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Welcome to IWETHEY!

New Obviously.... *raises hand*
My backup bike is a Diamondback hybrid that I've taken the knobby tires off of and put on road slicks.

My main ride is a Trek Madone 4.5.

Both are outfitted with clipless pedals. The hybrid used to have a set of aerobars. Both have speed-/o-dometers. The Trek's computer also has a cadence-meter built in. Since getting that, I have become a bit of a cadence freak. If I'm pedaling at 95 times per minute, I'm happy -- I don't care whether I'm going 10 mph or 25. That's a comfortable pace for me.

Always, always, ALWAYS ride with a helmet. I took a spill a few years ago (must be four now) where my head hit the pavement pretty damn hard. I probably wouldn't be here if not for that helmet (which now holds a place of honor atop my bookshelf.)

What else ya thinking about in terms of gear?
-Mike

@MikeVitale42

"They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."
- Benjamin Franklin, 1759 Historical Review of Pennsylvania
New 50cc motor? /me flees
"Science is the belief in the ignorance of the experts" – Richard Feynman
New Pedals and shoes
The guy threw in a set of shoes to match the pedals, as they were in my size and the bikes he was keeping were all using a different style. They're OK, but the big plastic cleat makes walking really awkward. I'd like to commute, but there's a ton of construction downtown so I'll need to be in and out pretty frequently.

I've seen some shoes with recessed cleats, and matching pedals that are flat on one side. Seems like an ideal combination - use the platform until you've got enough room to bother clipping in.
--

Drew
New Being locked in has at least one advantage.
While you are pushing the pedal with one leg the other leg can be pulling on the other pedal. You get more power. Granted that means the legs get no pulsing rest.
Alex

"There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge."

-- Isaac Asimov
New Keeps them centered, too
It takes no effort to keep my foot centered no matter how hard I'm pushing. I've been using clipless* for only a couple of weeks, and I'm already completely sold. I just hate stepping off in a construction zone in the current shoes with the big cleats.

* The first pedal attachments were cages and straps. They were called "clips". The ski-type cleat mechanisms were not that, so they were called "clipless". It's confusing as shit.
--

Drew
New You really want to commute?
Does your workplace have a shower?
I work with a demented old guy. Really. Same stories, again and again. I've learned not to respond to anything he says or he will try to hook on to me for the next hour. Painful.
Anyway, he rides his bike to work most days. About a nine mile commute. And he sweats. Hard. Even in the winter.
Which in turn means he smells. Bad.
Be nice to your co-workers and do not commute unless you can shower when you get there.
New Yup
--

Drew
New Hah!
We used to have one of those, in the days before we moved to an office with showering facilities.

He was firmly of the belief that he'd have a bath once a week, whether he needed it or not.

And cycled five miles or so over the moors (so plenty of ascent and descent) to get to work.

He was fragrant. Thankfully, he retired when we moved to the office (with showers) that was now some fifteen or twenty miles from his home.
New Yeah, was going to recommend two-side pedals.
Then you can also ride short everyday-useful trips (grocery store, work commute if applicable, whatever) in regular shoes.

You might also consider fitting a diagonal strap on the no-clip side, like the "Power Grips" Sheldon Brown mentioned just above click-in pedals. I say "like" because the real thing is ridiculously expensive; if you want this, make it yourself out of something like a cheap lashing strap.

Also, of course, the helmet. As Mike says, indispensible. (There is a rather famous English surgeon who says it's no use, but he's talking out of his arse.)
--
Christian R. Conrad
Same old username (as above), but now on iki.fi

(Yeah, yeah, it redirects to the same old GMail... But just in case I ever want to change.)
New Second the Helmet drill absolutely.
Wayback.. was crossing San Pablo Ave. (wide-street) in Berkeley, enroute to work Person in crosswalk, cars stopped. Then someone drove through, hit moi + Vincent.
I was scooped up to bounce off perp's windshield, land on road/flat on back (head in-line ..a Good thing.)

As I lit, noted hmmm.. nothing broken, not even a bruise.. Interesting!
I was wearing a Brit "Corker", an early rudimentary head-cover not unlike a pith helmet.
The effect on landing was: head might as well have hit a rather stiff pillow, ..a Very-good thing.

