Wear Helmets!

If you've received a bicycle for this Christmas season, don't forget to put on a helmet! Helmet advocacy group helmets.org has suggested that in the United States,

• A very high percentage of cyclists' brain injuries can be prevented by a helmet, estimated at anywhere from 45 to 88 per cent.
  
• Direct costs of cyclists' injuries due to not using helmets are estimated at $81 million each year, rising with health care costs.
  
• Indirect costs of cyclists' injuries due to not using helmets are estimated at $2.3 billion each year.

Ride safe this holiday season!

Adjusting Derailleurs

The derailleurs are the components of the bicycle which allow you to change gears smoothly. If they are not maintained properly, changing gears may become an irritating task or even totally impossible. See the Youtube video below for how to adjust a derailleur.



You don't always have to go down to your local bike shop!

Bicycle Gears

At one time, bicycle racers did not believe in multi-geared bikes. But Velocio, who invented the derailleur, thought of a test to prove them wrong. He challenged a champion racer to a race in the mountains with a young woman. The champion had a single-speed bike; the woman a three-speed. The champion lost.

All bicycles nowadays have gears, except for really low end bikes and certain specialized "single-speed" bicycles.

In a low gear, the pedals are easy to turn, but you have to spin very fast to get any speed up. In a high gear, the pedals are hard to turn, but you don't have to make them turn very fast to make the bicycle go fast. Low gear is normally used to travel up slopes and high gear is used to travel down slopes.

If you are a commuter, one way to protect your bicycle gearing system is to buy a gear case. Although you do not really need to protect your bicycle from weather elements in Singapore, it is still useful for preventing pants from getting dirty or damaged, if you wear long pants when riding. The sharp teeth of gears can even cut jeans.

Sheldon Brown has an excellent article on bicycle gearing system.

Some of his main points:

• Only change gear when pedalling forward.
  
• It is better to "spin" in low gear than to "push" in high gear
  
• With practice, spinning becomes easier
  

Beyond Singapore

There are three major hills which experienced cyclists usually climb in Malaysia: Genting Highlands, Fraser Hill, and Cameron Highlands. They form important stages in Tour de Langkawi.

See Ken Kifer's site for a detailed analysis on gearing if you plan to conquer any of these hills.

Extension of trial for bikes on MRT and buses

LTA extended their trial allowing foldable bikes on buses and trains during offpeak hours. It's good to know that at least one other country (Japan) is also relaxing its rules to allow bicycles on board! Let's hope that this becomes a trend worldwide. If two countries with high population density can have such a friendly transport system, why not others?

'Cycle trains' keep passengers rolling along
BY KENTARO YAMAYOSHI, THE ASAHI SHIMBUN

Amid these sad fiscal times, it is nice to hear of a business cycle that's on the uptick--the growing number of local railways allowing passengers to bring along their bicycles.

[snip]
One regular user in Gifu Prefecture is Susumu Kato, 56, who commutes to Ogaki from his home in Ikeda. He has been bringing his bike along for about three years.
"It takes about 10 minutes by bicycle to get from the station to my home and my workplace," Kato explained. "It would be too far to walk, but by riding my bike I can also eat out and shop around town."

http://www.asahi.com/english/Herald-asahi/TKY200812240042.html

Cycling at Roundabouts

Many of us are familiar with some roundabouts in Singapore, particularly Newton Circus. Although it has been shown that roundabouts are safer than normal traffic junctions for motorists, this is not true for cyclists. In fact, roundabouts are much more dangerous than normal junctions for cyclists.


Source: wikipedia.org

Wikipedia says that an analysis of the national crash database in New Zealand for the period 1996–2000 shows that cyclists were involved in 26% of the reported injury crashes at roundabouts, compared to 6% at traffic signals and 13% at priority controlled intersections. Cyclists are therefore two to three times as likely to be in a crash at a multi-lane roundabout than at a traffic signal.

The most common roundabout crash type for cyclists involves a motor vehicle entering the roundabout and colliding with a cyclist who is already travelling around the roundabout (generally just over 50% of all cyclist/roundabout crashes fall into this category). The next most common crash type involves motorists leaving the roundabout, colliding with cyclists who are continuing further around the roundabout carriageway. Roundabout designs that have marked perimeter cycle lanes are found by research data to be even less safe than those without them.

Here's a Youtube video on the dangers of some roundabouts.



I wonder if any Singaporean will ever film a video like this.

For any aspiring activist who plans to petition the Land Transport Authority about improving our roundabouts:
Commentary on Dutch style roundabouts
Benefits of modern roundabout designs