solveg

1. If you come to an intersection where it divides into 3 lanes (left turn, straight ahead, right turn) and you're going straight ahead, do you really have to go sit in the middle of the street? The cars behind you get really mad and pass you right in the middle of the intersection and I get nervous being in the middle of the street anyway....

2. If you're braking, how do you signal?

3. If you have 10 speeds on your bike, what number is the easiest gear (i.e. 1 or 10)? What about those gears in the middle that are the same?

hammond9705

1. I usually get in the right side of the middle lane. If you stay in the right lane drivers think you are turning right.

2. I don't

trich

1. I sit in the middle of the road - drivers be damned. I'm not sure how it is everywhere, but in Missouri, a bicyclist can ride on the road or on the sidewalk; if you are on the road, you are expected to behave like a car (thus being in the correct lane). If you are on the sidewalk, you are expected to behave like a pedestrian (crossing only at crosswalks, and only with the light).

2. Similar to the "right" signal, but upside down - point your left hand down toward the ground, bending your elbow at a 90 degree angle.

3. IIRC, the largest cog is the highest number in the back, and the lowest number in the front. For example, if you have 3 cogs in front and 7 in back, the easiest to pedal would be 1 in the front, 7 in the back (which you shouldn't do - see https://sheldonbrown.com/gears.html). Also, check out Sheldon Brown's "Gear Theory" page - https://www.sheldonbrown.com/gear-theory.html

JumboRider

1. Yep middle lane. If I am not afraid I stay right of the lane, but if I am afraid I try to take the whole lane until I am through the intersection. I do a puffer fish type of thing to make myself look bigger. Sometimes I take the side panniers out of their trunk pockets. Then I try to look mean and crazy.

2. What trich said

3. What is this gears thing you speak of?

solveg

thanks for the quick responses...

1. Is answered.

2. I guess I meant is, Do you use only your rear brake, even though it doesn't work as well and signal with your left hand, or do you skip the signal and just do what you need to do. Because, honestly, if I'm going to turn, there's often a slowing down before I do.

3. I'll go read those links. But, when talking, how would this blank be filled in:

I used my (highest or lowest) gear to get up the hill.

solveg

Sometimes it's GOOD to be a Clyde!

flip18436572

The easiest gear to pedal is the #1 gear and going down from there. Is that what you are wanting to know?

solveg

Yah. And it's good to know that 10 is "down." I never know how to describe things. So I start in first, and go down.

lil brown bat

If you're going to turn, don't signal a stop, signal a turn -- just like a car would. If there's peds in the crosswalk or oncoming traffic that means you have to stop and wait, drivers behind you will figure it out just as they would if a car was doing the same thing.

BTW, you don't want to be using your front brake because your rear brake "doesn't work as well". If both brakes are adjusted as they should be, your rear brake should work just fine for just about any situation except an emergency stop, and the front brake should have a very powerful, my-front-wheel-hit-a-wall stopping action. Front-brake braking will tend to pitch you forward if you're traveling at anything over a slow coasting speed, and will send you over the handlebars if you're really moving. If you need to use your front brake to stop on a regular basis, I'd get that looked at.

Lowest.

CastIron

1) Take the whole friggen middle lane until you're clear of the intersection.
2) I don't.
3) Doesn't matter. Want to pedal faster or slower? Change gears. Their nomenclature is useless trivia.

flip18436572

The front brake will stop you much quicker than your back brake. Why would it be a problem to use the front brake. I use 90% front brake on my motorcycle, and probably 70% on my bike and I don't have a problem.

solveg

Not when you're trying to talk about it... I just didn't know the right words to use to be clear.

I like the front brake better... the back brake works well when I want to slow down my general speed, but for quick adjustments I just like the front better. Back brakes work fine, and you're right... I should use the more when coming to a general stop. I guess I'm lazy and only move one hand.

wirehead

Bah.

I've been reading a bunch of folks talking about how you the whole front-brake-bad-downhill thing is a myth. So I tried it on some downhills lately.

I'm quite convinced that the cause of going over the handlebar is not the use of the front brake, but that the front brake is much more powerful than the back brake. You really have to brace with your arms if you are going to use the front brake. Find a hill and try it yourself if you don't believe me.

