anyone who doesn't have a car bike around? Or just bike short distances for the hell of it?

[Ultima]

I'm 19 and don't yet have a car though I plan on getting one soon. In the meantime I use the subway/bus to get to and from school. I've found that this is a great way to go downtown or to go to school, but it sucks ass when going to a job!!!

Last summer I spent quite a few weeks working in the west island and it'd take 2 hours by bus/subway to get there! As opposed to 20 minutes by car.

I never considered biking last summer but I think this summer I'm gonna fix up the bike and I'm gonna take a trial run tomorrow to see how long it takes to get there. It's a long distance at 18km/11 miles, but a few summers back I worked at this well-paying (for a summer job) seafood factory that had no public transit access at all, so I biked there. That summer I also got hit by two cars on the same road in 2 seperate incidents, one was on his cell and the other just wasn't paying attention, both were coming out of driveways from stores. ever since then I've avoided that street like the plague. Anyways, that was only 12km/7 miles and that took around 45 mins.

So anyone else who doesn't have a car or doesn't need to go very far or whatever also bike? I don't understand the people who don't mind 2 hour bus rides and don't mind waiting 20 minutes for a bus to show up. I'm not that type of person and would rather bike and face the dangers of biking than wait.

I wonder if there are any cheap electric kits that I can attack to the bikes? Just something that can boost speeds up to 40km/h/25mph would kick ass, and cut the time to 25 minutes, just 5-10 mins longer than by car and 95 mins shorter than the bus.

 

[DAPUNISHER]

What kind of bike are you riding? Are you in good shape? BTW, as you ride your conditioning will obviously improve and that will help your time as well.

 

[Ultima]

<< What kind of bike are you riding? Are you in good shape? BTW, as you ride your conditioning will obviously improve and that will help your time as well. >>



It's a mountain bike that I estimate to weigh 20-30lbs, had it for a good 9-10 years now I'm sure. It definately needs a tune-up, the brakes are worn almost to the plastic and I use one of my feet to help me brake when I need to stop fast. The front rim is bent from those 2 bastard cars, and the front reflector is smashed too. Front derailleur is messed up and my chain is acting up too, so might be looking at new parts. The thing still handles well for a 10 year old bike that has had no money put into it, wish cars could be as maintenance free.

I'm not in shape at all so the first couple weeks would be hard, after I got in shape it'd be fine though. As long as I can keep an average speed over 20km/h/12mph it shouldn't take too long.. half the time of the bus.

 

[Shaftatplanetquake]

Its always good to rely on your own body(and a pretty trouble free bike)rather than an automobile. Not that I'm speaking from personal experience or anything!

 

[Ultima]

eh?

Wtf, only 2 posts from other members? Are y'all lazy bastards that drive 50 feet to the convenience store?

 

[Ultima]

What else should I fix up on my bike besides the chain, derailleur, and front rim (and reflector)? What would need maintenance after this long?

Well i guess I won't be doing that trial run today, as its god damn snowing. wtf!!

 

[RossMAN]

<< eh?

Wtf, only 2 posts from other members? Are y'all lazy bastards that drive 50 feet to the convenience store? >>



Nope I fly to any distance greater than 20 feet

Seriously though I love biking and would do more of it if it didn't rain so damn much here.

 

[abaez]

I live in Long beach and I ride to school. I am in good shape and exercise
regularly and it takes me about 20 minutes to get to school thats about
8 miles away. There is also a big hill I have to go up but putting it on
lower gears alleviates the difficulty. You should be making it
in about 30 minutes if you are in shape, maybe 45 if you are not?

 

[Scarpozzi]

My car's harmonic balancer went out last summer and left me stranded at my apartment... I have a killer mtn bike so I hopped on it and rode to work. It's a 9 mile ride and I was able to make the trip in about 30 minutes. Just be sure to have a backpack with all your required tools to fix flats and a change of clothes and deodorant. That week, I had to bike to work every day so I ran up 18 miles a day on the round trip for 6 days and went through double my laundry just so I'd look spiffy once I got to the office. Luckily, it didn't rain that week, but it was EXTREMELY hot.

I've been fortunate since then because my job is now only about 8 blocks away from my apartment and my car is running much better.

 

[Koing]

I have a 7 minute walk in to college and I take my car!..lol. I only do so as I carry two bags. Not so good to ride with a laptop in your back and a ruck sake!

