An article about the evolution of bicycles and not one word about recumbents.
I saw my first recumbent bike as a child in the 1970s. I didn't know what it was but I did know that it made sense to me. I have been riding a recumbent (as it turns out, not that different then the one I saw over 40 years ago) for over 12 years now; and it's contribution to changing my interaction; no, my relationship with the world around me cannot be overstated by calling it eye-opening.
In my teens I was at competition level cycling. But coming from a small town, and a poor family there was no way I could ever compete. I cycled everywhere, as that was the only way I could get around. I would even ride to nearby towns 40 miles away, just to see if I could; alongside a 2-lane highway.
Cycling was how I explored my world. Computers & books fed my mind, cycling fed my heart and my insatiable wanderlust. But even with all the freedom that a bicycle gives you, that traditional diamond-frame upright bicycle limited that view to 4 feet infront of the bike. The uncomfortable hunch, bent neck, and numb genitals was a labour of love that while freeing me to explore, still left me shackled to a narrow view of the world. Riding a recumbent opened that view into a panoramic vista.
This is now the 3rd age of biking, electrically assisted cycling. The more people that try it, the more people will want to do it. It is fun in a way that awakens the inner glee that only comes from childhood. There will always be 'purists' that believe that the way they suffer is the only "real way to do it".
You don't have to suffer. Embrace the evolution, and enjoy the ride.
That aside I like the idea of recumbents. I've test driven them several times, adjusted to my body, even with the Rohloff speed hub. Whee! Almost effortless 50 kph on flat grounds! Alas. Several things I don't like in reality. They are more heavy. Not good. Riding uphill is strange, depending on the seat you can push into the pedals, but it's not the same like you'd push from upright with your full body weight down into them. But the real deal breaker for me was more limited vision in flowing traffic from down there. Couldn't get used to it, and felt much more unsafe regarding situational awareness.
It's much more comfortable, looking forward, and in a seat meant for comfort, not speed.
That said, it wasn't so easy to find that style of bike given all of the mountain bikes and road bikes.
Still, it was easier than finding a recumbent, which is why my wife has.
She loves her trike, but there are some downsides. Some are specific to a trike (we've found it hard to find a bike shop that will work on it; biking on dirt paths is harder because of its width requirements).
One more generic problem is she often doesn't have the panoramic vista that I have. Most notably when we're biking through a field when the crops are high. All she sees is the plants, which I am usually able to see over.
OTOH, she loves the attention her trike gets. Lot of people want to try it out.
> “I don’t think a lot of Americans are aware . . . how far behind we are on bicycle and pedestrian safety,” Pete Buttigieg, the U.S. Secretary of Transportation, said. Republicans warned, “Democrats are coming for your cars.” No one is coming for your cars.
I'm actually surprised that there isn't more direct action against overly aggressive drivers, "rolling coal", and the like, given how passionate cyclists often are about being cyclists. It's amazing how so many of them seem to take gratuitous threats to life and limb in stride. Perhaps that's survivorship bias, inasmuch as the people who don't have this reaction stop cycling instead (at least on roads).
"Well there's your problem" and NotJustBikes https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zm29fd-s7tQ had a discussion about [John Forester](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Forester_(cyclist)) and that generation of cycling activists in the US. For whatever reason, they were extremely vocal about having cyclists treated the same as cars; they're the people we have to thank for Sharrows, denoting car lanes as also valid bike lanes. Its unfortunate that the kind of rider we need to enable is precisely the kind who doesn't care enough to advocate on their own behalf.
Cyclists in the US are mostly well aware of how hated we are for even just basically following the law and somehow surviving with motorists who probably shouldn’t be allowed to drive.
Yeah, Critical Mass is the one org I’m aware of that does direct action, and it’s moment has kind of faded, for various reasons.
