https://www.2wheeltuesday.com/2011/03/double-amputee-motorcyclist-still-racing-motorcycles-video/
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I rarely use 2wheelers any more. But I do start with the back brake, by at least a moment, and I think it does make it more likely to fishtail than to dive the front end. So I guess I’m probably doing it wrong, but I’m used to it.
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Really doing it very wrong.
Most of your braking is in the front. To a ridiculous degree. I consider a rear break on a motorcycle or bicycle to be a stability reducer. There are times you want to use it, but beginners should stay on the front brake.
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Not necessarily. A touch of rear brake to pre-load the front suspension and expand the contact patch can be useful. You want the front end to dive; that’s what’s pushing your braking wheel into the ground.
OTOH, you can get the same effect by making the front brake activation into a two-stage process. “Setup and squeeze” is the phrase usually associated with that.
In a genuine emergency stop, bicycle or motorcycle, my rear wheel isn’t touching the ground at all.
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Oh, of course it isn’t cut and dry. And I’m not even a hobbyist on a bicycle; I just use one to fart around on with my kids. I haven’t commuted on a bicycle since fourth grade on a single-speed Schwinn with a banana seat.
But also Sheldon himself admits that there’s controversy on this issue, and he’s only talking about people who actually do ride bikes fairly seriously. But when it comes down to it, I have no trouble believing that an experienced rider who prefers his brakes mounted the “American” way can stop his bike just as efficiently and safely as one who likes his brakes mounted the other way. My right hand might be stronger than my left, but my left hand isn’t useless, and it’s perfectly capable of applying the maximum safe force (and delicacy!) to the front brake handle… it just takes practice. It’s a matter of preference.
When the conversation comes to hand signals in city traffic, that’s where I’m really glad to have rear brakes on the right. I’m more comfortable performing my one-handed steering with my dominant (right) hand during signaling maneuvers, especially if I might have to brake suddenly, since one-handed steering necessarily destabilizes steering a tad, and front-wheel braking can easily destabilize it further if the bike’s balance and steering orientation are not kept 100% straight. (Adjusting one’s center of gravity for rapid deceleration while holding on with one hand is tough to do without at least a small wobble.) The rear braking offsets that instability a tad, in my experience, and since such maneuvers are typically not undergone at high speeds, I don’t worry that the rear brake will be insufficient to save me in that short interval before I can get my signaling left hand back onto its brake handle.
This is somewhat akin to the argument about whether one should brake their car with their left foot. I’d say that’s generally an objectively wrong way to do it, but I also recognize that someone could drive perfectly safely their entire lives that way if that has become their habit and they aren’t riding the brake pedal.
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I was always taught the proper way to brake was applying the front harder and letting off when the rear starts to skid. You get more braking power out of the front, and the rear will skid before it lifts. It’s the fastest way to stop.
The reason for the handedness of brakes on bicycles has to do with which hand is used for signalling. This is why it differs from country to country. If one were to be signalling in the US (left hand) and need to perform an emergency stop, they could do so with the right hand lever and not go over the bars. It has nothing to do with peoples handedness. (I’m a lefty, for what that’s worth.)
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Agreed, but as a datapoint:
A few years ago, I was riding my bicycle across campus, doing about 30km/h (and using my left hand to adjust the strap on my backpack) when a pedestrian stepped into the road without looking, a few metres in front of me.
Nothing bad happened; I managed a reflexive one-handed rolling stoppie in time to avoid a collision. Back wheel about a foot off the deck. And did I mention that it was raining?
Tioga City Slicker tyres are awesome.
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Why? Admittedly I did much better with the giant twist and go as it takes my muscle memory a bit of time to get the whole clutch shift thing on a bike not really complex but I needed a little more practice than I could get in the basic rider course and as I ride it in stop and go traffic often it is nice to not have to bother with the whole left hand/left foot dance. Two wheels is fun and you can properly armor up for speed!
At the least you can investigate if there are MSF courses in the area. They will provide you a bike and helmet and you bring gloves and good shoes/boots that cover the ankles. If you pass you get to walk into the DMV and walk out with an endorsement without taking their road test. Anyway a good way to get the feel and decide if you like it or not.
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I run and ride throughout Denver. I have been hit and nearly hit running the sidewalks, and never hit or nearly hit running on the edge of the road. Cars pulling upto intersections look into the road to see if another car is coming, but do not seem to reliable look at the sidewalk to see that I am bearing down on them at a fast pace, so they then pull out right in front of or right into me. I find running the sidewalk far more dangerous than running in the road, except in the busiest of downtown city streets or ginormous multilaned roads.
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Not sure about where you live. A lot of states allow bicycles in the road, if they are going the speed of traffic.
This is a residential area with pretty light traffic. I don’t see how much harder it would be to, you know, not go through an intersection unless it is clear while running. If I don’t have a crosswalk signal, I always make eye contact with anyone else in an intersection, and never assume someone sees me.
