Ask MetaFilter questions tagged with bicycle and nyc

Used NYC Bike

jckll — Tue, 09 Jun 2009 13:59:11 -0800

Help me buy a (probably used) bicycle in NYC. I've decided that I want to buy a bicycle in the next couple weeks. I used to bike a lot as a kid but haven't biked more than a day here and a day there in probably 8 years (mid 20s).

I will use it mostly on roads/bike paths, so I think a Mountain Bike is out. Still torn between a road and a hybrid. I may use it for commuting but that's not my goal at the moment. More leisure/exercise rides, errands, etc. But not ruling out commuting either.

I'm about 5'11"/165Lbs so more or less "standard" body type. Pretty athletic, no health problems to speak of. I'm looking at used just because I don't have $700 to spend on a bike. I would like to go into a bike shop if possible so that I can ride a bunch of different styles/brands/models before I choose, but it seems that not a ton of NYC bike shops do the used thing(?)

I've looked into (read: researched on the internet) Recycle A Bike, GreatUsedBikes, and of course CL. Anyone have any recommendations for a B&M store that will let me ride around some bikes and can sell me a good one for $300-$400 or so? Or am I going to have to go into a bike shop, act like I'm going to spend $800, and then bail to look for a similar used bike elsewhere? That seems like bad juju...

Any NYC-centric biking tips or suggestions are also welcome.

(I've been reading Ask MeFi about bikes and NYC biking all day, so please don't just link me to another thread. Chances are I've read it!)

How/where can I get a Dutch-style city bike in NYC without breaking the bank?

zvs — Fri, 24 Apr 2009 18:15:25 -0800

How/where can I get a Dutch-style city bike in NYC without breaking the bank? I've been riding around a beat-up old Panasonic road bike for awhile (it's a 1981 model that I bought used, and has turned out to be something of a lemon), and I've sank so much money into repairing it that I don't see the point of keeping it anymore.

I'm an occasional commuter (Brooklyn to downtown, ~5 miles, including a bridge), and a pretty experienced rider (fairly fast, traffic weaving) but not a bike nerd or great at maintenance. 99% of this bike's usage will be on-street.

I saw these on Wikipedia and fell in love (my work pants are always getting torn up in the chain, drum brakes are probably better for the seemingly always-wet roads)... can I find a bike after the Dutch model in NYC? Without dropping a grand? Or is it time to call eBay?

Baby and bike boutiques in the Big Apple

fijiwriter — Thu, 19 Feb 2009 08:11:04 -0800

Headed to New York City, and looking for toddler-geared stores and bike shops. The lovely Mrs. Writer and I are headed back to NYC for our wedding anniversary, and we need guidance on your favorite stores.

We need help finding:

1. Baby/toddler stores in Midtown, Theater, SoHo, Upper West Side, especially clothing. Nothing along the lines of a $90 couture Tshirt, but something unique that we couldn't order online. Something touristy could even count, like a small I (heart) NY shirt for our little 2-year-old girl.

2. I'd like to find a nice bike store to kill some time and support them with a purchase of a store jersey. Ideally, an LBS geared more toward road and pro cycling, if that exists in the city.

Pleading traffic tickets online in New York?

Anonymous — Tue, 21 Oct 2008 18:44:28 -0800

How can I plead my New York State traffic ticket online if the system does not recognize me? And: is this a smart idea in my circumstances? Yes, I realize that this is not legal advice. I'm trying to pay NY State traffic ticket online at http://www.nysdmv.com/eplead.htm and it isn't recognizing me in the system (13 days after the ticket was issued; I've been hoping it was just an issue of the ticket not being in the system). I want to plead "not guilty" as it's a ticket for "failure to keep right" on my bicycle as I was moving from the left side of a street to its right side. I'd prefer not to plead by mail, as my understanding is that this requires a court date, whereas pleading on-line may not require a date in court. Does anyone have any relevant experience with the NYS DMV's online pleading system?

For what it's worth, the officer miswrote the state of my driver's license (he listed Washington State, but my license is from the District of Columbia). I would just pay the damn thing if it were under $50 but it looks like it's going to be $120 ($40 fee + $60 surcharge + $20 sur-surcharge) plus two points on my license, which I really don't agree with.

Cheap travel from Delaware to NYC?

viewofdelft — Tue, 07 Oct 2008 13:23:54 -0800

What are the cheapest ways to get from Newark, Delaware, to New York City? I'm a research assistant at the University of Delaware and as part of a long and wonkish I-95 corridor project, we've decided to produce a map or informational pamphlet letting students know the cheapest ways to get from here (Newark, Delaware) to New York City.

