What do I need to know about cycling on the streets in San Francisco?

January 4, 2008 7:08 PM

What do I need to know about cycling on the streets in San Francisco?

I live in San Francisco and have just acquired a free Mongoose mountain bike (probably from Target). I have a car but this year I really wanted to start riding around the city for all the little tasks I have to do in a day (drugstore, safeway etc..).

The problem is that 100% of my riding experience has been on a sidewalk... as an 8 year old... in suburbia. Cycling on the road is totally foreign to me. I have gone out riding a few times but feel utterly lost as to the "norms". Sometimes I think I should be a car (waiting my turn at a 4 way stop), other times I think I should be a bike (riding on any wide sidewalk etc..).

Honestly it is pretty embarrassing to be waiting behind a line of cars for my turn to make a unprotected left hand turn when 3-4 "experienced" cyclists speed by me and around the corner.

What do I need to know about biking on the streets in San Francisco?

posted by anonymous to Sports, Hobbies, & Recreation (35 answers total)

What do I need to know about biking on the streets in San Francisco?

The first thing you need to know is not to do illegal or dangerous stuff just because you see other cyclists do it.
posted by grouse at 7:17 PM on January 4, 2008 [2 favorites]

The most important thing is to pay attention to everything. Keep your head on a swivel. Ride like you are invisible, because to many drivers you are. Look inside cars for people about to open doors or pull out from a curb. Check for cross traffic even if you have the light. Signal your intentions; if you make a driver guess, they will guess wrong.

Other stuff: Don't ride on a sidewalk unless it is also marked as a bike path. If you must go on a sidewalk, get off and push the bike. Obey traffic signals and laws. You can, and in some cities will, be ticketed for running stop signs, exceeding the speed limit, whatever. Wear a helmet, even if it looks and feels stupid. Don't be a dick; don't do stuff that would piss you off if some cyclist did it to you while you were driving. Use lights and reflectors if riding at night.
posted by indyz at 7:46 PM on January 4, 2008

First of all, don't worry about what the other cyclists are doing. There are testosterone-fueled racers out there, current and former bike messengers, and commuters who've been doing this long enough that they have a 6th sense for traffic. You need to develop your sense before you do anything ballsy like they're doing (if you do it at all). Following one of them could put you in a bad position if you're timing is off -- and I guarantee you it is.

Second of all, don't ride on the sidewalks. It's against the law in SF to ride on the sidewalks, and it's also just not a good idea because sidewalk traffic is so much slower than bikes are. Don't be that guy.

Also stay off the cable car tracks--they're always slippery. The paint on the road is often extra slippery too because it contains epoxy (I think it's epoxy, it's got some sort of additive), so don't try to stop on it.

Everything you need to know about good and bad bike behavior is available online at the SF Bike Coalition's website. They also apparently teach an Urban Bike Training course.

As for what you need to own, I'd recommend getting an SF Bike Map & Walking Guide. It's a city map that shows you the grades of hills so you can avoid the steep stuff. I know you can buy them at Rainbow Grocery, and I'm sure they're also available at a million other places. Also, of course, a light for the front and blinky light for your back or the back of your helmet. I've also found a bright yellow slicker (jacket and pants) to be extremely helpful in the rainy months.

Enjoy the ride!
posted by nadise at 7:56 PM on January 4, 2008

I can't find the link, but there is an article about the top ten accident scenarios when cycling, which as well as giving you a heads up, will also give you a good grounding of why cyclists do what, when. Much of what cyclists do looks mysterious, until you realise that the cyclist is acting against the high danger of an accident posed by some aspect of the situation that most motorists are not even aware of. Does anyone else here know the article? Got a link?

Anyway, some basic stuff:
Where there is sufficient space for both you and a car to safely be side by side, then ride near the side so cars behind you can pass you, and likewise, feel free to pass them if they're backed up at a traffic light or roundabout.

Where there is not sufficient space for them (or you) to pass safely, then you may need to become a car.

What you do and when you do it is decided by whatever is safest. Sometimes, it is safer to "take the lane" by riding in the middle of it, ensuring that anyone with poor driving judgement will not unthinkingly try to pass in a tight space, or when you're nearing an intersection when you need to be in a turning bay or make lane changes, etc. Sometimes it is safer to ride near the side of the lane, so that cars can pass without obstacle.

