riding style,with or anarchy

[LoneBiker]

Here is a good topic to be in the commuting forum. When riding down public streets for your errands or whatever reason you are out, do you follow basic traffic rules and ride with traffic and accept your place in the traffic stream and the rules and regulations that follow, or do you make your own trail, go against traffic(almost always stupid IMHO) or trailblaze, etx.
For me it really depends on the vehicle. When im on my touring bike im usually going around or slightly above 20 on city roads, and for the most part i ride like im a car, i just stay to the right. Whereas on my mountian bike i do a combination of offroad riding, cutting through alleyways, over curbs, short distance sidewalk depending on the road etc. Partially due to my slower speed and partially due to the fact that when im on the mtb i take more adventurous, explorative routes. Thats my 2 cents, give me yours.

[bicycle_boy]

being that i havn't had a mtn. bike for as long as i've had my roadie, all i can say about riding mr. orange (my mtn. bike) around town is that it's basically the same as when i ride me roadie, cept i do tend to run over more things and take back routes. ealier this year when i was on me roadie riding through town i would randomly end up going the wrong way down one ways, and i thought nothing of it...even w/o a helmet on, which reminds me i need to get one of those very soon, hopefully i won't end up like scott, but i don't wanna stop riding just because i don't have a helmet...on thing good about not having said piece of safety equipment makes me ride more safely, the streets are so empty in this town that riding the wrong way on a one way is no big deal. as for other traffic rules, i usually obey traffic lights, but i usually treat stop signs as yields.
good trails
-richard

[jonassterling]

Someone send this kid a helmet before he lands on his head and can't ride mr orange anymore!

[kennbenny667]

I normally follow all traffic rules when going to and from school. I come home from work at three in the morning, so I ride like everone on the road is drunk, because a large percentage of drivers at that hour are drunk.

[LoneBiker]

Yeah, a good part of my riding is around midnight, and a year ago i rode about an hour between 12:30 and 2:00am. SO yeah, you have plenty of time to pay attention to all cars, not to mention the paranoia. Especially since it was just me on a long, lonely country highway. And in this weather i usually have 2 puffy stocking caps on, so, uh, its kinda like an old skool helmet, at least a little protection, lol. But i plan on getting a helmet too, as soon as i get that pesky thousand dollar vacation outta the way.

[wooglin]

$17.42 (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?cat=4178&dept=4125&product_id=2138976&path=0%3A4125%3A4178%3A4184%3A5306)

What's stopping you, the fashion police?

[hairygrump]

Originally posted by wooglin
$17.42 (http://www.walmart.com/catalog/product.gsp?cat=4178&dept=4125&product_id=2138976&path=0%3A4125%3A4178%3A4184%3A5306)

What's stopping you, the fashion police?

Oooh! Snap!

For my part, it depends on where I am and what I'm riding. I'll take measured risks downtown at night, but when it's rush hour I try to obey the laws as much as makes sense (i.e., I'll usually wait for lights, respect stop signs, etc). This is as much for my own safety as it is to let people see me follow the rules.

Downtown at night or other time when traffic becomes less predictable, I'm more of a risk taker... I'll take the lane quickly and hold it, I'll burn lights and intersections... Sometimes this just feels safer because it makes you a little more visible and respected. I think by now I can feel it when a biker who takes his place safely on the extreme right side of the road is invisible or ignored, and that's when I become Mr. Mad Max Beyond Thunder Bike.

Only rule that never changes is that I only ride on the sidewalk when I'm trying to find a place to lock up. Never, Ever Cover Distance on the Sidewalk.

[Andy in Wi]

There is only one bike that obeys traffic laws, and that's the 13' Mr. Rolf Death machine chopper. Trying to do quick manuevers on a chopper is like trying to make a dumptruck fly. You can put all the wings on it you want, but in the end, it's still a dumptruck.
When out in Chicago, Jon and I made it a point to disregard each one of the recommendations on the Chicago Cyclists map (free!) at least once. Blowing red lights was done based on judgement calls. A right turn is almost always executed at speed except in traffic jam situations. Crossing an intersection was done when deemed safe (which might not be until green), and left turns were either done by waiting (high volume of traffic) or by going the wrong way (low volume of traffic and in a rush). Fast bikes help with manuevering, and fixies add to that by limiting time thus forcing the mind to expand options (all decisions should be made in the space of 7 breaths).
Sometimes riding with anarchy is better, as some drivers will not look at you, so you must look for them and make decisions based not on laws but traffic flow and feel. Sometimes you can get a vibe from people, and that'll determine how you ride
-WiBA

[bicycle_boy]

hahaha, no tis not the fashion police, but the wallet police :D
i have about $20 to my name and no job, well, not really at least.
i usually work on my vacations from school and that's usually to get books and have a little extra cash for food on the weekends. I have spring break coming up, but i don't know how much work i'll get in, but it'll probably be enough to get a helmet :D

[Rotifer]

I generally come to a complete stop (track stand) at stop signs and lights. Pedestrians and cars dig it (an older lady with her family yesterday looked at me and said "That's cool!" as they were crossing the street) and cops harass me far less. I see it as honing my handling skills. To each his/her own, though, I routinely ran stop signs/lights till recently.