A few things to keep in mind:
1. Any mode of transportation is fair game (air, rail, highway, seaports, etc.), as is any type of vehicle (plane, train, automobile, bus, shoes, etc.).
2. Be creative, but within reasonable limits of safety (i.e., no airmailing oneself).
3. It's alright if many of the suggested travel methods begin in Philadelphia (and maybe even Baltimore) if these departure points are more familiar to you.
4. Cost is the most important factor, although I don't want to discourage that outlandish teleportation idea you've been waiting to uncork.

After we've completed the map or pamphlet, I'll contact each of the contributors about mailing them a finished product. Thank you.

Help me buy and have fun with my first bike in New York City

falameufilho — Sat, 23 Aug 2008 17:29:12 -0800

After thinking about it for half the summer, I am buying bikes for me and my wife. I need tips about buying a bike and also pointers on recreational biking in New York City. So, after renting bikes a bunch of times this summer with my wife, we decided to get our own bikes. So as you imagine, I have a bunch of questions.

First the requirements:

* These bikes are not for commuter use. These are just for weekend recreational use.
* They will, for 99.99% of their lifetime, ride on asphalt.
* I am a large individual: 6'1" and 260 pounds
* I prefer small to large: I live in a small apartment and storage is an issue. However, since folding bikes are ridiculously expensive for what they offer, I will suck it up. So size is not a deciding factor but again: Small is better than large.
* I prefer light to heavy: My building has an elevator but we may occasionally carry the bikes into the subway or something. Since this will happen rarely, it is also not a deciding factor but light is nice.
* My budget allows $500 on each bike, tops.

So, on to the questions!

1) I am going to buy them at Metro Bicycles in 88th street. I went there and I was really impressed by the salesman - I made a bunch of questions and he was really patient. Also, many things that I asked if I needed (tools, sturdier pedals) he was really emphatic in saying that I should not waste my money on them. I am really impressed when a salesman tells me not to buy stuff because it's superfluous. Anyway I'd like to check - anyone had bad experiences with Metro Bicycles?

2) I have done some research on hybrid/comfort bikes and decided they are the right type of bike for us. I rented a Giant Cypress a couple of times and really liked it. They go on Metro Bicycles for a very similar price as suggested on the Giant site. What do you think about it? They carry many other brands, if you have other brand preferences, feel free to speak up!

3) Any specifics I should look for in adapting the bike for physical differences? For example, what should I look for in buying a bike for a large guy (such as myself) of for a woman (such as my wife :-) )?

4) I am a little anxious about braving traffic in a bike. Any tips from veterans and links to resources on how to behave on a New York street are much appreciated.

5) Any tips for having fun with your bike in New York City are also much appreciated :-) I've just read this post with a lot of great options, anything else you'd like to add?

Bonus question: Anyone lives in a ridiculously small apartment and successfully stores a full-sized bike without going insane? Share your story.

Wow, that was a lot of questions. Thanks in advance, hive mind!

Legalities after Bicycle Accident?

suedehead — Fri, 07 Sep 2007 13:41:50 -0800

I got hit by a car on a bicycle while carrying a laptop. Bicycle & laptop are busted, but thankfully I'm not. What do I do now, legally speaking? I was riding my bike uptown on an avenue on a green light. A livery cab coming uptown on the same avenue turned to his left, across the avenue, to enter a eastbound street. I saw him coming and tried to brake to avoid him; he was going pretty fast and didn't brake in time, and he hit me on my left, his front/right. I flipped over and landed on my back.

There were quite a few people around, who started calling the police and an ambulance. The police came and got the driver's license number, et cetera, and I went in the ambulance to the ER, where I got checked out and they told me that I'd probably be okay for now. Fortunately, I was wearing a helmet and a messenger bag, and so I don't have any harsh bruises or scrapes. My neck/head seem okay for now.

Problem is: My bike wheels are bent, a pedal is bent, the handlebars are bent sideways, et cetera. On top of that, I had my laptop in my messenger bag. The laptop's LCD screen is cracked, and my laptop won't boot up past the Apple login screen. I went to the police, they gave me an accident report, but told me that they couldn't include any information about any valuables I had in a police accident report.

All I want is to have my bike, my laptop, and any medical fees resulting from this to be covered. I do have medical insurance. I don't think that it was my fault - I was going slower than the cars, it was my green light, I have the right of way because he was turning left, and if the livery cab wasn't going so fast he would have been able to stop in time.

