liamSVR

Hi Everyone!

I’m doing a project on 'Increasing Safety for Cyclists in London' and would love to hear your thoughts and opinions on the topic of leaves.

With the attached image as a prompt, please leave comments with anything that immediately comes to mind (concerns, past experiences, dangers etc)

I appreciate your help and thank you all in advance!

Liam

corrado33

I generally avoid leaves on my bike if I can. Growing up in Pennsylvania (deciduous trees everywhere), I know that leaves can be just as slippery as ice if they're wet. We always had to be careful driving on them (in a car.) I can't imagine it'd be any better on a bike.

wipekitty

Yep - we officially have leaves in the bike lanes/shoulders here in western Wisconsin.

The leaves take up the same portion of the road that gets covered with plowed snow in the winter. I look at it as early practice for sharing the narrow, plowed road with cars in another month or so. Ideally, bike lanes would be kept clear of leaves, gravel, snow, weeds, etc., but one can only ask for so much.

bikemig 

Yep, wet leaves are bad news. Dry leaves not so much but they cover up stuff that maybe you need to be able to see. I turn to bikes with fatter tires that I run at a bit lower pressure when riding over leaves; plus I won't lean hard into a turn when riding over leaves.

Shimagnolo

I once wiped out on loose leaves while braking for a stop sign, and slid all the way across the street, right in front of a pickup truck who was nice enough to stop as I slid by the front of it. On another occasion, I had a tire ripped wide open by a sharp rock hidden among loose leaves.