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.
Tuesday, 10 January 2012
Saturday, 7 January 2012
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
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
Thursday, 5 January 2012
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
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
Vulture St overpass
- The weather was overcast with drizzle and moderate temperature but high humidity
Wednesday, 4 January 2012
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)
The Newest Section in photos
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
- 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
Tuesday, 3 January 2012
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.
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.
Thursday, 29 December 2011
Cop Out
Why oh why do the politics always go for quick fixes and technology. This is a video produced by one of the councils in Sydney. Instead of biting the bullit and admitting that there is to little infrastructure in there council to premit cycling they have gone fore the easy option of saying the fedreal Government should change the law and allow PMDs on the foot path. At this point I would like to point out I am not fore or against this just, why not bite the buillit and admit that your pass decisions as a council has resulted in increased traffic congestion, obesity and care dependence.
And why not build cycling infrastructure? "white collar workers don't want to get sweaty"
What a Cop Out, I ride to work every day and work as a "white collar worker"
This Sydney council is not alone, a similar policy was included in a pass BCC document.
Come on admit it, Build Infrastructure
And why not build cycling infrastructure? "white collar workers don't want to get sweaty"
What a Cop Out, I ride to work every day and work as a "white collar worker"
This Sydney council is not alone, a similar policy was included in a pass BCC document.
Come on admit it, Build Infrastructure
The Small Things Count
While I complained eariler about the closure of the Ivory Lane path at the Northern End of the Storey Bridge the council was doing a small but important addition at the Southern End of the Bridge. As both sides of the Bridge have shared paths cyclists depending on there travel path will use either side. This seams to be pretty evenly split from what I have observed. That said on the southern end on the Eastern Side where the path joins Deakin St a new Kerb Ramp has been installed. Unlike the old one that still exists this one has no lip to it so that cyclists do not need to hit it at right angles to avoid planting there face into concrete footpath. This allows cyclists to move from the road to path with ease without feeling like they may be hit by a car that has decided not to break.
Sorry for the bad image but like many of my photos it was taken on my Phone camera
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