1) What should I do next?
2) How do I prove that the accident caused the damage to my laptop?
3) Should I just contact the driver's insurance company and try to settle it that way? Will they cover my medical fees/bike/laptop?
4) Should I try to find a lawyer specializing in these cases? (I'm in NYC.)
5) The police report doesn't have any info about witnesses - should I try to find one?
6) Does the fact that the car was a livery cab change anything/make anything difficult?

I'm just very confused and frazzled - nobody I've talked to has been able to answer these questions. Thanks!

Bike Lost Forever?

hermitosis — Tue, 04 Sep 2007 08:57:05 -0800

Is My Bike Lost Forever? A long tale of suspicion, woe, and revenge... My bike was stolen from where it was locked outside my workplace on Friday; the lock was cut (there was a little piece of it on the ground when I got there, like the ear in Blue Velvet).

Back story:

There is no bike parking where I work. I've been locking up to mid-block city-owned street signs (like "No Standing") all year. At first I parked in front of the residential hi-rise next door to my office, but every week their maintenance crew would bury my bike in the sacks of garbage they put out on the curb. So I moved down the street, and began parking in front of what eventually became a hotel after construction finished.

After over a month of parking there during work hours I was confronted by the doorman, who bore a message from the manager telling me I was not allowed to park there. I knew the signs were city property and told him that, as there was no bike parking on the block, I would be parking here and there really wasn't anything either they or I could do about it. I have to park somewhere, after all.

Last week he confronted me again, saying his manager would have the lock cut if I didn't stop parking there. I explained again that the signs are city property and that even if the cops came through to collect "abandoned" bikes, it wasn't likely they'd do so during the regular business hours I parked there. I told him I'd make an effort to come in and speak with his boss about this sometime soon.

Two days later, Friday, I parked somewhere else, across and down the street a ways, not wishing to anger the manager further until we'd had a chance to talk. However, THAT was the day that I returned after work to find my bike missing.

I called the police precinct to see if it had been collected, but they said they had no bike matching my description. At this point, I don't know whether my bike was just genuinely stolen (as happens all the time in NYC), is lost in the bureacratic shuffle after having been taken by the cops, or has met with foul play on the part of the evil hotel manager. You have to admit, it's a pretty strong coincidence: two days after he threatened to have my bike taken away, it was gone. And yet, that was the one day I WASN'T parked in front of the hotel...

Are there any other ways I can approach the police about this, or other departments to check? How should I approach the hotel manager and find out whether he even actually called them? If he did, what can I do about it? If he didn't, should I still suspect foul play on his part?
I know I may just have to move on, but it's a bitter pill to take because my bike commute was often the best part of my day, as opposed to taking the subway during rush hour, which never fails to be the worst. Any advice is welcome.

How to deal with an NYC summons when you are moving away?

ethel — Mon, 02 Jul 2007 10:22:53 -0800

So last week in Brooklyn, I was a block from my apartment, hopped my bike up on the sidewalk, got stopped by the popo, and now have a pink summons. But I'm moving away in a month! So my court date is in September, and I'm moving across country very soon! When I mentioned this to the officer, he mumbled something about coming in early, but I was a little flustered and neglected to ask him to explain further.

Does anyone here have experience with this? Can I come in to the courthouse and request an earlier court date? I'm a little freaked out, because I saw in an article online that the fine is $100-$500 or 20 days in jail!

Thanks for any advice!

Advice for buying a bike in NYC.

perelman — Thu, 03 Aug 2006 08:00:50 -0800

Advice for buying a bike in NYC. I'm planning on buying a bike soon, and I have a few questions:

1. Can anyone recommend a good bike shop, preferrably on the West Side of Manhattan?

2. What kind of bike should I look for (I will be riding almost exclusively in the city)?

3. How much can I expect to spend on a good bike?

4. Are there good collapsable bike out on the market?

5. What are some basic safety tips I need to know about riding in Manhattan (and yes, I already know that avoiding cars is a good idea).

Thanks!

How can my bike survive NYC?

hooray — Wed, 22 Mar 2006 08:10:09 -0800

How do I make my bike less attractive to thieves? (Plus, other NYC biking questions.) Someone just gave me a great bike. It's shiny, red, has front suspension and is very eye-catching. The problem is, I live in New York.

I've been keeping it in my apartment, but eventually I'm going to want to lock it outside. I got skewer locks for the wheels (this kind), but they still make me nervous. Has anyone had these locks, and do you think they are worth it? I also have to buy a bike chain lock, though I'm tempted to get thisKryptonite New York U-Lock instead. Is this a bad idea?

I also want to disguise the decals all over the tube, but what's the best way to go about this? Stickers? Paint? Tape? Something else?

Lastly, I'd appreciate any tips on how to brave the car traffic here. All the drivers here freak me out.