Signalling?

[Michael]

Elisa Francesca Roselli wrote:
>
> Okay, so about 2 weeks ago I started trying to ride on the road. Now I've graduated to doing
> _most_ of the short (1.6 km) trip to work by bike, but I still don't feel at all "road safe".
>
> One of my biggest current bugbears is signalling. I just CAN'T! If I take my hands off the
> handlebars for so much as a blink, I lose control of the steering and start keeling over sideways.
> Even just the concentration to shift gears or sound the bell perturbs me.
(SNIP)
> Is there any special _knack_ to this signalling, or is it just a matter of having a really sure
> seat on a bike? I know with coasting it was a matter of shifting consciousness from pedalling to
> balancing. But I tried a number of times to lift a hand from the steering while practicing in the
> parking lot yesterday and I can't get it at all.
>
> Thanks for your patience, everyone. It's like at this stage, every little thing is a hurdle.

I can empathize, Elisa. I'm back in the saddle just 2 weeks now after letting my 1980 vintage
10-speed rest for about 12 years, and I'm having troubles too (sit bones is the biggie!!). Most of
my riding is in town, so I feel I must signal ... a lot ... and I wobble too when signaling. Not as
much now as 2 weeks ago, but wobble nonetheless. I can tell, though, that by this time next month
I'll get it right. Constant practice must be the key.

When I was a kid (1960's), I *lived* on a bike and moved with much more grace on a bike than when
walking. But my two bikes back then were an old J.C. Higgins coaster and an "English racer", a 60's
vintage 3-speed made in Great Britain. Both of those must have had more rake in their front tubes
because even a granny could have ridden them no-hands. My current bike seems to have much less rake,
and therein lies my wobble problem (I think): very little steering input translates to *big*
sideways movement.

The best thing I did (just last weekend) was move the front brake cable from the left hand to the
right hand. At least now I can signal and brake simultaneously. Whoever decided that U.S. bikes
should have front brake control on the left hand was an idiot.

Keep practicing. You'll get it, I am sure.

Michael

 

[Luigi De Guzman]

Elisa Francesca Roselli <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> Luigi de Guzman wrote:
>
> > Goodness, we might even see each other in Cambridge--I'll probably be up reading at the UL for a
> > bit. I'll roll Bekah (my much-maligned pink and black MBK, the London bike) onto the train at
> > KingsX. How's that for multimodal transportation strategy...?
>
> Hey cool, another Cantabridgian! I'm King's, History Tripos, BA 1978 MA 1982. I'll certainly be
> visiting the UL, although this year I have no specific research projects. My notion of an ideal
> summer hol is Cambridge for a writing project with time in the UL and buying books. Also I like to
> cook for the person I'm staying with. Sure, I'm a nerd - I know most people wouldn't consider that
> a holiday at all, LOL!

I read History at St. John's BA 2001...tell me, were the windows on the Seeley always so dirty, or
were they clean in your time? If you do go back to the Seeley, note the new 'meathook' bike storage
thingies ranged around it...these occasioned much protest when they were put up, and several
prominent members of the Faculty went so far as to campaign for their removal....[I signed the
petition more out of dutiful obedience to the fellow teaching my Part II special subject than out of
genuine conviction]

As to reading in the UL--well, I miss it because there are books there...but seeing as I spent my
fair share of time chained to a desk (naturally one of the ones near the radiators!) on North Front
6 in that most fascist of cambridge buildings, I'm not sure how much I want to go back.

(Although my grad friends have told me that the tea room is *the* place to go if you want to pick up
grad students....)

But since i've got a lot of friends still there, taking their PhD's, I've visited a lot...

>
> As for multimodal, I was recently really pleased to notice that in Paris the RER, the suburban
> milk-train, takes cycles in the first and last wagon of every train - there's even a picture of a
> bicycle on them!

Those RER trains are huge. although having brought a bicycle on one, I'd wonder how on earth I'd be
able to carry it *off* again, on entering the city, since from what I remember of the few RER
platforms I saw when I was last in Paris, there are usually quite a few steps to carry the bike over
on arriving....

You will find no such accomodation on the trains from London to Cambridge originating out of Kings'
Cross--you may roll your bicycle on the end doors of each carriage, but there isn't any way to
secure them. I usually find msyelf sitting on the floor next to my bike, lest it fall and hurt
anybody else.

It's easier to take a bike on a train that runs nonstop from London to Cambridge, if only because
you know that nobody will roll it off the train as you doze off somewhere in Letchworth or some
other godforsaken place. [1]

>
>
> > I always found the Backs to be a bit of an unnerving place to ride, personally. I wasn't as
> > confident back then, and Queens' Road was the only place in Cambridge, it seems, that anybody
> > was allowed to develop any real speed, and so all the cars would gun it through that stretch
> >
>
> Actually I meant on that broad grassy sidewalk behind *** Hall and Clare - I'd be spooked by the
> actual road.

