Hobart Mercury bikes report

[master6]

This week has had it all. First, there was the day of numerous letters to the editor knocking cyclists. A couple of days later several letters supporting cyclists.
Today we have a half page announcement of a "new ArtBikes initiative" whereby bikes will be available free for people to ride around the City.
It is probably time for cyclists to forget this "cyclist V motorist V Cyclist etc etc " thing, and just get on with our cycling.
Cycling is here to stay.

[iaintas]

Had some silly lady push me over to the curb today on sandy bay road, i was sitting behind a car at about 40kmh (same speed as the traffic) when she pulled up close beside me (in my lane) and proceeded to move further left towards me. had to fall back in behind her and continued to sit there until she turned off into the casino, where i shook my head at her only to get the finger.... not sure what i did to get the finger? i think we all should start reporting incidents to police, getting rego numbers descriptions etc. I still think a charge of attempted murder should be laid to drivers who deliberately try and run down cyclists or run them off the road, maybe people would think twice before being idiots and putting peoples lives at risk then if they got summoned to court.

[rodneythellama]

Yes cycling is here to stay!

I just got back to Perth from a 3 week bike tour of Tassie. I've never been to the island before and it was a wonderful tour. My girlfriend and I cycled in an anti-clockwise direction starting and finishing in Hobart. Amazingly, the weather stayed more or less dry for the whole time we were there.

A few words on the motorists. Mostly it was a positive experience sharing the road in cities and in the country. A lot of drivers waved or beeped and a fair number gave us a generous berth while passing. A fair number of motorists passed dangerously close. Most drivers seemed to have patience if we happened to be in the way. We didn't have any problems getting out of the way of mining trucks and log trucks though perhaps that was just luck. We received a few road rage events, eg. in Hobart, Launceston, out on the highway. I don't remember any road rage like that in 5 months of bike touring Europe.

Last Friday we visited the museum/art gallery in Hobart. On the way out we were still exalting the splendid stuffed wildlife exhibit (finally seeing dead animals that don't stink) when we bumped into the ArtBikes parking tender announcement. Only person we recognised was the mona foma curator. Anyway it sounded like a fine idea to us and of course it is very important to have aesthetic racks to park the bikes on. The 2 demo bikes they had were very striking, in particular the design of the frame. They also had brooks "vintage" saddles and big schwalbe tyres which I suppose won't be part of the production bikes. Anyway, I tried the public bike system in Vienna and it was a complete success for me. It would be great if it succeeds in Hobart.

I wonder whether they will tender "ArtHelmets" after the design of the bike rack is complete? I think the helmet law would be a significant impediment to the usefulness of casual bike hire schemes like this one. Not many people would be bothered carrying their own helmet and I'm not sure how it would be possible to conveniently hire an effective and lice-free helmet as well as the bike -- as far as I understand, the hire racks would be unattended with the bikes locked on using magnets.