As I got up, rather quickly ..my first thought was: this jerk prolly thinks I Be Daid (window bounce & all..)
As I approached the side-window I said, "Your insurance Co. will be damn glad I wear this helmet.. He. Was. ashen ... ...
(Because it was clear, He Got the Message of utter idiocy, I did not add the nearly mandatory "... you motherfucker!")




In the event, the settlement got me a brand new Black Lightning racing front-wheel/Borrani rims, Magnesium-alloy brake plates etc. and a passel of other goodies,
from good-ol Conway Motors Ltd. (of Shepherds Bush) and mail *exchanges with a neat guy/later friend, who meticulously sent along every item, on down to the 'tiny' bits.
* 'Ultimo. Proximo' ..added to vocabulary of Brit-write-speak du jour :-)

A few years later, I picked up my new Red A-H Sprite from Sid Broomfield, (Also an Austin broker.) He aimed me at Maidenhead, where en passant, I saw in yard
(it was a Sunday) heaps of vari-colured Sprite bodies ergo, warm-fuzzies. Euro Tour! Day 2. Got back to S. Bush o'nite place after wrong-side navigation all day. ✓

Synchronicity, eh? (Believe I had ordered the Corker from Conways earlier, but not sure..)

tl;dr
In the case of all vehicles with 2 degrees-of-Freedom: in a 3-D world: PHYSICS RULEZ!
But note also, in a recent PBS program re all those drain-bamaged idiot-Football young-uns, a simply superb demo re brain damage was shown:

Eggs were placed in an expensive 'Halliburton'-type alloy case, with form-fitting soft insert. The case was then tossed-all-around [as we all Know UPS does on a daily basis] ... and the case opened.
The eggs were pristine, as expected. 'Gramma' then sez, "I'd like a couple over-easy. please."

Alas, the yolk was sprinkled uniformly throughout. Nuff said? OK more:
all those neurons/synapses and er, interstitial materials which make a brain-a-Brain: are represented by that macerated yolk. Bitchin Helmets save skin & head-bones in almost ludicrous events, BUT..
Even the Best helmet Won't Save Your Yolk, however pretty-afterwards be the container. Only being 100.0% attentive, physics-ept and Wanting to Live ..gives some of us an edge
(I still be here, after all, with no brain damage at all at all at a


Ed: PS
In early days, Murican cyclists had yet to ponder.. the Fact that you can fracture skull/do whatever to innards ... walking. In time, the Fact dawnwd. Early small group I often went with through the swervery didn't guffaw at my sissy-headgear, but gradually adapted end adopted; helmets didn't cost a small ransom then, etc.

I never had to 'test' any of the later models, but that's just the Luck of the draw, and a realization that, if you plan to careen about on the World'sFstestStandardMotorcycle™, bunkie? try and [math]beat them Odds, eh?[/math]
Expand Edited by Ashton July 30, 2017, 09:53:59 PM EDT
New Helmets are interesting
The Dutch basically don't wear them ever. The Dutch also cycle a fucking shitload. The Dutch have the lowest cycling injury/death rate in the whole wide world ever.

Of course the Dutch also have created a safe environment for cyclists and attitudes of
drivers are different.

https://www.treehugger.com/bikes/why-dutch-dont-wear-helmets.html

(interesting article, although one commentator did come out with this absolute gem: "Clear-weather daylight biking is almost certainly safer than driving in the rain at night" - heh, no, fuck off, that's absolutely ridiculous: huge glowing citation required.)

In America, you should probably wear a helmet, because your drivers are (a) shit and (b) hate cyclists.

ETA: There's an interesting (uncited) comment that caught my eye (I am a student of the law of unintended consequences) - observing that there's no solid evidence either way that helmets improve matters overall (individual cases may vary, obv). One possible reason for this is that they may simply move the problem down the spinal column a bit. Save the head, crack a few vertebrae, break a neck.

Also this: www.sciencemag.org/news/2016/01/people-take-more-risks-when-wearing-helmets-potentially-negating-safety-benefits

So, taking together that mandating helmets reduces ridership (and the positive health outcomes thereof), and that helmet use increases risk-taking... well.

