Do you use a cycle lane? « Singletrack Forum

Bike Forum

Do you use a cycle lane?

69 posts & 45 voices | Started 4 months ago by Harry_the_Spider | Latest reply from nwilko

Tags:

No tags yet.

Pages: « Previous 12

D0NK - Member

Quite a few bike lanes on my commute but they are mainly narrow ones so I'll be right on the edge of them anyway - which does cause problems when militant motorists drive 2" from the white line. Couple of sections run right alongside parking bays so prime dooring territory, I avoid those which winds up motorists unfortunately, sorry but my safety is my priority.

Couple of mandatory ones in good places where they would really help cyclists but lots of motorists ignore them and drive over them cutting you up or running you into the pavement etc.

Also a couple of dodgy mandatory ones which if you follow could well leave you in pretty serious conflict with other road users, I avoid these and wince when I see others using them.

I regularly ride on a DC the cycle friendly alternative has 3 subways 15 slalom gates and takes about 10 minutes longer and a lot more energy. When I don't feel upto the DC I use a shortcut of my own design including a short dirt road section and ignoring atleast 1 nocycling sign

<Edit>Proper offroad bike lanes seem to be a bit like motorways, supposedly taking you in relative comfort from A to B via slightly longer but easier to negotiate route and generally quicker. Unfortunatley bike lanes tend to get covered in glass, debris, slalom gates, dog eggs, random walkers etc. Hardly anyone would use motorways if they had similar inconveniences and worked out a lot slower would they?

Posted 4 months ago #
MrSalmon - Member

I only use cycle lanes if:

1. It is going exactly where I want to go anyway.

2. It has no more junctions added to it than the road route. (side roads etc, i.e. priority is still with me)

3. It isn't full of parked cars

4. It isn't painted too close to parked cars

5. It isn't full of manholes/huge holes/broken glass/dog eggs/clueless pedestrians/familys on bikes

6. It isn't constructed in the manner of a 'cycle-lane facilty-of-the-month' horror story.

7. It isn't placed in 'turn-left without looking' territory.

8. It is no more than 10% longer than the road route, and dosn't include 5000ft extra climb over every and any possible minor obstruction.

9. The surface is tarmaced and in good condition (no moss, no cavernous holes, lot like riding down washboard).

10. You can carry good speed (i.e. isn't full of 90degree corners, blind approaches, diving off through back roads through housing estates).

11. Not marked out with litres of white paint, which, when damp, turns them into an ice-skaing rink.

+1 I'm with ADH here, so I don't use them too often either.
Like most cycling infrastructure they rarely seem to have had any input from anybody who knows anything about riding a bike for transport as a grown-up.

Posted 4 months ago #
Militant_biker - Member

BoardinBob - Member
An old favourite from my home town
As someone who grew up in the Irvine Valley, you have my sympathies.

Posted 4 months ago #
TPTcruiser - Member

Samuri: ear buds/phones of the oblivious pedestrian!

Evolution gave us all this flight or fight instinct then it gets smothered by personal music playing/phone conversation. Every so often, if you are close enough, it kicks in and you get a "tut".

Posted 4 months ago #
antigee - Member

as others have said - where they make sense

- driving today i followed a guy riding on ringroad (st mary's gate sheffield)there is a cycle lane (edit sahred use pavement) but its only purpose is to allow "traffic" to "flow"

i once hard an altercation with a driver on this section when he took me out (no injuries) on roundabout - he told me " you should be using the cycle path" - "but it doesn't go where i want to go!"

similar waited a couple of weeks after mrs antigee started a regular commute and then asked her if she road on the road or took the (shared use/lots of blind exits) cycle lane - she had chosen the road as safer

seems to me that a lot of cycle lanes routed through industrial areas/parked cars seem to be considered safer because any accidents are lower speed - but opportunity for them to me seems to be increased, rather than dealing with the problem of inconsiderate driving on busier roads

...drivels on

Posted 4 months ago #
rootes1 - Member

if it is direct, as not silly stops in it and goes where I want then yes..

Posted 4 months ago #
D0NK - Member

Samuri: ear buds/phones of the oblivious pedestrian!
That too

Pedestrian ahead, 20ft away - Tingting
no response start to slow down - Tingting
Nowt, slower - tingtingting
nothing, pull up to walking pace behind pedestrian - tingtingtingtingtingtingtingtingting
Sod this, ride passed walker who jumps a mile, swears and shouts "get a bell you ignorant sod!"

Posted 4 months ago #
coopersport1 - Member

Are you refering to this? http://www.facebook.com/l.php?u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.thisisdevon.co.uk%2Friders-refuse-use-cycle-paths%2Fstory-14333677-detail%2Fstory.html&h=4AQHBygU9AQEa2KobeotBkTm7kqWHyKIW-rgeVFbBhbntLg
think the guy is going to get himself lynched

Posted 4 months ago #
thomthumb - Member

70% of my commute is on cycle path.

all of this is traffic free/ shared use pathway.

