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Sacramento fixed-gear bikes: braking the law



 
 
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  #1  
Old October 31st 09, 06:41 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Ablang
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Default Sacramento fixed-gear bikes: braking the law

Unbelievable isn't it?

Sacramento fixed-gear bikes: braking the law
Sacramento police recently began targeting illegal fixed-gear bikes.
But are the brake-free rides really dangerous, or are cops simply
going after a counterculture scene?

By Nick Miller

http://www.newsreview.com/sacramento...nt?oid=1304912

This article was published on 10.22.09.

Bicyclists stop their fixed-gear bikes by going against the crank’s
rotation (pictured) instead of using a hand brake.
PHOTO BY DAVID JAYNE

John Cardiel dashed down Ninth Street on his fixed-gear bike, tearing
southward in the right-hand lane, when he heard yelling, which grew
louder and closer. He looked over his shoulder and saw two Sacramento
police officers on bikes trailing him, hollering, “Stop!”

Cardiel explains that he “skidded to an immediate stop.” Then, he
describes that the cops applied their hand brakes and slid past him.
“One guy almost fell over. I had more control than they did,” Cardiel
remembers.

A professional skateboarder and expert cyclist, Cardiel appears in
Colin Arlen and Colby Elrick’s film Macaframa, a documentary
showcasing precision tricks and maneuvers by skilled fixed-gear bikers
that screened to a sold-out Crest Theatre crowd earlier this year.

But mere blocks from the Crest, Sacramento bike police had pulled the
accomplished rider over because he didn’t have a hand brake, which is
in violation of California Vehicle Code 21201(a). Fixies, whose
popularity has blown up in recent years, have no free wheel and cannot
coast, so riders come to a stop by going against the crank’s rotation
and skidding instead of using a hand brake.

This year, however, the city began targeting bikes without hand
brakes. And so Cardiel received a $25 fix-it ticket and would have to
install a new brake.

Other cyclists, though, have had it worse off: City police have
confiscated and impounded fixed-gear bikes, costing cyclists hundreds
of dollars in fines, repairs and court appearances—and in many cases,
their only means of transportation.

“It kind of harshed my summer. I really didn’t want to go downtown
anymore. It put a fear of police on my back,” Cardiel says of the
incident.

Sacramento’s lead bike cop, Sgt. David Valdez, however, says the city
is just enforcing California law, which states: “No person shall
operate a bicycle on a roadway unless it is equipped with a brake.”
Valdez argues that fixed-gear bicyclists riding without hand brakes
are breaking this law.

“It seems to be a trend, not only here but across the nation,” says
Valdez. “These bicycles are a danger and present a clear hazard not
only for the cyclist but also pedestrians and people in vehicles.”

The city says it has actively been enforcing this law for the past six
months.

Cardiel calls the rule “terrible.”
SN&R art director David Jayne stopped and photographed Jacob Swift
(left) and Brian Morrison (right) on 20th Street in Midtown. Both
riders told Jayne that they’d been pulled over by Sacramento bike
police in recent months.
PHOTO BY DAVID JAYNE

“I think it’s totally messed up. We’re a society trying to get people
out of cars and promote cycling, but on the other hand you’re taking
kids’ bikes,” Cardiel says.

Other local cycling experts agree. Sage Bauers, a bike mechanic at
south Sacramento’s Bicycle Business, calls the no-brake rule “pretty
ridiculous.”

“There are a lot of people who can effectively control their bikes
without brakes,” he argues.

The city says that it doesn’t track data on fixed-gear bike
violations, but Valdez estimates that he writes at least five
citations a week. Both Valdez and Bicycle Business’ Bauers say that
fix-it tickets, where the city demands that riders install a hand
brake on their fixie, are “common.”

Cardiel thinks all this is causing a “stink between the youth and
police.” Of course, as a venerable local skater, he has witnessed this
befo police regularly confiscating skateboards and targeting
skaters in the ’80s and ’90s.

“It’s such a cliché [and] easy thing to say—‘they’re targeting us!’—
but I do feel this. They see these kids riding around [on fixed gears]
and they jump on them,” Cardiel says.