But, yah, the back brake should be sufficient to stop you, even if the front brake is more powerful. What would you do if your front brake cable snapped?

IMHO, even though you feel really weird doing it, if you aren't in a bike path or bike-path-sized-shoulder, take the lane. You are interfacing with traffic in those cases, so you really need to act like traffic or you will just get ignored and potentially end up getting run into.

JumboRider

I might be doing something wrong, but I brake with my rear which has problems stoping my bulk at speed. I need to time my stop and use the front slowly to bring me to a halt.

edbikebabe

Ahhhh, the braking issue... I use mostly front brake & some back brake.

As for the stopping. Generally, I'll stop pedalling, signal, slow down (with brakes) and then signal again.

Take the middle lane. Be brave.

Tom Stormcrowe

Start with the front and then eeeeease the back on. Be prepared to shift your weight back.

trich

It's physics, Jim! Just as in a car (or motorcycle), the front break does much more work than the rear in stopping you - that's why cars have disks in the front (more efficient) and drums in the back. They stick the better breaks where you need them more. Some of this is due to the weight redistribution when you start breaking. Since all the weight is shifting forward, your rear wheel can get "dragged" (even without skidding), whereas the front wheel works better the more force (faster stopping) you put on it...

Leaky Gas

1) Take the whole middle lane at a stop light or stop sign; if you don't have to stop, hug the white line on the right edge of the middle lane until you're clear of the right-turn lane. Watch for bozos turning right into your traffic lane from the intersecting street -- drivers are miserably inept at gauging the speed of a cyclist, unless the driver him/herself is a cyclist.

2) I don't signal. However, I understand that the more-or-less universally accepted hand signal is the left hand held downward with an open palm facing those behind you.

3) Your lowest (easiest to pedal) gear is #1, your highest (hardest to pedal) is #10. If you want to talk 'bike,' though, learn the number of teeth on each rear cog and each front chainring, then speak in combinations: 53-16, 39-21, etc., front-rear. An experienced cyclist will understand exactly what you're talking about, and there will be no confusion or ambiguity. BUT DON'T LOOK DOWN TO SEE WHAT GEAR COMBINATION YOU'RE IN unless you're in a very safe spot. You would be asking for an accident.

Hope this helps, and good luck!

hr2510

1) I avoid big cities completely. Even in my good ol
farm truck....yep I'm a Texas Redneck

2) I don't signal. Seems livestock and wildlife could care less if I do or don't.

3) already answered.

Wogster

1) The key to being safe, is to be predictable, so with both a left and right turnout, and a straight through lane, be in the lane intended for where you are going. Now, typically the right turnout lane does not exist on the other side of the intersection, so I typically, if going straight will be at the right side of the straight through lane, so I will be at the right side of the road on the other side. Riding straight through from a right turn lane will guarantee you a right hook (someone who turns right, right in front of you), which usually results in an unplanned dismount

2) Left arm out and down, the problem is, that, in North America the left brake is usually the front, it's the stronger of the two brakes. The solution is to signal then brake, not to signal and brake. A lot of people think they need to signal like a car, continuously, and you don't. Left arm out and down, then back on the bars for braking. In an emergency braking situation, forget the signal.

3) Typically it's 1, there may be exceptions, but I have never seen one. Now about duplicates, this only applies to dérailleur systems (multiple sprockets in the front and or back). Typically you have maybe a 15 tooth difference between the largest and smallest sprocket on the rear, and a 10 tooth difference on the front, so some of the combinations will be either duplicates or so close that they might as well be duplicates. The more gear combinations, the more duplicates you will have.

solveg

These were great answers! Thanks!

I will* continue to ride in the center lane. I'm just not happy about it. I will* try to use my back brake more. I will not signal continuously. I now know how to communicate my hill-climbing questions. And there was even more* I learned.... I just can't remember right now. Thanks.

Bill Kapaun

When using lane in an intersection, use the whole lane. If you don't, SOMEONE in a car will think there's room for both of you and pull up beside you. Then you have nowhere to take evasive action for debris etc.
They can also "squeeze" you into another lane. Let's face it, many people in SUV's have absolutely no clue where there R side tires are!