Why no more bikes?

[Odinson]

I think the main barriers are safety (or the lack thereof) and infrastructure.

 

No sane parent would want their child to share a road on a bicycle with the taxis, housewives in their X5s and the rest of the crazy drivers in SA.

 

The risk is simply too great.

[Belgarath]

We live within ideal cycling distance, 4 km,  from my two boys' school, and they can ride nearly the whole distance on a cycling path, so, very safe, crime wise too. The school has secure bike parking and showers. They are in grades 10 and 11 now, so old enough to do it without me. They each have a road and a mountain bike and have been riding since they were about 4 years old. Between them they have done 10 Cycle Tours. By bike it takes about the same amount of time as by car, with the Cape Town traffic the way it is.

 

Why don't we do it every day?

 

Because the amount of school books and sporting kit they have to cart around every day is just impossible to transport by bike. (Except if I import them a Danish cargo bike each ..... mmmmmm ....... the more I think about it ........)

 

So, we use the car to school, which means it stuffs up my own cycle commuting . The best we can do is to ride to school whenever they don't have to carry so much stuff, and that equates to whenever they are writing exams. Far too seldom. Otherwise I only get to ride my bike to work during the school holidays.

 

That reminded me to get things ready for tomorrow morning........

 

I used to balance my cricket kit on my handlebar, and rugby practice started late enough that I could cycle home, change, eat, and then haul ass back to school.

 

Dad was like "I bought you the damn bike, so you make your own damn plans..."

[AdamA]

 

I think back to my school career where you had to be at school at least 20min before school starts, otherwise your bike stands outside, as all the slots are taken. Also, beware if you park your bike on one of the older boys' spots...

 

 

That was a quick trip down memory lane... In Std6, middle of winter, we used to ride into the bike shed and the Matrics would flick our frozen ears ( no such thing as a Buff back then)

[AdamA]

I think the main barriers are safety (or the lack thereof) and infrastructure.

 

No sane parent would want their child to share a road on a bicycle with the taxis, housewives in their X5s and the rest of the crazy drivers in SA.

 

The risk is simply too great.

 

Couldn't agree more... When i road to school there was no such thing as MiniBus-taxis

[Red Robin]

Pretty much the same reasons, too dangerous with cars and taxis and also their own personal safety if somebody decides to rob them of their bikes.

My children are too small right now ( 5 and 6) but even so I wont let them ride when they are old enough.

We take them to trails on weekends and they absolutely love it.    

[V12man]

 

Safety is a big concern, but there where it is not, people still opt for the car.

I worked in Atlanta for a while- kept.getting stopped by cops asking me what I was doing.....

 

"Walking to work Officer"

 

"Why?"

 

And any sane response like "I like to walk and it's not far" got further questions and the odd frisking - needless to say there were many Afrikaans expressions used regularly...

 

In the end I just used to respond with "Is it illegal to walk here?" Followed by "Have a nice day" to the inevitable "No" response and just walking on without engaging seemed to minimise opportunities for being sarcastic... Probably best for everyone....

[Fisan]

I had a 20km odd ride to school in my days....down a dirt road from the farm through to a friends house and then onto the bus stop. I think people are worried about their safety these days....

 

Were the climbs more than 1000m and the snow 20 inches thick? 

[Fisan]

Hi guys.

 

So this topic has probably been covered already in the annals of BikeHub, but I realised it especially after last week...

 

So I finally convinced my wife that my son is old enough that she can ride with him to school, and then I go fetch him in the afternoon. There is a grand total of 3 boys' bikes in the shed.

 

Friday, as my son and I left, one boy (I guess him Grade 2, my son is Grade R), asked "Oom, is he going to ride that big bike, even without wheels ??". The amazement on his face.

 

I think back to my school career where you had to be at school at least 20min before school starts, otherwise your bike stands outside, as all the slots are taken. Also, beware if you park your bike on one of the older boys' spots...

 

My wife and I regularly take a very easy Sunday ride to the tea garden around the corner to go have breakfast, and the looks of amazement (and sometimes disdain) are always to be seen.

 

Why is the bike not being used anymore? Are people too afraid, or just too lazy?

 

In all seriousness, even in our safe(?) town of Stellenbosch (roads to school are pretty safe) I see fairly few kinds riding to school. We did recently have a ride to school/work week, and I think it had some success.

 

But in general, my view is that people would rather sit in traffic than let their precious ride up Paradyskloof hill. And its not just the kids - the parents also prefer the comfort of the AC above a (relatively) short trip to work.

