Hey all, it's call for questions time for the next BikeNite coming up this Friday:

[grammasaurus@mastodon.social]

@ascentale @bikenite We’ll find out!

[pete@masto.hypertelia.com]

@ascentale @bikenite #BikeNitePQ We've had a fair few questions on tyres, tubes, and valves and it's apparent from responses that we've posters who run all manner of setups. What do you run and why? (For eg, have you made a conscious decision or just used whatever came with your bike? Tyres: Chosen for ride quality, durability, grip? Tubes: latex, butyl, TPU? Tubeless: fave sealant? any insert? etc, etc …)

[uxmark@mstdn.ca]

@ascentale @bikenite When you’re cycling, how and when do you alert others to your presence? Others can be people walking, other people cycling, or people driving motor vehicles. A bell? Your voice? A bulb horn? An air horn? Something else?

#BikeNitePQ

[xtaran@chaos.social]

@ascentale: Correct: Close to one year old and just 2850km on the clock. It's a warranty case. It's now at my LBS.

[gbargoud@masto.nyc]

@uxmark @ascentale @bikenite

Have you considered adding "is it uniform or is it different for different situations?" to that question?

[grammasaurus@mastodon.social]

@uxmark @ascentale @bikenite oooh, that’s a good one!

I bet there will be followup questions as well: what do you do when the other person doesn’t respond?
or their response is not at all what you thought it would be?

(my fave is when I call out “passing on your left” and the person walking on the path MOVES to the left!)

[auxonic@ottawa.place]

@ClintonAnderson @uxmark @ascentale @bikenite i have a bell for compliance with the law but much prefer an “on your left”

[wav3ydave@mas.to]

@auxonic @ClintonAnderson @uxmark @ascentale @bikenite Just a cheery "hello!" from me. People have near-zero understanding of what "on your left" means in my experience

[dr2chase@ohai.social]

@uxmark @ascentale @bikenite I try to play inoffensive music on a bluetooth speaker so that people can hear me approaching. I also aim to pass with such wide clearance that I don't need to signal, otherwise I slow down, a whole darn lot. At walking speeds, I may say "excuse me".

A bell has a 50% chance of making someone jump out of their skin. Too many people use "onYerLeft" like a magic phrase that only needs to be mumbled to gain passage w/o either slowing down or leaving room.

[dr2chase@ohai.social]

@uxmark @ascentale @bikenite also-also, this time of year, lot of people walking in the bike lane because lazy fucks in snow plows block the crosswalks so the sidewalks are useless. In that case, I ride in the street, in the center of the "car lane", because this is a car problem, not a pedestrian problem. I am large, male, white, privileged, on a big weird bike, I am more able to make that point than anyone else on the road.

[grammasaurus@mastodon.social]

@ClintonAnderson @uxmark @ascentale @bikenite GENIUS!!!! I’m gonna do this today!!

[kim@fedi.social]

@dr2chase@ohai.social @uxmark@mstdn.ca @ascentale@sfba.social @bikenite@fedigroups.social Yep, I always say that a third of people don't hear the bell (and optionally complain at you for not ringing your bell), a third will shoulder check and do something sensible, and the remainder will panic-leap in a random direction without looking. On one occasion, ringing my bell caused a pedestrian to answer their phone. A minority of pedestrians will be accompanied by sensible dogs or small children who are paying more attention to their surroundings than they are.

By far the best way to notify pedestrians of your approach is to have studded tyres on tarmac. The rest of the time, I deliberately make a mechanical noise (loud freewheel, deliberately crunchy gear change, flick brake levers, clipless pedals, that sort of thing) that says "bicycle" but not "there's a speeding lycra lout about to run you over", as squeaky brakes tend to be assumed to mean.

Failing that, I'll slow right down and ask politely.

[uxmark@mstdn.ca]

@gbargoud @ascentale @bikenite I’ll leave it to folks answering to interpret how they like ‍️️