Posts by hembrow@todon.eu
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOqvqO6UDGKKF7o by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-16T10:27:13Z
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Norway provides an interesting contrast with most other countries as cycling is allowed on all pedestrian infrastructure. This means a near full grid is achieved, so cycling has a wide demographic, but where there is no segregation of modes the same conflict is seen as elsewhere.Speed limits on cycling infrastructure are always an indication of failure. Bicycles are automatically limited in potential to harm by the strength of their riders and their low mass. There has never been a mass casualty event caused by a cyclist.While no country in the world can't provide for cars to travel at 100 km/h they still seem to struggle to create infrastructure on which people can cycle 10 km/h without complaints.Pointing fingers at cyclists in these situations doesn't fix the problem.Recent discussions in the Netherlands about imposing a 20 km/h speed limit on cycle-paths, lower than the speed limit for cars on parallel roads, also indicate a failure to build properly for efficient cycling: Giving drivers an even greater speed advantage than they already have will just driving more attractive than cycling, which helps no-one.#cycling #infrastructurehttps://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2014/11/shared-use-paths-create-conflict-and.html?m=0
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOrY85l6xB4Eong by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-17T13:58:17Z
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These days it's popular to criticise bidirectional cycle-paths, often on the grounds of safety issues which could perhaps result from poor design. But we should not let the possibility of poor design prevent the implementation of good designs and in the real world there are very many situations in which well designed and constructed bidirectional cycle-paths provide both improved safety and convenience for cyclists. They also offer greater capacity for the same area of asphalt, especially with tidal flows of cyclists as can sometimes be seen near workplaces or schools.Of course, bidirectional cycle-paths do have to be well designed to work well, but that also applies to all other kinds of cycling infrastructure.This article gives several examples of bidirectional cycle-paths which work well.#cycling #infrastructure #cyclepathhttps://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2019/03/how-bidirectional-cycle-paths-improve.html?m=0
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOrfvclLjZFt2xM by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-17T17:20:35Z
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Hashtags which ought to have been part of the tweet above: #cycling #infrastructure #cyclepath #roundabouts #safety
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOs2GHjDKgWKslc by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-18T17:59:19Z
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Here's another of my most popular articles. It's about how speed bumps are actually quite rate in the Netherlands because this country doesn't rely on them to try to control excess traffic on streets (especially residential streets) when it's far better to exclude the through traffic altogether. Exclusion of cars can be achieved in several ways, including by making some roads inaccessible to cars by use of bollards or by creating a one-way system which applies only for cars. Either of these prevent streets being used as short cuts (rat runs) by drivers. Several examples of good practice are shown.#cycling #infrastructure #Netherlands #residential #streethttps://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2016/08/speed-bumps-are-not-effective-traffic.html?m=0
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOs4k8VCOoDUrdQ by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-17T17:19:01Z
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Hashtags which ought to have been part of the tweet above: #cycling #health
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOt5UNDODwoqyR6 by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-20T09:53:28Z
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How would you place 50 bollards in your city ? Bollards can be an effective low cost intervention for cycling, or they can cause inconvenience and danger. Read more about the fifty bollard game, and see good as well as bad examples at the link below.https://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2013/08/the-fifty-bollard-game-how-bollards-on.html?m=0
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOt5UNDODwoqyR7 by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-17T17:21:48Z
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Hashtags which ought to have been part of the tweet above: #cycling #infrastructure #schoolrun #children #suburbs #Netherlands #Assen
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOtNZHzqqqtJPcG by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-17T17:23:01Z
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Hashtags which ought to have been part of the tweet above: #bicycle #cycling #dutchbike
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOtVingNDGB7vKC by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-24T17:44:09Z
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On-road cycle-lanes are never really a great idea. In the Netherlands it's far more common that we have completely separate cycle-paths. However there are on-road lanes as well, and some of the details of them are worth looking at.One of the things which often causes cyclists danger on roads with on-road lanes is pinch points caused by central reservations, the result of designs which try to give pedestrians a place to cross the road, motorists a place to make turns, or sometimes in an attempt to slow cars and improve safety (cyclists rarely see improved safety from pinch points).The design of pinch point shown here is quite different. While from the driver's point of view, their road appears to be narrowed and it does cause most cars to slow down, they are actually given more space at the "pinch point" and as a result they rarely encroach on the cycle-lane.The driving lane is 2.8 m wide for most of its length, widening to 3.5 m at the restriction, while the cycle-lane keeps its 2.1 m wide for its entire length.While overall I'm not a fan of on-road lanes, I use this road often (including today, for instance) and it's surprisingly pleasant to ride along.#cycling #infrastructurehttps://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2015/07/a-pinch-point-design-which-slows-cars.html?m=0
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOtZGaVD1RAmkqm by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-17T17:23:41Z
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Hashtags which ought to have been part of the tweet above: #cycling #infrastructure #cyclepath #grid #network
(DIR) Post #AQ5oOv1fAPW9xX4wka by hembrow@todon.eu
2022-11-29T09:19:29Z
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In 2011 I happened across the story of the 1970s "Stop de Kindermoord" protests in the Netherlands. It was forgotten history. No-one had covered this subject in the English language in decades and it was rarely mentioned in Dutch.Protests about the lack of safety for children on the streets became a highly effective movement which fed into the safe cycling infrastructure which we have today. Nowadays, most Dutch children cycle independently in relative safety, to school as well as to visit friends etc.I'm happy to see that this subject has been picked up by many other people in the last ten years, though sadly it still hasn't been translated successfully into other countries' policies.#cycling #safety #RoadSafety #planning #StopDeKindermoord https://www.aviewfromthecyclepath.com/2011/01/stop-child-murder.html
(DIR) Post #ASiCcCEW28oo4gsi5g by hembrow@todon.eu
2023-02-15T17:30:20Z
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A few photos from my bike ride this morning. Something that is really nice about living in the Netherlands is that almost wherever you live it's possible to get on your bike and find a bike path that goes through something that looks a bit like nature within a very short distance of home. The first photo here is just 2 km from my home, others are further along the <10 km route that I cycled this morning.Why did I say "looks a bit like" ? Look at the last photo which was taken from the same spot as the third one with the camera pointed in a different direction. All of the thousands of trees in this area which I cycled past this morning are lined up as regularly as those are. Individual trees are doing their best to disobey and throw in some chaos, but they're still standing in lines.If there's one square metre of the Netherlands which consists of actually natural nature I've yet to find it.This really is very nice, but it still feels a little odd to me. "God made the earth but the Dutch made the Netherlands."#netherlands #cycling #bicycle #trees #nature
(DIR) Post #ASpeccScg4tMF0BoIK by hembrow@todon.eu
2023-02-19T08:46:56Z
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@stux Town bike, road bike, cargo bike, folder, recumbent & velomobile. And then there are @jhembrow's bikes. We ride bikes.
