Especially true in wet places like Seattle and Portland where the pedals and your shoes are likely to be slick. A foot slipping off the pedal on the downstroke is going to cause a painful crotch-shot onto the bar, and potentially something much worse if you crash. Those kind of slips are more likely in urban riding when you are starting and stopping frequently.
Yeah, I rode in the wet yesterday and regretted not wearing my proper shoes. Slipped off the pedal twice on a very short ride.
I have a pair of rather aggressive magnesium platforms that are not at all a problem in wet weather, the studs are just really grippy. If they gave me any kind of pull on the backstroke, I would be happy to use them all the time.
I’ll also note that not everyone has the finances for multiple bikes, so they ride the same bike around town as on longer rides. Swapping out the pedals every time is a pain.
It only costs 15 bucks for a lifetime registration sticker you put on your seat tube.
The sticker gives you all the same rights as a car. You can take an entire lane going 10mph and all the cars behind you have to wait since your sticker proves you have paid your share of road taxes and they can’t complain.
15 bucks for equal rights for bikes and cars is a fair price.
Every state should mandate bicycle registration.
California gives that right for free.
Does it work? I.e. does it actually stop drivers from complaining about bikes on the road?
Yeah, I’ve been using clipless for ~15 years and I still unclip at stoplights mostly because I’m afraid I’ll fall over if I attempt a track stand. I ride in NYC so there would be a guaranteed audience to witness the spectacle.
Nowadays they have countdowns for most of the crosswalks in my part of town so I can gauge better whether to power through or slow to a crawl and not have to dismount before the light changes.
This is cute…you do realize that car registration fees don’t even come close to paying for the roads and that in many states car registration is a cost center.
Heck even with all taxes 49.3 percent of road spending comes from general tax dollars, should we up the average car registration cost by $3500 a year to pay for their real cost?
Also Honolulu has bike registration, not the rest of the state and it does nothing to improve the perception of bike riders nor does it help pay for infrastructure in any significant way.