When riding on the sidewalk, such as to take advantage of a ped-crossing signal through an otherwise dangerous intersection, I personally think it is a good idea to walk the bike - it pisses drivers off that bikes can (in their mind) "break the rules and get away with it", which often translates into more hateful aggressive driving against cyclists in general, which often translates into death. Being a courteous cyclists helps breaks the stereotype and relieve some of the tension. If there are peds on the sidewalk, they're also usually more comfortable with someone walking a bike past them rather than riding it.
posted by -harlequin- at 7:56 PM on January 4, 2008

Clarification: "Walking a bike" in the above means getting off the bike and walking beside it, not sitting on it an pushing it with your feet like a scooter
posted by -harlequin- at 8:00 PM on January 4, 2008

there is an article about the top ten accident scenarios when cycling

You mean this article by Michael Bluejay?
posted by grouse at 8:01 PM on January 4, 2008

article about the top ten accident scenarios when cycling:

Probably this: How not to get hit by a car

In much greater detail, but very good: Bicycling Street Smarts by John Allen

Many more

The classes offered by the SF Bicycle Coalition are a great idea. They're great fun and you learn a lot more by actually doing it--hands on.
posted by flug at 8:04 PM on January 4, 2008

My bike route planner might help.
posted by jcruelty at 8:04 PM on January 4, 2008 [3 favorites]

When biking at night, in the early evening, or early morning, please wear the most obnoxiously colorful reflective things you can. Don't rely on just a blinking light on the back of your bike and a couple of reflective tags on your bag to make you visible. If drivers treat you as invisible in broad daylight, imagine how much worse it can be when you're actually invisible in low light.
posted by rtha at 8:06 PM on January 4, 2008

Legally, and in most ways practically as well, when you're riding a bike you're a vehicle and not a pedestrian. If you're doing something that you wouldn't do in a car, think twice. Don't worry about the guys you see violating that right and left. We have a word for them that we can't use on MeFi.

Not the most relevant example of why this is important, but I just have to relate it anyway. I saw a couple of those decked-out "experienced" bikers zipping through suburbia. They zipped by a mother and her young daughter, and right through a stop sign without really looking and definitely without slowing down. The daughter saw them zip right through the stop sign so she zipped right through as well. The mom was screaming.
posted by madmethods at 8:07 PM on January 4, 2008

Oh, and one more thing: anyone who drives for a living is out to get you.

Not necessarily intentionally, but they're so at home on the road that even if they don't hate bikes, they do get sloppy. They'll roll through stops, jump the lights a little early, come closer than you're comfortable with, block your lane unexpectedly, and generally piss you off. Don't let them bother you, if you can help it. Just ride a bit more defensively when you see them.

This goes double for Muni. I once had a Muni driver "see how fast [I] can pedal".
posted by nadise at 8:13 PM on January 4, 2008 [1 favorite]

Agree with all the above. And, really, take the lane! The closest I've come to getting creamed on a bike have been when I was diffident about taking the lane or otherwise making it clear to people I was around. Don't ride the curb!
posted by R343L at 8:14 PM on January 4, 2008

grouse and flug - yup, that's the one. Thanks.

Another tip - a front bike-light that is a flashing (not steady) 1 Watt LED or greater, with reflector, is something that draws the eye of motorists even in broad daylight. This means that once you have one, it's useful to turn it on even during the day when going through higher risk situations. I'm pretty sure I've avoided a few daylight accidents or near misses this way.
posted by -harlequin- at 8:16 PM on January 4, 2008

Sometimes I think I should be a car (waiting my turn at a 4 way stop)

Abosolutely, you should. In California bikes are subject to (almost all) the same laws as other automobiles. So you are required to stop at every stop sign. I live in Davis (which is bike central) and I see at least one person every day getting a ticket for running a stop sign on a bike (which is about $140). Although SF may not enforce bike laws such heavily, you are putting yourself at risk blowing through a stop sign.

Also don't drink and bike. You can get a BUI (which adds points to your driving record).

Other common sense rules are wear a helmet, keep a bike light handy (cos it's illegal to ride a bike w/o a light visible from a few hundred feet, also a $100+ ticket if caught) and don't ride with earphones (leave at least one off).

good luck.
posted by special-k at 8:30 PM on January 4, 2008

Follow the wise safety advice above and also get a paper copy (not just a pdf) of a map that shows street grades. You can get one free by joining the Bicycle Coalition. In addition to finding streets with actual bike lanes on them, the grade map is hugely helpful in getting around some of the insanely steep hills here.

Be safe and have fun.
posted by quarterframer at 8:34 PM on January 4, 2008

Definitely stop at four way stops. I got pulled over for tailing another car in an intersection, even though it seemed safer to me, but not to the parked police officer (this was in Bozeman btw). You're a two-wheeled car with the same responsibilities, at least when you're on the road. I'm not sure if CA law makes a distinction between sidewalk riding and road riding in this respect.

Personally, I alternate between streets and sidewalks. With a MTB, bunnyhopping (esp. sidehopping) will get you places faster and IMO safer (crosswalks for busy intersections; sidewalks and curbs for heavy traffic).
posted by fleeba at 9:28 PM on January 4, 2008

A very, very dear friend of mine was intentionally hit and run in the Mission District on his bike. Had his entire face reconstructed, was in the ICU for ten days a year ago Christmas. Since that experience, I've learned that there are people in San Francisco who are very resentful of the bikers on the road here. So I'd say do whatever you can to not piss people off or come across as though you believe you are the only one on the road. Listen to the stuff other people are saying.

