
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Government Bicycle Program News
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#135
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Government Bicycle Program News
On Monday, June 29, 2020 at 3:38:34 PM UTC-7, sms wrote:
On 6/29/2020 1:12 PM, wrote: snip I am in the middle of Iowa. I know the owner of the Trek bike shop in town but have never talked to him about where his shop earns its revenue. Expensive or cheap bikes, accessories, clothing, mechanical service, etc. That would probably be a fun talk. I ride with a group of adult bicyclists.. Avid bicyclists I guess since we ride once or twice a week in the good weather months. They all have multiple bikes each. And NONE of them have $500 and under bikes. $1000 is the very cheapest bike anyone rides. Of course I realize the adult bicyclists I ride with may not represent adult bicyclists very well. We are all probably money hungry grubbing elitists with college degrees. The horror!!!! You and your friends might be the typical customers at a Trek shop, but you're not the typical customer at a bike shop not catering to pro wannabees. Pro wannabees? A f****** Homer Hillbilly frame goes for $1,500. https://www..rivbike.com/collections...products/homer A Jan Heine approved handlebar bag goes for $300. https://www.renehersecycles.com/shop...-side-pockets/ You don't have to be a pro wannabe to dump a ton of money on a bike. A Schwalbe Marathon is more than a nice dinner out with drinks. You can dump $2K on a Marin belt-drive commuter over at JoeBike. https://www.joe-bike.com/product/mar...dio-4-4668.htm And the Trek shop is full of non-pro-wannabe bikes, at least the Trek shop(s) in my town. https://www.bikegallery.com/product-list/bikes-1000/ Is it full of cheap bikes? Nooooo. Oddly, all the people I know who want a cheap bike (admittedly, a small number of people) will not buy off the interweb. I had that conversation with a client just today. So they will find a shop with something cheap, which probably means REI or some place like NoPo Bikeworks. http://www.northportlandbikeworks.com/jamis-bikes.html Still looking at $600-700. The "family bike shops" around here, not the Specialized or Trek tied shops, as well as the sporting goods stores with real bicycle departments (REI and Sports Basement) sell a lot of bicycles in the sub-$1000 range. And of course you have the big box stores like Walmart selling BSOs in the $100-200 range, and the sporting goods stores like Dick's that are selling stuff in the $300-500 range. You also have online sales like from Linus, and bikesdirect.com. Family bike shop around he https://www.splendidcycles.com/splen...ty3ab0ylkarcf7 The dreaded motorized Momcycles.. The bicycle version of a speeding truck with a triple-trailer. -- Jay Beattie. |
#136
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Government Bicycle Program News
On 6/29/2020 12:48 PM, sms wrote:
On 6/28/2020 7:48 PM, wrote: snip I am positive in the USA you cannot buy a bicycle helmet for that cheap.Â* Wal-Mart, who I assume sells bike helmets, could not make enough profit on a helmet to sell it that cheap.Â* It would not be worth the bother of selling.Â* I'd guess $9.99 is the cheapest for helmets in the USA.Â* Still worth wearing a helmet even at that outrageously high price. I've seen closeouts of CPSC approved helmets for as low as $2, but normally helmets for kids start at around $10 with $15-20 being more common. There are many different organizations, both public and private, that provide free helmets for children. The bottom line is that the lack of $15 to buy a helmet is not going to keep a kid from acquiring a helmet if they really want to ride a bicycle. Here's the real bottom line: There are plenty of kids whose parents will never spend $15 on a bike helmet, often because they are poor. Could they scrape up $15? Sure. But at a certain income level, if you come up with $15 you think carefully about what to spend it on. Perhaps it will go for co-pay on a prescription. Perhaps it will pay for a movie at a discount theater. But a bike helmet is unlikely to be near the top of the list. Can they find a helmet giveaway and get a free helmet? Only if they're very, very lucky. The count of helmets given away is absolutely dwarfed by the number of kids whose families don't feel they can afford a helmet, even if they do buy into the propaganda that one is worth having. Besides, for a lot of low-income kids, $15 would be better spent fixing their bike brakes or otherwise getting their bike working safely and properly. I've volunteered mechanical work at bike rodeos, and the condition of a lot of bikes is much scarier than the lack of a helmet. Similarly, if you're going to teach a kid one thing about bicycling, it should not be "Always wear a helmet." That should be far down the list, after "Ride on the proper side of the road" and "Stop and check traffic before entering the street" and "Obey stop signs and red lights" etc. The plague of bicycling brain injuries is almost entirely a myth. The tremendous protection given by a foam helmet is a similar myth. There are better places to focus attention. -- - Frank Krygowski |
