Author Topic: How do you convince your significant other that it's safe?  (Read 7782 times)

Re: How do you convince your significant other that it's safe?
« Reply #25 on: 05 August, 2017, 08:55:24 am »
Mm can’t be seen, I think that we should seriously consider banning all children from the road, as they can’t be seen too. For their own safety of course.

Had a colleague who drives a small Hyundai i10, and believes that as you cannot see recumbents in a traffic queue that are inherently unsafe

Pointing ou that if the following vehicle was anything bigger than a medium size family car, then the same was true for his i10 which cannot be seen past a 4x4, Transit etc

But apparently you don't need to see cars.... so it is a very silly comparison!



IN some cases with fixed mindset, it is difficult to change that opinion

Kim

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Re: How do you convince your significant other that it's safe?
« Reply #26 on: 05 August, 2017, 09:21:13 am »
My recumbent is so invisible that barakta's colleagues would tell her they saw me riding it the following day...

Re: How do you convince your significant other that it's safe?
« Reply #27 on: 05 August, 2017, 10:58:59 am »
It does matter less if you are not seen in a car though.  Cars have better crumple zones than bikes.
simplicity, truth, equality, peace

Jaded

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Re: How do you convince your significant other that it's safe?
« Reply #28 on: 05 August, 2017, 11:01:53 am »
Cars are much easier to hit than bikes. They are bigger.
It is simpler than it looks.

barakta

  • Bastard lovechild of Yomiko Readman and Johnny 5
Re: How do you convince your significant other that it's safe?
« Reply #29 on: 05 August, 2017, 11:37:31 am »
My recumbent is so invisible that barakta's colleagues would tell her they saw me riding it the following day...

And that it was so invisible and dangerous...

I did eventually point out this logical fallacy and they stopped!

Re: How do you convince your significant other that it's safe?
« Reply #30 on: 05 August, 2017, 02:19:50 pm »
My recumbent is so invisible that barakta's colleagues would tell her they saw me riding it the following day...

And, if you trust their prognostication, you can be sure you won't be run over today.
Quote from: tiermat
that's not science, it's semantics.

Re: How do you convince your significant other that it's safe?
« Reply #31 on: 05 August, 2017, 08:45:57 pm »
I often use the child scenario, you are not attacking them directly, or cars for that matter. It usually makes them stop and think.  As long as you don’t make it argumentative.   

Re: How do you convince your significant other that it's safe?
« Reply #32 on: 08 August, 2017, 06:48:38 pm »
I know of at least two incidents local to me where (upright) cyclists have been killed after riding into the back of a stationary vehicle, here is a news report for one of them: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/10244241/Cyclist-died-after-crashing-into-broken-down-caravan-inquest-hears.html
I consider a recumbent a safer bike for two main reasons:
1: it is easier to see where you are going, thus the chance of riding into something is reduced.
2: you are riding in a feet-first rather than head first position so if you was to collide with something head on, your feet will be first to contact the object and take the impact rather than your head.

Show your significant other this and ask if this would happen on a recumbent
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9OrKLGEOVRA

Re: How do you convince your significant other that it's safe?
« Reply #33 on: 08 August, 2017, 08:22:29 pm »
People on recumbent are probably stuipd, or at least geeks, or generally a bit weird, and certainly look like fools (but then don't we all in our lycra & SPDs?  ::-))

I have no opinion regarding eventual stupidity, but regarding geekness: I was the mechanic at Barnard Castle on the last LEL.  I saw many sorts of bicycles in more or less poor condition, but NO recumbent. I should conclude that either:

- all recumbents are so well built/maintained that they never let their owner down,

or

- all recumbent riders know a thing or two about self-sufficiency and need no help in case of a breakdown.




arallsopp

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Re: How do you convince your significant other that it's safe?
« Reply #34 on: 09 August, 2017, 01:11:21 am »
Barring Mechanicals - From London to Edinburgh and back, on a recumbent bicycle -> https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009CVCXKI/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Very good read .........  :)