I am lucky that there are no cycle lanes on my route as they often seem a bit of an after thought. having said that they are improving

Posted 4 months ago #
nick3216 - Member

it depends

Posted 4 months ago #
hjghg5 - Member

Depends here too. Some of the ones on my commute are sensible and either let me take a short cut (e.g. legitimately going the "wrong" way down a one way street) or avoid hold ups.

But some are just odd. The bits I find most bizarre are a couple of places where the council has just put bike signs on lampposts. There's no cycle lane marked on either the road or the pavement so I assume that they mean you should use the pavement but without the slightest attempt at making it a decent shared use facility. No way. Particularly as it's a student area and therefore a higher than normal percentage of dopey peds. I'd rather stay on the road.

And on most of my commute the cycle lanes have dashed lines and are mainly used for people to park in rather than for bikes.

Posted 4 months ago #
benz - Member

Anyone on here use the one from Westhill past Kingswells into Hazledhead?

If you don't then WTF not?

TBH it's incredibly annoying when the perfectly good cycle lane which is not part of the dual carriageway but runs alongside it is overlooked by folks on bikes who do use the dual carriageway. Disturbs nice flow of traffic and introduces risk to the cyclists - particularly the numpty who weaves in and out with little in the way of decent lighting or reflective clothing.

Mate, are you on some form of confrontation or suicide mission or are you just to macho to use the good cycle lane?

Posted 4 months ago #
benz - Member

to = too in last bit of course....

Posted 4 months ago #
antigee - Member

Disturbs nice flow of traffic and introduces risk to the cyclists - particularly the numpty who weaves in and out

presumably he/she is travelling faster than the flowing vehicles then

Posted 4 months ago #
TandemJeremy - Member

Check out this lane - just down the road from me
http://g.co/maps/w4q4a

Its a quiet back road. Go on the cycle lane you have to give way at the side road then a bit further along there are posts in the middle of it - and what are you supposed to do at the roundabout?

Posted 4 months ago #
coffeeking - Member

As I say, cycle lanes are devisive and tend towards the reduction of cyclists importance on the roads. I said this when a large surge of them were installed in the early 90s, and I haven't seen anything to say it's wrong yet. When you remove cyclists from the roads in more and more spots, the times where that isn't possible it makes them more and more of a "problem" to moan about. All cyclists should use all the roads all of the time if you want the other road users to take you seriously in future.

Posted 4 months ago #
GrahamS - Member

This rather good article on .citycycling makes the argument that cycle lanes often get put in because consultations ask non-cyclists what puts them off cycling and what could be done to persuade them to cycle.

And the answer is invariably that they worry about traffic and want "safe" cycle lanes.

So that's what they get - even though it doesn't always help people that do already ride.

Posted 4 months ago #
TandemJeremy - Member

cycle lanes have their place in making it safer for bikes thru junctions and so on. However thats not what we get. Normally we get lanes where there is no need and no lanes thru the junctions. this is an example of a junction where a cycle lane could be put in to allow bikes to make the left turn much more easily and safely. plenty of room for a left turn for bikes lane and it would save a lot of risk. Instead we get a shared with bus lane before and after the junction - at the actual junction we have to pass a taxi rank.

http://g.co/maps/as37t

Posted 4 months ago #
benz - Member

Disturbs nice flow of traffic and introduces risk to the cyclists - particularly the numpty who weaves in and out

presumably he/she is travelling faster than the flowing vehicles then

Yes - generally roundabout and traffic lights can slow things or indeed stop them now and again.

Simply cannot get my head round why someone would care to cycle on dual carriageway when the nicely surfaced cyclepath runs parallel.....can you give me some clues? Perhaps anti-social person on a road bike who is concerned that they may have to have some fleeting social interaction with other cyclists on the cyclepath?

Posted 4 months ago #
sangobegger - Member

I use the Sustrans track between Inverness and Dingwall. 70% is fantastic, the rest is only fit for a mega travel freeride bike. As for punctures I average 1 a month due to the amount of debris chucked of the road about 6" away. Does it piss me off, the neglect? - absolutely.
But the alternative is to take your life in your hands on the A9, and even in the sunny Highlands, we have had numerous deaths from careless drivers.
I have to ask though, why do they spend so much money building these links, then completely forget to budget for maintenence. Another example of piss poor planning and a lack of accountability (rant, rant)

Posted 4 months ago #
oldnpastit - Member

The cycle track next to the Cambridge Guided Bus is amazing.

Every cyclist in the country should demand the same sort of thing in their area.

It is wide enough for a big wide van to drive down (which the maintenance people very occasionally do). There's easily room for three cyclists side-by-side.

It is as smooth as silk. Maybe smoother.

When the wind is blowing in the right direction you can go at a quite amazing speed - whooshing along pretending to be the Flying Scotsman is brilliant fun.

