So being a fixed geared bike, isn’t the break just to try to pedal backwards? Or no, that doesn’t work. Lack of brakes seems a bit foolhardy. Though, I guess no more so than the rather reckless riding.
Good luck, dude. Hope you don’t get anyone else killed.
I actually rode like this (I could cross 34th St or 42 at a red without ever stopping) and it is fun as hell until you get injured, but having done this on a bicycle and later on a motorcycle the problem is that the pedestrians aren’t in on this and they can (though they aren’t supposed to) cross anywhere. You are eventually going to hit someone… it works best when no one sees you coming because then you can plan on them just moving the same direction and speed they were originally moving, but I hit an old woman because she crossed out of nowhere from behind a van, saw me and headed back to the curb, then dodged again, and again, and we kept second guessing each other until I came in contact at about 2mph. (I actually was obeying all rules on 6th Ave in the west village when this happened, she was breaking the law.) A fixee is totally normal for this riding but the idea that he’s got no brakes seems phenomenally stupid (I also wonder how he managed the Williamburg bridge into Manhattan at the start).
strawman
Yes, on a fixie the drivetrain is the brake. It works fine. That isn’t the problem. The problem is that assclown operating the bike.
Also, thank you for the “else”. I would like to give that word its own upvote.
Yes. This was around the time that they wanted us all to have license plates (naturally I had that in my bag somewhere) and this stupid thing could never have caught me if I had any idea that I was doing anything wrong (because then I would have popped onto a sidewalk, turned around and been gone the wrong way down the street between unloading trucks…) I think a messenger had recently killed someone and they were cracking down and the “not in the Herald Sq bike lane with its own little bike traffic light” was an easy bust. He crossed 4 lanes of traffic diagonally.
Thanks! I have to say that disagree with the mandatory shoot-on-infraction policy, but I suspect @cannibalpeas may have been putting it forth with some degree of tongue in cheek. The other comment doesn’t actually advocate anything, but wonders whether this behavior contributes to other bad things happening. I tend to agree (even though the decision to engage in violence is on those other folks, and not excused by this video).
I do notice that you left the rest of my points unaddressed, but I think you get where I was going.
Yeah, agreed. He’s probably quite dangerous to other people who are bike commuters… because when he slams into a car the car doesn’t care, but if someone is commuting to work by bike they’re using the same spaces he is and won’t expect him.
If I recall my driver’s education correctly, foot pedestrians are at the top of the courtesy pyramid, above bicyclists, followed by cars — who are expected to yield when possible to pedestrians regardless of who has the right of way, in order to prevent injury.
How bizarre!
In Philadelphia, children under the age of 12 are permitted to ride on the sidewalk. Cyclists older than that are not permitted, and not advised, to ride on the sidewalk.
Plenty of the comments here are about dangers to and experience as pedestrians.
In the shot below, at 33 secs, if the adult had not yanked on the kid’s arm there was a strong risk of contact and potential injury (however minor). The kids were clearly startled to see him at the last second as he emerged from behind some other pedestrians, who had been blocking his view of them. In UK any pedestrian on any designated crossing has absolute right of way and ALL traffic MUST stop until the pedestrians have cleared the crossing. No idea if it is the same in NY but this arsehole is making pedestrians who have right of way cower and yield to him. Stop defending the indefensible.
One comment is not ‘people’ and I think you know full well that was hyperbole not a literal call for execution, summary or otherwise.
Watch the whole video. Your guess is incorrect. There are two arseholes in this video.
There’s a reason bike messenger jobs don’t come with health insurance.
In the first minute and a half I saw him going backwards on the bike lane (very start), passing in front of a pedestrian close enough that she goes “Whoa!” (0:34), faking a right turn at a red light so that he can cut in front of oncoming traffic to run it (0:37), straight-up running a red light into oncoming traffic (0:42), intentionally blocking a car’s side view mirror to force it to brake so he can pass (1:15).
Fuck this guy, he’s only making it harder to normalize cycling in cities.
It’s this sort of riding that fuels bike hate. As a cyclist, I can understand wanting to conserve momentum, but weaving around traffic and pedestrians is a dick move.
I’ve done my share of “Idaho stops” (i.e. treat as a yield sign), but this is a completely different ball game.
Thanks for detailing that. This video was nothing but a guy doing
@Aeroplane I think that word shitty doesn’t mean what you seem to think it means.
i also ride a brakeless track bike and think this kind of thing is cool and really fun. i do not care about the legality of it. i do not care about representing bikes well lmao. ya’ll are spooked.
Well in the video it said he would hop off or use his foot on the back tire to brake. So I was curious why not the other more obvious (to me) option. I guess that is just chalked up to “assclown operation”?
Bike commuter here, and I couldn’t get more than 30 seconds in before getting pissed off.
Screw this idiot. I bought a cheap-o cam for my handlebars because sometimes people in the 'burbs think that bikes belong on the sidewalk and they would brake check or cut me off if I was on the road (even though I drove like a car with lights and street signs, no passing on the right etc).
Go do that shit on a bike trail, and find a better way to distribute packages where you’re not actively putting other people in danger.
That is a ludicrous idea to try to uphold in Manhattan where the sight lines are limited and the traffic is dense. Half of what’s parked in Manhattan is illegally parked delivery vans so if you come out from one of those without looking it’s on you. Pedestrians are expected to be in crosswalks, not crossing the street in the middle of the block, and doing that with 6th Ave I think every New Yorker would probably agree means you’re on your own. .You can only yield to someone if you can see them. What likely went wrong for her was that I was also close to a line of vehicles being on a bike so she didn’t see me.
Having met a fair few bike messengers. And even more people who weirdly aspire to be bike messengers despite having access to much better paying, less risky work.
I’ve never once run into a woman in that scene.
That’s pretty much exactly what I said.
It’s just not every place I’ve lived has an explicit carve out for kids under 12 in the law. It’s often just safety advisement or an enforcement regulation or some such.
In either case where bikes aren’t allowed on side walks. It’s almost always advised to have young kids on bikes on the side walk, because it’s legitimately the safer place for them to be.
Philly was one of the places I had in mind, as like you said it’s pretty explicit there. And in my experience more often enforced. Friends of mine with young kids down there feel a lot safer having their kids on bikes on regular city sidewalks there then they did in NYC. Because of the far lower number of adult cyclists on the side walk and how used to it everyone is.
When I see a cyclist coming toward me on the sidewalk, I pretend not to notice them I take up as much of the sidewalk as I can. It’s very passive-aggressive.
I have special contempt for people who do that while wearing no helmet. If you have the courage to ride without a helmet, contrary to universal advice, work up the nerve to ride on the road as the law, and common courtesy, require.
The lowest rung of my ranking is occupied by police officers who ride on the sidewalk. The special powers and deadly weapon should help you muster the bravery to act with common decency.