Ah, sorry. Missed this post. Was busy riding a recumbent, well, to Edinburgh and back again, again :)
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Mr Larrington

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Re: How do you convince your significant other that it's safe?
« Reply #35 on: 09 August, 2017, 11:27:32 am »
People on recumbent are probably stuipd, or at least geeks, or generally a bit weird, and certainly look like fools (but then don't we all in our lycra & SPDs?  ::-))

I have no opinion regarding eventual stupidity, but regarding geekness: I was the mechanic at Barnard Castle on the last LEL.  I saw many sorts of bicycles in more or less poor condition, but NO recumbent. I should conclude that either:

- all recumbents are so well built/maintained that they never let their owner down,

or

- all recumbent riders know a thing or two about self-sufficiency and need no help in case of a breakdown.

Actually we did get one in, with reports of a graunchy pedal, a knackered USB charging gadget and dodgy front shifting.  About the first two there was nothing we could do while the third seemed to be OK after the usual temoval of SkogTM and a healthy dose of lubricant.  I wouldn't class any of these as recumbent-specific, mind.

Darth Stuart reported, with considerable amusement, that Lee W otp had had to Do Things to transmission of the Rohloff-equipped Birk at Louth northbound.  Seems this made Lee "as happy as a pig in shit".
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Re: How do you convince your significant other that it's safe?
« Reply #36 on: 09 August, 2017, 12:11:49 pm »

I have no opinion regarding eventual stupidity, but regarding geekness: I was the mechanic at Barnard Castle on the last LEL.  I saw many sorts of bicycles in more or less poor condition, but NO recumbent.
There were a few issues with recumbents on LEL.
1: There was a Milan GT on the ride using the stupidly light, flimsy, flat prone and hellishly expensive Conti GP LTD tyres which had to DNF due to tyre problems.
2: Stuart almost had to DNF due to using a weird size tyre which was about to disintegrate and had no spare.  Thankfully with a bit of help from Duct Tape it held up just long enough to allow him to finish.
3: Some guy was riding an almost new Birkenstock (costing about £15k).  The rider wanted me to shorten the chain, so I removed one link and tried to pull the ends of the chain together to join them however I was unable join the ends as there was a few mm to little chain so I had to put the link back in.  I tried to explain this but I don't think he understood me as when he came down southbound he complained I had not removed a link like he had asked.  Anyway I had to endure this thing being leant up against a wall a few feet from myself for several hours.  It was not locked.  It required a huge amount of self-restraint to not hop on the thing and take it for a jolly.  I have a feeling the owner would not have been too pleased if he came out to find his bike in bits after I had wrapped it around a tree...  Oh and the thought of a £15k bill....

Manotea

  • Where there is doubt...
Re: How do you convince your significant other that it's safe?
« Reply #37 on: 09 August, 2017, 02:29:12 pm »
Mrs Manotea is risk averse and discussing relative risk just leads to arguments.

But she prefers the happy adonis-like figure I cut as a regular cyclist to the alternative so she let's me get on with it.

FWIW the nearest I've demonstrably come to actual death/serious injury in recent years is when a coach crashed into the back of my stationary car about a mile from home. The case for the defence rests.

Kim

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Re: How do you convince your significant other that it's safe?
« Reply #38 on: 09 August, 2017, 02:31:40 pm »
Barring Mechanicals - From London to Edinburgh and back, on a recumbent bicycle -> https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009CVCXKI/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Very good read .........  :)

Ah, sorry. Missed this post. Was busy riding a recumbent, well, to Edinburgh and back again, again :)

How many cable ties this time?   ;D

arallsopp

  • Beansontoast
    • Barring Mechanicals Blog
Re: How do you convince your significant other that it's safe?
« Reply #39 on: 09 August, 2017, 04:15:53 pm »
Barring Mechanicals - From London to Edinburgh and back, on a recumbent bicycle -> https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B009CVCXKI/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

Very good read .........  :)

Ah, sorry. Missed this post. Was busy riding a recumbent, well, to Edinburgh and back again, again :)

How many cable ties this time?   ;D

Oh, no more than 3. All holding the right hand grip onto the bars, as the foam had decided to register its dissatisfaction with the weather by splitting. I ran a surplus of about 30 ties per day, with the amount of well wishers passing them to me ;)
Love words, hate lulu? Buy "Barring Mechanicals" on Amazon UK or US

Re: How do you convince your significant other that it's safe?
« Reply #40 on: 10 August, 2017, 09:23:16 am »
I've never seen a Birkenstock before, had to Google it. Very tasty.

