Commuting bikes in Cape Town

[timefly]

Just curious...

 

While more and more folks are riding bikes to work the uptake is very low.

 

There must be at least 1000 people in the building I work in and the bike room has never had more than 6 bikes in it.

 

One thing I am curious about, why do folks not use city bikes, unless your commute is so far a racing bike is essential to cover the distance?

 

Carrying your laptop or whatever in a rucksack gives you a sweaty back. That is what luggage racks are for.

 

It's eye opening in cities where biking is more common. In Hamburg for instance almost no-one rides on the roads, every pavement has a strip of different coloured bricks where bikes are meant to ride.

 

Every bike has luggage racks and / or a basket. Chain guards or fully enclosed chain cases are standard so you do not even need to tuck your long trousers into your sock. Fenders of course are standard on all bikes too, for when it rains.

 

Speaking of bike lanes, too, in Cape Town there is a bike lane down the side of Campground Road and yet I see folks riding in the road. Why? Are cycle lanes uncool somehow?

[Hairy]

timefly ....

 

I have been commuting for close to 9 years now and CT over the last few years has changed dramatically for cyclists .... sit tight, things are happening and they are happening faster and faster!

[alsoran]

You have a bike room at work? The mind boggles at the luxury.

Edited November 15, 2012 by alsoran

[Tubehunter]

Most of the people I know who commute actually do more than the straight distance to work and include some training saddle time to the ride too. Hence the choice of bikes for most of this crew.

 

The cycle lane down campground road is hyper dangerous at anything above walking pace. It is away from the road along the boundary line for the homes along this stretch. Have witnessed more than the odd casual cyclist sprawled across one of the bonnets of the residents along this stretch as they come out of their driveway to the road. The obstructed walls and hedges on their properties does nothing to make this problem go away. Unfortunately it was a poor planning effort and any cyclist who commutes even infrequently along this stretch could've come up with a more functional option that would accommodate everyone happily.

 

Moonlight mass is certainly doing it's bit for changing the bicycle landscape from purely road racers and dedicated mountain bikes. This should see the city bikes starting to find a place to call their own. The next one is on the 28th of November at the Green Point circle.

[timefly]

Ah, OK, that explains a lot.

 

I have only been commuting once or twice a week for 4 months now - I guess I have been lucky so far on the cycle track on Campground Road. I will indeed slow down there now...

 

It's hard to find city bikes, ours came from Holland via BEN. I started commuting when one day the missus went out all Saturday with both sets of car keys. I was quite amazed to discover that bikes are actually quite practical. I live in Pinelands and I can reach Kenilworth in one direction and town in the other without breaking a sweat, in around 20 minutes.

 

Bonus feature is getting some exercise while I'm at it.

[Let's Ride]

Welkom, Wamkilekile, Dumela, Howzit timefly.

 

TBH the cycle lain on Campground road isn't ideal. pedestrians walking on the path and cars are often parked on the path.

 

I cycle from Claremont to Pinelands most days and always seem to break a sweat...

 

I want a bike with a luggage rack as carrying a backpack isn't the best option but just haven't got around to doing it. Mix between the new and old racing bike for me at the moment.

[Mr Legs]

I think that very few of the affluent cycle commuters do not come from a cycling (racing or just for exercise) background, and they do not cycle to work because they are too poor to afford to use other types of transport. Our cycling culture is to buy the best bike you can, not like in Holland where you buy a bike with the primary aim to commute. We would not want to be seen dead on those sit up and beg bikes. Too materialistic on the one hand and we do not have a culture of commuter cycling like the Dutch.

[Let's Ride]

I think that very few of the affluent cycle commuters do not come from a cycling (racing or just for exercise) background, and they do not cycle to work because they are too poor to afford to use other types of transport. Our cycling culture is to buy the best bike you can, not like in Holland where you buy a bike with the primary aim to commute. We would not want to be seen dead on those sit up and beg bikes. Too materialistic on the one hand and we do not have a culture of commuter cycling like the Dutch.

 

Say what???

[droo]

The southern suburbs bike lanes are a joke, more often used as parking spaces by soccer moms in 4x4s who then complain about the roads being dangerous for kids on bikes...

 

Things are changing though, and there's a massive amount of awareness being generated around commuting and bicycle culture in general. The cycle lanes that are being built are making the more dangerous stretches safer, and are also making people aware that bicycles also have a right to be on the roads. In my experience confidence on a bike is a huge barrier to many would-be commuters, and I think that the bike lanes, being relatively safe spaces to build skills and confidence, will help a lot with this.

 

As for the perception that commuting on bikes is only for those who can't afford cars - I think this will change as more and more people discover that it's often quicker and easier to get around by bike than by car, particularly in the CBD. This in turn will create more space in the market for town bikes, which are currently quite niche.

 

Give it a few more years and I think the picture will look very different.

[timefly]

And yes, we do have a bike room. It only has room for 6 or maybe 7 bikes though.

[lloydkayak]

timefly,

While the campground cycle lane is dodgey... I now cycle through the suburban roads avoiding the almost all major ones.

My enjoyment factor has gone up tenfold!

[timefly]

Cheers lloydkayak, I'll look in to side roads.

 

To be honest I feel safer bombing down Albert Road Woodstock in peak traffic with a lane to myself as the traffic is pretty slow, than I do on that part of Campground Road where there is not enough place for a car to overtake a bike safely if there is oncoming traffic - which there usually is.

 

As for confidence, for me it needed a crisis like having stuff to do without a car to get me out there. And you are right. Around town bikes are just as fast as cars if you include parking. I raced my wife to the Biscuit Mill the other day - she in a car, me on my old school Dutch Opafiets. I got there first, by about 30 seconds.

 

And rain? No problem. Put on a raincoat, ffs. I do not get any wetter on a bike than walking.

 

As for breaking a sweat, never having cycled a race in my life I do not ride very fast. GPS on my phone says I average around 20km/h.

[pietas]

I find it rather interesting that people who are 'cyclists' (and I refer to those who only train/ exersize/race) persieve those who ride bicycles as a means of transport not as cyclist. That somehow the more expensive the bike the more of a cylist you are. If you don't have the lastest, most flashy and brand name, then you are a nobody.

 

The reality is that those same people mostly cover far more distince than any one of those 'cyclist'. Those same nobodies are also far more friendly and more likely to greet you.

 

The long and short is that commuting is not perceived as being cool. Also we live in country were we sometimes stay far away from our place of work. I stay 35km from work and commute. In Holland you are halfway on your way to Germany by then. And people are butt lazy

[timefly]

The long and short is that commuting is not perceived as being cool.

 

Perhaps a little of this might make it seem more cool

 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7037/6988467965_1ca42a6f38_c_d.jpg

 

 

 

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7036/6951901793_f8a0b50e75_z_d.jpg

Edited November 20, 2012 by timefly

[Hairy]

Hey Pieta, don't worry we are cool .... well a hell of allot cooler than those people stuck in metal boxes in traffic.

[pietas]

Alas, none of those beauties are South African. I should rather have said commuting is not perceived to be cool by SA people in metal boxes. But having a fixie is currently cool. That is until the next best thing comes along.

 

But I did have a good time looking at people in metal boxes this evening with Hairy, et al.