Re: 10/07/05: Do we belong on bike paths?

It is interesting to me that while a Bike can use a narrower PATH, they are
not actually much narrower than a trike is in general terms. My Terra Trike
(which is undoubtedly the neatest thing ever built, IMHO!) has a track of
about 32-33 inches, but in actual practice it is not all that much wider
than I am. OK, so I am a rather big guy. But it really doesn't take up all
that much room in reality and like someone pointed out, you can ride on a
narrower path in reality because you can go as slowly as you wish and not
wobble all over. In my commute, I have to ride up a long hill that is fairly
heavily traveled. and on my TT I can put any of teh three wheels on the
white line or to a specified distance to either side, and ride the whole
hill within a couple of inches of that designated path. On any bicycle, I
will not be able to ride within the shoulder of the road, let alone within
shouting distance of that, or any other line, particularly on a recumbent
bike. (On a slow hill I try to do the courtious thing and ride on the
shoulder when there is one and you can ride on it. Faster sections I am out
more in the lane)
mark

 On 10/9/05, B D <be_dal@xxxxxxxx> wrote:
>
> --- Mary Arneson <marneson47@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> skrev:
>
> >
> > On Oct 8, 2005, at 4:27 PM, Sheldon Brown wrote:
> > >
> > > I've ridden my GT3 on rail trails and found no
> > problem. The width
> > > issue is deceptive.
> > >
> > > Your 18" figure is atypical. Most mountain bikes
> > have handlebars 22"
> > > wide or more. Also, a bicycle needs more space
> > because it must move
> > > from side to side and also lean to balance.
> > >
> > > A trike, on the other hand, can be ridden
> > perfectly straight, even at
> > > very slow speeds.
> > >
> >
> > A bike with a trailer is also wider than many
> > trikes, and less stable.
> > I think we'd all agree that a trailer full of kids
> > has a place on the
> > path, and bike / multi-use paths need to be built
> > with them in mind.
> > If they are, there will be plenty of room for the
> > rest of us -- trikes,
> > handcycles, utility trailers, and velomobiles.
>
> This is generally a problem here, that bike paths
> aren't consistent in any way. They could be narrow,
> wide, and with obstacles that makes it impossible to
> anticipate if the path is possible to use or not. The
> bicycle organisations here in Sweden seem reluctant to
> work with these issues other than from a turist point
> of view, which I find extremely dissappointing. The
> National Road Administration also think that biking is
> mainly for the southern part of Sweden because of
> weather and such things (I wonder if they have been
> outside their cars and corridors ever), this is also
> very dissappointing and shows of very low interest and
> knowledge in biking. From a biking point of view, this
> is true stone-age!
>
> /Bruno
> Sweden
> Velomobiel.nl <http://Velomobiel.nl> Mango
> Steintrike Mk2 and Mk3
> DBS MTB
>
>
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