I’ve cycled to work almost every week day for the last eleven years. I started this habit in Glasgow out of financial necessity, and came to love the daily fresh air, sun daylight, and exercise. So when I moved to Vancouver, a bike was high on my list of requirements; my first pay cheque went towards a rent deposit and kitchen stuff, but my second went on my Norco Mountaineer. I upgraded to a De Vinci St Tropez in 2007, but the trusty old Norco still gets the occasional outing on frosty days, or when I’ve left my other bike at work.
Cycling in Vancouver has its frustrations, but is infinitely better than riding in Glasgow. There are designated bike routes on the quieter streets with plenty of bike-activated lights, favourable stop signs, and a more limited number of chicanes, speed bumps, and other car deterrents.
Despite these advantages I had a hard time adjusting to riding in Canada, and had a few near accidents in my first week or two. The most obvious difficulty was riding on the right. I found this to be much more difficult than driving on the right; without the constant cue of being on the wrong side of the car it’s easy to forget that you aint in Kansas the UK any more, especially on left turns. I also had to learn how to deal with the mysterious four-way stops, and the frustration of only ~20% of drivers and other cyclists knowing how the growing number of roundabouts work. The hand signals are slightly different too, but those were much easier to pick up.
The above difficulties were at least expected. I had not anticipated some of the other problems that I had. The first issue was that the brakes are set up backwards; in Canada your right hand operates the back brake, and your left hand pulls the front brake. This actually makes more sense than the reverse system I was used to; you want your stronger hand on the brake you use the most. And it only took three or four near over-the-handlebars experiences on steep downhills before I started to adjust.
The other issue is that try as I might, I just can’t get on or off my bike from the right hand side. Taking my brand new bike out of the store for the first time, I tried to mount it from the sidewalk on the right of the bike… and promptly fell off, before I’d even got on. Getting off on the right is even harder. I just can’t do it. My brother-in-law is a ski instructor, and he’s always going on about muscle memory. I fear that my muscle memory, developed from the age of three onwards, is just far too deeply ingrained to overcome (and it doesn’t help that my right leg is shorter than my left).
So I’m stuck getting on and off the left hand side of my bike. I put my left foot down when waiting to cross major roads, too – I just can’t help it, no matter how much safer it would be to put my right foot on the kerb, or to mount / dismount from the sidewalk.
But you know what I just noticed?
Canadian bikes still have the chain and gearing system on the right hand side of the bike.
The side from which normal other people get on and off, and push the bike while walking.
Don’t they get chain grease all over themselves? Don’t they snag their trousers on the gear cogs, or scrape the skin on their legs? Does no-one ever get squeezed too close to the kerb by a passing car, and bend or otherwise damage their gears on it?
It’s not like there’s a reason the chain and gears can’t be moved to the left, away from the kerb and from the standing leg. It makes no sense to reverse the brakes, but not the gears.
Hmmmmmm. Further investigation required.
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Riding a recumbent (Vision R-45) there is no way to avoid the chain. I though of installing the teflon tube over the top chain, but ended up just wearing black shorts to ride (plus black riding tights in the winter). This might not be the first thing that jumps into your mind when thinking of a “greasy biker”, and I do wash my riding gear regularly, but the description still fits too often. I avoid sitting on white chairs ’till I’ve changed shorts.
Regrettably, since having kids, I have not maintained your frequency of riding. Well done! But my eldest daughter, at 9, is starting to talk about bike camping 😀
“Don’t they get chain grease all over themselves? Don’t they snag their trousers on the gear cogs, or scrape the skin on their legs?”
Yes.
But it’s funny that you see the chain as being on the “wrong” side. I see the problem as the chain being uncovered. Dutch bikes also have the chain on that side, but it’s usually encased. My local bike store is now using that as a selling point for their Dutch bikes. (“You can bike to work in your work clothes!”)
Yes, the old brake lever switcheroo trick. I almost went for a trip over the bars on that one too. It’s bloody stupid, and even more confusing if you’ve ever ridden motorbikes, where the front brake is always on the right hand because you need your left to work the clutch (ie opposite hand to throttle). Thankfully it’s usually pretty easy to switch the cables over. Last time I rented a downhill bike in Whistler, the bike tech in the shop, on hearing my accent, did it for me without even asking 🙂
@Eva – I always laugh at the amount of gear that Dutch bikes have on them. I can only put it down to living on flat terrain. If you grow up riding on the hills of Sydney (or Vancouver for that matter), you learn quickly that weight=pain, so any luxurious items like chain guards are quickly discarded.
