southampton city council

[paulb_72]

as some of you know i am back on 2 wheels after years of being on 4,reasons: save money,get fit and stay healthy.
why is it then that southampton city council do what they can to get us on 2 wheels providing us with cycle road shows,cycle workshops and in some cases cycling lessons? but they seem to forget about 1 major thing.....CYCLE LANES!!! i only know of 1 cycle lane in southampton and that goes over the itchen bridge.i know we have cycle paths but 9 times out of 10 they are gravel,great for mountain bikes and hybrids but i ride a road bike and it wouldn't do my skinny wheels any good what so ever!!

my question to all of you is what is your council and city/town like for cycle lanes.

anyway rant over.

paul.

 

[ufkacbln]

as some of you know i am back on 2 wheels after years of being on 4,reasons: save money,get fit and stay healthy.
why is it then that southampton city council do what they can to get us on 2 wheels providing us with cycle road shows,cycle workshops and in some cases cycling lessons? but they seem to forget about 1 major thing.....CYCLE LANES!!! i only know of 1 cycle lane in southampton and that goes over the itchen bridge.i know we have cycle paths but 9 times out of 10 they are gravel,great for mountain bikes and hybrids but i ride a road bike and it wouldn't do my skinny wheels any good what so ever!!

my question to all of you is what is your council and city/town like for cycle lanes.

anyway rant over.

paul.

I (for one) do not want cycle lanes, they cause more problems than they are worth.

I am part of the traffic and am able to use the roads, lets keep it that way as opposed to being sidelined in some sort of ghetto

BUt if you want to use them then Southampton has an Bike[/b]%20guide.pdf]extensive network

 

[Rapples]

Cycle lanes are the work of the devil, just say no

 

[Dilbert]

We have loads up here and they are a pain. I have been back riding for two years now and commute 24 mile round trip 4 days a week. My view is that on road cycle lanes are a liability, as motorists treat the road outside them as 'their' road, whereas in most cases cycling within the cycle lane is often quite dangerous, due to lack of visibility it affords of junctions. Also they are only put in where the road is really wide anyway, and tend to end abrubtly, when the road narrows.

If the council are spending the money on training courses rather than cycle lanes then I think thats a good thing. The off road path section I use is a bit iffy, its tarmaced after a fashion, but bits of it would make the Paris-Roubaix organisers blush.

You will be amazed the terrain you can negotiate on a road bike with 23 tyres, I have been, just get some decent tyres (I have Zaffiro Rubinos - not expensive but have proved good so far).

 

[paulb_72]

oh ok,so cycle lanes are a no no on here then! i have only been riding again for a few weeks,i only mentioned it because i tend to feel unsafe when great lorrys,busses,and even cars fly by me.
im not going to say anymore about it.

 

[Dilbert]

oh ok,so cycle lanes are a no no on here then! i have only been riding again for a few weeks,i only mentioned it because i tend to feel unsafe when great lorrys,busses,and even cars fly by me.
im not going to say anymore about it.

No - there are people on here who love cycle lanes more than anything in the world, they are obviously all out at the moment. Make yourself a coffee, get comfortable and then click here.

My view is that this country is not big enough/does not have the money to build a huge off road infrastructure for cyclists, even if that were a great idea (see link!!), so the quicker motorists learn to share the road the better, and cycle lanes are a barrier to that.

I share your feeling about traffic coming past even now, although I am getting better all the time, so just take it slowly and you will find your confidence will increase.

See if you can get a copy of Cyclecraft from the library, its full of good stuff, a lot of which is completely counter intuitive, and possibly get involved in a local cycling club. Also try to find alternative routes that avoid busier roads, the council may have produced a map, if not stick a post on here asking for advice from locals.

 

[ufkacbln]

oh ok,so cycle lanes are a no no on here then! i have only been riding again for a few weeks,i only mentioned it because i tend to feel unsafe when great lorrys,busses,and even cars fly by me.
im not going to say anymore about it.

Cycle lanes (like helmets) are a matter of personal choice, and if to your personal circumsatnces you wish to use them then feel free.

However like helmets there is a vocal minority who feel that they should be compulsory.

 

[Red Light]

oh ok,so cycle lanes are a no no on here then! i have only been riding again for a few weeks,i only mentioned it because i tend to feel unsafe when great lorrys,busses,and even cars fly by me.
im not going to say anymore about it.

Rather than saying nothing more about it, one suggestion is to get yourself a copy of Cyclecraft by John Franklin which is full of good advice on how to cycle so as to minimise the problems you are having. If you don't want to invest in Cyclecraft there are a couple of websites which cover similar ground. One is the Theory of Big website, the other is a short precis by John Franklin on on-road cycling technique.

Finally, although I am with the others here that cycle lanes are a pain and a problem, Southampton is by no means short of them. If you really want to use them have a look at the city cycling map for their locations. Lots of them are not very good but they are there.

 

[Night Train]

I tend to use the roads too but I also appreciate the cycle lanes that allow me to 'short cut' complex junctions or one way routes that go the wrong way.

However, many of the local cycle routes here are full of broken glass, loose road chippings, litter, obstructions like bollards and road signs and also council temporary signage that forces cyclists into over hanging trees, over grown bushes and using pavements.

Some good cycle lanes would be really nice but bad ones are worse then useless.

 

[Andy_R]

One of the main problems with cycle lanes are that they are designed by motorists to keep cyclists out of their way and treat them like pedestrians on bikes. Until cycle lanes are designed by cyclists, I for one refuse to use them.

 

[snorri]

oh ok,so cycle lanes are a no no on here then!
im not going to say anymore about it.

Hang in there!

Opposition to cycle lanes(white lines painted on the carriageway) may seem a bit odd to some people, but many experienced cyclists dislike them.
The problems many of us find with cycle lanes, is that they are usually too narrow and too close to the kerb, this encourages motor vehicle drivers to pass very close, also they often lead the cyclist into the door zone of parked cars.

 

[ASC1951]

The problem I have with cycle lanes is that all the ones within a mile of my house are less than ten yards long - coloured tarmac, sign at each end, the works.

"Oh yes", says Leeds City Council, "we have hundreds of cycle lanes..."

 

[Arch]

It's perfectly understandable to want cycle lanes, until you've cycled a bit and realise the downsides.

A good cycle lane - wide, swept, reliable - is brilliant. A bad one - narrow, dirty, ends just when you need some help - is worse than nothing. I think a lot of experienced cyclists would rather the effort and money that goes into bad cycle lanes, went into better driver (and rider) education, but it doesn't work like that alas.

I'll use them when it suits me - and when I do, I often make a point of riding towards the outer edge - my normal sort of distance out from the kerb anyway. That way, my outer side is generally over the line, so drivers still have to make an effort to move out. The problem with narrow lanes is that many drivers assume that a bike in that lane is out of the way, and impervious, so they can whisk past without moving out an inch.

+1 for reading Cyclecraft. It won't turn you overnight into an expert, but it'll show you what's best, and why, and help to improve your confidence. Experience (and sharing your experiences in a place like this and taking on sensible feedback) will do the rest.

Happy Cycling!

 

[numbnuts]

I'm another one that does not want segregation, I'm part of the traffic and I want to be treated on an equal with other road users and I live in Southampton (well the top half)

 

[ASC1951]

.... I live in Southampton (well the top half)

So where do your legs and backside live?