Cycle Seoul: Switzerland: anti-fixie?

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Sunday, March 29, 2009

Introducing Hank Dirkins
I got a great email from my friend Hank Dirkins last night. After conferring with him, we agreed the email should be preserved for posterity on the everlasting etherwebs. So here is the first guest entry on A Full Pannier. From: Hank Dirkins To: Lanny Hoff Sat, Mar 28, 2009 at 11:59 PM
Subject: First 100 Mile Week
Hi, Lanny -I just got drunk at your house. I am now drunk back at my house. Ya see, I finished my ride from the university this afternoon at almost exactly 94 miles for the week. After dinner, bath-time, my wife's workout at the gym, a bong hit, and an hour and a half of graduate school homework, I decided I wanted to go get those last 6 miles...
(This tale continues)

Fixed gear minimalism

Standards for cycle paths from David Hembrow

Hembrow (2008) defines three kinds of cycle safety. The most interesting is 'subjective' safety:

Bike lanes and cycle paths without sufficient separation from the road are not suitable as cyclists should never mix with high speed or high volume motor traffic. Most 50 km/h roads ( in the Netherlands? ) provide cyclists with a segregated path. Fully segregated cycle paths provide a good degree of subjective safety.
In Assen, the new standards require that cycle paths which follow the line of roads are separated from them by 2.5 metres. Where this isn't possible you will find a metal barrier is used, to provide a feeling of subjective safety as well as actual safety from crashing vehicles.Where possible, cycle paths follow a completely different line to the roads, which of course improves the feeling of safety further.

Reducing the noise of motor vehicles by using quieter road surfaces and installing noise barriers between the road and cyclists helps. Reductions in speed and volume of traffic always help. All residential streets here have a 30 km/h speed limit. Junctions should be designed to make sure that cyclists are not left out. Cycle paths should be wide to allow cyclists to move out of the way of others.

One of his other definitions involves 'social' safety:

You should always be able to see out of any tunnel as you enter it. Blind corners on paths are not acceptable. Cycle paths should be lit at night so that you can see potential muggers, obstacles on the path etc. A low crime rate and a good conviction rate are needed. Cyclists should not feel that the police do not take their complaints seriously. Areas that are clean, litter free, graffiti free, where grass is mowed and plants are not allowed to overhang the cycle path have a better feeling of social safety.

He finishes with this "If subjective and social safety are improved then people will cycle. They will want to. and so they will do it."

Text adapted from Hembrow, David.'Three Types of Safety' A view from the cycle path. 16 September 2008. (See links).

Cycle Seoul

Switzerland: anti-fixie?

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