General cycling issues (Is Toronto bike friendly?)

[Napoleon]

I'm finding the bike infrastructure around me is very good. When I kids and I want to cycle to the island from Cabbagetown, we have separated bike lanes all along Wellesley, then separated lanes all the way down Sherbourne to Queen Quay, and then again, separated path (though not bike dedicated) to the ferry docks. IMO, it couldn't get much better for a dad and younger riders on a day out.

It very much varies depending on where you want to go. I for one, even though I'm a fairly confident city cyclist, will often shift my routes a bit out of the way to ride on better bike infrastructure, e.g. the Richmond/Adelaide lanes. The main issue though is getting to the protected bike lanes and also linking up nice bits of infrastructure. The College street bike lanes are very heavily used and very direct for getting me to most of my destinations; however, they're not protected at all. I would be highly reticent to put a young rider out on it.

 

[WislaHD]

Cycling infrastructure is not sufficient or friendly-enough and will remain so until the point where you would feel comfortable sending your 7 year old child or your 80-year old grandparent out by bicycle, unsupervised.

That is how I define cycle-friendliness. Where cycling is as safe and friendly as walking on a sidewalk, as it is in Amsterdam or Copenhagen. That is, and can be the only benchmark to compare our infrastructure from.

Further, I would greatly disagree with the point that we have a friendly attitude towards cycling here in Toronto on the basis of 'lack-of-law-enforcement'. If a cyclists get's injured, then we as as society immediately ask "what did the cyclist do wrong?". We victim-blame immediately. In the Netherlands, their first reaction is "what went wrong with the street infrastructure to allow this accident to happen". They then invest public funds to investigating and redesigning the infrastructure to prevent an accident from taking place there again. That is what I would refer to as a progressive and friendly attitude towards cycling, and it is something that we do not have in Toronto. (Or North America altogether.)

 

[the lemur]

That's great, however there are tons of commutes that don't have any bike infrastructure. For about a year my bike commute was from Bloor to Finch on Yonge. No bike infrastructure whatsoever, and the ride gets scarier and scarier as you go north.

There are some roads/streets that have no bike infrastructure that I will ride on and others that I will not take for any significant distance. Pretty much any bike infra that exists is worth incorporating into a commute if possible - it's getting to those bits that is a challenge, although less than it used to be.

As for cyclist behaviour, people tend to recall the bad ones they see, not the ones who are riding sensibly and safely. It's a combination of a lack of infrastructure and the need to ride defensively/assertively (although there is no excuse for some infractions), plus deficient road safety education on all sides.

 

[salsa]

Staff report recommends that the Bloor bike lanes be installed by Sept with evaluation done in Q3 2017. It will be considered by Public Works committee next Monday.

http://app.toronto.ca/tmmis/viewAgendaItemHistory.do?item=2016.PW12.1

 

[salsa]

Interesting news.

Councillors are planning to ask the federal government for funding to extend the West Toronto Railpath and improve the East Don Trail.

About the projects
— The West Toronto Railpath Extension is a planned multi-use trail that connects the existing West Toronto Railpath from Dundas Street West, along the Kitchener GO rail line, to Fort York. It would cost $23 million and construction is scheduled to start next year, but the city hasn’t found the money to pay for it yet.

— The East Don Trail project would link existing trails in the Don Valley, giving more people access to the valley’s trail network. It will cost $26 million and is also unfunded.

 

[ShonTron]

^ Can you please link to the article?

 

[salsa]

^ Can you please link to the article?

I forgot to do that.

http://www.metronews.ca/news/toront...d-be-torontos-first-requests-for-funding.html

 

[LNahid2000]

I did some biking in Etobicoke today and noticed that there are some pretty good unofficial bike lanes there. I used to be really afraid of biking on Dundas west of Six Points but during the resurfacing of Dundas last year they added a huge shoulder from Six Points to The East Mall that can be used as a bike lane. The West Mall between Dundas and the railway tracks is set up similarly. Why don't they make these official bike lanes? I found them by accident and they were really useful.

 

[Admiral Beez]

What bikes do you guys ride? I've got an old mountain bike I bought in the late 1980s. I've been looking at the Linus Roadster, and like the idea of the internal hub gearing. I definitely like the upright position my wife has on her Linus Dutchie.

http://www.linusbike.com/collections/bikes-roadster-sport-roadster-8

 

[PinkLucy]

I have a Specialized hybrid and a road bike.

 

[LNahid2000]

I have a Marin hybrid but also want to get this road bike since it's on sale this week for $849 tax included:

http://www.marinbikes.com/ca/bikes/description/2015-argenta-a6-elite

 

[Admiral Beez]

Nice, but I need fenders, something like this....

http://www.norco.com/bikes/city/lifestyle/cityglide/cityglide-8igh/

Or even better, this, but way out of my price range http://www.bikesfortherestofus.com/2014/05/legacy-rambler.html

This one's more my price http://www.breezerbikes.com/bikes/details/downtown-8-3

 

[LNahid2000]

Fenders can easily be added to most bikes.

 

[Admiral Beez]

Fenders can easily be added to most bikes.

True, but I like colour matched to frame.

 

[pipolchap]

Can anyone recommend a slush/rust-proof bike (i.e. sealed drivetrain)? My winter ride gets a beating and I'm tired of replacing the drivetrain every few years!