Jon, I also wear black capris in summer and black leggings in winter – it’s just easier that way! Some chain grease is unavoidable, no matter where the chain is located. Maintaining my frequency of riding is easy because a) I don’t have a car and b) I hate the bus.
Eva, the first two bikes I had as a kid had covered chains too. But I have to agree with Darren about the weight issue – especially since I live at pretty much the highest point in Vancouver, making my ride home almost entirely uphill! I’m usually carrying a change of clothes and shoes, a book, my purse, and a pretty hefty lock already, so I try to avoid unnecessary additions to my load. I don’t even have mudguards, I just live with the skunk stripe on my leggings and waterproof jacket in the winter! I should probably get a bell though, it being a legal requirement and all.
Darren, I thought about switching my cables at first, but I’ve actually come to prefer the Canadian set-up. I ride my back brake quite a lot on my way downhill in traffic in the mornings, and I just find it easier to use my right hand. I’ve never ridden a motorbike but would love to get one of those electric Vespas at some point; maybe that would be a good time to switch my bike brakes back to avoid confusion!
After much practice, I’m equally adept at gesticulating to the drivers around here using either left or right hand 😉
The worst thing about not having a chain guard is when you catch your shoelaces in the chain ring! I agree about mudguards too, the skunk strip gives you way more cred
They make light bikes for hills. My dad has one. It looks heavy, but isn’t. Kind of like picking up an empty milk carton.
Cath> …bikes still have the chain and gearing system on the right hand side of the bike.
yey, this is for the Left-handed people who love walking on the left side of the bike! We don’t have to worry about things like “grease” “oil” or any of the other stuff you talked about 😉
Fantastic wouldn’t you say?!
Hm. Thinking about this, I always mount/dismount from the left side of a bike. If I tried from the right, I’d probably fall over too.
But… I was taught to ride by my father, who is… English. QED, or something.
My current bike (a hybrid) is much lighter than my old mountain bike, but robust enough to deal with the construction zones I ride through every day (Olympics, donchaknow), and with tyres that can cope with slippery-dead-leaf-mush and light frost. If I decide to do the Vancouver-Seattle charity bike ride next year I might look for a lighter and faster option though.
Åsa, sounds good! I push from the left too – I’m right handed, but since that’s the side I get on and off from…
Richard, I do hope I’ve inspired a few people to try getting on and off bikes from the wrong side. We could have a whole YouTube channel devoted to the practice.
Your habits may also stem from wanting to avoid the chain…?
How are your grants going, BTW? I requested CIHR registration (2 page) CVs from 6 people, and 3 of them sent the full (~35 page) versions instead. I’m having a really fun week. 1 registration is complete, 2 to go…
When I moved to UK, I found it difficult initially to ride on the left, and to navigate roundabouts on a bicycle. As it was my preferred way of getting to and from work, however, I persisted. On weekends, I forced myself to navigate new routes, and to build up my own local version of The Knowledge. The worst part was returning to the US and right-side cycling. I’m surprised I wasn’t killed in those first few weeks back.
Kristi, I’ve only ridden in the UK once since I moved over here, and yes, it was hard to go back to the left hand side of the road!
When I moved to Denmark and started cycling, I adjusted pretty quickly to everything except roundabouts; for some reason my brain didn’t want to adjust to them.
I’ve only driven once on The Continent, when some of us went to Legoland. I did OK, except for a traffic island. I got lost coming out of the chicane, and went over the kerb. Luckily I was driving an automatic: I can imagine trying to change gear in a right hand drive stick-shift, reaching down to change, only to open the door and fall out instead.
I always get on my bike from the left side, although I’m right handed and drive on the right side of the road. It never struck me before that this mean I’m
weirdspecial, but now I know! Ah well, at least I do get on the bike, I guess that is what matters in the end.When I moved to Modena Italy, I had a motorcycle, but in fact the streets were -straight-away- straight and linear, and there was no problem to reach any destination, in this locality exist respect on the roads by drivers of cars to motorcycles and bicycles.
@Anna, me too – on and off the bike from the left, and pushing from the left. I am confused – could that be the normal way of doing it? 😉
Hmmmmm, this is very interesting! I’d always assumed that people get on and off their bikes from the sidewalk/pavement, whichever side it’s on, since that was what I was taught in the UK. But maybe everyone gets on and off from the left (hence, or because of, the chain placement?), with people in countries that drive on the left getting on and off on the pavement, and people in countries that drive on the right getting on and off in the middle of the road.
I saw 3 people mounting or dismounting bikes today, and they all did so from the left. The one person I saw pushing his bike was on its right though.
