Advocacy & Safety - anyone read...

Mr. Bike's Urban bikers tricks + tips?

http://mrbike.com/images/ubttcover.jpg

Thoughts? Impressions?

Yes I have, but it was quite a while ago. Overall it’s a fun read, with plenty of good advice and a few questionable things like the “Short cut left” where you jump out of the left turn only lane, cut cross the oncoming lane and ride the sidewalk / curb up to the cross walk and then make your left. See page 111. (http://books.google.com/books?id=XYTS3XAAm5cC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Urban+bikers+tips+and+tricks&source=bl&ots=CVs9XmUViI&sig=Tkxt6Ens6ybYtGHVg6ReUH4pP2c&hl=en&ei=LgJwTPXWIcL68AakoLHdCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false)

I always judge a book by its' covers... looks old :P

Yes I have, but it was quite a while ago. Overall it’s a fun read, with plenty of good advice and a few questionable things like the “Short cut left” where you jump out of the left turn only lane, cut cross the oncoming lane and ride the sidewalk / curb up to the cross walk and then make your left. See page 111. (http://books.google.com/books?id=XYTS3XAAm5cC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Urban+bikers+tips+and+tricks&source=bl&ots=CVs9XmUViI&sig=Tkxt6Ens6ybYtGHVg6ReUH4pP2c&hl=en&ei=LgJwTPXWIcL68AakoLHdCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false)

Awesome. Seems to promote JoeyBike style riding.

yeah,i too read it a few years ago..... i thought it was one of the more realistic books on contemporary urban riding but the author seemed a bit confrontational or angry? i seem to recall this subtext...

illustration (short of an actual endorsement) of the 'short' or 'messenger' left is an indication the author values pragmatism in riding style and less of a strict adherence to traffic sorting rules.

I give it overall a thumbs up. It's the first place i'd read of OTHER people ugly-fying their bikes like i had done at college - the duct tape bike!

I'd give it an overall thumbs up too, but there were parts that were definitely "on the edge"

He endorses (or at least shows) how to break a wind shield, break an antenna, spray water in drivers faces, use pepper spray, play chicken with pedestrians and when to say to police that a motorist pulled a gun on you (even if he didn't).

He not only shows how to jump up on and use sidewalks, but when to ride up on the other side of the road, ride on stairs, through cross walks, filter, ride the center line, draft trucks, hang onto trucks for a free ride and run red lights

But oh (the best part) to be safe, you should wear a helmet when you do all this.

I can respect his point of view, but if he's concerned with safety, he shouldn't be advising a lot of the stuff he does. Prevention is superior to mitigation.

I'd give it an overall thumbs up too, but there were parts that were definitely "on the edge"

He endorses (or at least shows) how to break a wind shield, break an antenna, spray water in drivers faces, use pepper spray, play chicken with pedestrians and when to say to police that a motorist pulled a gun on you (even if he didn't).

He not only shows how to jump up on and use sidewalks, but when to ride up on the other side of the road, ride on stairs, through cross walks, filter, ride the center line, draft trucks, hang onto trucks for a free ride and run red lights

I've been told that this book is awful - it's about what you'd get from a teenager watching videos of messenger alley cats on YouTube and thinking that this was how messengers rode all the time. The hanging onto trucks trick is a good example: one of the most frequent ways cyclists die is from being side-slammed by a truck when they are in a blindspot.

I always judge a book by its' covers... looks old :P And in this case, you could judge it by its title. Um, "bikers" ride MOTORCYCLES.

I've been told that this book is awful - it's about what you'd get from a teenager watching videos of messenger alley cats on YouTube and thinking that this was how messengers rode all the time. The hanging onto trucks trick is a good example: one of the most frequent ways cyclists die is from being side-slammed by a truck when they are in a blindspot.

can't say I'd endorse a lot of what he does in the book however I'd guess people are going to do these things regardless, but if you look into what happens before a cyclist gets killed by a motor vehicle, I'd bet most of it is what he's endorsing (or what seems to me as his endorsing of it).

I took that book out of the Library last year. It didn't teach me anything I didn't already know.

Some of the advice was dangerous, such as skitching, and there was something about riding down the middle of the road, on the double yellow, with traffic going by on both sides.

