A mild crash, that is.
Going down the one-way part of Conzelman on Hawk Hill in Marin County USA:
Posts Tagged ‘brakes’
Nice Video: “Brakeless in San Francisco” – Two Bros Bike Down Upper Conzelman Without Brakes – Ends in a Crash
Tuesday, November 27th, 2012Well, Here They Are: Brand New Red Light Cameras and Signals at Fell and Masonic
Tuesday, December 27th, 2011Enjoy.
Will this…
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…plus this:
…eliminate this…
…and this?
Well, not actually because this particular car vs. bike from last year happened to be the impatient cyclist’s fault, because he went across against a red, because bike riders don’t have as much time to cross as they used to, owing to the newish dedicated cyclist light Oh well.
Anyway, I would have said that Santa installed all the new hardware, but I was beaten to the punch by Dale Danley / Panhandle Park Stewards, who naively wonder why the Panhandle Bandshell went away despite the fact that the “partners” of PPS are the same people who made the harmless bandshell go away.
(So I don’t know, I’ll consider the Panhandle Park Stewards ranking someplace north of that horribly corrupt Willie Brown S.L.U.G. vehicle for the while. Enjoy your “partnership” with the corrupt RPD, and the NIMBYed-up NoPNA, and the millionaires’ kid’s school as you garden, Deutsches Jungvolk und Bund Deutscher Mädel.)
Anyway, you can look forward to the flashing lights of traffic cams when errant drivers err at Fell and Masonic. (UCSF shuttle van drivers beware, beware!)
Do You Need a Rear Brake on Your Bike to be Legal in California? I Don’t Know Anymore
Wednesday, October 12th, 2011You know, I think they went and changed VC 21201 on me. It used to talk about being able to make your rear wheel skid, but now:
“21201. (a) No person shall operate a bicycle on a roadway unless it is equipped with a brake which will enable the operator to make one braked wheel skid on dry, level, clean pavement.”
I’ll have to look into this.
Here we have a bike with no rear brake on McAllister. (I know what you’re thinking, but this bike isn’t a fixie, it freewheels.)
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Not exactly safe, IMO, but not necessarily illegal either, apparently…
Photo of 100-Year-Old Shop Selling Music and Brakeless Fixie Bikes: Place Would Fit Right In On Valencia Today
Wednesday, December 15th, 2010And, from the looks of things, having white tires was old hat back in the day.
Detroit bicycle shop, 1912 – tunes and Harley Davidsons (and Indians!) on the left and fixies, fixies, fixies on the right:
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Seems this au currant ride owned by an area art student would fit right in with the style of a century ago:
What will bikes look like in 2110?
SF Bike Messenger President Fergus Tanaka, Star of New BlackBerry Ad, Would be Better Off With Brakes and No Helmet
Wednesday, October 13th, 2010As opposed to his current setup, which is No Brakes and Yes Helmet.
What I’m saying is that he’d be safer, and we’d be safer as well.
[UPDATE: Most likely that helmet will never do him any good. But brakes would definitely be useful at some point in his career. I know he has methods for slowing down and stopping but he doesn't have "brakes" as required in California. Most cyclists are with me on this one, but not a substantial portion of the hard core, it seems. That's O.K. If you want to change the law, then change the law, be my guest...]
Who knows, maybe he borrowed the bike for this ad, recently filmed on the Streets of San Francisco:
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Or, maybe, just maybe, someday he could afford, you know, in addition to the helmet, like brakes ‘n stuff. Perhaps a braking system on the front wheel for stopping power and another one on the rear wheel for compliance with the CA Vehicle Code?
Not saying you’d have to use them or anything, just for an emergency, let’s say.
Now, did those Research in Motion people force poor Fergus into wearing a helmet (which he’s not required by law to use in CA) and then let him get by without brakes (which he IS required by law to use in CA)? Seems bassackwards to me.
(And does he really call it “The Future Phone?” Like, “I’ll call you on my Future Phone as soon as I get back in range,” or something like that?
