himespau 

^^^makes me glad I don't live in NYC

merlinextraligh

You can't really define it with mathmatical precision. So it gives me lots of wiggle room when challenged.

Pick the right qualifiers, and it makes it much harder for people to prove you're wrong.

Lovegasoline

Flashback:

I learned how to ride a bike in the sidewalk.
I was a very little boy in the basement rec room with my family (late 1960s) for my birthday when my father rolled in a red bicycle. I didn't make the connection until he said 'it's yours'. A complete surprise!
I lived in suburban Maryland, semidetached houses with small yards on a road at the top of a small hill which ends at a 'T' intersection at the bottom. I was taught to ride on the sidewalk by getting on the bike with my dad walking besides me holding the bike up for balance then running, pushing me as I peddled, and then he'd let go. This was on the sidewalk in front of my house headed downhill. I repeatedly crashed into my neighbors' landscaping bushes that lined the sidewalk, after just a few yards, and rise up covered in dirt and mulch.
Then it took: I was riding! My family was yelling and cheering 'Peddle! Peddle!". Elated, I was riding down the hill! I was picking up speed and riding quite well. Then I saw the end of the block coming and got concerned and it dawned on me that unfortunately, I didn't know how to use the brakes! It was a salient ecstatic moment mixed with adrenaline and fear. It's a combo I've enjoyed pursuing my whole life in various endeavors.

I recall vividly the moment I discovered the coaster brakes by accident, at the last moment, when I stopped pedaling very near the end of the sidewalk and headed off the curb and into the street. I slowed down but didn't stop: I crossed the street, went up the curb on the other side, and crashed into a bush on someone's lawn. Unscathed, I remember asking my dad why he hadn't told me about the brakes!

AChristie

You all shouldn't use absolutes like "Never".

99.99% of the time I ride on the road.
However one quarter mile stretch would require me to ride in the gutter or tempt fate on a very busy street in the morning.
There are no driveways, and rare pedestrians. If I encounter one I stop.

So I guess I must be a clueless newbie, right?

achoo

Is that an, err, absolute rule?

Lovegasoline

It's fun!
If you like the adrenaline, proximity, and intensity (and don't forget, NYC drivers are very aggressive, especially during rush hours) it's thrilling. If one's city bicycling style is fast, aggressive, and opportunistic, it becomes a grand urban adventure sport.


That being said, there's no hard and fast rules on sidewalk riding, but rather soft and slow common sense. My personal guidelines include always yielding right of way to pedestrians on sidewalks and riding in such a manner in which the pedestrians can discern my path of travel and that I've communicated to them that they are safe and will not be endangered or inconvenienced by my presence (via riding style, yielding right of way, subtle cues, body language, facial and hand gestures, and verbal communication).

Crowded or semi-crowded sidewalks are a clusterfuk and in my experience it's best for the biker to take initiative and give the 'commands' or cues for the flow, rather than be swallowed by a free-for-all. It's analogous to a waiter carrying a huge tray of teetering high-stemmed champagne glasses through a loud crowded throbbing ballroom: if the waiter doesn't take initiative or is submissive to the crowd, his trajectory will be wholly determined by the vicissitudes of the half drunken crowd and he’ll be knocked, jostled, blocked, and will arrive late at his destination and/or with some of the glasses spilt or knocked over through being bumped or from swerving sharply out of clueless guests' way. If instead, the waiter moves with authority, poise, determination, and makes his trajectory known to those around him courteously, suddenly and intuitively the crowd parts like the Red Sea (excepting for that one, always clueless guest) and then reforms behind him, effortlessly.

In the same manner that a horse is comfortable with a skilled rider on it’s back even negotiating difficult terrain, pedestrians likewise can be comforted by your skill and consideration, and by your taking charge of their safety, instead of being angered at your having placed them in danger’s way and/or inconvenienced them. If your sidewalk riding resembles the flashback episode in the movie Reservoir Dogs where Mr. Pink runs down the sidewalk after a botched diamond heist, you’re doing something terribly wrong.


Riding on sidewalks at speed can be very dangerous as suggested up-thread. Riding on sidewalks, in certain locals and in certain riding styles, can be an at times inexcusable breech of civility (and law). One must gauge for themselves the appropriateness of sidewalk riding, and then the duration and style, based on local custom, situation, and circumstance.

cooleric1234

It seems one component is missing from this discussion. Not all "sidewalks" are created equal. There is a stretch of my commute I take on the sidewalk, actually right before getting into the office so there isn't an alternate route. It turns out that it's about 100 yards long. There are no streets going into or out of the sidewalk. There is a busy road on one side and an empty field on the other side. If I were to take the road here I'd have to make a left hand turn onto a very busy street with three lanes either direction and 50+ mph of cars. Then ride on said street for those 100 yards, then make a left hand turn across the busy three lane street again. As it is I travel the wrong way on a sidewalk with no streets going in or out and virtually no foot traffic. I think it's the safer choice.

AChristie

Absol... Er, without a doubt!

Butcher

It sucks, but I live on that hill. I could ride up another hill and come down the hill. At 45-50mph, it would be some sight to take a 90 degree right turn.

And no, my house is almost paid for and I am not moving.

I do agree, the sidewalks are for walking/running speeds. Bikes should not be on the sidewalks but there are very very few exceptions.

I_Like_Bike

I do it on every ride. Why because I live off of a 4 line road with a median. It is way more dangerous to maneuver the road then just ride about 100 feet on a never traveled sidewalk. Done it about 200 times without a problem. Even cops don't look twice.

Everyone here would do the same thing.

I will paint a picture if necessary and I feel reasonably certain everyone here will agree with me.

I_Like_Bike

Otherwise NO never. I need the open road.

Vicelord

I vote let's see said road on google maps street view.

contango 

Depends where you live. In some places it's illegal. In others it's illegal but tolerated. In others still it's legal and in others it's all but expected.

For me if a road is so busy I don't want to take the lane then it's so busy I don't want to take that route at all. On the path you're sharing with pedestrians and having to give way to just about everything - side roads, driveways etc. There's places near where I live that have marked bike paths on the sidewalks (except we call them pavements) that I don't use because I don't want to have to be constantly watching for children on scooters and stopping every 100 yards for the next side road.