Criteria for choosing a Bicycle Rack

Posted on April 15, 2013 by

What criteria should an organization consider when purchasing a bicycle rack?

Here’s my quick answer. What would you add? Any recommendations?

(I like the ones in Uptown Waterloo that feature a heavy duty steel ring afixed to a solid steel post buried in concrete. I also kind of like the stuff from www.parkabike.com)

Location

  • Close to the main entrance areas
  • Good visibility
  • Good lighting
  • High pedestrian traffic
  • Good view from within the building

Characteristics

  • Frame height and contacts the bicycle in two spots to keep the bike upright.
  • Anchored to the ground, immovable.
  • Great if the steel is coated in vinyl or rubber
Posted in Community, Commuting, Security, Waterloo | 7 Comments

First Sidewalk post of 2013

Posted on April 15, 2013 by

Got a question from a reader about whether the sidewalk law in Kitchener-Waterloo is enforced.

My experience tells me it’s not enforced. I’ve never been stopped for riding on a sidewalk. I’ve never seen anyone stopped for riding on a sidewalk and lastly I’ve never heard of anyone stopped for riding on a sidewalk.

And yes if you’re riding on a sidewalk in K-W and your wheel diameter is more than 50cm then your in violation of the by-law, it’s not in my understanding violating the highway traffic act. (If you ride a Brompton (folding bike) then I presume you’re ok!)

The rumour I’ve heard (and I can’t remember where) is that police do not enforce the by-law cause they’d rather not have cyclists sharing the road with motor vehicles.

It is a question that we’ve debated before, check out Rob’s post and the commentary entitled ‘Yet Another Sidewalk Cycling Post‘.  Also another local bicycle blog has ‘running’ commentary on Waterloo’s bylaw amongst other laws: K-W bicycle blog: bicycles and Ontario / Waterloo law/bylaw.

The reason this question caught my attention is because tonight I rode a fair distance on the sidewalk. I had to pick up my kids tonight up near Erbsville and then trailer them back to Uptown Waterloo. I was planning on talking the trail around Conservation Lake and then hook up with the Laurel Trail through the University and then through Waterloo Park. Only the trail was closed, presumably due to downed trees from last week’s ice storm. So I took the kids in the Trailer using the sidewalk from Beaver Creek and Fischer-Hallman to Columbia and Westmount before jumping on the University trails to Ring Road to Seagram drive and then into Waterloo Park.

The reason I took the trailer on the sidewalk on that stretch is that in parts it’s too narrow, too many cars, higher speeds and my cargo too precious. On that section I passed one jogger, who was the only pedestrian and for the record that segment has zero driveways.

If it’s just me, I never take the sidewalk, but I’m much more sensitive to safety when I’m trailering my kids. I also wore my helmet, potholes are everywhere this time of year.

Posted in Bicycles, Community, Commuting, Kitchener, Waterloo | 4 Comments

The “Stella” by Light & Motion – Gear Review

Posted on April 13, 2013 by

I got this light at the Adventure Guide members’ sale last week. It was regularly priced at $150 and marked down by 40%. I checked the price on MEC’s website. It was also listed at $150. The 40% discount means I paid about $89 for it. However, I had a gift card that my son gave me for Christmas and also had some Adventure Guide bucks saved up. The out of pocket cost to me was about $25. I’m not a fan of spending a lot of money on gear!

DSCN0860

The light straps to the handlebars and the battery easily straps to the bike frame. I had no trouble with mounting either component. The battery did not get in the way of my normal pedalling motion.

DSCN0874

I leave for work at about 7 am and get home around 5 pm. Because of lengthening days, I won’t use the light that much until next winter. However, this past week, I was looking for an excuse to ride at night, so I could really test out the Stella. My chance came Thursday night. I went out in the evening around 7:30, but I didn’t come home until after 11 pm. It was very dark! I love this light! The Stella is a huge step up from the light I have been using for the last couple of years. I am used to riding at night with a little 10 lumen light that I got from MEC a few years back. My MEC light plugs into a USB port to charge. It was around $10 to $12. I loved it, when I bought it, because I was tired of buying expensive watch batteries for my previous light. At the time, the MEC light was a step up. I used both of my previous lights to be seen, not to see. The Stella allows me to both be seen and to see.

At 300 lumens, the Stella is 30 times brighter than the lights I am used to using. I purposely rode down dark streets to see how well I could see. I was pretty impressed! Once I got the Stella pointed at a good angle towards the road, it provided a wide oval of illumination, that allowed me to see and avoid potholes, puddles and fallen branches. Here’s a pic of the Stella’s brightness, shining on my garage door.

DSCN0873

I read a few other reviews of the Stella. The only real knock that anyone had against it was battery life. One guy claims that the battery dies after about three hours of use. For my purposes, that doesn’t really matter. I’m not planning on riding over three hours a night. I’ll be able to recharge the battery quite easily. Of course, if I was planning on doing an all-night mountain bike ride, or a 24 hour canoe race, the light might not suit me. In that case, I would have been tempted to buy the 1700 lumen Seca, by Light & Motion, for a mere $470! For my purposes, the Stella will suit me just fine!

Posted in Bicycles, Gear, review, Safety | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , | 14 Comments

Road Rage Rant!

Posted on April 11, 2013 by

I won’t often use this forum to rant about rude drivers, but today is an exception!