Bob, I’ve never driven a manual on the right hand side, just automatics. Even then I kept slamming my left hand into the door as I reached for a phantom gear stick on my left, and my left foot kept reaching for a phantom clutch pedal whenever I hit the brake.
Alejandro, cyclists get more respect from drivers in Vancouver than they do in Glasgow, but there are still lots of conflicts! More respect in both directions would be nice.
@Cath – I’ve been blissfully avoiding CIHR registrations and the like. There’s been some stickhandling of large provincial genomics grants though (this is the ministry that delights in putting deadlines in the middle of summer). Things will get busier towards the end of August on those ones.
Right now I’m polishing off a quarterly report to that national NGO that deals in large-scale genomics research. You know the one.
“with people in countries that drive on the left getting on and off on the pavement, and people in countries that drive on the right getting on and off in the middle of the road.”
Is it just me or is there a hint in there that one of those approaches would be more sensible than the other? 😉
But I agree with Steffi, we are probably the normal ones – perhaps bikes are just meant to be handled from the left.
Richard, well done for avoiding that annual delight! I’m working on one today.
And although I’ve never been directly responsible for reporting to the agency you mentioned, I have contributed text to several reports, and I feel your pain.
Anna, um, yes. 😉 Besides, if you’re on the right hand side of the road and a highwayman approaches from the opposite direction, your sword arm will be in a completely useless position for engaging him in combat! (No Canadian has ever been able to refute this argument to my satisfaction).
Ah, but Cath, everyone else can also fight with their left hand.
Surely your average highwayman would not possess such skill though. I know I don’t.
This thread now officially “random”.
I had never thought about it before, but it’s true that I mount on the opposite side to the chain mechanism. Which is uncovered, and on the right, in France. So I’m yet another exposed person to both traffic and highwaymen.
Along those lines, come across this yet? And the turn-signal vest is pretty awesome, too.
Cath, you do have a point with the highwayman, I’ll have to admit that. But he shouldn’t be in the middle of the road – he will be going against traffic and hopefully get hit by a bus or something before I have to deal with him.
Heather, that is really cool! That I have to get.
Heather, that’s awesome! I’d seen the jacket before, but not the laser!
Anna, either that or his horse would be tired from being stuck in traffic and breathing exhaust fumes.
That light lane thing is cool, but it doesn’t help the major problem with cyclists in this town – i.e. that they ignore stop signs and traffic signals, and cut up the inside of right-turning traffic (and yes, you cyclists, that is? illegal).
Also, the light lane is hardly going to be useful on the sidewalk, which is where many cyclists insist on riding.
And my first reaction was that it was cool, as well, but probably ineffective in the long run, especially in urban areas (where it would be needed when the streets were narrower) as there is more ambient light that would wash out the projection. I think the signals on the back are much better, but I don’t bike much at night anyhow.
Most cyclists in France have adopted the now-mandatory-in-the-motor-vehicle fluorescent yellow polyester vest with reflecting strips. It’s pretty effective in headlights at night.
Richard, I apologise on behalf of inconsiderate cyclists everywhere. They drive me nuts too, as they give the rest of us a bad name and ramp up the resentment on both sides. (Although I will admit to going through stop signs if there’s no-one else there, and riding on the sidewalk for the first 3 blocks of my commute rather than crossing and then riding on the scary main road I live on).
Heather, in winter I have reflectors and flashing lights front and back, plus reflective strips on my leggings, jacket, helmet, and panniers. I’m told I look like a mobile Christmas tree, and I actually feel safer in the dark with my lights than I do in full daylight!
CAth> I guess you would be ok against the high way man if you faught left handed (as previously stated). Then again, there is something about that shield that protects the heart when you are fighting right handed 😉
That light lane thing is cool, but it doesn’t help the major problem with cyclists in this town
But maybe it would help cyclists who go the wrong way up a one way street (I fear for them whenever I see them, that street usually being, you know, quaint little old Broadway, New York…)
Åsa, I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I’ve never learned to ride a bike with no hands on the handlebars. This may be why I don’t usually carry a shield.
Sabbi, see my response to Richard 😉
Cath: ahh… I see. No need for a shield and a sword on the streets of Vancouver 😉
Here in the south it might not be such a bad idea…. or maybe just a kevlar vest at night time, with a lot of reflectors and lights?!
Getting back to the highwayman thing, a sword is useless against a highwayman, who will almost certainly be armed with pistols. A blunderbuss is the weapon of choice. In this case, it doesn’t matter if you are driving your carriage on the right or left side of the road, as long as the driver is as far to the side of the road as possible and his/her companion with the artillery is inboard (so as not to fire across or through the driver at oncoming bandits). This is, of course, the opposite to normal driving convention for cars, where the driver is close to the centre of the road.
