Why don't more people cycle to work?

plodder

Distance wise, some commutes are long enough that they are completely impractical without showering facilities. Having said that, the low hanging fruit for encouraging people out of cars onto bikes, would not be in that category.

Rechuchote

Considering half of all <2km journeys in Ireland (not in Dublin, in Ireland) are driven, according to the CSO, surely a lot of people could hop on bikes for these short hops. And a proportion of these would be people who work near home.

07Lapierre

plodder wrote: »

Distance wise, some commutes are long enough that they are completely impractical without showering facilities. Having said that, the low hanging fruit for encouraging people out of cars onto bikes, would not be in that category.

It’s not the distance that matters, it’s the elevation. A flat 25k is a lot easier than a 10k uphill drag. You’d sweat more on the 10k uphill commute

plodder

07Lapierre wrote: »

It’s not the distance that matters, it’s the elevation. A flat 25k is a lot easier than a 10k uphill drag. You’d sweat more on the 10k uphill commute

Sure, but I think distance matters too. For me anyway, if I'm commuting 25km, I want to do it in an hour or less and I definitely need a shower after that.

2Mad2BeMad

theres about 5 very high climbs on my way to work, I just wouldnt be able to do it (24km communte)
If there was 1-2 hills I'd give it a shot as I love to cycle, but no showers at work. (FUNNY ENOUGH, I WORK IN A PLACE THAT SELLS SHOWERS AS A BUSINESS)

Pac1Man

Risk of death.

Ultimanemo

The Road is so dangerous for cycling.

Wishbone Ash

2Mad2BeMad wrote: »

theres about 5 very high climbs on my way to work...

I have an image of you crossing the Stelvio, Timmelsjoch, l'Iseran, Bonnette and Galibier on you way to work!

Grassey

Ultimanemo wrote:

The Road is so dangerous for cycling.

Aside from the occasional aggressive pothole lying in wait, the road is not dangerous per say.

Lumen

07Lapierre wrote: »

It’s not the distance that matters, it’s the elevation. A flat 25k is a lot easier than a 10k uphill drag. You’d sweat more on the 10k uphill commute

I have a 30km e/w commute with 450m of climbing and manage fine with no shower.

Tenzor07

robinph wrote: »

To get more people cycling to work though you need the rest of the population to use their bikes for transport, not for getting them to work as fast as they possibly can. If these people are cycling to work and needing a shower then they are going too fast..

Erm... Surely people take the bike because it's faster than the car in traffic?

If people were to pootle along without breaking a sweat then they'd have to leave an hour earlier to get to the office?

4068ac1elhodqr

This product looks interesting, a cross between a bike/ebike(assist option)/gocart/pod type thing.
http://mypodride.com/ Due out Q4 2018.

Can't be good for the back, but fine for uphill snowy hills.
Regardless, (like bikes) best only on dedicated cycle lanes.

Wishbone Ash

Tenzor07 wrote: »

Erm... Surely people take the bike because it's faster than the car in traffic?..

Perhaps, where the commute is largely urban but for many of us who choose to cycle, it's slower than taking the car.

(And there's no changing of clothes involved when driving in).

When I cycle to work, I usually leave between 6 and 6.15am. When I drive, I usually leave between 6.30 and 6.45am.

07Lapierre

plodder wrote: »

Sure, but I think distance matters too. For me anyway, if I'm commuting 25km, I want to do it in an hour or less and I definitely need a shower after that.

Well, my commute is 25k and I do it in about 50/55 minutes. No showers where I work but it's not a problem, as my commute is level/downhill. The homeward journey is flat/uphill, which i do in about 1hour.....but I do have a shower at home!