But yeah, I don’t really take it in stride, I go home and whine about it, but getting spit on, called a faggot, driven off the road and hit by red light runners is just normal for biking in the US (and it doesn’t vary that much regionally either, when I lived in California people yelled slurs more, but maybe drove a little more reasonably than where I live now)
There is not really a natural coalition for this topic. Cycling is kinda seen as a crunchy or vaguely liberal thing, but in local politics the left is pretty strongly against doing anything punitive, for principled reasons. Which ok, no technological enforcement, no stronger license requirements, no more stringent vehicle inspections, I get why, but sorry, funding the bus system does nothing when a large part of the problem is people doing it on purpose. The guy doing 25 over the speed limit in the wrong lane running red lights is doing it for fun, not because his bus is 20 minute headings instead of 15.
>I'm actually surprised that there isn't more direct action against overly aggressive drivers.
What direction action could a cyclist take on a car driver that intentionally buzzed them while passing? I suppose if you happen to catch up to them at a light you could vandalize their car. Make a habit of doing that and you'll wind up the victim of an unfortunate accident that no one will be punished for.
ebikes create a shift in how we should build neighborhoods, if not cities. The quality of life frontier has already shifted out from under the previous equilibrium: living in a place where you can comfortably ebike to amenities is a massive life upgrade.
I have an e-bike (and a standard errands bike). For my small city of 100,000 people, it's great. The no-pedal range is about 15 miles, and it costs pennies to charge. And e-bikes are fun to ride.
When riding it, it's an interesting thought experiment to imagine all the cars on the road also being e-bikes. It would be an amazingly different experience.
All that said, I'm a big fan of the right tool for the job. When I ride to the store, about 2 miles away, I ride my pedal bike. When I go all the way across town 7 miles away, I ride the e-bike (for speed/time reasons). When I need to pick up heavy or bulky items or go farther, I drive the car. I found that in the nice spring, summer, and fall months, I really didn't need the car very often.
I could not agree more. I’m a few years from the financial independence I need to pursue this fully, but my life dream is to build a large neighborhood / small town exclusively for bikes and pedestrians (minimal car access for deliveries etc worked in following Dutch safety standards).
Steve Jobs said almost the same thing about the Segway. He said it we would design cities around it. How often do you see one in use? The reality is that most people don't like to cycle. They like to drive. They like to be protected from the rain, cold, heat, and other vehicles as they move from place to place. Especially if they have kids, or elderly passengers, or have to move stuff with them, or have to travel any appreciable distance. eBikes are good for out-of-shape people who think they want to start cycling, and not much else.
I don’t understand the last sentence about avoiding the inevitable e-bike. The inevitable part I agree with, but the dislike from others has never made sense to me.
Where I live (San Diego), they're big, heavy, mini-motorcycles zooming past others at top speed in narrow bike lanes. Is the hate for that so hard to understand?
two avid cyclists I know, (off road) say that the ebike has revolutionised "cycling together" for people of different abilities and pedal cadence. She can now keep up with him, for a 60km ride, compared to 20km before. Same amount of physical effort, more companionable, better outcome overall.
As a non-ebike rider I admit my lack of peripheral vision (age) is making the zoom! of an ebike or scooter past me increasingly scary, but the fact is, my declining vision is more of the issue than the ebike is.
I think the author is just being wistful about ageing, which is inevitable.
E-bikes should take over in most cities. All but the most disabled can ride them. Cities like Taipei and Barcelona that already move on scooters would get much cleaner air and have the same low-cost mobility. New York makes no damn sense for cars. Even large spread-out cities are easily traversed on e-bikes. Assholes on e-bikes can be annoying but rarely deadly. Drivers who kill cyclists should be imprisoned until too old to drive again. Cars should all be required to have passive braking that won't come within 6 feet of a cyclist or pedestrian. regarding pedestrians, we could start by recognizing that "jaywalking" isn't a thing.
I supposed that bicycles evolve to suit a lot of people's different ideas of whats fun. I'm glad that I was introduced to the joy of less and I salute Sheldon Brown on the road beyond for inspiring so many to take a second look at something simpler.
Are you sure you need a bicycle with gears? The purest, simplest kind of bicycle is the fixed-gear bicycle. Riding a fixed gear will make you a stronger, smoother cyclist...and it is a ton of fun!
Where I live, it would also dramatically limit where you could ride. Different strokes for different folks, I'd hesitate to call one choice objectively better than another.
In the 1980's I drove 3 times coast to coast North America, because it was so bicycle friendly. You never saw any other bicycles, except kids and fatties. So motorists were very careful.
