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Backpacks are annoying for long rides. Restrict your posture biking and and give you a sweaty back. Use a bike bag instead. A handlebar bag or a small trunk bag on the rear rack works well, small paniniers on the rack if you need more space.
I am a total hipster in that regard because I use a messenger bag, though I love all the carrier options one has with a bike to make them more practical.
And if I can sneak this in about helmets (I am not going to advocate for them, just report on my research I did while debate was being closed):
I went to Walmart yesterday (so shoot me, they have fabric and sewing supplies, which is what I was looking for and which their highly vaunted competitiors, Target and Costco don't have) and decided after getting my fabric to take a look at bike helmets. They had some marked down to $12.97, and a whole lot for sale for ~$20, including some cute ones for kids (Spiderman, Disney Princesses, etc). FYI only.
No cute helmets for adults at the Big Box stores. They all look like moon gear or racing gear or something. I spent a week finding a suitable cute helmet. Nutcase has loads of fun ones for adults, but they are more expensive than the ones at Walmart/Target/etc that are about $25-30 vis $50-60 for Nutcase. For me, Gold sparkle was worth the premium price.
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Originally Posted by urbanlife78
It is all about gearing and the weight of the bike, I would wear regular clothes on my bike and still able to do 12-16mph when I commuted to work.
We probably have different bike philosophies. My neighborhood has loads of lights, so going faster than 12mph would mean that you are not stopping at lights, crosswalks or stop signs. Plenty of people do, I would not be one of them.
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Originally Posted by almost3am
I keep my work clothes in my backpack along with my laptop for my daily rides. I also have two pairs of shoes that stay at work so I don't need to put those in my packpack (1 brown, 1 black).
Changing clothes? Carrying a backpack? Not my scene, I want to wear my actual work outfit (a lot of the time it is a skirt or dress).
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Originally Posted by urbanlife78
That is a smart thing to do if you have a locker or desk to keep things like this at. New buildings in Portland are being designed with places to lock bikes up, lockers available for storage, and showers and changing rooms for those sweaty or bad weather rides. Basically it is becoming a new way to make office buildings more attractive to employers.
This is getting more and more popular in the Bay Area, but not in my work town yet. No new construction. This is also more for the "hardcore" people and not the more casual cyclists.
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Originally Posted by nei
Backpacks are annoying for long rides. Restrict your posture biking and and give you a sweaty back. Use a bike bag instead. A handlebar bag or a small trunk bag on the rear rack works well, small paniniers on the rack if you need more space.
Backpacks are annoying period. And I don't carry backpacks off my bike. Why would I want to on the bike! I have a rack attached basket (fits grocery bags easily, probably a laptop), a front basket to hold my purse, and a laptop-friendly pannier/messenger on the way!
We probably have different bike philosophies. My neighborhood has loads of lights, so going faster than 12mph would mean that you are not stopping at lights, crosswalks or stop signs. Plenty of people do, I would not be one of them.
That requires city planning to design and program lights and bike infrastructure to make it easier for one to bike over 12mph. I assume car are able to go much faster than 12mph and don't have to stop at every light. In downtown Portland the lights are timed at about that perfect bike speed, and streets off the main roads that are designed to be bike routes have a limited number of stop signs so that bikers can have continuous biking. These things can be achieved with proper planning.
Based on your posts, biking to commute doesn't seem to be practical for you. But that is just my guess from what I am reading.
Valencia St in San Franicsco's Misson District has lights timed for bicycles. That was fun to experience. The road is narrow, there is a parelell wider street (Guerrero St ) that's probably timed for faster moving car traffic.
That requires city planning to design and program lights and bike infrastructure to make it easier for one to bike over 12mph. I assume car are able to go much faster than 12mph and don't have to stop at every light. In downtown Portland the lights are timed at about that perfect bike speed, and streets off the main roads that are designed to be bike routes have a limited number of stop signs so that bikers can have continuous biking. These things can be achieved with proper planning.
Stupidly, some of the designated bike routes are packed with stop signs. The one near my house has a stop sign every other block. All of the streets in the area have similar frequencies, but after the first 3/4 of mile closest too my house, there are less stop signs, and you can go pretty fast. Downtown is packed with stop lights, and most of the time I hit them all or 75% of them on the way home. Hopefully Oakland will retime the lights soon with the planned better bike lanes and protected infrastructure.
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Based on your posts, biking to commute doesn't seem to be practical for you. But that is just my guess from what I am reading.
Not really, but I'll likely try a multi-modal commute on bike to work day. If I find a quiet parallel street....
It would look like: bike to the train station (1 mile); take the train for an hour; bike 5 miles to my office (the train station on that end is in the middle of 8 lane roads and a transit station that covers 3 agencies).
I could potentially bike to train (1 mile) > train (45-60 minutes) > transfer to another train (5 minutes, comes infrequently) > bike from train station to my office (1/2 mile). But you need a special ticket or something to get a bike space on Caltrain. And there are no options if the rack is full.
I suppose you could leave a cheaper bike at the Caltrain station by your office. A good design would be for Caltrain to be timed with BART to enable quick transfers.
And there is a huge crowd at 2 am when the bars close.
In the summer when it gets really hot, I often ride after midnight when it has cooled down.
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