What’s more, authorities also have begun seizing and impounding fixed-
gear bikes more frequently.

This past July, a longstanding fixed-gear rider—he would prefer to
remain anonymous, so we’ll call him “Evan”—was heading west on L
Street, near 21st Street, when a Sacramento bike cop pulled him over.

“I asked him why and he said, ‘No brakes,’” Evan says. Earlier that
day, Evan’s car caught on fire; he mentioned this to the officer.

“‘Well, your day’s about to get a lot worse, because you’re not
leaving with your bicycle,’” the cop said, according to Evan, who
pleaded for a fix-it ticket but was denied. Instead, the cop impounded
Evan’s bike and sent it to the evidence department off of Richards
Boulevard. Evan received a $168 fine, too.

It gets worse.

A cyclist either has to pay the no-brake fine or wait up to 60 days to
contest the citation in Sacramento County’s Carol Miller Justice
Center. Evan went without transportation for a few weeks, but
eventually coughed up the fee and installed a brake on his fixie.
If this fixie bike had a brake, it probably would go here, on the
handlebar. Many fixed-gear riders, however, mount their brakes in
unconventional locations so as to disguise them.
PHOTO BY DAVID JAYNE

Of the new brake, he says he’s “never touched it.”

“[I’m] pretty confident that the police don’t understand these bikes,”
says Evan, who argues that fixies “fall within the law” because they
are “capable of coming to a one-wheeled skid stop.”

The city police and district attorney’s office both contend, on the
other hand, that legs don’t count as a braking mechanism. But Evan
points out that there’s no brake in existence that operates without
human muscle, whether hands or legs. “I wouldn’t get on a bike without
brakes and go down the street. That’s not what [a fixie] is,” he
explains.

The district attorney’s office says they’ve seized 18 bikes for
“evidence” and 19 for “safekeeping” in 2009.

To get around the police hand-brake-enforcement campaign, Bicycle
Business’ Bauers says that fixie riders are installing hand brakes on
their bikes in unconventional—and even dangerous—ways.

Typically, hand brakes are fixed on handlebars so that bikers have
quick access to them. But because most fixed-gear riders don’t even
use hand brakes—and because a fixie’s design aesthetic strives for a
minimalist look—Bauers says he’s seen brakes mounted on seat tubes,
fork blades (the part of a bike that holds the front wheel) and in
places where “it’s totally legal by technicality [but] not useful at
all.”

He notes that riding your bike but having to reach down below your
seat or between your legs to stop can be awkward, or dangerous, even
at slow speeds. But Bauers also says he doesn’t think anyone is using
these unconventional brakes anyway.

Both Cardiel and Bauers suggest that police target out-of-control and
unsafe bicyclists instead of focusing on a particular model.

“I wouldn’t say it’s an issue of the bike, I would say it’s more an
issue with the rider,” Bauers argues. He says some kids will jump onto
a brake-free fixed-gear bike and tear around downtown in something
“they can’t really control,” and that’s a cause for alarm.

Cardiel agrees. “Some of these kids are going kind of nuts,” he says,
but concedes that evaluating whether a rider has control of his bike
is “a hard thing to gauge.”

Ultimately, most fixed-gear riders feel this fixie goose chase needs
to come to a halt.

Cardiel would like to see more support from the city, like increasing
the number of urban bike lanes and more enforcement against red-light
violators and sidewalk riders.

“I think it’s really hypocritical, because [the city] wants people to
be more conscientious, more eco-friendly and support bike riding,” he
says. “But in turn, they’re taking kids’ bikes and trying to make
money off of it.”
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  #2  
Old October 31st 09, 09:37 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
thirty-six
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Posts: 10,049
Default Sacramento fixed-gear bikes: braking the law

For a large wheel bicycle in the UK, the law is that there must be two
independant means of braking of which includes the front wheel. I
can't recall whether a hand operated brake has to be fitted to the
steering bar, possibly a spoon brake under the fork crown with an
attached handle would satisfy But then what of a gloved hand. Isn't
that a hand brake? Leg power does for the rear wheel when fitted with
a fixed sprocket.