(When it's in the wrong direction you need drop bars and determination to make any kind of forward progress but I think they are planting some trees to help with this).

It gets loads of people using it - especially school children on the last section where it's the only sensible way to cross the A14.

Late last year the County Council even bought a snow plough for it (though we haven't had any snow yet sadly).

Best of all, there's a cafe just beyond the St Ives end that does cream teas.

Posted 4 months ago #
project - Member

Lots of really joined up thinking bike tracks, using off road routes, the shared pavement ones are just accidents waiting to happen, where a car door opened onto atrack can injure a cyclist, then theres the muppets who reverse out of their drives and cant see you coming along, whats wrong with reversing in then, so much easier.

oh and could somebody point out the law where it says dogs must crap on the cycle track.

Posted 4 months ago #
Junkyard - Member

very few I am aware of near me [ except off road ones or trails] are actually safer to use...the only good one is ruined by pedestrians wandering on to the cycle [quarter of the path bike whit line dividing them big cycle signs] in an entirely random fashion.
I almost never use them tbh

Posted 4 months ago #
D0NK - Member

Simply cannot get my head round why someone would care to cycle on dual carriageway when the nicely surfaced cyclepath runs parallel.....can you give me some clues?
Benz do you use the cycletrack yourself? Your post doesn't seem to say.

Difficult to second guess someone else without knowing the route (got a google maps link?) but presumably there are left turns off the DC, are there a lot and do cyclist have priority? (and more importantly do they actually get priority from motorists?)
Lots of giveways signs/dangerous junctions would have me on the DC, 1 straight road should be easier and safer (and quicker) to negotiate that lots of junctions.

Posted 4 months ago #
benz - Member

Benz do you use the cycletrack yourself? Your post doesn't seem to say.

Difficult to second guess someone else without knowing the route (got a google maps link?) but presumably there are left turns off the DC, are there a lot and do cyclist have priority? (and more importantly do they actually get priority from motorists?)
Lots of giveways signs/dangerous junctions would have me on the DC, 1 straight road should be easier and safer (and quicker) to negotiate that lots of junctions.

No I don't as I live a fair bit further away which does include a fairly busy A class road.

http://www.cycle-route.com/routes/Aberdeen_to_Westhill-Cycle-Route-4905.html

I'd use it if I needed to.

Posted 4 months ago #
D0NK - Member

The cycle lane section along the DC doesn't look too bad, but predictably at junctions you have to give way (where you wouldn't have to if you were on the road). I'd quite likely use it on a slow day, dunno about a quick day.

Of course there may be good reasons for not using it.

At the end of the day cyclists are allowed to use most DCs and I've a vested interest in things staying that way. They certainly aren't the nicest place to ride and given a suitable alternative I'd take it, but the definition of suitable depends on the rider, the bike, the conditions and all sorts of other things.
Just saying like.

Posted 4 months ago #
Gary_M - Member

I certainly use the one on my commute. There is no way I would ride the moor road in the dark not on the path. I occassionaly see people riding it and it's an accident waiting to happen unfortunately.

An old favourite from my home town

Never noticed that boardinbob, think it might have changed now.

Posted 4 months ago #
rewski - Member

Sometimes, unfortunately the ones I use feel like they've been surfaced with green sandpaper, very draggy.

Posted 4 months ago #
Saratoga - Member

There's a cycle lane near me that runs alongside a 70mph dual carriageway for 1 mile which is nice to use (unless it's been raining as the cycle lane floods), but all that changes when you reach the roundabout half-way along it. The cycle lane exits into the left-turn-only lane when you really want to go straight over. And on the other side of the roundabout you have to cross a hatched lane divider to get back onto the cycle lane, otherwise you're left in the middle of the dual carriageway. I do use this cycle lane but have to be very assertive on the roundabout.

Further along my commute I do another 5 miles on dual carriageways and there aren't cycle lanes on any of that.

Posted 4 months ago #
GrahamS - Member

Here's a nice cycle lane:

-- In Colwyn Bay, from http://www.roadswerenotbuiltforcars.com/what-goes-around-comes-around/

That's one way to avoid lamposts I suppose.

Posted 4 months ago #
scaled - Member

This is my favourite local one...

Posted 4 months ago #
thegreatape - Member

Perhaps time for this old video of a committed cycle lane user?

www.youtube.com/watch?v=bzE-IMaegzQ

Posted 4 months ago #
thegiantbiker - Member

Not through choice. The only one in town useful to me has two blind corners on the cycle lane, a constant covering of broken glass, standing water regardless of how much rain we've had and the usual idiots walking in the cycle lane.

Posted 4 months ago #
nwilko - Member

avoid one 500m stretch that ends by forcing me out into the road just where a bus lane and normal car lane merge together using it would be a one way trip to hospital.. have to use one over a bridge into work, too narrow and is split in half with a rasied white line to seperate bikes from peds but the walkers take it as fair game...

Posted 4 months ago #