Mudguard Sydrome

I have to say today in Brisbane was one of those few days where it was so wet that I really should not of ridden to work but oh well. My otherhalf had infact said to me just before leaving that I should catch the BUZ "but the rain has stopped". In short I got drowned but why did I still ride and still take the risk of getting wet? I have mudguards.

Mudguards are one of those things that are no longer standard on bikes and they really should be. It is something they confuses baby boomers because when they rode bikes before they bought there cars (the reason why bikes declined) every bike had them. Because of this in general they are seen as something of the past and very uncool. This is slowly changing with more bikes now being sold with them but these are still very much in the minority with most people like myself have to retrofit there bikes. This is even when there bike is marked as an urban Machine.

So why did they disappear. This is quite simple people stopped using bikes for what there main purpose is transport. You see if you use something for transport it has to go through fine weather and wet weather. This meant the need to stop spray off the road onto the rider but when cycling became something of a sport or a thing of recreation who would be out in the wet? There is also that mudguards would never of been fitted to sport bikes. When you are trying your best to bet the guy next to you you do not need this tiny sail down on your wheel slowing you down. Once cycling became more of a sport people wanted bikes like those and that meant no mudguards.

So whats so good? Well the first thing is you don't get wet. You may say big deal you will still get wet from the rain. This I have to say on most wet days is a misconception. Unless the rain is constant or hard you will get more water sprayed up onto yourself from the road then you will get from the sky. Waters not that bad! this is very true but it is the things that mix in the water that you may not like to taste being thrown up in your face, think dog poo and engine oil. Then there is the fun side like being a child again and riding through poodles. There is no greater fun then blasting through water and coming out the other side with minimal water on yourself while some other poor bugger cops a face full of water, mud and what ever else is in there. In short a Mudguards allow you to continue riding in must weathers.

Now the Bad! So far I there is only one thing that I do not like about Mudguards is the sail affect. Due to the shape of mine they do catch the wind, and this may increase your travel time but this is only minimal. This can be reduced by insuring that the width of your mudguards match the width of your tyres.

So what to look for?
1st - There are many guards out on the Market but like many other commuter cyclists I prefer the classic full length design. These will offer the best protection and are the most stable. Some other types can fail and rub on the tyres.
2nd -  Bikes generally come in two wheel diameters 700c and 26inch. 700C is generally road to hybrid bikes while 26inch is mountain bikes and supermarket specials. Always check what wheel size you have beforehand.
3rd - Tyre Width can be a big problem if you buy a Mudguard for a road bike and you have a hybrid. While the opposite will work you then have the sail factor. Ensure your guard is designed for your preferred tyre width. Guards should be close but not to close.
4th - Material can be a factor if the bike is going to get knocked about. The guard needs to be strong enough that if the bike falls down they will not bend. My current guards are plastic and were off my old bike that went through the accident. Apart from a bend in one of the support arms they are fine.
5th - It is not uncommon that some Mudguards have very weak support arms and fixings. Make sure your guards will not generally move about and touch the tyre otherwise there could be an accident.

I would not be without Mudguards now and if really want to ride as much as possible I suggest giving them ago. You will no regret it and the memory of road spray quickly becomes a thing of the past.

Downfall Creek Bikeway - non announcement

It has been announced by the Lord Mayor that the Downfall Creek Bikeway will be completed where is passes under Sandgate Road and North Coast Line. The thing is this is not an announcement but a reannouncement of a project that was cut after the floods. Now you may say so what the flood were bad. I agree the floods were bad and many parts of Brisbane were badly damaged but according to the Brisbane times the council only came out of budget by $100 000. This was due to the state and Federal funds that were channelled towards the council. Yes that is right $100 000 dollars short is the reason why an important link between Binda and Vaginia Station was not made. Now there is no doubt that this link will cost more than $100 000 but there are other projects (mainly road) that still proceeded. There was also new projects that were announced eg $2 million for WiFi in parks.
Now what is going to have a longer lasting good for the people of Brisbane, a connected network of bikeways or David being able to see what John had for breakfast on facebook?

Just to prove that they used the floods as the reason here is a screen dump from the councils website as of 14.01.2012

http://www.couriermail.com.au/questnews/north/final-stage-of-bikepath-underway/story-fn8m0rl4-1226243737629

http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/queensland/councils-flood-cost-sparks-political-brawl-20110913-1k7m0.html

It's Not That Hot

First off this is a whinge at people and the media.

Right that is out of the way.
It is not that hot. For the first time this summer we have actually had a hot day. Yesterday the temperature in Brizzy broke 36 degrees but not a muggy 36 a dry 36. Yes I said it a dry 36 degrees. It was reported on the ABC news that the humidity was 20% this resulted in people being hot but not sweaty it also felt cooler then the day before that was infact cooler but wetter. Oh brother this is not news it is summer and it is spose to get hot. What is news is when back in july 2009 it hit 36 degrees.
36 degrees in Summer is not news
36 degrees in Winter is news.
Honestly comeon people we live in the Subtropics.