Anyway, enjoy your residuals and your ’Berry, Fergie.
Just saying, not to sound like a square or nothing…
(I guess you got to click on it to make it go, depends on the browser…)
[UPDATE: Oh wait, here's my bike, it has even fewer parts than your brakeless fixie. See? I mean, it's so unnecessary and impractical having spokes and hubs and chains and whatnot, so I figured I'd just get rid of them all. Like, less is more, man. And there are fewer things for people to steal now. And, naturally, I'm just a bit more pure than you, man. You just don't know what it's like until you've Gone Hubless, man.
(You can't get much cleaner than this...)]
A Serious Car vs. Bike Accident at the Infamous Intersection of Fell and Masonic
Friday, May 14th, 2010[BIKE NOPA has an update. The Examiner has a report indicating the cyclist has only "minor injuries." Could it be that the car got it worse than the guy on the bike?]
A small Ford Focus ZXW station wagon collided with a cyclist at the intersection of Fell and Masonic this afternoon.
This red Cannondale fixie had its fork torn in two.
Our Newly Beiged Market Street is Already Marred by Bicycle Skid Marks
Monday, December 7th, 2009See? At this rate, this part of Market Street won’t stay beige very long.
Still, a lot of those fixed gear bike riders have no other way of stopping, so That’s How It’s Gotta Be.
Click to expand:
(Guess which mark (nicely modulated, made using disc brakes) is mine…)
Wouldn’t green be a better color?
When in San Francisco, Don’t Use Lombard Street to get to Lombard Street
Monday, September 14th, 2009See all these people heading up the 1200 block of San Francisco’s Lombard Street? They’re on their way to the Crookedest Street in the World, just a short drive away. But, en realidad, these people will have a long wait to get up this hill. Why? Because they have to take their turn. And that causes problems:
“I live one block from Lombard and Polk and every Sat and Sun Lombard is full of tourists who burn up their clutches trying to get up Lombard street….”
This is gridlock. Perhaps it will take a half hour to get to the curvy part?
Here’s the block of Clutch Sorrow:
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Now, if you’re on this street trying to get to the good part of Lombard, you should just jink on over to Filbert via Polk and then get to Hyde. Then you go north on Hyde and hang a righty to go down the famous block.
That way, you avoid this situation:
“Driving up Lombard Street in San Francisco takes patience and a quick foot. If you have a manual transmission you’ll need to exercise care when releasing the clutch. Even cars with automatic transmissions squeal tires driving up Lombard Street. Every time you go from gas to brake the car rolls back until the motor moves the car forwards. On Lombard Street its quite normal to smell burning rubber from tires and clutches. Lombard Street is best driven in a rental car.”
So, don’t follow the crowd up Lombard and don’t follow the 49 Mile Scenic Drive (which doesn’t even hit the crooked part of the street), just follow the cable cars on Hyde from Nob Hill.
You’ll do fine.
How San Francisco’s Cable Cars Work
Saturday, January 31st, 2009Beneath this slot is the cable that makes everything go. There are three braking systems to slow things down. And, instead of a horn, there’s a bell.
via pbo31 Click to expand
If you get good with the bell, you can enter the annual Cable Car Bell Ringing Contest in Union Square. And if you win a lot, you’ll be like Carl Payne. See his ring bling?
So, that’s how cable cars work.
Fixed Gear Bike Riders Have a Tough Time On Hilly Haight Street
Tuesday, May 20th, 2008Some fixed gear bike riders have it tough because they don’t have brakes on their bikes. So when they have to stop on the bottom of an incline they need to skid their rear tires. This leaves a loooong skid mark on the pavement, as you can see.
Take a look at this awesome video here to get the idea. Some rydahs run into trouble though - like Tony here, who was “surprised” to encounter a bus, at a bus stop, on a bus route, in Manhattan.
Let’s be careful out there:
“The EMT said if it wasn’t for my dreads, I would have had a massive concussion“
We’ll close with Morrissey’s thoughts on the matter:
“No brakes, I don’t mind.”