I give it a thumbs down.

I read it several years ago. Some of the tips were worthwhile, some were not. Overall, I'm glad I read the book. Just because somebody recommends a strategy (courier left) or just describes a strategy (skitching), doesn't mean I feel compelled to do it. I liked reading the descriptions of these tricks, and got insight as to what problems they aim to solve, without incorporating them into my repertoire.

Glowacz has all sorts of tips, including (!) how to avoid getting weird tan lines on your bald head if you wear a helmet (p.222), and a description of why it's rude to have a short rear fender (p.220 - I wish people would think about this issue!).

An entertaining and informative book - isn't that what reading is all about?

...Glowacz has all sorts of tips, including...a description of why it's rude to have a short rear fender (p.220 - I wish people would think about this issue!)...

I have and that's why I have a short rear fender. I hate wheel sucks, particularly when it's raining!

Yes I have, but it was quite a while ago. Overall it’s a fun read, with plenty of good advice and a few questionable things like the “Short cut left” where you jump out of the left turn only lane, cut cross the oncoming lane and ride the sidewalk / curb up to the cross walk and then make your left. See page 111. (http://books.google.com/books?id=XYTS3XAAm5cC&printsec=frontcover&dq=Urban+bikers+tips+and+tricks&source=bl&ots=CVs9XmUViI&sig=Tkxt6Ens6ybYtGHVg6ReUH4pP2c&hl=en&ei=LgJwTPXWIcL68AakoLHdCw&sa=X&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=2&ved=0CB8Q6AEwAQ#v=onepage&q&f=false)

Ah, the bicycle version of "skipping a red light by using the gas station so you don't have to wait" left.

I read it several years ago. Some of the tips were worthwhile, some were not. Overall, I'm glad I read the book. Just because somebody recommends a strategy (courier left) or just describes a strategy (skitching), doesn't mean I feel compelled to do it. I liked reading the descriptions of these tricks, and got insight as to what problems they aim to solve, without incorporating them into my repertoire.

Glowacz has all sorts of tips, including (!) how to avoid getting weird tan lines on your bald head if you wear a helmet (p.222), and a description of why it's rude to have a short rear fender (p.220 - I wish people would think about this issue!).

An entertaining and informative book - isn't that what reading is all about?

I couldn't agree more, well said. Since it's been several years since I read this, (and my local library has a copy on the shelf) I think I'll check it out again.

i have and that's why i have a short rear fender. I hate wheel sucks, particularly when it's raining!

lol

I emailed Dave through his website and said although I liked his book, I thought his take on helmets was naive, and out of step with the rest of the book.

He replied asking me "what I found naive" to which I said, "that bicycle helmets can prevent the majority of cycling deaths, of course."

His reply was that by saying "the almost one thousand deaths that occur to cyclists each year could be mostly prevented by cyclists wearing helmets" was not the same as saying, "bicycle helmets can prevent the majority of cycling deaths."

Pretty lame response.

I'd say he could help prevent more deaths more effectively if he didn't advise doing a bunch of the stuff he does.

If he were to keep the theme of his book intact on this point, he'd first admit that there hasn't been close to a thousand deaths to cyclists for decades, (seems to me, I remember a total like that was last hit in the 70's) and that cyclists wearing helmets die frequently because when you ride in front of a moving vehicle and are hit with the force of it's movement, it can be way beyond what a helmet (or a body) can tolerate.

That would be a more realistic assessment.

I have and that's why I have a short rear fender. I hate wheel sucks, particularly when it's raining!

There are enough 4-wheeled dangers on the road without being exposed to 2 wheeled idiocy.

There are enough 4-wheeled dangers on the road without being exposed to 2 wheeled idiocy.
The fenders thing can go both ways, so I'm not sure what way you're leaning.

Regarding the book, it sounds like an entertaining read. Maybe he's just explaining the "right" way of doing all the wrong things on the road that many people do sooner or later. Dunno, just a thought.

I have it, I like it.

The fenders thing can go both ways, so I'm not sure what way you're leaning.

This is probably because I deleted the part about my willingness to injure strangers dumb enough to draft me in traffic.