If the fixed rider is wearing gloves, he could argue that the glove is
his braking 'device', if that is what is required by the technicality
of the law. He would likely have to demonstrate this before the
court.

  #3  
Old October 31st 09, 09:55 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Tom Sherman °_°[_2_]
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Posts: 2,312
Default Sacramento fixed-gear bikes: braking the law

"Ablang" ? wrote:
Unbelievable isn't it?

Sacramento fixed-gear bikes: braking the law
Sacramento police recently began targeting illegal fixed-gear bikes.
But are the brake-free rides really dangerous, or are cops simply
going after a counterculture scene?[...]


"Counterculture" is really just another strict conformist group. There
is no reason not to have a front brake [1] other than wanting to look
"hip". I find the whining of these over-grown brats about being ticketed
to be amusing.

[1] The amount of money spent on these bicycles indicates that poverty
is not an excuse.

--
Tom Sherman - 42.435731,-83.985007
I am a vehicular cyclist.
  #4  
Old October 31st 09, 10:17 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Norman
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Posts: 457
Default Sacramento fixed-gear bikes: braking the law

On Oct 31, 8:37*pm, thirty-six wrote:

If the fixed rider is wearing gloves, he could argue that the glove is
his braking 'device', if that is what is required by the technicality
of the law. *He would likely have to demonstrate this before the
court.


Mr. Flintstone, do you honestly expect the court to
accept that a hole cut in your floorboards is supposed
to be a conforming braking device? Do you take this
court for a fool, Mr. Fintstone?
  #5  
Old October 31st 09, 11:16 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
thirty-six
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Posts: 10,049
Default Sacramento fixed-gear bikes: braking the law

On 31 Oct, 21:17, Norman wrote:
On Oct 31, 8:37*pm, thirty-six wrote:

If the fixed rider is wearing gloves, he could argue that the glove is
his braking 'device', if that is what is required by the technicality
of the law. *He would likely have to demonstrate this before the
court.


Mr. Flintstone, do you honestly expect the court to
accept that a hole cut in your floorboards is supposed
to be a conforming braking device? *Do you take this
court for a fool, Mr. Fintstone?


Fred would fail, he didn't wear shoes iirc, so was not equipped.
  #6  
Old November 1st 09, 12:46 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
John Thompson
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Posts: 503
Default Sacramento fixed-gear bikes: braking the law

On 2009-10-31, Tom Sherman ?_? wrote:

"Counterculture" is really just another strict conformist group. There
is no reason not to have a front brake [1] other than wanting to look
"hip". I find the whining of these over-grown brats about being ticketed
to be amusing.

[1] The amount of money spent on these bicycles indicates that poverty
is not an excuse.


Oh, come on, Tom. You *know* that if you have to choose between spending
$100 on a set of Toshi double straps or $50 on a front brake that the
Toshis are the only real choice.

--

-John )
  #7  
Old November 1st 09, 04:21 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Bill Baka
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Posts: 1,083
Default Sacramento fixed-gear bikes: braking the law

Norman wrote:
On Oct 31, 8:37 pm, thirty-six wrote:

If the fixed rider is wearing gloves, he could argue that the glove is
his braking 'device', if that is what is required by the technicality
of the law. He would likely have to demonstrate this before the
court.


Mr. Flintstone, do you honestly expect the court to
accept that a hole cut in your floorboards is supposed
to be a conforming braking device? Do you take this
court for a fool, Mr. Fintstone?


Yes!
With shoes on I just jam my shoe (sneaker, not clip) between the rear
wheel and seat tube and I don't have to skid but can wear a rut in your
shoe. It isn't rocket science.
I live just North of Sacramento and haven't heard it on the local news,
but our mayor, another wonder boy like Obama, probably never rode
bicycles that much.
Bill Baka
  #8  
Old November 1st 09, 08:08 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
Leo Lichtman[_2_]
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Posts: 255
Default Sacramento fixed-gear bikes: braking the law


"Norman" wrote: Mr. Flintstone, do you honestly expect the court to
accept that a hole cut in your floorboards is supposed
to be a conforming braking device? Do you take this
court for a fool, Mr. Fintstone?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Your honor, you don't have to be a fool to see that a fixed gear bicycle,
hereinafter referred to as a "fixie," is just a simplified version of the
traditional and time-honored coaster brake, wherein reverse torque is
applied to the pedals in order to produce braking on the rear wheel.