There were no bloody bicycle lanes, so could you do any speed you want in the middle of the road. Compare this to Netherlands and Deutschland were bicycle lanes are narrow, bumpy and with pedestrians with dogs in leash. And the polize and motorist force you to use them no matter what.
I even found out that there are sections of the Interstate you can ride on a bicycle, when there is no other roads, like east of Palm Springs.
Only one problem: People were so unaccustomed to seeing bicycles on the road, that they tried to give me a ride.
And of course in Texas I was threatened with a guns because illegally sleeping on someones precious dirt. In sane countries "illegal threat" is an actual and most severe crime.
[+] [-] UI_at_80x24|3 years ago|reply
I saw my first recumbent bike as a child in the 1970s. I didn't know what it was but I did know that it made sense to me. I have been riding a recumbent (as it turns out, not that different then the one I saw over 40 years ago) for over 12 years now; and it's contribution to changing my interaction; no, my relationship with the world around me cannot be overstated by calling it eye-opening.
In my teens I was at competition level cycling. But coming from a small town, and a poor family there was no way I could ever compete. I cycled everywhere, as that was the only way I could get around. I would even ride to nearby towns 40 miles away, just to see if I could; alongside a 2-lane highway.
Cycling was how I explored my world. Computers & books fed my mind, cycling fed my heart and my insatiable wanderlust. But even with all the freedom that a bicycle gives you, that traditional diamond-frame upright bicycle limited that view to 4 feet infront of the bike. The uncomfortable hunch, bent neck, and numb genitals was a labour of love that while freeing me to explore, still left me shackled to a narrow view of the world. Riding a recumbent opened that view into a panoramic vista.
This is now the 3rd age of biking, electrically assisted cycling. The more people that try it, the more people will want to do it. It is fun in a way that awakens the inner glee that only comes from childhood. There will always be 'purists' that believe that the way they suffer is the only "real way to do it".
You don't have to suffer. Embrace the evolution, and enjoy the ride.
[+] [-] LargoLasskhyfv|3 years ago|reply
wrong saddle
> uncomfortable hunch, bent neck
wrong posture
That aside I like the idea of recumbents. I've test driven them several times, adjusted to my body, even with the Rohloff speed hub. Whee! Almost effortless 50 kph on flat grounds! Alas. Several things I don't like in reality. They are more heavy. Not good. Riding uphill is strange, depending on the seat you can push into the pedals, but it's not the same like you'd push from upright with your full body weight down into them. But the real deal breaker for me was more limited vision in flowing traffic from down there. Couldn't get used to it, and felt much more unsafe regarding situational awareness.
[+] [-] eesmith|3 years ago|reply
FWIW, I had a bike meant for long-distance bike camping. I used an image search to find an example of the style of bike I had - http://www.madisonbikelife.com/2012/07/bike-touring-camping-... .
It's much more comfortable, looking forward, and in a seat meant for comfort, not speed.
That said, it wasn't so easy to find that style of bike given all of the mountain bikes and road bikes.
Still, it was easier than finding a recumbent, which is why my wife has.
She loves her trike, but there are some downsides. Some are specific to a trike (we've found it hard to find a bike shop that will work on it; biking on dirt paths is harder because of its width requirements).
One more generic problem is she often doesn't have the panoramic vista that I have. Most notably when we're biking through a field when the crops are high. All she sees is the plants, which I am usually able to see over.
OTOH, she loves the attention her trike gets. Lot of people want to try it out.
[+] [-] justsomeuser|3 years ago|reply
When riding a normal bike, I feel safer knowing I can quickly abandon the bike and dive to the side if needed.
[+] [-] gfaregan|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] 0xcde4c3db|3 years ago|reply
I'm actually surprised that there isn't more direct action against overly aggressive drivers, "rolling coal", and the like, given how passionate cyclists often are about being cyclists. It's amazing how so many of them seem to take gratuitous threats to life and limb in stride. Perhaps that's survivorship bias, inasmuch as the people who don't have this reaction stop cycling instead (at least on roads).