 

Disclaimer: Opinions, not a facts. 

 

Bonus rant: Some schools do 'force" you to wear your blazer in the heat of the summer on certain days, which makes biking home a bit unpleasant...but I'm getting side-tracked here...

[fabs]

I think the main barriers are safety (or the lack thereof) and infrastructure.

 

No sane parent would want their child to share a road on a bicycle with the taxis, housewives in their X5s and the rest of the crazy drivers in SA.

 

The risk is simply too great.

 

This is the truth of the matter at hand 

 

edit - emphasis on housewives with X5's

[coppi]

I grew up in Hillcrest KZN and cycled to school and everywhere from the age of about 9/10, so did everybody else.

By the time we got to std9 and matric we walked to school and back as it was " uncool "

[nonky]

Hi guys.

 

So this topic has probably been covered already in the annals of BikeHub, but I realised it especially after last week...

 

So I finally convinced my wife that my son is old enough that she can ride with him to school, and then I go fetch him in the afternoon. There is a grand total of 3 boys' bikes in the shed.

 

Friday, as my son and I left, one boy (I guess him Grade 2, my son is Grade R), asked "Oom, is he going to ride that big bike, even without wheels ??". The amazement on his face.

 

I think back to my school career where you had to be at school at least 20min before school starts, otherwise your bike stands outside, as all the slots are taken. Also, beware if you park your bike on one of the older boys' spots...

 

My wife and I regularly take a very easy Sunday ride to the tea garden around the corner to go have breakfast, and the looks of amazement (and sometimes disdain) are always to be seen.

 

Why is the bike not being used anymore? Are people too afraid, or just too lazy?

 

There is a big traffic intersection close to UJ that requires rebuilding because the university students cannot cross a single lane without getting run over...

 

They simply step into the road without looking.

 

The single-lane slipways (with yield signs and zebra crossings) thus have to be removed "to save lives".

[Prince Albert Cycles]

I grew up close to Roodeplaat Dam which is East of Pretoria. Dad was a teacher so we boys went to the school where he taught for the sake of transport . When in High School I wanted to attend functions at the school on Friday evenings ( there were girls  as well ) but Dad had enough of driving to school by  that time of the week.

The solutions was to cycle to school. On my 26 inch Raleigh I went . Was 20 miles 1 way . Single speed . No lights no fuss I just rode .No helmet no cycling kit flat pedals.

On the way back I had to go through East Lynne which was a poor white suburb . Many a times I stopped in front of the Hotel at about 11 pm on my way home and watched a few fist fights.

Thinking back it was a privilege to be able to do that .

Now looking forward to move to Prince Albert permanently this December and cycling again wherever I want to go in town.

Contemplating a restoration of an old post office bike with a basket for groceries etc.

[Grease_Monkey]

I had the same thoughts last year - why not commute to work and save some bucks... So I tried it out for a week or two, and it was just simply too dangerous, I nearly got hit by cars on multiple occasions - and I consider myself a considerate road user not taking stupid risks.

 

So in short, if I had kids there is just no way I would allow them to cycle to school - would maybe be a different story if I lived elsewhere (currently Pretoria). It is an absolute shame that this is the case as some of my best childhood memories are from spending hours and hours in the streets with my friends on bikes...

 

So I guess the only solution in my eyes is to teach my future kids to ride and get them on an mtb on trails!

[dev null]

The amount of books the primary school pupils have to keep in their bags is just insane, so that automatically disqualifies a bike. And they have no lockers at school. The poor kids now have to use these caddies on wheels just to be able to transport their books around with them. My one boy refused to use the caddy, in stead he used a rucksack. Because of this he has now developed foot problems.

[Gen]

I see quite a lot of high school kids riding their bikes to school.. but very few primary school kids.

 

We live too far for our kids to have to cart that huge heavy school bag off to school on a bike..also all the sport equipment that goes with them.. they would need to pull a trailer????.. they do however from time to time take the school bus depending on how the schedule looks, and if we wake up in time????

 

But people drive like maniacs though, I would think that is the biggest concern

 

 

PS I see a lot of kids riding their bikes around the suburbs over weekends and afternoon and I see the skateboard has also become quite the thing to do

[NelAndre]

I think the main barriers are safety (or the lack thereof) and infrastructure.

 

No sane parent would want their child to share a road on a bicycle with the taxis, housewives in their X5s and Fortuners and the rest of the crazy drivers in SA.

 

The risk is simply too great.

Fixed it