I'd quite like to have helped out on LEL this year however we're currently at a Tandem Club rally on a very wet German campsite.

Woke up this morning to my own mechanical problem,  a trap pole bent by the weight of water that had collected on the trap overnight creating a rather large but unwanted reservoir.

Back to the OP, despite my bent being among the tallest available I still have some colleagues who believe I'm too low and should use a flag. I won't list everything that wrong about that belief here because we all already know.

Mr Larrington

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Re: How do you convince your significant other that it's safe?
« Reply #41 on: 10 August, 2017, 10:10:58 am »
I've never seen a Birkenstock before, had to Google it. Very tasty.

IIRC Jürg Birkenstock's other job is making compressed soot bits for racing cars.  A chap called Vinz Burgherr rocked up at the World Championships in Ghent in 2000 with a brand-new and impossibly shiny example of the fully-faired version and promptly decked it on the velodrome at about 50 mph.  I think the entire crowd began to cry, whereas Vinz, after three-quarters of a lap of sliding round the boards, crawled out, saw the damage was only cosmetic, shrugged his shoulders and said "That'll buff out".
External Transparent Wall Inspection Operative & Mayor of Mortagne-au-Perche
Satisfying the Bloodlust of the Masses in Peacetime

Re: How do you convince your significant other that it's safe?
« Reply #42 on: 21 August, 2017, 09:15:34 pm »
I consider a recumbent a safer bike for two main reasons:
1: it is easier to see where you are going, thus the chance of riding into something is reduced.
2: you are riding in a feet-first rather than head first position so if you was to collide with something head on, your feet will be first to contact the object and take the impact rather than your head.

I would add a third factor :-
3: Since you almost certainly have a mirror (or two) installed you have a much better idea of what's going on behind you.  A quick glance with the eyes, rather than turning the entire head to look behind you.  So much better situational awareness.

Re: How do you convince your significant other that it's safe?
« Reply #43 on: 23 August, 2017, 09:06:17 am »
"the main issue is my wife thinking that:
Recumbents are unsafe"

I've worried about this because my wife has recently bought me an pre owned but unloved ICE Q.
Has she done this because she thinks it is safe, or because she thinks it is unsafe? I can't ask because she may lie :)
Never knowingly under caffeinated

Re: How do you convince your significant other that it's safe?
« Reply #44 on: 23 August, 2017, 10:20:50 am »
How much are you insured for?
Cruzbike V2k, S40

Re: How do you convince your significant other that it's safe?
« Reply #45 on: 24 August, 2017, 10:19:19 am »
How much are you insured for?

Me? Nowhere near my worth :)
Never knowingly under caffeinated

T42

  • Apprentice geezer
Re: How do you convince your significant other that it's safe?
« Reply #46 on: 24 August, 2017, 03:55:44 pm »
"the main issue is my wife thinking that:
Recumbents are unsafe"

I've worried about this because my wife has recently bought me an pre owned but unloved ICE Q.
Has she done this because she thinks it is safe, or because she thinks it is unsafe? I can't ask because she may lie :)

Oil of peppermint. Works every time.
I've dusted off all those old bottles and set them up straight

Re: How do you convince your significant other that it's safe?
« Reply #47 on: 27 August, 2017, 07:07:53 pm »
https://www.youtube.com/embed/07o-TASvIxY

Someone who has dug into the understanding and safety of peds, cyclists and drivers. Get her a driving headband, see how that goes.
Cruzbike V2k, S40