Even if vehicles never saw a jogger, it would not be hard to avoid the using side walks.
Of course they aren’t going “the speed of traffic”, bikes are much slower. But this isn’t about what is allowed, but rather WHY be in the lane for cars, when the lane for bikes is clearly marked and 3 feet to your right. I guess we can extrapolate from the above comment that they are in the car lane because people notice them more than if they are in the bike lane.
I’d like to see some data on this. I suppose there is some logic to it, but at the same time it is counter intuitive and smacks of the perception of safety from anecdotal evidence. But I’m just a cager so WTF do I know?
If it IS safer to be on the road biking and running, let’ get rid of side walks and bike lanes if everyone is just going to risk it on the road.
This is a dumb assumption motorist make. If I’m going 30 MPH, the limit is 25, and the bike lane is full of slow pokes, Yes I’m going to be in the same lane as the cars.
When I was a regular bicycle commuter (10km each way, peak hour, inner city, everyday), I’d generally be doing 20km/h on the climbs, 40km/h on the flat, 60km/h on descents.
It was a thirty minute commute by bicycle; would’ve taken over an hour in a car thanks to the traffic. I was passing them much more than they were passing me.
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Well, you guys are some speed demons compared to me back when I rode a bike.
But you don’t seem to grasp the situation I am trying to paint. This isn’t a busy bike lane full of joggers, or clogged up streets full of cars. This is a quiet RESIDENTIAL neighborhood. Certainly if someone was jogging in the bike lane (when the sidewalk is right there) or a slower biker, I would passs them in a car lane.
But when you can ride 1 or 2 miles and NOT see another biker or jogger WHY would you continue to ride in the STREET and NOT in the BIKE LANE?
The bike lane is free and open and lacks cars - why not use it?
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It will, of course, depend on the local circumstances.
However, a few possibilities:
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Around here, many of the supposed “bike lanes” consist of nothing but a bit of paint on the edge of the road…underneath the parked cars. It isn’t physically possible to ride there.
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In the rare cases where they prohibit parking in the bike lane, it’s still usually just a bit of paint near the gutter. The gutter is the spot on the road where all of the crap dropped by motor vehicles (nails, screws, staples, other bits of sharp metal…) ends up. Riding there is a good way to collect punctures.
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Segregated bike lanes (i.e. with a curb between the bikes and the traffic) are often only a metre or so wide, with a concrete curb on each side. There’s no room to dodge hazards without instantly crashing into the curb.
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Riding in the gutter puts you out of the line of sight of traffic, increasing the odds of SMIDSY (“sorry mate, I didn’t see you”) incidents with cars. As any motorcycle training course will tell you, if you want to maximise visibility, you need to move laterally across the driver’s sight lines (this is why motorcyclists often weave when approaching an intersection). Being visible in the traffic is much safer than being invisible beside the traffic.
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In the UK, very many cycle lanes were desired for no purpose other than box-ticking, designed by people with neither experience of cycling nor immediate reason to improve the lot of cyclists, and implemented by people with no common sense.
One of the pleasures of threads like this is that I get reminded of the existence of Warrington Cycle Club’s Facility Of The Month. Here’s a new favourite, from Australia:
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OK - this is an middle to upper class neighborhood. The cheapest house is like $170K, and probably the nicest one is near a million (I am guessing).
Almost no one parks on the street. There isn’t trash in the street. The bike lane is a generous size (I am not sure on the exact size, but I’d guess a bit over a meter and half. The asphalt is in good repair all around. The side walks in are good repair, with no issues of cracks or where it settles weird and one edge pops up.
This is a utopian dream of Lego like city building. And yet joggers are on the bike paths, and bikers are in the car lanes - even when no one else is around.
The excuse of being more visible in traffic seems - I dunno - an excuse. You are also more exposed to traffic. AND what is the excuse of NOT moving to the bike lane when a car is trying to pass you and now I have to cross the middle line just to give you extra girth.
Personally when I rode in high school and college I rode on the side walks. I avoided cars the most I could - I know - you aren’t supposed to, but I never hit a person. I also never assumed cars saw me or that I had the right of way. I rode defensively.
Around here, riding on the sidewalks is explicitly illegal [1], and the cops will bust you for it. They don’t want cyclists knocking down granny while she’s walking to the shops.
[1] Young children are exempt from this law.
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It sounds like a calm and quiet neighborhood, and without pressure people have taken to the routes easiest for them. If you’re running in the bike lane most likely it’s flat and much like running track, vs curbs etc on the sidewalk. The road gives the cyclists more room, plus all those runners are in their lane. To solve the problem, just increase the pressure on non-motorists, run over a cyclist or two. 
Another harmful law.
People are way more likely to get hit by cars and, if hit, killed.