Ah, that bit. if you're too spooked by the road--and don't mind yielding to every pedestrian
ever--you could move *slowly,* if illegaly, down the footpath from Silver Street until it ends at
the back gate at St. John's. Mind the crossing cars at the back gate of Trinity, though....

There are a lot of new bike trails built parallel to the roadway, too...Maddingley Rd. has a
bikepath on each side of the roadway, so if you're really scared, you could stay there, but the
usual bikepath cautions apply: you must be prepared to watch for cross-traffic from the driveways fo
the houses , you must be willing to share the path with pedestrians, dogs, etc.

This is all fine if you want to pfaff about Maddingley Road, but if you really needed to get into
town--to buy books at Galloway & Porter's or G. David's or Heffers' (sadly now only an outpost of
Blackwells', and much poorer for it, as they no longer stock independently of Blackwells' and so
getting stuff for the reading-lists is far chancier) you'll need to get on the road....

>Or perhaps Jesus Green then. It'll be on the way between home and the Town Centre. I've always
>walked it previously and it seemed to go on for miles and miles. I suppose it will look really
>short on a cycle!

I used to head up the baseball society (imagine!) and we used to play every Sunday on Jesus green,
occasionally endangering passing cyclists with our foul balls....

anyway this is all rapidly sliding off-topic for rbm...if you like you can e-mail me.

-Luigi

[1] apologies to anybody from Letchworth, but I've been stranded there far too often, once by
excessive drunkenness on the way back from London, and twice by excessive incompetence on the
part of the railway network....

 

[Dennis P. Harri]

On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 14:59:16 GMT in rec.bicycles.misc, Michael <[email protected]> wrote:

> The best thing I did (just last weekend) was move the front brake cable from the left hand to the
> right hand. At least now I can signal and brake simultaneously. Whoever decided that U.S. bikes
> should have front brake control on the left hand was an idiot.
>
wrong! you want to use the *rear* brake, not the front one! if you lock the rear wheel, you might
skid. if you lock the front one, you go over the handlebars. i rarely use the front brake unless i'm
using both brakes to stop quickly, and then the rear one always goes on first.

 

[Bill Davidson]

On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 14:59:16 GMT in rec.bicycles.misc, Michael<[email protected]> wrote:
>The best thing I did (just last weekend) was move the front brake cable from the left hand to the
>right hand. At least now I can signal and brake simultaneously. Whoever decided that U.S. bikes
>should have front brake control on the left hand was an idiot.

Dennis P. Harris wrote:
> wrong! you want to use the *rear* brake, not the front one! if you lock the rear wheel, you might
> skid. if you lock the front one, you go over the handlebars. i rarely use the front brake unless
> i'm using both brakes to stop quickly, and then the rear one always goes on first.

Just when you thought the word was out on this, someone puts out the conventional (wrong)
wisdom again.

Please read: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html

While you're at it here's some more good articles for you.

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/beginners/index.html

The front brake is the way to go. Joseba Beloki is looking at multiple surgeries and a year before
racing again because he forgot and locked up his rear brake. As Sheldon says, it works in theory and
in practice.

--Bill Davidson
--
Please remove ".nospam" from my address for email replies.

I'm a 17 year veteran of usenet -- you'd think I'd be over it by now

 

[Chris B .]

On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 23:41:59 -0800, [email protected] (Dennis P. Harris) wrote:

>On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 14:59:16 GMT in rec.bicycles.misc, Michael <[email protected]> wrote:
>
>> The best thing I did (just last weekend) was move the front brake cable from the left hand to the
>> right hand. At least now I can signal and brake simultaneously. Whoever decided that U.S. bikes
>> should have front brake control on the left hand was an idiot.
>>
>wrong! you want to use the *rear* brake, not the front one! if you lock the rear wheel, you might
>skid. if you lock the front one, you go over the handlebars. i rarely use the front brake unless
>i'm using both brakes to stop quickly, and then the rear one always goes on first.

Hmm, the moron who abuses others he deems "anti helmet" is riding at a beginner level; unable
to stop his bike as quickly as possible reflexively and avoiding getting in accidents in the
first place.

Suddenly the nonsense makes a lot more sense.

Chris Bird

 

[Just Zis Guy]

On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 23:41:59 -0800, [email protected] (Dennis P. Harris) wrote:

>wrong! you want to use the *rear* brake, not the front one!

Absolutely - how else are you going to ensure your helmet gets a workout?