In other news even with the heat (of summer) people continuted to ride there bikes to work. The Storey Bridge and the South East Bikeway were both very busy with people returning to work after the Christmas break.
One of the biggest myths of riding a bike in Brizzy is that it is to hot. This is a myth that I intend on explaining on in up coming posts.

In the mean time
Come on people it is Summer enjoy the heat before Winter arrives

Bicycle Parking at Public Transport

I have long been the throne in the side of council and State Government when it comes to bicycle parking. One thing I hate is when new buildings are put in but no parking is provided this includes Rail and Busway Stations. The "Connecting SEQ 2031" document stats on page 52 that it is intended by 2031 an average of 250 bicycle parking spaces will be provided at each train station. This is a noble aim but one that is destined to fail as I highly doubt the Government would be willing to take away car spaces for Bicycles and there is the security factor. A solution is the automated underground bicycle parking station. This has been developed in Japan and could solve some of the problems in the fact that on could possible use there Go Card to swipe your bike in then swipe your bike out. While yes there are some problems with this idea I would have to say this is far better then a Bicycle cage where anyone can look at your bike and other users could nick off with the lights off your bike.

Tyres - for commuting

I would like to point out this is not an ad for the brand of tyres I use more to stress the importance of tyres that are puncture resistance.

As I have stated earlier I have been riding for close to 10 years as a form of transport and if there is one thing that will kill it for you it is a flat tyre. We all know the story of the motorist with a flat but there is a slight difference, they carry a spare, cyclists well not truly practical. There are the ones that say you can carry a spare tube but come on be practical! I do not want to be on the side of a narrow path (hopefully not blocking flow) desperately trying to get the tyre off then a tube out then pumping it back up with a Mini-pump that in all accounts will only get the PSI of the tyre back up to 20. That is not me and it is not what most people that intend on riding to work wish to be doing. What is needed is a tyre that can run over broken glass and keep going and going.

Mid-last year my old bike failed and broke while I was riding it. It would of been a terrifying moment if I could remember it, I blacked out. Then again it might of had the same thought I had on the last accident "not again". To that I went out and bought a new bike, "get straight back on" as the saying goes and I have done that.

Tyres! the machine I bought is marketed as an urban machine with puncture resistant tyres. While I would of still bought it if it did not come with puncture resistance tyres, I would od bought replacements. I had been running with "Specilized Armadillos" for the last four years and had not had a single puncture. It would not be uncommon for me to sit down at the end of a work day every six months and so and pick bits of glass out of the tyres. The rubber on these tyres is very tough and even if it gets into that there is another layer of material to prevent material from reaching the tubes and causing a flat.

Well! After having the new bike for just two weeks the first wet day happened. Everyone that rides a bike hates wet days for one reason or another, generally I don't. That said I had a bad feeling I had noticed as soon as I got the bike the tyres just looked that bit to soft, not puncture resistant at all. As wet roads softer tyres rubber and move glass on the road about I had the worst feeling that a puncture was going to happen. Sure enough it did less then two kilometres into the ride. I heard the glass before I heard the wizzzzz of escaping air. With that I knew I had the fun of the walk home and then of being an hour late for work, NOT IMPRESSED.

What to do! The first thing to do was to order some Armadillos. Well to be correct a single Armadillo. Most punctures occur in the rear tyre not the front so as not to waste the existing tyre it would become the spare for the front which would also remain to run out it's life. Armadillos have a long running life of over 10000kms due to the hard rubber used.

There are some complaints regarding such long lasting tyres. The first is ofcourse grip, due to use of harder rubber grip has been reported as a problem, this is understandable but to the best of me I have not had a problem. The other thing is if it is a problem maybe you are taking a bend to fast. It is not uncommon for me to see riders take bends with there body 45 degrees to the road surface. I would say that is to fast because all you need is one rock and off you slide. Take the bend slower and focus on accelerating quicker. The second complaint regarding puncture resistant tyres is they are hard to get off and on the wheel rim. This argument I have to say is a contradiction in itself. I agree it was hard getting the new Armadillo on even with the tools to do the job but the fact is if tyre is puncture resistant you will not have to take it off the rim until it is needing replacement. Far better to pull a tyre off once a year or more then once every few weeks and waste time repairing and replacing damaged tubes. The final complaint is they don't roll as well. This I do agree with. I have found they I do not accelerate quite as fast as with the other tyre but have not had it increase my travel time to work. Once again this comes down to cost/benefit ratio! Even if it was taking me a little longer to get to work each day say a minute it is better to get to work a little slower with a regular travel time then every few weeks turning up 10 or 20 minutes late or in my case 1hr late.