I was riding along Lancaster Street, on my way to work yesterday morning. I was just past Union Street and going south. There is a single lane going in each direction. A bus had pulled over to pick up some passengers. Before I pulled out to go around him, I checked my mirror. The closest vehicle was over 100 metres back. When I was abut halfway passed the bus, a driver in a beat-up muscle car roared passed me, driving south in the north-bound lane. As he passed me, he blared his horn at me, and his passenger gave me the finger. Unfortunately, another vehicle turned right, from Ash Street onto Lancaster, right in front of the aggressive driver. He swerved to miss the oncoming car, which meant he swerved right at me. Fortunately, I saw it happening and hugged the bus, to avoid getting hit. I ended up being about a foot from the aggressive driver’s car and only inches from the bus. I’m glad the bus driver didn’t pick that moment to pull away from the curb!

When I could breathe again, I shook my fist at the smoke-belching car, which got me double barrelled fingers from both sides of the car. The driver also immediately turned right down Arnold Street and did a quick U-turn. I was unsure what he was about to do, but I popped up onto the sidewalk to avoid being in his path. The car pulled up beside me. Both the mullet-sporting driver and his classy, foul-mouthed woman screamed and swore at me for awhile. The gist of which was, that I don’t belong on the roads and I had no right to ride around the bus and almost cause them to get into an accident. Talk about blaming the victim! The questionably shorn driver had trouble being heard over his gap-toothed passenger, so he told her to shut up, before informing me that it was illegal for me to ride on the sidewalk. Neither of these Rhodes scholars seemed to understand the inherent idiocy of their comments. However, before I could explain the contradiction in their statements, the driver squealed away with his cylindrical filaments flowing in his self-created wind, while his aesthetically displeasing passenger once again proudly displayed her longest digit for me.

Thanks. Rant over.

Posted in Bicycles, Commuting, Kitchener, Safety, Vent, Waterloo | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 21 Comments

caught in the rain

Posted on April 9, 2013 by

Well the weather network did me in today. The rain wasn’t supposed to come until 4pm, however by 3.30pm, the time I pick up my daughter from school, it was pouring. Combine that with using a bike without fenders and you get this on your business causal pants.

nofender

The reason I had no fenders was the flat tire I got on my commuter bike. The crazy six bolt design nightmare that attaches my wheel to the frame makes changing a flat like open heart surgery.

That meant I had to use my fixie which was the only bike I had in working order (roadie hasn’t been cleaned up from last year, mountain bike had flat tires, wifes bike has missing spokes from my lame attempt to adjust the stops on the derailleur, and then my commuter has a flat.)

my fixie

I am not a fan of fixies, there’s no way to stop on a dime. I have pay close attention to predict traffic stops and I really avoid accelerating to make it through a light.

The reason I biked today was I wanted to stop by the anti-gmo rally outside MPP Peter Braid’s office in Waterloo at lunch. A number of farmers, and food groups had asked for the support of their eaters (that’s me) to help raise awareness that GM Alfalfa is soon to be ok’ed by Health Canada. CTV was there to catch the story.

GMHAYnoway

Posted in Bicycles, Community, News, Safety, Waterloo | Tagged , | 4 Comments

Tragic, cyclist succumbs to injuries after being hit by a train

Posted on April 4, 2013 by

Thoughts go out the friends, family and witnesses who rushed to help the cyclist who later died from his injuries after being struck by a train this afternoon.

The Record’s reporting that the cyclist succumbed to his injuries and also related a tragic story of the cyclist’s mistake and attempts by onlookers to warn and then help the cyclist after the collision.

via @wr_record

My own thoughts go to the many times I’ve taken advantage of the agile mobility of the bicycle to take short cuts. I’ve been hit twice, many close calls, no injuries – definitely lucky.

As Bill Bean at Take the Lane notices, this cyclist was a thoughtful, regular rider with rear rack, pannier, cable lock, fenders, a bell, bike light, side mirror and kickstand.

To all you cyclists be safe.

Posted in Bicycles, Community, Injury, Kitchener, News, Safety, Waterloo | 1 Comment

Building with Bikes in Mind

Posted on April 1, 2013 by

We all get very excited when our city or region builds something with bikes in mind.  It might be something as elaborate as the “complete street” Waterloo turned Davenport Road into, or it might be something simple like Kitchener painting bike lanes on Margaret Avenue.  Heck, some days, I even get excited if I can find a nice place to lock my bike!

What about us, though?  Have you ever done any building with bikes in mind?  A few years ago, my wife and I built a sizeable addition on our house.  Outside of the foundation and the gas work, I did it myself, with the help of a few good friends.  We added a family room, a bathroom, a main floor laundry room, two bedrooms, a garage and a mud room.  I had a little conflict with the city about the support for the mudroom wall that is in the garage.  I wanted a hidden beam and they wanted a concrete wall with a dead space.  Fortunately, the building inspector, who oversaw the construction was reasonable and saw things my way.  I can store seven bikes under the mudroom and have easy access to them from the garage.  With a family of five, that’s not even enough bike storage, so we keep a few in the shed, as well.

DSCN0854

The main floor of my house sits very high, so I wanted to make use of that height, for the bike storage.

DSCN0858

How about you?  Have you ever built something with bikes in mind?  What does your bike storage look like?

Oh yeah, there is no room for a car in my garage, but there is storage for my other passion!

DSCN0856

Posted in Bicycles, Community, Gear | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment