While I understand the purpose of these bikes, many have no upkeep in Chicago and within about 6-8 months turn into eyesores that are chained in place. I appreciate the somber warning they provide but how does anyone else feel about a limitation of time they are up?
Or it could just be a Chicago thing and they are nice and clean everywhere else.
To the OP, I like the links, and I agree that safety in numbers is good IF all cyclists know the rules of the road and how to ride properly in a group. Unfortunately very few people are able to keep a line and stay in column of 2 riders without incident. But many times you'll have those that will observe the traffic signals and sign, and then those that have no issue with blowing through them without a second thought. And then the issue with not understanding what to call out or hand signals for the cyclists behind them can create trouble when needing to suddenly stop. However that may just by my observance from living in a big city with different "flavors" of cyclists
