Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 3,549 Location: Montréal
city cycling, cycling cities « Thread Started on Feb 8, 2009, 5:31pm »
I started this in the Europe category because Amsterdam and Copenhagen have such a lead on any other major cities, and Paris of all places has made enormous progress as a cycling-friendly city.
But if this could "faire des petits" on threads about other continents, that would be great too! And of course about smaller towns and the countryside, but in the same (putterish) spirit.
I've also been on a bicycle in Strasbourg and Ferrara. Don't mean racing, and certainly not wearing "gear". I'm a middle-aged woman, not particularly athletic, but ride my old 6-speed ladies' Raleigh Sprite most of the year (even yesterday, as the snow and ice had melted off the roads, but I don't ride all winter in icy weather). Then I took Sprite in to give her a new chain and dérailleur, and a nice tune-up.
http://amsterdamize.com/ and http://copenhagencyclechic.com/ are two of the top sites about "cycling in normal clothes" or "cyclechic" (though of course one need not be chic). Just remembering that lycra is not necessary...
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 34,538 Location: Paris, France
Re: city cycling, cycling cities « Reply #1 on Feb 8, 2009, 6:51pm »
How strange that anybody would think that "cycling clothes" are required to ride a bicycle. In Paris, you now see lots of businessmen in suits on bicycles, somewhat fewer businesswomen, but they are there also, sometimes with heels.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 25,328 Location: Mexico
Re: city cycling, cycling cities « Reply #2 on Feb 8, 2009, 8:28pm »
Forever & ever people rode any kind of bike they owned, while wearing clothes appropriate to where they were going. Then -- probably through the miracle of advertizing -- in order to ride a bike you needed a helmet custom fitted to your cranium, a titanium steed with 111 gears even if you lived in Holland, and special form-fitting clothing to wick away persperation and reduce wind drag. Kinda kills the convenience & spontaneity of having a bike, doesn't it?
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 3,549 Location: Montréal
Re: city cycling, cycling cities « Reply #3 on Feb 8, 2009, 9:06pm »
But if you have the aerodynamic helmet, kit and 111 gears, they you'll pedal like Lance or Indurain! That is the true miracle of advertising. The number of portly, middle-aged civil servants I've seen in such get-ups, especially in Ottawa... Fortunately that is less popular here in Montréal, where the majority of cyclists (who aren't actually training) ride in ordinary clothing.
I love my old Raleigh. In Dutch cities you need zero gears (though perhaps you might want some if you are cycling overland against the North Sea wind, which can be as rough as hills). Here in Montréal we do have some hills of consequence, including Mt-Royal, which is actually referred to as a "mountain", rather laughably, so it is nice to have a few speeds, but nobody needs 21. New bicycles get stolen almost immediately here as in most cities.
I love the way Dutch tradespersons ride to work in their coveralls, painters' clothes, whatever.
I'd certainly rather cycle in heels than walk any distance in them - you just have to make sure you pedal with the ball of your foot.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 3,224 Location: Greenest UK
Re: city cycling, cycling cities « Reply #4 on Feb 9, 2009, 8:29pm »
Geneva in Switzerland has a riding policy with bikes for rent for free (with deposit). England is starting to develop its network of cycle paths.
Maybe not cycling gear as such, but different clothing than the office clothes is sometimes required. you don't want to cycle to work in a suit and sweat in your shirt and get showered by violent rain as is often the case in this beautiful country... so my bf wears different outfit for cycling to work and to work.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 999 Location: Edinburgh, Scotland.
Re: city cycling, cycling cities « Reply #5 on Feb 11, 2009, 8:17am »
Read yesterday that London are going to have 5000 "velib" type bikes available by the start of 2010. I also read that a huge number of Paris ones have been stolen or vandalised.
The link to it will not work but here is just one quote
"Of the 20,000 "Velib" bikes provided in the French capital, 7,800 have vanished"
Re: city cycling, cycling cities « Reply #8 on Feb 11, 2009, 9:03am »
Germany is riddled with cycle paths, which is a good thing, and in the cities they often form the largest part of the pavement, which is a bad thing. God help you if you're out for an evening stroll with your partner, holding hands, and one of you strays onto the cycle path as the footpath narrows. You get a resounding chorus of bells, cyclists screeching to a halt on purpose behind you and shouting at you to get off.
Then you get one of these coming past at 40km per hour and whipping your ankles away -
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 34,538 Location: Paris, France
Re: city cycling, cycling cities « Reply #9 on Feb 11, 2009, 9:49am »
In Paris, too, pedestrians are having a hard time adapting to this new kind of traffic. I don't even always have the bell-ringing reflex so when people are looking the wrong direction, there can be problems.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 3,549 Location: Montréal
Re: city cycling, cycling cities « Reply #10 on Feb 11, 2009, 6:59pm »
Mark, aren't there also pavements for pedestrians? I'm more often in Amsterdam, and there are both. Have also seen both in Germany - isn't it a matter of the pedestrians not seeing that they are on the cycle path?