Rechuchote

Partly the question in this thread is answered by my post about the new Dublin CyclingWorks in this forum. If we can get the Greater Dublin Area Cycle Network built, the roads will be one hell of a lot safer for people riding bicycles to work (or kids to school, or anyone to do the shopping, etc). At the moment it's a bit of a free-for-all.

magicbastarder

my wife doesn't cycle to work - she's a nervous enough passenger in the car as it is. where we're living (and she works in the city centre) the obvious route would be down ballymun road, cross the tolka, and through phibsboro and down constitution hill. she's seen enough shenanigans from the trip into town as it is (and the various pinch points along the way) that she has no interest in cycling in when there's a decent set of buses. plus, she often walks about halfway home before hopping on a bus.

droidus

magicbastarder wrote: »

my wife doesn't cycle to work - she's a nervous enough passenger in the car as it is. where we're living (and she works in the city centre) the obvious route would be down ballymun road, cross the tolka, and through phibsboro and down constitution hill. she's seen enough shenanigans from the trip into town as it is (and the various pinch points along the way) that she has no interest in cycling in when there's a decent set of buses. plus, she often walks about halfway home before hopping on a bus.

I cycle most of the route every day (I join at Botanic Avenue). Phibsboro is a pinch point, but generally its fine.

schemingbohemia

magicbastarder wrote: »

my wife doesn't cycle to work - she's a nervous enough passenger in the car as it is. where we're living (and she works in the city centre) the obvious route would be down ballymun road, cross the tolka, and through phibsboro and down constitution hill. she's seen enough shenanigans from the trip into town as it is (and the various pinch points along the way) that she has no interest in cycling in when there's a decent set of buses. plus, she often walks about halfway home before hopping on a bus.

droidus wrote: »

I cycle most of the route every day (I join at Botanic Avenue). Phibsboro is a pinch point, but generally its fine.

See that's the issue in a nutshell, it's about the perception of "danger" rather than the actuality.

magicbastarder

and the fact that we're well served by buses too. we have four bus routes going past the house.

tomasrojo

schemingbohemia wrote: »

See that's the issue in a nutshell, it's about the perception of "danger" rather than the actuality.

Certainly, the perception of danger is not in itself a trivial matter. I personally find statistics, once I've had a chance to mull over them and sanity-check them, very compelling. I'm in a small minority.

Chips Lovell

magicbastarder wrote: »

what is it about your after work activities which means you can't cycle home after? 5-a-side? after work pints?

GreeBo wrote: »

Golf clubs & bag

And right on cue:

Eyezone

Ye, it's little bit hard to hold umbrella during the cycling but nothing is impossible

magicbastarder

Baron de Charlus wrote: »

And right on cue:

eh, they're clubs, not cues.

NamelessPhil

Baron de Charlus wrote: »

And right on cue:

I know him. He did RAI last year.

tomasrojo

Yay trailers!

The lesser spotted Mamil Tag(b) perhaps?

tomasrojo

But by all accounts he was riding along at a fairly decent clip; the golf bag proving stable enough trailing behind him.

Its stability may be tested in a strong crosswind or on a windy descent, of course. And we’re not sure we’d be wild about towing a golf bag up a climb.

Think that's the Tavoy, linked upthread, which is a knock-off of the Bike-hod. My experience of the Bike-hod is that it's perfectly stable in cross winds and the like, and rock solid for carrying a weekly shop, but carrying an acoustic guitar you have to be careful. If you hit a pothole or bump, the trailer can start hopping from wheel to wheel, with the head of the guitar swinging left and right like an inverted pendulum. If the pendulum motion gets out of hand, the trailer will turn on its side and scrape along the ground. The contents are fine though, just the trailer gets scraped up. You can fix this by putting some ballast in the bottom, and using lower tyre pressure. His set-up in the photo looks nicely heavy at the base.

Not sure whether golf clubs are as top heavy as acoustic guitars.

Lumen

NamelessPhil wrote: »

I know him. He did RAI last year.

That's not a defence.

ED E

Lumen wrote: »

No good can come from golf.

If a golfer starts cycling, cycling is the new golf, and that's bad.

If a cyclist starts playing golf, they're playing golf, and that's bad.

RIP

EDIT: Just spotted the previous page
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dd4AxetU8AAm64q.jpg

LollipopJimmy

Not a chance I'd have my golf bag on a trailer like that

A golf bag could have €1500 in it easy enough, I'd be a nervous wreck. I've recently sold all my golf gear though