Sharrows in San Francisco

In 2004, the city of San Francisco paid Alta Planning & Design to conduct a study on the use of sharrows in the city.  (For those of you unfamiliar, this is a sharrow:)

 

 

The city was having high incidents of 'dooring', as well as cyclists riding on sidewalks, against traffic, and motorists demonstrating aggressive behavior.  The goal of the study was to determine which markings were most effective, and how they should be used.  The really neat part of this study is how it was conducted.  The group used before-and-after video footage to determine the effectiveness of the sharrow.  They tested two versions of the sharrow; the 'Chevron style' shown above and the 'Bike-In-House'  version here:

 

They looked for cyclist positions relative to the curb or a parked car, as well as passing motorist traffic positions relative to the cyclist.  In short, what they determined is that ANY sharrow improves cyclist and motorist positioning.  Sharrows created a buffer between cyclists and parked cars, as well as between the passing cars and cyclists.  They did a good job of evaluating variables, and in the end concluded that sharrows can be an effective solution to improve cyclist safety and both cyclist and motorist behavior.

I really like Sharrows, for a number of reasons. I think they do convey to motorists that cyclists have a right to lane, and a right to be on the road.  They also create a 'mental space' that helps drivers provide a buffer to cyclists that they may not otherwise give.  They are much more cost effective than full-on bike lanes as well.  I think bike lanes can be useful, but in my opinion they convey a sense that 'bikes belong in bike lanes' and in Denver and the surrounding areas, there simply aren't enough bike lanes for that to be realistic.

The complete study can be found here:

http://www.sfmta.com/cms/uploadedfiles/dpt/bike/Bike_Plan/Shared%20Lane%20Marking%20Full%20Report-052404.pdfhttp://www.sfmta.com/cms/uploadedfiles/dpt/bike/Bike_Plan/Shared%20Lane%20Marking%20Full%20Report-052404.pdf

The study isn't terribly long (26 pages) and is definitely worth reading!

Poor sad icebike tales

Well.  Icebike V2.0 had some problems.  After putting everything together, singlespeed conversion, etc, I was still having some drivetrain problems.  Which made me a bit frustrated.  With the help of the much more knowledgeable brother-in-law, it was determined that i had some freehub problems.

Jon and I got ambitious.  Stripped down the wheel, took the freehub body off the hub (thanks to borrowed tools from Golden Bear Bikes).  Completely rebuilt the freehub, I'm talking new bearings, the whole deal.  Put back together.  worked awesome.  took icebike home.  A few weeks later, we get a snowstorm, and I'm pretty excited about a functioning icebike.  except I got about halfway to the train and the pawls failed again, and I walked the bike the rest of the way to the train and from the train to the office in the snow.  It was not a happy morning.

It appears, on the surface, that the grease we used was too heavy for the application.  Probably could tear the whole thing apart again and use a lighter grease.  My plan was to just buy a new freehub body and replace it.  Went and pulled the specs for a 1995 Trek 800 (turns out the 1995 Trek 800 is a PIECE).  Looked at the hub this morning and it's a joytech, which, from my research means that the freehub body isn't easy to find.

I'm poking around craigslist for a replacement rear wheel with a real shimano hub so if the freehub does fail I can replace it.  So now that it's 80 outside I'll soon have an icebike again.

Through the winter....

Alright. I haven't posted in forever. forever, forever. Here's the quick and dirty.

1) I survived another winter sans-car. It didn't always go well. Icebike had some problems. There was one day of walking, pushing icebike. There were a few days of being carted to and from the light rail station by the wife. So maybe that doesn't count as sans-car. More on that story later.

2) It is now, again, springtime in Denver. Mornings in the 40s to low 50s, evenings in the 60s to 70s. Long and short, it is awesome. Warm weather means it is time to start rethinking the wardrobe too. 50 in the morning is just about too hot for the barrier jacket, so I'll be switching over to the optik jacket quite soon.

3) Springtime means lots more bike commuters and the crit guys in meridian back out training. Seeing lots of people on bikes always makes me happy. South denver seems to be doing really well in terms of commuters, always benefiting from the C470 trail, which isn't really my thing, but it is good that it gets a lot of use.

I will be back with more stories, good links and some bike lust.

madsen

MADSEN Cargo Bikes
these are cool. and yes, I am overdue for a real post