[JerseyDevil]

I follow traffic rules all the time. I figure if motorists see that I'm a responsible cyclist that obeys laws just as they do, they might have more respect for bikes and their use as transportation. I don't ride sidewalks because you never know when someone will walk out of a door (especially a store) right out in front of you. I try to stay out of the way of cars and not impead their speed. The only time I'll break a traffic rule is to get around someone I think is a threat because of their driving, and sometimes I go faster than the speed limit, usually to stay ahead of cars.

[Ira in Chi]

The only traffic rule I obey is Don't Be An A$$hole. I try my best not to cut people off, slow them down, or scare them too badly. There are a lot of times when it makes perfect sense to ride in the middle of the road and run red lights in order to not get doored and preserve the flow of traffic.

[mbikenut]

Riding most of the time in NYC there is only one rule " be alert or be dead "

I try to be resonably polite and watch out for those on foot,
but I find that obeying the standard rules can be more dangerous than making my own. I generally ignore stop signs as I am watching the intersections longer and more closely than some cellphone yaking pinhead driving to the corner store to buy more beer at 50 mph

[Michiganpride]

I'm usually pretty compliant, but my one exception is that I don't like to clip out, and I'll avoid it whenever possible, within safety constraints. I feel like making a cyclist take their foot off the pedal is like making a driver take the key out of the ignition. I've lost my responsiveness, you know? I feel safer knowing I can go . . NOW! I guess I should just learn to trackstand, and then I could be fully compliant and not run so many red lights/4-way stops.

[i8urbrain]

The trackstand is your friend. I work at a shop with a trials monkey and he can trackstand on anykind of bike other then a highwheeler. He has never ridden one so I have to assume it would take him a bit of time. We pass slow winter months working on track stands and slow races in the store. I am great trackstanding fixed, and find that on my SS I am great, but 2.3 in. tires help. It is my darned cross bike that I have issues with. I think I can pull a minute on a stoplight, but I wanna be able to do it onehanded so I can drink my morning coffee.

[Biggles]

how i ride depends on what im riding.....a mTb or my commuter its all on I do whatever i think is
a) safe, its that whole self preservation thing
b) wont make the other guy want to kill me
c)I try real real hard not to get angry and kill people myself although the stupidity of some people makes it hard.

however when Im riding one of my choppers where I literally take up an entire lane I am forced to follow the rules of the road

when riding a tall bike you gt real good at trackstands real quick otherwise stopping means jumping off the blsted thing and then having to try desperately to get back on it in the midst of traffic wich jsut upsets people

and when im riding one of my classic cruisers I am as timid as a bunny rabbit for fear fo the bike being damaged....I was rear ended on my '69 schwinn typhoon (apperantly a coaster brake coupled wiht the fact that i had 24" apehangers on it stopped much faster than a luxury automobile) and my rear wheel was folded out....liek the rim flattened in one spot the wheel didnt pototoe chip it just got a flat spot at any rate it is an s-7 rim that i can not replace laced to a 2-speed kickback hub so now to fix it Ill have to lace that hub to a modern rim.....

at any rate people see me ride one bike one way then cant believe the kamikaze riding style i take on when on my SS or my fixed commuter

[Biggles]

Originally posted by i8urbrain
The trackstand is your friend. I work at a shop with a trials monkey and he can trackstand on anykind of bike other then a highwheeler. He has never ridden one so I have to assume it would take him a bit of time. We pass slow winter months working on track stands and slow races in the store. I am great trackstanding fixed, and find that on my SS I am great, but 2.3 in. tires help. It is my darned cross bike that I have issues with. I think I can pull a minute on a stoplight, but I wanna be able to do it onehanded so I can drink my morning coffee.

Ive got a biek or two that Id like to put up to the test...not high wheelers ut id think that the high wheeler would be easier than some of my mostrosities, and for the record i nearly killed myself attempting to do a trackstand on a penny farthing, wich was followed closely by me coming close to death making a valiant effort to get either wheel on that thign in the air by hitting a speed bump at full tilt (unsuccesful)

[i8urbrain]

Biggles, you should drop in after 3months are up, cause this kid is in NewZeland working on a "tree farm" for three months. If your ever in D.C. with something scarry, bring it with you. Colin is now on the Unicycle trip, but will not be practicing while he is gone. The is another woman who rides a wheel. NOthing but a solid wheel made of wood, with a rim on the outside. She then bolts, fixed, crank arms and flat peddals to the outside. This hard to imagine, I have a video if you want to see her ride.

[Biggles]

Id love to see the video i cant even begin to visualize what this looks like as all of our experiments in wood (using brrom handles for forks on choppers) nearly resulted ina grisly slasher movie style impalement death we have stayed away fro wood although we noticved a serious lack in fixies in our stable and are in the process fo rectifying that.