I'm no lazy beotch though. I Weight Lift 3x a week and rock climb and Tennis

 

[Jfur]

In college and h.s. I rode my bike, as I had no car. I used it for *all* my transportation, averaging over 15 miles a day. Be sure to wear a helmet and stick to roads where there is enough space for you on the side. I found an ATB to be a good choice for stability. You'll still meet a few wackjob drivers, so remain alert.

 

[Jfur]

<< What else should I fix up on my bike besides the chain, derailleur, and front rim (and reflector)? What would need maintenance after this long?

>>




BRAKES, BRAKES, BRAKES :Q

 

[Thegonagle]

You might want to consider a new or newer-used bike. Fixing your old one may run into more money than you'd care to spend on an old bike.

 

[Ultima]

<< I live in Long beach and I ride to school. I am in good shape and exercise
regularly and it takes me about 20 minutes to get to school thats about
8 miles away. There is also a big hill I have to go up but putting it on
lower gears alleviates the difficulty. You should be making it
in about 45 minutes if you are in shape, maybe 30 if you are not? >>



24miles an hour/40km/h an hour? How the $#&* did you ride so fast? You must have had really low rolling resistance tires, and what about wind drag? At those speeds, the wind starts to slow you down a lot. The drag would be anywhere from 200-400watts depending on the wind, not counting anything else. Just 200 will make me sweat on an exercise bike

Of course it might be cause of my mountain tires/heavy bike or the fact that the brakes rub and the bike needs a tuneup, but I find much above 12 miles an hour starts to take some effort to maintain.

 

[Thegonagle]

In my current state of un-fitness with my new bike, a hybrid '00 Trek 7300 ($240, barely used) with tires pumped up to 80 PSI, 16-17 is very easy to maintain for several miles, and short bursts of 24 or so are also pretty easy for me. I expect to get those numbers up by a significant amount this summer. I think I will be able to break speed limits on level ground before too long. A mountain bike with small-diameter, fat, low-pressure tires will slow you down a lot.

 

[Don Vito Corleone]

The electric kits for bikes will not boost your speed - they are not capable of going as fast or faster than a reasonably fit rider.

 

[Ultima]

hmm
well I might look into getting hybrid tires and putting them on my bike. I rarely go through dirt and mud, but I do from time to time. Sometimes when its cold I'll also have to bike through a bit of snow and ice.
So how much of a difference will hybrid tires make in the rolling resistance? Can I even get hybrid tires/rims for my bike or I'll have to get a hybrid bike? Don't really wanna buy a new bike, it'll probably be just $60 or so to fix up my bike. Were you talking in miles? That's pretty amazing.. I remember with my grandma's 30 year old road bike that the houses seemed to be going by fast when I was using it while at her house, but I have no idea what speed I was going as I didn't have a speedometer on it.

 

[Ultima]

<< The electric kits for bikes will not boost your speed - they are not capable of going as fast or faster than a reasonably fit rider. >>


I dunno, was never able to maintain faster than 14-16mph for long stretches without really tiring myself out. 20mph without any effort would be cool, but now that I read the posts in this thread it seems maybe its my bike slowing me down. Hmm..

 

[jlee]

I ride my (well, my dad's...the wheels were stolen from mine, I need to buy new tires for my extra set) bike - mine is a Diamondback Topanga with Indy C Rock Shox...my dad's is a Specialized something-or-other with Manitou front suspension. I ride 2.5 miles to work (each way) - I still have a learner's license, even though I'm 18....don't want to spend $1k/year on insurance

 

[Rakkis]

You guys have expensive bikes!
I have a Huffy - Stone Mountain I bought at Walmart for about $80 : ) (yay bankruptcy)

I bike about 15 miles every other day as exercise. I plan to use it to get to campus (~3 miles away) and back during the summer for school/work.

[edit: typo]

 

[Eli]

I don't have a car, either. I ride one of these around most of the time. Sometimes my bike..

Doesen't really do any good for the exercise thing.. But it's fun.

Makes your right arm strong.. pulling the starter rope.

 

[Ultima]

those things have 1-2 hp and they only get you to 20mph? WTF???
They must be speed limited or something cause that's awful. A human can get up to those speeds without expending anything near 1hp.

 

[Bignate603]

i haven't biked anywhere in over a year, and i'm only 18.

 

[fatalbert]

<< i haven't biked anywhere in over a year, and i'm only 18. >>




longer for me I'm 19

 

[Ultima]

Yeah.. these things MUST be speed limited. Checking up on electric bikes and 400watts gets you up to 18mph only... either that or they're horribly inefficient at getting the power to the ground.