Re: city cycling, cycling cities « Reply #12 on Feb 11, 2009, 7:55pm »
Lagatta - mostly where I lived in Frankfurt the cycle path within the town formed part of the pavement. The section closest to the road was for bikes. There are separate cycle paths in the outskirts and in places where there was enough room and there were pavements purely for pedestrians in some places. But usually along most of the roads it was dual usage. I've been searching for a picture but the best I can come up with is this one which is not so representative -
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 34,538 Location: Paris, France
Re: city cycling, cycling cities « Reply #13 on Feb 11, 2009, 8:31pm »
Great progress has been made in the last 10 years in Paris and the suburbs. A lot of the cycle paths are completely separate like this one. Unfortunately, it doesn't always keep the pedestrians off them.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 2,052 Location: South of the Dordogne
Re: city cycling, cycling cities « Reply #15 on Feb 15, 2009, 7:33am »
Stretching the subject a little... Yesterday, here in Luxor, we saw a group of 20 Germans on rollerblades. With the cracked paving and crazy traffic this is the last place I'd think of doing ir.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 34,538 Location: Paris, France
Re: city cycling, cycling cities « Reply #17 on Sept 5, 2011, 8:35am »
Gee, this was one of the very first threads on this site. I thought it was interesting to revisit it, since we have discussed cycling quite a bit on other threads since then.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 3,549 Location: Montréal
Re: city cycling, cycling cities « Reply #19 on Sept 22, 2011, 12:29pm »
A Spiegel article about the recent copenhagenize listing of most cycling-friendly cities. Amsterdam edged out Copenhagen, by the way. Montréal, at 8th place, is the top cycling city in North America (or all of the Americas, for that matter). http://www.spiegel.de/international/world/0,1518,787531,00.html
The listing seems to privilege the larger cities, and those that have made the most progress of late. I think Berlin remains more cycling-friendly than Paris, and Strasbourg is certainly a far more cycling-friendly French city than Paris has become, but the progress in Paris is a beacon. I think NYC made 20th place for similar reasons. After all, copenhagenize aims to promote utilitarian cycling worldwide.
mpprh, welcome to APIAS! I'll be looking forward to info on Languedoc, and I'm sure others are too.
Gerry Pratt's exploits go far beyond "utilitarian urban cycling" though. Imec started up an interesting thread on sport and exercise cycling, and we have a lot on bicycle touring on the France pages, thanks in large part to French Mystique Tour.
Joined: Mar 2012 Gender: Female Posts: 66 Location: Florence, Italy
Re: city cycling, cycling cities « Reply #21 on Mar 5, 2012, 9:42pm »
Nice topic! Here in Florence, Italy, the bike is a must have. Everyone goes by bike, although it is not at all bike-user-friendly city. There are like 2 bicycle tracks (sorry, I don't remember the right word), and all the rest are the same roads used by buses, cars and scooters. So actually most of the time you have to be really aware about your surroundings. And then you have to be always aware of your bike's whereabouts! If your bike is too fancy, but also if it is old and ugly, if it is locked just with one chain - you may not find it on the next day. So never,never leave your bike on the street if it is brand new! That's the golden rule.
Re: city cycling, cycling cities « Reply #22 on Mar 5, 2012, 11:11pm »
There's always the chance you'll see your stolen bike and have a marker handy. Which is what I presume the story behind this bike I saw in Florence was
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 3,549 Location: Montréal
Re: city cycling, cycling cities « Reply #24 on Mar 6, 2012, 12:47am »
The last time I was in Florence, a friend and I saw a thief STEALING A BICYCLE, cutting its chain and making off with it. There was nothing we could do. It was a crappy old bicycle, but it may have been loved and needed...
I did notice a lot of cyclists there, but they should push for better infrastructure. Sometimes this will be shared, on narrow streets.
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Male Posts: 34,538 Location: Paris, France
Re: city cycling, cycling cities « Reply #25 on Mar 6, 2012, 9:32am »
I was looking to see which cities in Italy have a bike sharing system, but I only found this article from 2009. The English language wiki about bike sharing is hopelessly out of date, and now that so many cities around the world have a system, I suppose it is no longer possible to keep up with them -- it would be like trying to update which cities have municipal streetlights.
I was looking to see which cities in Italy have a bike sharing system, but I only found this article from 2009. The English language wiki about bike sharing is hopelessly out of date, and now that so many cities around the world have a system, I suppose it is no longer possible to keep up with them -- it would be like trying to update which cities have municipal streetlights.
There was bike sharing in Rome and Milan, but in no time all the bikes got stolen.......
Joined: Feb 2009 Gender: Female Posts: 25,328 Location: Mexico
Re: city cycling, cycling cities « Reply #27 on Mar 7, 2012, 2:03am »
Here is some bike-ish news:
Dutch educators have devised a wonderfully positive way to get kids to and from school -- by letting them pedal there themselves on a brand new fleet of bicycle buses.
<-- click
I have to wonder what happens in heavy precipitation.
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