Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as Copenhagen

Re:Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as C... by stbtrax on Wednesday September 23, 2015 @03:23PM (#10267456)

This sounds like it could be easily solved by you riding a more suitable bike for commuting. It seems people in the US fetishize road bikes with drop bars and skinny tires as the 'best and fastest' kind of bike and then complain about how uncomfortable biking is. Even in the tour de france they don't use 23mm tires anymore. Going to a wider tire won't affect your speed adversely and to an extent will actually speed you up.

https://janheine.wordpress.com/2014/01/01/tires-how-wide-is-...

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Re:Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as C... by nkassis on Wednesday September 23, 2015 @03:54PM (#10267696)

"It seems people in the US fetishize road bikes with drop bars and skinny tires as the 'best and fastest' kind of bike" I don't think that true. The general opinion I've seen where I live is that bikes are toys and paying above a few hundred for one is ridiculous.

I do agree that you probably don't want a race oriented road bike if your goal is to commute to work a few miles but if you enjoy the sport and know what you are getting into then go for it get as awesome a bike as you can afford. It's better than wasting it on some huge car. Bike value should be > car value ;p

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Re:Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as C... by URSpider94 on Wednesday September 23, 2015 @04:23PM (#10267886)

Outside the Bay Area in the US, I see a lot of hybrid and mountain bikes. In Silicon Valley, there's definitely a preference for multi-thousand $ road bikes -- and people ride them, hard.

Still, riding your carbon race bike to the office is akin to driving your Ferrari to the grocery store -- uncomfortable on rough roads, no storage space, and when you get there, where do you park?

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Re:Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as C... by Florin_Andrei on Wednesday September 23, 2015 @05:17PM (#10268302)

When I bought my road bike, I tried to optimize the hell out of the performance/price ratio. You could get a pretty good road bike for less than $2k, or quite a bit less than that with some effort. Choose a store with good prices, and use all the discounts and sales you could get your hands on.

This was a few years back, but I got mine for $1200. Granted, this was in the middle of a massive sale, but still. It's even got a carbon fiber fork (but aluminum frame).

Frankly, not being Lance Armstrong, I don't care about the last few percentage points of performance. All I care is how much I get for the buck I pay, and whether I get a decent bike or not. Keep the chain lubed and the tires rock-hard, and the thing flies on most roads.

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Re:Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as C... by nkassis on Wednesday September 23, 2015 @05:14PM (#10268283)

Parking can be an issue but I would hope that most large tech companies now offer interior protected bike storage. Seems like a cheap perk that keep employee healthy.

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Re:Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as C... by kalleboo on Wednesday September 23, 2015 @11:44PM (#10269716)

My perspective as a European is there seem to be two types. Whenever I bring up bike commutes with Americans, either the reaction is negative (with all the typical excuses), or their eyes light up and they start going on about that fixie they've had their eye on for so long. The "middle-class" of "bikes are fine tools for travel" just doesn't seem to be there - either you're dismissive or you're a "bike nut2.

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Re:Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as C... by nkassis on Thursday September 24, 2015 @09:51AM (#10271536)

Yeah that's pretty accurate from my experience too. It changes from city to city. Pacific north west cities like Portland and Seattle have a much more balanced view of cycling but on the east coast where I am now it's pretty much like you describe.

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Re:Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as C... by comrh on Wednesday September 23, 2015 @04:34PM (#10267976)

I think it is a young, hipster-ish thing. Usually people ride a mountain bike as a kid and think of road bikes as "bikes for grownups."

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Re:Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as C... by michaelt on Wednesday September 23, 2015 @03:42PM (#10267596)

The width of the tyre might not affect your speed - but the fact the path is unpaved will :)

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Re:Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as C... by lukeschlather on Wednesday September 23, 2015 @03:53PM (#10267690)

I only ride hybrids, I've ridden my hybrid on steep mountain highways and gravel roads, although mostly thousands of miles in the city. I agree that wider tires are best. However, having a durable bike with durable tires doesn't "solve" the problem of riding on gravel, it just makes it less painful. If Silicon Valley actually built a decent bike network I might consider moving there from Seattle.

As it is I'd feel like I'm paying a premium to put up with worse infrastructure.

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Re:Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as C... by beambot on Wednesday September 23, 2015 @04:22PM (#10267882)

I've commuted a few times from NE San Jose (near Milpitas) to Google MTV campus via the (mostly-gravel) Bay Trail on a hybrid bike. It's telling when the commute makes your arms are more tired than your legs... I agree w/ GP: Pave that section of the Bay Trail.

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Re:Google Wants to Make Silicon Valley as Bike-Friendly as C... by walshemj on Wednesday September 23, 2015 @04:55PM (#10268139)

Yep get a hard tail MTB and let the suspension take the strain.

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