So what to do if you have a bike with non-puncture resistant tyres.
1st - weigh up the benefits of non-puncture and puncture resistant tyres
2nd - Do your research, I have named one brand but there are others
3rd - replace the rear tyre. Rear tyres are more likely to get a puncture and use the remaining tyres on the front wheel until they are worn out. Then when needed replace the front as well.

Like I said at the start you may not mind carrying all the equipment with you but if you are like me and just want to get to places with minimal worry I would have say invest in some puncture resistant tyres, They make life so much less stressful

South East Bikeway

As I commented yesterday there is only two Active Transport arterials in Brisbane.  The same bloke that did the count for the Bicentennial went out and did a count on the South East Bikeway this morning, figures can be seen below.

Unlike the Bicentennial Bikeway, the South East Bikeway is not dual mode, it is a bike only bikeway. While there are sections where it is shared these are the old non arterial parts of the bikeway that will eventually be bypassed with new high quality sections. This of course has it's good and bad sides. The main bad side to this is because pedestrians can not access it people have a poor understanding of the corridor ( that is of course if they do not get on a bike) Also because the corridor has no pedestrians on it, it get next to no media attention. This is ofcourse a good and a bad thing.

Currently the non arterial parts of the bikeway are planned to be replaced with High Quality bypasses. I will talk more about them in later postings.

The figures from this morning are quite interesting. First of all the figure for women is still well below the figure for men  at 4 to 1. The other fact that is quite interesting is that road bikes are out numbered 2 to 1 by other bikes. This is a swap compared with the Bicentennial where the road bikes made the majority. The later can be put down to two things in my mind.
1st- the South East is more a commuter path and lacking in views
2nd - many parts are still very rough and narrow not leanding themselves to bunch riding with road bikes

South East Bikeway Count 20120105

Time = 7:25-8:05am

Total = 185

Sex

Male = 148.5** (80%)

Female = 36.5** (20%)

Bike Type

Road = 65 (35%)

Other* = 120 (65%)

Bike per Sex

Male Road = 53 (36%)

Male Other* = 95.5 (64%)

Female Road = 12 (33%)

Female Other* = 24.5 (67%)

* = any bike that is not fitted with drop bar Handle Bars

.5**= indicates a tandem bike with both a male and female riding it

General Note

-                     Not all bikes passing were able to be counted

-                     This count did not include pedestrians as they are not permitted on the bikeway

-                     This count includes cyclists going both North and South

-                     Due to this count beginning 10minutes later then the Bicentennial count the figures can not be directly compared.

-                     This count was conducted under the

Vulture St

overpass

-                     The weather was overcast with drizzle and moderate temperature but high humidity

Bicentennial Bikeway

The Bicentennial Bikeway is one of only two Active Transport arterial that run into Brisbane. While there are some other bikeways that run into the CBD this one and the South East Bikeway are the only two Arterials so far.

Currently the Bicentennial is going through an upgrade process. This upgrade is much needed as the corridor has been running at capacity for close to ten years now. According to figures from when the upgrade process began around 3 years ago the corridor was carrying 4000 pedestrian and cyclists movements a day. While this might sound like not much for a road this pretty much all a shared facility can carry safely without there being negative media stories ( and there has been plenty over the years). Just before Christmas the latest section opened with very little fan fair to my disappointment. While Brisbane Times ran a story and the CBD BUG posted the news of the opening on it's website, the Courier Trash (Mail) and BQ have completely ignored it at least on the online versions.

As I am a Nosey Bugger I went out and Had a look. I have to say it is very nice. While I am not a fan of the all out painting of green on the bike part of the path it will fad overtime.
What is more interesting, I have been supplied with these figures from a count that was done this morning. They enforce the fact the bikeway is heavily used and if you break them down it equals 10 bike passing the counter every minute(this is a combined East West number)

Bicentennial Bikeway Count 20120104

Time = 7:15-7:55am

Total = 441

Sex

Male = 362 (82%)

Female = 79 (18%)

Bike Type

Road = 259 (59%)

Other* = 182 (41%)

Bike per Sex

Male Road = 222 (61%)

Male Other* = 140 (39%)

Female Road = 37 (47%)

Female Other* = 42 (53%)

* = any bike that is not fitted with drop bar Handle Bars

General Note

-                     Not all bike passing were able to be counted

-                     This count did not include pedestrian

-                     This count includes cyclists going both east and west

-                     This count was conducted just west of the Hale Street Bridge with me sitting in the shade under the Overpass

-                     Between 30-50% of road cyclists were in groups or seamed to be out riding for exercise and not commuting

The Newest Section in photos

Planning

Currently there is three separate transport plans out for Brisbane and SEQ that relate to cycling, two by the State (Connecting SEQ & Queensland Cycle Strategy) which work with each other and the Council's one (draft active transport policy)

Before I go into details of each I think it might pay to look at the Netherlands Cycling policy 20 years ago,
Don't worry it is in English.