carr

i've recently heard through the grapevine that there's been talk of a ban on fixies, due to a few recent pedestrian/cycle collisions.
the cops have been harassing some messengers by testing their brakes, but i haven't heard of anything else.
i haven't been stopped during my workday yet (and i am definitely brakeless). although, the segue cops did try to give me a ticket for no helmet while coming out of a drop on south mich.

Moximitre

ha ha, one of them yelled at me once, I'm not quite sure what about, as I got out of there with the quickness. I'm sure it was about my lack of helmet though, as I ride rather conservatively.

Zurich

Gay

sers

considering banning fixies before those damn ricer ****boxes is rediculous.

carr

are you a courier or a commuter?

as a courier, i find they've been giving us a much harder time about the helmet thing. but, the cops really only try to crack down if you: a. make them mad, or b. become a presence during the last week of the month when they've got to make their ticket quota.

mareesha

You HAVE to wear a helmet in Chicago?!?! WTF! Really?

MacG

I don't see how banning fixies is the solution. The more logical step would be to require traditional mechanical brakes on all bikes and enforce it. the ability to coast is not what makes bikes crash into peds and cars; it's the inability to stop quickly. The easiest way to try to make a change there is to require good brakes and not allow resistive/skip/skid braking to count towards the requirement. Not that I'm taking a side here or anything.

morbot

sounds like this is strictly hearsay, and i dont think it has a shred of plausibility. tougher brake laws maybe, but banning fixed gear bikes? yeah right.

MacG

I guess the even deeper problem is not that fixies are being ridden without powerful brakes, but that bicycles in general are being ridden through red lights, traffic, and herds of peds. Making people ride coasties or just any bike that has good brakes will not prevent people from cutting through traffic and blowing red lights, which is what is probably causing the crashes cited.

ChicagoxBoston

Helmet law for bicycles, but not for motorcycles? I don't think there is any bike helmet law, that makes no sense at all. . .

endform

Time for Saudi style, you get your feet cut off if you blow through a red light.

Moximitre

^^^ sounds reasonable to me.

mrbertfixy

if i'm not mistaken, only messengers are required to where helmets, not regular cyclists.

thurstonboise

That's probably a company insurance thing or part of the workers comp laws.

juvi-kyle

fixies should be banned everywhere...

Alexi

the law in chi town states you have to have a helmet with you or other some stupid ****, people have gotten away with helmets straped to their bags

beppe

yes.

juvi-kyle

you are the best, I was wondering when someone would catch on

ChicagoDave

I think the biker pedestrian accident can happen to anyone, fixie or not, if they ride agressively in traffic. It just so happens that most doing this are on fixies. The most I've had the **** scared out of me was not by a car, but by pedestrians walking through stopped traffic downtown. We can anticipate the movement of cars most of the time, but when you are riding up a line of stopped traffic and all of the sudden there is a pedestrian walking into your path there aren't many options. I don't ride a fixed, but I ride moderately aggresively, and I damn near could have killed a pedestrian on michigan one day. Same story, the only thing that kept me from hitting them was me yelling as loud as I could as soon as I saw them- they stopped dead in their tracks. Brakes would not have helped. Banning fixed gear bikes doesn't sound plausible and I don't think it would solve the "problem"... It just so happens that most geared commuters ride like grandmas in traffic (more dangerous IMO) and most fixed riders ride aggressively. The line is much blurrier than "fixed gears lead to pedestrian-bike accidents. My two cents.

shankton

I wouldn't worry about any type of a fixie ban in Chicago. More likely to happen is the mandatory registering and taxing of bicycles as hizzoner looks for more ways to squeeze fees from the citizens.

$0.00/Gal

So THAT is why I always see people riding around with helmets strapped to their bags. I always make fun of those people.

Ira in Chi

I wouldn't worry about this. No cop is going to stop you unless you do something really stupid. They don't want to get out of their cars.

giboyeux

Primary sources, please.

Landgolier

I never get why people will haul around a helmet and not just go ahead and wear it. That's like catching Roger Clemens with your cup tucked in your back pocket.

Ira in Chi

+1