Problems As A Cyclist?

bmcleod19 said:

If it's been a while since my last ride, my pelvis and butt gets bruised for a couple weeks.

Your post sounded a lot more risky than I'm sure you intended it to! 😄

lol indeed! These days the biggest risks I have when I ride are the falls from my younger kid. I always try to be an optimistic and tell him, this time you have only fallen twice! 😄

For me I tend to go cycling at least a few times a week and the main problem when cycling on the roads is the other road users.

You can ride safely, but there's nothing you can do to affect the other road users so you have to be constantly on your guard at all times, and that can spoil a good ride sometimes.

Road and trail safety are my main concerns. Comfort issues I can usually find a way around one way or another, but I just don't feel comfortable road cycling in a lot of places due of the lack of bike lanes and also the general lack of awareness most people have towards people cycling.

My issue is bike trails is mostly that people around here tend to use them as walking paths and can get quite angry and aggressive towards people trying to get by on a mountain bike. So I guess the biggest problem I face as a cyclist is other commuters not recognizing that as cyclists we do have the right to ride safely while road cycling or riding on marked trails.

What do you mean by feeling comfortable when riding sunshiney? Well, if we are bike trailing and people are walking there, it tends to be dangerous, so we are better off looking for a location where we don't have people.

"Investing in cycling provides a better economic return than almost any other transport option." The return of investing in cycling is very broad, not only economic, but also environment, health, and happiness of life! Thanks for promoting the importance of cycling to make this world better

Well, I'd love it if someone could invent a device that makes a bike almost impossible to steal without it being chained to a pole or something. There are places I can't leave my bike at because there's no pole or bicycle bay to chain my bike in. I know it's not easy to come up with such a security device that could achieve this. But it would make for a very useful product.

As of 2016, I still can't use my bike as a full-time transportation device. In the place where I live, it's pretty damn cold to ride a bike during winter. Also, there are very few safe spots to leave a bike in. Unfortunately, the roads here are not convenient enough, either. So, that's why I feel blessed in the summer!

mogibanks said:

what problems do avid bikers face often? Do you know of any solutions to those problems? My goal here is to take a problem, find a solution, and build a business around it.

One problem that has not been solved is a secure locking system that doesn't weigh a ton and can be carried by a road cyclist. I don't know that a solution exists.

I was riding the day after Thanksgiving and was looking like a sausage wearing a fireman helmet.

What? 😄 Am I dreaming or was that post for real Mannu? Why were you looking like a sausage? 😄

pwarbi said:

For me I tend to go cycling at least a few times a week and the main problem when cycling on the roads is the other road users.

You can ride safely, but there's nothing you can do to affect the other road users so you have to be constantly on your guard at all times, and that can spoil a good ride sometimes.

It seems to me that "share the road" isn't something motorist have any intention of doing ever. Riding in the city is the worst. Cars have no respect for cyclist and cause/almost cause so many accidents. I started following every traffic law and still somehow ended up in harms way which led me to believe that people just don't care.

I had an accident precisely of that you mention KiD. I don't know if mentioned it already, but I was getting to a red light and suddenly a car opens the door and there I go, bike to one side and me to the other. Totally inconsiderate.

Yup, that's exactly how it happens. What is the purpose of a side mirror if you never use it? One time I rode straight into a parked car because a driver just stopped out of nowhere and decided to get out without checking the sides. I swerved so I didn't hit him and banged myself up pretty bad. If not for my helmet I would've cracked my skull for sure. Another problem is people double parking in bike lanes when there are so few to begin with.

rEEzytheKiD said:

It seems to me that "share the road" isn't something motorist have any intention of doing ever. Riding in the city is the worst. Cars have no respect for cyclist and cause/almost cause so many accidents. I started following every traffic law and still somehow ended up in harms way which led me to believe that people just don't care.

It does seem to be the case of survival of the fittest when it comes to cycling in the city centre. The busses and taxis hate the car drivers, the car drivers hate the cyclists, the cyclists hate the pedestrians...

In most cities in the UK now we have bus and cycle lanes to try and keep everyone apart but that only happens with limited success and while it has helped, a lot more still needs to be done in respect of trying to change people's mentality.

A few years ago I have a friend who went to Barcelona and the bike lanes were relatively new at the time so he got run over a bike lol, so I guess it's necessary to educate people for those lanes.

Pedestrians are a bit of a problem as well. I'm not saying your friends was at fault but they don't care just as much as the cars. They wait (almost purposely) until you have the light to cross and then when they see you it's like they're thinking "well it's not a car so it should be okay to go". I can't stand it. They have almost caused so many accidents.

Pedestrians do tend to think 'it's only a bike' when they're stepping out off the pavement and many times I've had to swerve to avoid causing them injury but nearly got injured myself.

That's even more of a problem now with cycle lanes because if a pedestrian does step.out, it will more than likely be onto the cycle lane so you will have to pull out into the traffic to avoid them.

Damien Lee said:

Well, it would be nice to have a small camera installed behind the seat together with a durable, lightweight LCD screen on the handle bars. This way, it will be easy to spot traffic from behind without having to turn around to look. I already spotted another cyclist with such a setup, but it looks like something he put together himself. If there's an easy to install kit such as this available, I'm sure many cyclists would be interested.

There are things called mirrors that do that job more than adequately.
I have a mirror on each of my helmets and wouldn't ride without them 🙂

digibud said:

One problem that has not been solved is a secure locking system that doesn't weigh a ton and can be carried by a road cyclist. I don't know that a solution exists.

I could very easily design a system to deliver a sufficiently high voltage to a thieving derriere. Once the thief sits and holds the bars, a taser like pulse would travel from the ischiai tuberosity stopping briefly at the ball sack on its journey to unleashing the cretin's grubbly hands from my bike. It would weigh less than a pound.