[+] [-] wardedVibe|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] tjr225|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] uxp100|3 years ago|reply
But yeah, I don’t really take it in stride, I go home and whine about it, but getting spit on, called a faggot, driven off the road and hit by red light runners is just normal for biking in the US (and it doesn’t vary that much regionally either, when I lived in California people yelled slurs more, but maybe drove a little more reasonably than where I live now)
There is not really a natural coalition for this topic. Cycling is kinda seen as a crunchy or vaguely liberal thing, but in local politics the left is pretty strongly against doing anything punitive, for principled reasons. Which ok, no technological enforcement, no stronger license requirements, no more stringent vehicle inspections, I get why, but sorry, funding the bus system does nothing when a large part of the problem is people doing it on purpose. The guy doing 25 over the speed limit in the wrong lane running red lights is doing it for fun, not because his bus is 20 minute headings instead of 15.
[+] [-] danans|3 years ago|reply
Bicycling is viewed by most Americans as a recreational or exercise activity, not as a legitimate primary means if transportation.
When you bike to work on a road, you are perceived of as recreating in front of someone trying to actually get somewhere "important" in a car.
Direct action by bicyclists gets perceived through the same lens.
[+] [-] handol|3 years ago|reply
What direction action could a cyclist take on a car driver that intentionally buzzed them while passing? I suppose if you happen to catch up to them at a light you could vandalize their car. Make a habit of doing that and you'll wind up the victim of an unfortunate accident that no one will be punished for.
[+] [-] irjustin|3 years ago|reply
Not by outlawing them like trying to outlaw guns, but by zoning.
More walkable cities, public transportation, etc. All good things I believe.
[+] [-] unknown|3 years ago|reply
[deleted]
[+] [-] nazgulnarsil|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] beej71|3 years ago|reply
When riding it, it's an interesting thought experiment to imagine all the cars on the road also being e-bikes. It would be an amazingly different experience.
All that said, I'm a big fan of the right tool for the job. When I ride to the store, about 2 miles away, I ride my pedal bike. When I go all the way across town 7 miles away, I ride the e-bike (for speed/time reasons). When I need to pick up heavy or bulky items or go farther, I drive the car. I found that in the nice spring, summer, and fall months, I really didn't need the car very often.
[+] [-] burlesona|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] SoftTalker|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] twobitshifter|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] rectang|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] idontwantthis|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] ggm|3 years ago|reply
As a non-ebike rider I admit my lack of peripheral vision (age) is making the zoom! of an ebike or scooter past me increasingly scary, but the fact is, my declining vision is more of the issue than the ebike is.
[+] [-] Zigurd|3 years ago|reply
E-bikes should take over in most cities. All but the most disabled can ride them. Cities like Taipei and Barcelona that already move on scooters would get much cleaner air and have the same low-cost mobility. New York makes no damn sense for cars. Even large spread-out cities are easily traversed on e-bikes. Assholes on e-bikes can be annoying but rarely deadly. Drivers who kill cyclists should be imprisoned until too old to drive again. Cars should all be required to have passive braking that won't come within 6 feet of a cyclist or pedestrian. regarding pedestrians, we could start by recognizing that "jaywalking" isn't a thing.
[+] [-] vondur|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] adolph|3 years ago|reply
https://www.sheldonbrown.com/fixedgear.html
Are you sure you need a bicycle with gears? The purest, simplest kind of bicycle is the fixed-gear bicycle. Riding a fixed gear will make you a stronger, smoother cyclist...and it is a ton of fun!
[+] [-] rootusrootus|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] eesmith|3 years ago|reply
[+] [-] timonoko|3 years ago|reply
There were no bloody bicycle lanes, so could you do any speed you want in the middle of the road. Compare this to Netherlands and Deutschland were bicycle lanes are narrow, bumpy and with pedestrians with dogs in leash. And the polize and motorist force you to use them no matter what.
I even found out that there are sections of the Interstate you can ride on a bicycle, when there is no other roads, like east of Palm Springs.
Only one problem: People were so unaccustomed to seeing bicycles on the road, that they tried to give me a ride.
And of course in Texas I was threatened with a guns because illegally sleeping on someones precious dirt. In sane countries "illegal threat" is an actual and most severe crime.