#137
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Government Bicycle Program News
On 6/28/2020 9:12 PM, jbeattie wrote:
On Sunday, June 28, 2020 at 9:31:43 AM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote: On 6/28/2020 11:19 AM, jbeattie wrote: On Sunday, June 28, 2020 at 7:34:07 AM UTC-7, Frank Krygowski wrote: There's no self-glorification in the work I do. My name didn't get broadcast when discriminatory laws were repealed, when traffic lights detected waiting bicyclists, when bike maps were published, etc. Discriminatory laws? Like blacks had to ride at the back of a tandem? I was surprised to find out that my village, like some others in Ohio, had laws saying that a bicyclist must ride on a sidewalk if available; that a bicyclist must walk the bike across any intersection with a "through street," whatever that is; that no bicycle could be parked for any amount of time at all without being locked, etc. Those provisions and more were all in violation of Ohio law, but were on the books until I got them removed about five years ago. It's always good to do ordinance house cleaning, but it probably had no practical effect ... Our police chief is very reasonable. He's quash any attempt by his cops to enforce a stupid law. But that wasn't my worry. My fear was that a motorist might be at fault in a car-bike crash, but have a lawyer that found the ordinance requiring walking a bike across any intersection with a "through street," or riding on a sidewalk if available. IANAL, but it seemed to me that could hamper any effort to collect damages. When I brought the issue up, the village solicitor had a different worry. He said in a sort of panicked voice "We're in violation of Ohio Revised Code! We need to fix this as an emergency measure!" Village Council repealed all the weird ordinances immediately. -- - Frank Krygowski |
#138
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Government Bicycle Program News
On 6/30/2020 10:22 AM, Frank Krygowski wrote:
On 6/29/2020 12:48 PM, sms wrote: On 6/28/2020 7:48 PM, wrote: snip I am positive in the USA you cannot buy a bicycle helmet for that cheap. Wal-Mart, who I assume sells bike helmets, could not make enough profit on a helmet to sell it that cheap. It would not be worth the bother of selling. I'd guess $9.99 is the cheapest for helmets in the USA. Still worth wearing a helmet even at that outrageously high price. I've seen closeouts of CPSC approved helmets for as low as $2, but normally helmets for kids start at around $10 with $15-20 being more common. There are many different organizations, both public and private, that provide free helmets for children. The bottom line is that the lack of $15 to buy a helmet is not going to keep a kid from acquiring a helmet if they really want to ride a bicycle. Here's the real bottom line: There are plenty of kids whose parents will never spend $15 on a bike helmet, often because they are poor. Could they scrape up $15? Sure. But at a certain income level, if you come up with $15 you think carefully about what to spend it on. Perhaps it will go for co-pay on a prescription. Perhaps it will pay for a movie at a discount theater. But a bike helmet is unlikely to be near the top of the list. Can they find a helmet giveaway and get a free helmet? Only if they're very, very lucky. The count of helmets given away is absolutely dwarfed by the number of kids whose families don't feel they can afford a helmet, even if they do buy into the propaganda that one is worth having. Besides, for a lot of low-income kids, $15 would be better spent fixing their bike brakes or otherwise getting their bike working safely and properly. I've volunteered mechanical work at bike rodeos, and the condition of a lot of bikes is much scarier than the lack of a helmet. Similarly, if you're going to teach a kid one thing about bicycling, it should not be "Always wear a helmet." That should be far down the list, after "Ride on the proper side of the road" and "Stop and check traffic before entering the street" and "Obey stop signs and red lights" etc. The plague of bicycling brain injuries is almost entirely a myth. The tremendous protection given by a foam helmet is a similar myth. There are better places to focus attention. Not that things you wrote have no import, but if I were to choose just one thing it would be 'Air your tires.' -- Andrew Muzi www.yellowjersey.org/ Open every day since 1 April, 1971 |
