Re: Disc brake maintenance tips

On Thu, 27 Jun 2024 10:16:49 -0500, AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:

On 6/27/2024 9:55 AM, Frank Krygowski wrote:

On 6/27/2024 10:21 AM, AMuzi wrote:

On 6/27/2024 8:53 AM, Catrike Ryder wrote:

On Thu, 27 Jun 2024 07:49:36 -0500, AMuzi
<am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:
>

  But recreational cyclists (you, for
example) can choose routes wherever they prefer and you
prefer cycle/pedestrian only. Which is fine.
>
Commuter/utility cyclists don't have that luxury of choice
and either learn to ride in a real world of 3000lb hurtling
missiles piloted by distracted/high/homicidal killers or
suffer from 'frisson de voiture' events.

 
Sorry, but I've got to disagree with that portrayal. I
almost never experience hostility or significant danger from
motorists. Perhaps two or three times per year, someone
honks at me. I haven't had to take evasive action for
decades. It's just not that bad out there! In fact, it's not
bad at all.
 
Now I'll grant that I usually choose more pleasant routes,
not the highest traffic arterials. But I do ride those
arterials from time to time, as I've always done. They may
not be aesthetically pleasing, but they are far from hellish.
 

Forester argued against bicycle infrastructure.

 
Forester correctly pointed out the hazards inherent in many
types of bike infrastructure. His influence even there was
beneficial, in that from about 1980 till about 2005, bike
infrastructure became not as bad as it had been. Example:
His first serious rant against bike infra described his
attempt to ride what was essentially a sidewalk bike path at
a normal speed, which was a very dangerous exercise.
Engineers on design standards committees recognized the
correctness of his complaints and began improving design
standards. (After roughly 2005, the Paint & Path industry
gained political control and found ways to say "Feel free to
try whatever comes into your little mind." Hence
bi-directional on-street bike chutes.)
 

Thank goodness his
agenda failed and thus recreational bicycling has grown
as had the
manufacture and sales of bicycles.

 
Sure, the bicycle industry is just thriving! (That was
sarcastic.)
 

Forester encouraged already known, common sense cyclist
behavior for
people who choose to ride amongst vehicles. I don't
understand why so
many people pay him homage.

>
OK, I agree, reification from both extremes.

 
As I explained, and as Forester explained, the perfectly
logical techniques he espoused were largely unknown in
America. The flood of new bicyclists in the early 1970s knew
next to nothing about how to behave on the road. Common
sense was far from common. The proper techniques were
"already known," but not here. He taught what he had been
taught when he was young, in Britain.
 
It was all very new to Americans, including American traffic
engineers. (His lesser-known book, _Bicycle Transportation
Engineering_, was directed specifically at them.) He did a
great service when he introduced that information to America.
 

And your cycling is a good example of infrastructure which
is useful to you. Magnitude, extent and cost are
legitimate public policy discussions ( or conflicts, if
you will).

 
I note that the Very Independent, Very Fiscally Conservative
tricycle rider is fine with the Evil Government spending
millions of tax dollars for the benefit of the very, very
few - as long as he's one of those few.
 

Antipersonnel devices in traffic lanes, wrong-way green
paint lanes and so on are much less defensible.

 
Agreed.
 

>
"Sorry, but I've got to disagree with that portrayal. I
almost never experience hostility or significant danger from
motorists."
>
Well, I suppose in Poland OH you wouldn't.  Try a dense
urban area between 6am and 8am for a different environment.

I've experienced it right here in suburbia.

Yes there are still occasions when I ride on streets and roads.