I'm going to leave it at "it's complicated".
Expand Edited by pwhysall July 31, 2017, 04:26:58 AM EDT
New Argument from motorcycling days
The lowest-speed possible accident is to fall over at a stop. Try this: Park your bike on the kickstand, sit sideways, and lean back until you fall off, landing in the back of your head. Try this with and without a helmet and report back on your results.
--

Drew
New Well, there's that.
Obviously in the individual case, having a lid on is better at mitigating against you actually falling off.

But the Dutch experience, in an environment that's basically free from Americans, is that you don't need it because you basically don't fall off.

The comments from the cloggies are interesting, and hardly even safety-related; they're all "but my hair!" and "where do I put the helmet when I'm done riding?" and "do you wear a helmet for walking?"

If you're race-biking (an activity that is by definition more likely to result in you coming off the bike) then obvs a hat is required, as are shorts that are alarmingly revealing, and those crazy shoes that clip into your pedals and make you walk as though you've shat yourself.

But for regular, not-riding-like-your-hair's-on-fire, normal-going-to-the-shops cycling? The overall benefits are far less clear.

Helmet = reduces risk of head injury, increases risk-taking, maybe moves injuries around (and a severe neck injury is just as entertaining as a severe head injury), reduces ridership (and thus increases the incidence of fat knackers and the concomitant burden on the public (or otherwise) health system), screws up your hair (if you've got it), and let's face it, they all look redonkulous

No helmet = increased risk of head injury if you fall off, reduces risk-taking, preserves your coiffe, increases ridership (thus reducing the incidence of fat knackers, etc.), you look way cooler

Imma look to the Dutch on this one. Ignoring their food, comedy language (it's that rarest of things; something that both the British and Germans can laugh at), and dress-sense, they know a thing or two about mass public cycling.

Caveat: given American driving, y'all should probably ignore all that and go for the full-face helmet and Kevlar body-armor option.

(Driver attitudes to cyclists here are softening, but are still not what you'd call "good"; I basically treat a cyclist like a small car. If that annoys my fellow drivers, well. What's got two thumbs and doesn't give a fuck? >puts two thumbs up
New Yes, here it's about everyone else
I'm not afraid I'd fall off. I make no bets on the chances of someone taking my lane.
--

Drew
New The place is essentially two dimensional
Makes it hard to fall off...
New "..probably ignore all that and go for the full-face helmet and Kevlar body-armor"
Yup, have noted, over past several years, continuing increase in the (usually NPR commuter road reports) "motorcycle down.." phrase in the mix.

Could be merely the predictable outcome of the (daily) worsening civility-on-all-levels and the withering of any possible sense of empathy amidst the masses. Were I riding these days, I'd stick to the swervery on Hwy 1, out on a recreational spree. And stay far away from Commute-time Road-Rage and other descriptors.

Lucky moi, I may have experienced American motorcycling, almost totally within the pre-Murican Era of saner neuropathology. It was enough. I don't even pine for the Fjords.



'Course if someone came by on a pristine Shadow, with a "wanna take it for a spin?" What could one Say?
     Who's a cyclist here? - (drook) - (17)
         Maybe. - (static)
         Obviously.... *raises hand* - (mvitale) - (15)
             50cc motor? /me flees -NT - (boxley)
             Pedals and shoes - (drook) - (6)
                 Being locked in has at least one advantage. - (a6l6e6x) - (1)
                     Keeps them centered, too - (drook)
                 You really want to commute? - (crazy) - (2)
                     Yup -NT - (drook)
                     Hah! - (pwhysall)
                 Yeah, was going to recommend two-side pedals. - (CRConrad)
             Second the Helmet drill absolutely. - (Ashton)
             Helmets are interesting - (pwhysall) - (5)
                 Argument from motorcycling days - (drook) - (4)
                     Well, there's that. - (pwhysall) - (3)
                         Yes, here it's about everyone else - (drook)
                         The place is essentially two dimensional - (scoenye)
                         "..probably ignore all that and go for the full-face helmet and Kevlar body-armor" - (Ashton)

The sleek race lines of an outhouse standing on a garbage scow.
150 ms