  #9  
Old November 1st 09, 10:27 AM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
thirty-six
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Posts: 10,049
Default Sacramento fixed-gear bikes: braking the law

On 1 Nov, 07:08, "Leo Lichtman" wrote:
"Norman" wrote: *Mr. Flintstone, do you honestly expect the court to

accept that a hole cut in your floorboards is supposed
to be a conforming braking device? *Do you take this
court for a fool, Mr. Fintstone?
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
Your honor, you don't have to be a fool to see that a fixed gear bicycle,
hereinafter referred to as a "fixie," is just a simplified version of the
traditional and time-honored coaster brake, wherein reverse torque is
applied to the pedals in order to produce braking on the rear wheel.


I think the problem lies in that the pedal crank, chain and sprocket
system was not designed as a braking device. Or at least it is not
known to have been designed as a braking device. Perhaps if the
cranks were emblazoned with "Bill's Brakes" and Bill had submitted an
application on his mechanism for patent, then the court could not
proceed to judgement without investigation as to the device's
efficiency in braking. The pedal crank should be referred to as the
wheel control device. Muscles can also resist greater forces than
they can provide. So a rider stops much quicker than he can
accelerate in even a low speed range. Actually in the wet with smooth
high pressure tyres it is easy for an experienced rider to spin the
wheel on a fixed gear bicycle with a low gear and so braking
efficiency in the wet is purely down to tyre adhesion to the road.

I've not heard that any device is required. In the UK, the device for
braking the rear wheel is the same as the propulsive components, that
of pedals,cranks,chain and sprockets.

Another argument may be with reference to a runner. Should he don a
special device so as to enable him to stop, a drag anchor? Or is he
capable of stopping using his leg muscles? I think he might find it
less stressful to stop quickly if he had a bicycle between himself and
the ground. With repeatability in the equation,this would mean that
the bicycle rider stop in a shorter distance than the runner from the
same speed. When a runner is going full pelt, it is difficult for
him, and so it takes time, to modify his gait to establish braking.
The fixed gear cyclist is at much advantage, for when he decides to
brake he has already actioned it.
  #10  
Old November 1st 09, 05:19 PM posted to rec.bicycles.misc
[email protected]
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Posts: 371
Default Sacramento fixed-gear bikes: braking the law

Tom Sherman °_° wrote:
Sacramento fixed-gear bikes: braking the law
Sacramento police recently began targeting illegal fixed-gear bikes.
But are the brake-free rides really dangerous, or are cops simply
going after a counterculture scene?[...]


"Counterculture" is really just another strict conformist group. There
is no reason not to have a front brake [1] other than wanting to look
"hip". I find the whining of these over-grown brats about being ticketed
to be amusing.


[1] The amount of money spent on these bicycles indicates that poverty
is not an excuse.


For some reason, bikes are subject to fads, many of which run counter
to efficiency and safety. My very first bike was a hand-me-down that
was designed to look as much as possible like a car, right down to the
grayhound "hood ornament" on the front fender.
Anybody remember "sting ray" bikes, the ones with the undersized
frames, banana seats, and high-riser handlebars? And then suddenly,
everybody was a racer and had to have a "ten-speed." After that the fad
switched to trail bikes. Nowadays there's more variety available in the
typical bike shop, but there are still some fads, like the bikes that
are designed to look like "chopper" motorcycles, complete with massive,
four-inch-wide slick rear tires and extended front forks.
Fixies are a fad too. There is no defensible reason why they can't
have hand brakes in addition to the back-pressure method of stopping.


Bill (Frumious)

__o | Conservatism makes no poetry, breathes no prayer,
_`\(,_ | has no invention; it is all memory.
(_)/ (_) | --Ralph Waldo Emerson

 




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