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Geek Transportation Systems

codinghorror.com

37 pointsvijaydev25 comments

There is a chap who commutes through central Edinburgh every day on a unicycle - including the cycling over the narrow Dean bridge and up the fairly steep Mound hill between the New and Old towns.

I'm in Portland, Oregon, and, if this town is any sort of trend leader, I think unicycles are the next fixed-gears.

For less than 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) I almost always walk, unless I'm in a rush. It' s great habit to have, and my main source of exercise. For greater distances, I generally use public transportation.

I'm lucky enough to cycle to work across London (6 km/4 miles in each direction) for my commute and I certainly wouldn't consider a folding bicycle or a scooter. A normal bike works well and I can have paniers on the back for carrying shopping, books, etc.

If you need to go geek then you can have all sorts of electronics on your bike to track progress, add a Polar heart monitor, get an app for your phone...

Just wanted to know if I was the only one to have a motorbike as my preferred means of transportation.

Those little tiny pedal arms on the Strida... they look like a lot of work and not much velocity. I've gotta try one anyway, because it's just such a cool concept.

P.S. Where would you ride something like the Strida? Surely not the sidewalk, but can you ride fast enough for the street?

I have a Strida and I love it. I've used it as my commuting vehicle for years - a mile to the subway, half mile from the subway to office. It's not any more work to pedal than a larger bike, other than having only the one fairly low gear.

Yes it rides fast enough for the street. The belt drive is so smooth that it's pretty easy to hit 120-150 RPM on pedaling. (Most riders on a full-size regular geared bike use a cadence somewhere between 70 and 90.) And the excellent brakes, short stopping distance, and short wheelbase for maneuverability make it an amazing vehicle for navigating city traffic.

I do even ride the Strida on sidewalks sometimes for a handful of blocks when the road is too crowded. Its agility is almost more like a scooter than a full size bicycle. An alert rider poses virtually no danger to pedestrians, and they're usually caught by the novelty more so than mad at a cyclist on the sidewalk.

If it's like most folding bikes, it should be fine on the street, not that different from a full-size bike. You see lots of both here in London.

The ultimate transportation hack must be motorcycle and scooters. I was surprised to see so few of these in my travel to California. Given the climate, it should be a no brainer. Can anyone shed some light on why they are not popular.

I've been in four accidents. One was my fault, and the other three involved people slamming into my car while it was stationary. Of the three where it wasn't my fault, once my car had its front bumper, hood, and both fenders crumpled, once it just slid six feet and had a tire blown out, and once it was sandwiched between two cars and totalled. I wasn't hurt in any of those cases, but I'm betting if I was on a motorcycle or a scooter, I would not be walking right today if I was walking at all.

Is filtering through illegal in US? Motorbike riders in the UK generally filter through and stop at the front of the quee, which reduces the risk of stationary accidents.

It's only legal in California.

I wish more people used motorcycles here too (I'm in LA). But traffic moves much faster than, say, east Asia (where motorbikes are common). But those bikes are like 100cc. Here you need 600cc or more to handle varying speed conditions (0-75mph/120kph). And I could not imagine a lot of people I know feeling comfortable with that much power on two wheels.

I know it's illegal in New York City, where I am. Not sure if it's a local law or not, but my guess is it's illegal in most places but rarely enforced.

Scooters are great in San Francisco - I had one and found it was a great way to get around, given the climate and difficult parking. However, outside of SF, they're not so good. For example, you couldn't even get from SF to Oakland because they're connected via a freeway, and so you can't go there with a low-powered scooter.

Motorcycles are dangerous, require adequate training, and have statistics about loss of limbs and life (even for seasoned veterans who wear appropriate clothing).

This is probably related to a) the state of the roads here and b) the vehicle size (SUVs).

I know a few doctors, and each will go out of their way to dissuade you from riding if you bring up motorcycles. A few call them "donorcycles".

scooters: because cars and motorcycles exist. Why waste human power when we can waste gas?

motorcycles have the whole "one accident and you pretty much die" thing going against them.

Of course, this changes around places like mountain view, where there are a lot more people on bicycles.

Sorry, by scooter I meant this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooter_%28motorcycle%29

In the states we'd probably call that a moped (At least in the area of the country I'm from)...

This is scooter: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooter_%28motorcycle%29 This is moped: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moped

So what do you call the latter, if you call the former scooter?

Don't know if that would even be street legal in the states.

As of late, it seems to me that CO has turned into a blog where Jeff surrounds Amazon affiliate links with sometimes semi-interesting stuff (SSDs, scooters, his latest rig). Nothing against the guy though.

Has anyone tried a Brompton? They're popular in London. But London is quite hilly - I'm interested to know whether you need the gears or not, nad whether the extra weight makes them worthwhile.

You can't stand up and pedal? Sounds pretty sketchy to me.

Wow, downvoted. Not that I care too much about my Precious Karma, but whoever downvoted that must know nothing of bicycles. I have never, ever ridden a bicycle where you could not stand up and pedal it for a stretch. And that includes crusty old around-town bikes that have seen their best days long ago.

Put in other terms, I find it hard to believe that the power output is that different standing compared to sitting - if you have strong legs, you can sink some serious power into a bicycle while seated.

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