Guy
===
** WARNING ** This posting may contain traces of irony. http://www.chapmancentral.com [currently
offline awaiting ADSL transfer to new ISP]

 

[Kevan Smith]

On Wed, 16 Jul 2003 01:10:26 -0700, Bill Davidson <[email protected]> from Cox
Communications wrote:

>Please read: http://www.sheldonbrown.com/brakturn.html

<snip>

>The front brake is the way to go. Joseba Beloki is looking at multiple surgeries and a year before
>racing again because he forgot and locked up his rear brake.

I can't see in the video how Beloki applied his brakes. Has he said what happened exactly, yet?

Form that URL:

"The rear brake is O.K. for situations where traction is poor ...."

IIRC, traction was poor the day Beloki went down.

You are, however, correct that the front brake is the way to go in preference to the rear in most
instances.
--
http://home.sport.rr.com/cuthulu/ human rights = peace Didn't I buy a 1951 Packard from you last
March in Cairo?
1:22:21 PM 16 July 2003

 

[Dr. Rev. Chuck]

Chris B. wrote:
>
> On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 23:41:59 -0800, [email protected] (Dennis P. Harris) wrote:
>
> >On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 14:59:16 GMT in rec.bicycles.misc, Michael <[email protected]> wrote:
> >
> >> The best thing I did (just last weekend) was move the front brake cable from the left hand to
> >> the right hand. At least now I can signal and brake simultaneously. Whoever decided that U.S.
> >> bikes should have front brake control on the left hand was an idiot.
> >>
> >wrong! you want to use the *rear* brake, not the front one! if you lock the rear wheel, you might
> >skid. if you lock the front one, you go over the handlebars. i rarely use the front brake unless
> >i'm using both brakes to stop quickly, and then the rear one always goes on first.
>
> Hmm, the moron who abuses others he deems "anti helmet" is riding at a beginner level; unable
> to stop his bike as quickly as possible reflexively and avoiding getting in accidents in the
> first place.
>
> Suddenly the nonsense makes a lot more sense.
>
> Chris Bird

Signalling isn't an issue at speed. Neither is braking. Steering and acceleration are.

To hell with signalling when you're travelling at or above the posted
limit.

 

[Chris B .]

On Wed, 16 Jul 2003 21:33:17 -0700, "Dr. Rev. Chuck, M.D. P.A." <cdub@_REMOVETHIS_erols.com> wrote:

>Chris B. wrote:
>>
>> On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 23:41:59 -0800, [email protected] (Dennis P. Harris) wrote:
>>
>> >On Tue, 15 Jul 2003 14:59:16 GMT in rec.bicycles.misc, Michael <[email protected]> wrote:
>> >
>> >> The best thing I did (just last weekend) was move the front brake cable from the left hand to
>> >> the right hand. At least now I can signal and brake simultaneously. Whoever decided that U.S.
>> >> bikes should have front brake control on the left hand was an idiot.
>> >>
>> >wrong! you want to use the *rear* brake, not the front one! if you lock the rear wheel, you
>> >might skid. if you lock the front one, you go over the handlebars. i rarely use the front brake
>> >unless i'm using both brakes to stop quickly, and then the rear one always goes on first.
>>
>> Hmm, the moron who abuses others he deems "anti helmet" is riding at a beginner level; unable
>> to stop his bike as quickly as possible reflexively and avoiding getting in accidents in the
>> first place.
>>
>> Suddenly the nonsense makes a lot more sense.
>>
>> Chris Bird

>Signalling isn't an issue at speed. Neither is braking. Steering and acceleration are.

I already had the sample of nonsense I needed but thanks anyway.

Chris Bird

 

[Bill Davidson]

Kevan Smith wrote:
> I can't see in the video how Beloki applied his brakes. Has he said what happened exactly, yet?

Lance was right behind him and said Beloki locked up his rear wheel. That's a good enough indicator
for me; that and the way he slid and the point in the turn that he slid. Oh, and Sheldon's analysis
that agrees with me helps.

--Bill Davidson
--
Please remove ".nospam" from my address for email replies.

I'm a 17 year veteran of usenet -- you'd think I'd be over it by now

 

[Tom Sherman]

"Dennis P. Harris" wrote:
>
> wrong! you want to use the *rear* brake, not the front one! if you lock the rear wheel, you might
> skid. if you lock the front one, you go over the handlebars. i rarely use the front brake unless
> i'm using both brakes to stop quickly, and then the rear one always goes on first.

Using just the rear brake will allow you to skid the rear wheel while crashing into whatever you
were trying to avoid, since the braking effect is marginal. [1]

[1] There are some exceptions to the rule - my long wheelbase recumbent has respectable braking
using the rear brake only, but its weight distribution is approximately 30%/70% Front/Rear.

Tom Sherman - Near the confluence of the Mississippi and Rock Rivers