(DIR) Post #AX9yaqRXItIQc6F3Q0 by hembrow@todon.eu
2023-06-28T19:33:18Z
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@stux More than ten years have passed since I deleted my Facebook account and blocked all their domains and IP addresses on my router.Since then they've gone on to do even worse things.I'm here because it is not like Facebook. Why would I want any connection with Facebook now?https://davidhembrow.blogspot.com/2013/04/why-i-am-no-longer-on-facebook.html
(DIR) Post #AYSXrq2L0t24Dl2sSW by hembrow@todon.eu
2023-08-06T14:35:52Z
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Today we went to visit a solar cycle/foot-path in Groningen. Solar road surfaces are of course completely idiotic. Why ? Because solar cells work best when they're not in shade, when they're not covered in thick translucent plastic, when there are no pebbles, sand or cigarette butts on them, and when they are at an angle towards the sun which also allows the rain to wash them.But anyway, it was an arbitrary local destination for us on today's 70 km round trip.@eevblog #velomobile #regel17 #solarroad #solarcyclepath #groningen #cycling #scandalouswasteofresources
(DIR) Post #Ac5qDwa8javk9lSj9k by hembrow@todon.eu
2023-11-22T20:34:38Z
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And the winner of the Dutch election is... The Dutch Media. They've spent decades hyping up every right wing racist party, allowing them to say the most outrageous things without any fact checking at all. The public has now given the most votes to a racist linked to Putin. I'm ashamed.#tk2023 #DutchPolitics
(DIR) Post #Ad8WPnITTLVY5OQkDI by hembrow@todon.eu
2023-12-15T17:31:14Z
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I was told by a neighbour this morning that I am "the right kind of immigrant".When asked to explain he said that I work and pay taxes. He didn't also say that I'm ok because I'm white but I wonder how the conversation would have gone if I had a different skin colour.Am I reassured that because i am "the right kind of immigrant" everything will now be fine in the Netherlands after a quarter of the people who live around me just voted for a fascist, when the new speaker in our parliament is a conspiracy theorist as well as a fascist, and when most of the rest of the country appears to think that this is just fine ? No I am not.I have more in common with asylum seekers and any other immigrants than I do with fascists or with unthinking voters for fascists.#pvvisfascism#RefugeesAreWelcomeHere
(DIR) Post #AoCzKd0YjOQ1FjkACm by hembrow@todon.eu
2024-11-19T11:01:25Z
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This is the peak of bicycle technology.It's a bike which a local customer brought around yesterday because it's been a few years and she thought it was about time that someone had a look at it.I know it looks terribly old fashioned, but hear me out:This is a reasonably light-weight, efficient bike, with effective gearing and brakes. Nothing on it is unmaintainable.This bike came out of the factory in 1982 (May 1982 according to the stamp on the rear hub). It has admittedly had a fairly good life, always having been kept indoors, but it's been ridden a lot yet needed almost no work.The front rack had a broken non-essential part which I removed. The rubber strap / snelbinder over the rear carrier rack was broken so I replaced it, and the skirtguards were perished and falling apart so I replaced those as well. Otherwise, I've just checked that things were working and added a bit of oil. One of the pedals was running roughly until I oiled it.Bike shops don't sell bicycles like this any more. Modern bicycles are not designed to last a whole lifetime, like these were. https://www.dutchbikebits.com#bicycle #BikeTooter #cycling #repairability #righttorepair #netherlands #ProperBicycle #NotAnEBike #dutchbikebits
(DIR) Post #AyrZM0O4y9DbLjejNA by hembrow@todon.eu
2025-10-04T08:49:45Z
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I went to the website of the synagogue which was attacked in the UK last week thinking I might come across somewhere to leave a supportive message.What I actually found were many militaristic images and requests for people to send money to Israel.How can the title above a photo of fighter jets talk about "recognizing kindness" ?This is really disturbing content.Imagine if a mosque's website was full of images like these, mixing religious and military ideas. What would western media be saying about their congregation ?Here's a link to the source of the images:https://www.hphc.org.uk//library/article_cdo/aid/6119349/jewish/Israel-at-War.htmWe all need to work for peace or there will be no peace in the world.
(DIR) Post #B24ypYtO2L4LTnLzOq by hembrow@todon.eu
2026-01-08T14:40:33Z
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Parcels on the the way to customers today. As usual, every parcel of bike parts that we send begins its journey by bike.I was riding my usual upright bike today. @jhembrow had the good sense to ride her velomobile - which I saw outside the library.https://www.dutchbikebits.com#dutchbikebits #cycling #biketooter #netherlands #regel17