I learnt it as ‘steam gives way to sail’ but with the caveat that you cannot expect a very large thing to change direction as quickly as a small nimble thing, so don’t be dumb about it (it was my Dad).
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Lighthouse always has the right of way.
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LOL
As do lightships! 
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A Ferrari 275 GTB does the screaming but the car camera was actually a M-B 450 SEL 6.9. The Ferrari wasn’t a very good camera car but the M-B with its fancy hydropneumatic suspension and powerful engine combined the smooth ride and the high performance as well as any car the 70’s could.
Luckily bicyclist don’t do this kind of dicketry in my country. I don’t think that “aggressive car drivers” are a good excuse to endanger the pedestrians with this kind of moves.
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Driving a car to work is something millions of people have to do, and most people do their best at it.
Riding a fixie with no brakes through red lights and a lot of busy crosswalks is a whole lot of dick choices being made that aren’t necessary.
You’re also comparing a few bad actors in a HUGE data set of cars and drivers to a tiny community of bike messengers who all seem to encourage this bad behavior. The analogy to cars is ludicrous.
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I’d argue that it absolutely matters what the norms are among bike couriers within a given community. The video reminds me of the crazy traffic flows you see in some countries with no road signs or lights. Things just flow. But I’m sorry about your experience. My intent was not to normalize the behavior, only put it in context.
There are plenty of assholes riding bikes in Amsterdam too. As part of my daily commute back when there was such a thing I had to walk across a bike path on one of the busiest streets in the city. At least once a week some asshole would blow through the pedestrian crossing when I was in it and I had the light.
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For all the justified judgement, this really is a beautiful and graceful skill. One of the best embodiments of the flow state that I aspire to.
It is also a Rorschach, surfacing biases. I found myself reacting most strongly to the damage he is causing to the reputation of street cyclists in general, fueling the outrage that gets innocent cyclists like myself harassed or even assaulted.
But reflecting on it, that is a selfish perspective. Clearly the biggest danger of this sort of behavior is the pedestrians whose life he is risking for the ego trip.
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On that we agree- the culture of bike messengers is a big part of the problem. If they didn’t idolize this behavior and think it was badass, YouTube videos like this wouldn’t exist. It’s a bunch of young (mostly) men who think they are invulnerable and haven’t yet lived enough to learn some empathy.
As others have said, I’m sure they are incentivized to this to some degree by the business model, but to excuse all this behavior on that basis is really disingenuous. If the culture of these messengers was to ride more courteously, the level of service would be established at a more reasonable place.
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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.
Yeah, it’s the same in NYC. The problem is that when they turn 13 no one tells them, “now you have to ride in the street”, so the behavior doesn’t change. Also if a kid is on their bike on the sidewalk, it’s common that the adult parent will be on a bike with them illegally.
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I ride on sidewalks all the time (carefully and safely and respectful of pedestrians, not fast and reckless) in my large city, and if a cop ever stops me I plan on asking “would you want your kid riding out there?”. Because unless one is deep in a residential neighborhood and there aren’t a lot of parked cars, it’s suicide to be on the street.
Few things chafe my hide more than those who take advantage of most peoples’ natural desire not to kill someone.
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Back when I was able to bike around (bike died a few years back,) I would take the sidewalks during bad stretches of road when traffic was heavy and nobody was on the sidewalk, that was about it. I had enough near misses on rough roadsides (good luck trying to take up a whole lane) to convince me it was worth the risk of a ticket.
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You are a kid? Under 12?
Perhaps you misunderstood. Everywhere I have been. It is not just OK. But normal. And promoted by the authorities. For small children to ride on the side walk.
To the point where I have seen police tell people to get their kids on bikes on the side walk.
And this is OK, and normal and safer.
But it is generally not safe. And not legal. For adult cyclists not escorting children to ride on the sidewalk instead of the road. Where vehicles belong.
I was trying to tell @cannibalpeas that his doing this isn’t just OK and sensible. But officially what you’re supposed to do. And exactly the exception to sidewalk usage that he thinks it is.
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That was more or less where my thinking was geared (sorry). And not just the business model, but the customs of a given city. For instance my city of 1.5 million or so does not have this problem at all. Here the problem is the opposite in many ways; because bikes are so uncommon, drivers either ignore them or treat them as a nuisance, which of course leads to accidents.
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Perhaps I did misunderstand, I’m not sure. My point is the implication of the law- that if you’re a kid well you’re just too precious but if you’re an adult you are required to sacrifice your life to the car gods? Everyone is someone’s kid, even if they’re grown up.
If it’s not safe on the street for kids, it’s not safe for adults either.
But as I said I do it safely- if there are pedestrians present, I slow down to their speed and will likely have feet on the ground flinstones-style so I have complete control and can stop on a dime, and I stay well away from storefronts and doorways, and generally steer clear and make sure no one feels threatened by me.
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I’m a regular cyclist, about an hour every weekday minimum…
Just watched just one minute of that video and i already feel the need to apologise on behalf of all cyclists for this idiots behaviour…
Nearly caused so many accidents in just a small amount of time… One mistake by anyone and you have a major incident…
NO NO NO 
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read more stirner. i put no cause above myself (that of law, the state, society, morality, etc etc). only i can decide what is worthy of my pride.
LOL, I bet that sounded cooler in your head.
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