#139
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Government Bicycle Program News
On Monday, June 29, 2020 at 5:38:34 PM UTC-5, sms wrote:
On 6/29/2020 1:12 PM, wrote: snip I am in the middle of Iowa. I know the owner of the Trek bike shop in town but have never talked to him about where his shop earns its revenue. Expensive or cheap bikes, accessories, clothing, mechanical service, etc. That would probably be a fun talk. I ride with a group of adult bicyclists.. Avid bicyclists I guess since we ride once or twice a week in the good weather months. They all have multiple bikes each. And NONE of them have $500 and under bikes. $1000 is the very cheapest bike anyone rides. Of course I realize the adult bicyclists I ride with may not represent adult bicyclists very well. We are all probably money hungry grubbing elitists with college degrees. The horror!!!! You and your friends might be the typical customers at a Trek shop, but you're not the typical customer at a bike shop not catering to pro wannabees. Maybe. But everyone I ride with is in his 50s, 60s, 70s. I doubt there are too many of them or me with professional bicycling dreams. None of them are poor. They all have sufficient money. And like to ride bikes. So maybe not representative of adult bicyclists across the country. Spending $1-2000 or more on a bicycle every few years is not a big deal. The "family bike shops" around here, not the Specialized or Trek tied shops, as well as the sporting goods stores with real bicycle departments (REI and Sports Basement) sell a lot of bicycles in the sub-$1000 range. And of course you have the big box stores like Walmart selling BSOs in the $100-200 range, and the sporting goods stores like Dick's that are selling stuff in the $300-500 range. You also have online sales like from Linus, and bikesdirect.com. Forgot about REI, Dick's, Scheel's, and online bike sales. I was only thinking of official local bike shops. Was not thinking of Wal-Mart for adult bike sales. I have looked at Wal-Mart bikes and if you are a bike mechanic you could tune and fix them up so they would work just fine. No one other than a bike mechanic should ever consider buying one. I think every local bike shop in my area is connected to a major bike brand. Trek, Specialized, Cannondale. Not sure who carries Giant. I do not know if a non connected bike shop can survive. My town of 400,000 has had a few non connected bike shops come and go over the past years. None now. |
#140
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Government Bicycle Program News
On 6/30/2020 10:00 AM, wrote:
On Monday, June 29, 2020 at 5:38:34 PM UTC-5, sms wrote: On 6/29/2020 1:12 PM, wrote: snip I am in the middle of Iowa. I know the owner of the Trek bike shop in town but have never talked to him about where his shop earns its revenue. Expensive or cheap bikes, accessories, clothing, mechanical service, etc. That would probably be a fun talk. I ride with a group of adult bicyclists. Avid bicyclists I guess since we ride once or twice a week in the good weather months. They all have multiple bikes each. And NONE of them have $500 and under bikes. $1000 is the very cheapest bike anyone rides. Of course I realize the adult bicyclists I ride with may not represent adult bicyclists very well. We are all probably money hungry grubbing elitists with college degrees. The horror!!!! You and your friends might be the typical customers at a Trek shop, but you're not the typical customer at a bike shop not catering to pro wannabees. Maybe. But everyone I ride with is in his 50s, 60s, 70s. I doubt there are too many of them or me with professional bicycling dreams. None of them are poor. They all have sufficient money. And like to ride bikes. So maybe not representative of adult bicyclists across the country. Spending $1-2000 or more on a bicycle every few years is not a big deal. I'm my next door neighbor's bicycle repair person and assembler. They are not poor. So far, during the pandemic, they've bought two Linus bicycles for the mom and teenage daughter, and I assembled them. The dad has a Dahon. They are looking for a bicycle for their 12 year old son, but due to the current bicycle shortage they have been unsuccessful, so he rides the Dahon for now, and the dad rides some older hybrid. $600 is about their limit for new bicycles. They are not going on 25 mile or longer rides. They might do 15 miles. The bicycle shops in this area usually have plenty of bicycle in the $400-600 price range. Maybe not the pro-level shops, but the "regular shops." Supposedly, bicycle shops are going to be restocked sometime in July or August. |
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