To add further confusions, in medieval times, jousting with a lance would (for right-handed knights) be done by riding “on the right”, i.e. with the lance held in the right hand, crossing over to hit an oncoming opponent to one’s left. This allows the shield (normally on the left arm) to protect the body.
This comment possibly 100% useless, but historically interesting.
@ Richard
Interesting! However I would be hopeless with either the lance or the gun so my best hope remains a traffic accident on the part of the highway man (or a tired horse, as Cath suggested)…
@Cath
I’m embarrassed to admit this, but I’ve never learned to ride a bike with no hands on the handlebars
I can’t do that either, if it makes you feel any better 🙂
never learned to ride a bike with no hands on the handlebars
Nonsense. Anybody can do this. How long you can do it for can be a bit variable though. 😉
Åsa, full-body kevlar would work. The padding that mountain bikers wear might also protect city commuters! I also know a downhill mountain biker who started off by wearing her (ice) hockey gear before committing to the full kit and expenses of her new hobby.
Richard, the thing with riding a bike is that the driver has to also be the shooter. I guess this mirrors the tactics of jousting knights more than the stagecoach driver vs. highwayman battles of old. But since we don’t have shields, I maintain that it’s better to ride on the left and not have to cross the lance over your body.
Anna, thank you, that did actually help 😉
What’s stopping you from carrying a shield? You should be able to hold the
reignshandlebars with the same hand somehow. And the lance in the other hand, of course.Quite how you’re going to change gears, or brake, while doing this, I am not sure.
Did you see the comment where I said I don’t even have mud guards because of the weight issue? Those shields look heavy.
Yes, I did see your comment, but I was ignoring it for ironic impact. Either that or I forgot. 😉
If someone would hurry up and invent a Star Trek-style transporter, life would be much easier.
and boring. And lacking in jetlag
I could live without long flights, myself. I actually enjoy my commute ~70% of the time.
Wouldn’t we still get jetlag with a transporter?
Cath> Somehow the hockey gear did remind me of that time as an undergrad when I rode my bike through a blizzard to uni… having skigoggles on. I kind of only did it once, I realise exactly what it looked like 😉
And it was painfully obvious those early rainy mornings in Vancouver when I met the “real” bikers out to train with rain glasses and the lot on. Yellow glasse really isn’t flattering. But they do help you see clear I guess 🙂
Yes, rain goggles are essential in the winter! My sunglasses have clear lenses that I can switch in (and wrap-around lenses, and vents to prevent fogging). There are some days that make me wonder whether a snorkel might be a welcome addition.
Cath must be right, you would get a jetlag even with a transporter. Still, I think the transporter would be a much more luxurious way of getting that jetlag than spending all those long hours cramped up in a tiny airplane seat…
Here’s the question though. If transporter technology was available, would it be free and available for anyone to use at any time (i.e. “let’s pop down to Rio for lunch”), or would access be controlled, e.g. through making it incredibly expensive? I suspect that The Man would want to limit access…
Cath> unregulated free travel? Yeah sure that would happen….. never.
Maybe if everyone just woke up one day and all could transport but if that’s not the case I can’t see the idea of it being anything like free. More maybe like you “file a travel plan” or they hunt you down and kill you in the space.
Sorry for the dystopian view. Just got an email regarding upgrades in the TSA system from flights within the US… and Sweden changed the train tickets this spring to be personal with name and DOB. (We’re talking about TRAINS… schhhezzz…)
but I would love to go to Rio for lunch 😀
Ooh, we’re so cynical 😉 I guess it depends on the carbon footprint; if transportation was much cleaner than air travel, governments might try to encourage its use.
It certainly would have made it a lot easier for me to be at Fringe Frivolous on Friday night, and at the Toronto Zoo on Saturday.
And I think I’d be willing to brave any amount of jetlag to be able to pop down to Rio for lunch. 🙂
Richard: aren’t Rio and Toronto almost in the same time zone? (although not the same climate zone….)
Cath; ahh.. but is it cynical if it is more likely? Maybe they would encourage it due to carbon footprint but they would still want the “flight plans” or regualte it. Afterall, at the moment it seems like the only way to avoid any type of registration is walking, right? And you can only get that far with your two feet….
Well, you can bike, but there’s talk of registering and licensing cyclists too (I actually have no problem with that, although I’d like to point out to the anti-cyclist people that I DO SO pay taxes – on income, property, purchases, and transit tickets).