And if you have the slightest inkling that a driver might be crazy, get the hell out of the way ASAP. Seriously.
posted by miss lynnster at 9:38 PM on January 4, 2008

When riding on the sidewalk, such as to take advantage of a ped-crossing signal through an otherwise dangerous intersection, I personally think it is a good idea to walk the bike - it pisses drivers off that bikes can (in their mind) "break the rules and get away with it",

I think what's more important about walking your bike in the crosswalk is that there's an expectation by all users of the road that fast moving things are in the street, slow-moving things are in the crosswalk. If I'm in my car making a left turn, it's very easy to spot a slow moving pedestrian (or a little kid on a bike) in the crosswalk I'm turning toward; a fast moving bike shooting off the sidewalk and suddenly in front of me is much more unexpected and gives me less time to react. I almost hit a guy the other night in such a scenario, especially because he happened to be barreling the wrong way down the sidewalk (OK, there's no such thing really, but if he had been in the street it would have been the wrong way), and he was not in a good place to see me either.
posted by oneirodynia at 9:41 PM on January 4, 2008

Get a helmet and have the shop show you how to fit and adjust it properly. Wear it 100% of the time.
posted by loiseau at 9:57 PM on January 4, 2008

Take the SFBC Urban Bike Training. Become a member, since you'll get discounts all over the city and support the cyclists here.

Above all, be predictable. Ride in a straight line, etc. Look for heads in the driver's seats of parked cars .. and then for their doors opening in front of you. You'll learn all this in the skills classes above.

For what it's worth, I've been run off the road more times north of the GGB than south. Rich old men and hotshots in BMWs or SUVs (usually with bike racks on the roof, the fuck?) do it on purpose and the other stereotypes tend to do it on accident.

Just remember that every stoplight in San Francisco is a holeshot.
posted by kcm at 10:01 PM on January 4, 2008

-That SF Bike Map & Walking Guide mentioned by nadise is fabulous.

-When in doubt, take the lane and own it. I've witnessed too many near-misses where a driver "just didn't see" a cyclist. Which brings me to my third point:

- if it is early or late or overcast or whatever, light yourself up like a Christmas tree. Day-glo jacket and blinky lights- it's better to feel dorky than be squished by a car.
posted by ambrosia at 11:28 PM on January 4, 2008

Always be aware of the MUNI metro rails; don't ride too close to them and always cross them at a decent angle. A friend of mine once got one of her wheels caught in the rail grooves and ended up cutting open her knee on a sewer grate in the resulting spill.
posted by strangecargo at 12:54 AM on January 5, 2008

Be a car. It's safer for you, for other traffic, for pedestrians. It engenders less resentment from automobile drivers. Stay off the sidewalks. Ride down the proper side of the road. Be a car. Don't hesitate to take the lane when you need it; most SF drivers are used to bike traffic, as there's a lot of it. They'll react more harmoniously to your presence if you're taking decisive and responsible action like you're any other vehicle on the road.

Watch out for Muni buses and cab drivers though, because those fuckers are crazy. But that really goes for anyone in proximity to them.
posted by Brak at 2:27 AM on January 5, 2008

As above: ride in the middle of the street if there is no bike lane, have lights, don't ride on the sidewalk, watch drivers seats so you don't get doored, don't run stop signs (unless you're absolutely certain there's no car coming), avoid market, mission and valencia and remember, every car is trying to kill you.
posted by beerbajay at 2:53 AM on January 5, 2008

Definitely wear a helmet, bike on the road, ride assertively yet defensively, take care that your wheels don't get caught in anything, and watch that you don't get doored. Oh, and have fun!
posted by bassjump at 7:25 AM on January 5, 2008

don't run stop signs (unless you're absolutely certain there's no car coming)

I'd just say don't run stop signs period. It is unsafe and a bad habit—people always think there's no one else around, yet somehow people keep getting into collisions or getting pulled over by cops, which wouldn't be possible if road users' perception was as good as they thought it was. It also makes drivers rage at cyclists, which we could really do with less of, justified or not.
posted by grouse at 7:36 AM on January 5, 2008

About sidewalks -- I've found they tend to be more torn up than the street with trees pulling up bits and gaps in the concrete. Cars are crossing them to get down alleys and into businesses and if you think drivers are unpredictable, pedestrians are about double. The sidewalks is a safety zone and its use is for pedestrians. I try never to ride on the sidewalk. I did it the other day when I accidentally took a wrong turn and ended up heading the wrong way down what I thought was a 1-way -- oops. I used it as temporary safety zone, slowed way down and proceeded cautiously until I could get back on the street going the right way.
posted by amanda at 8:15 AM on January 5, 2008

Oh, one other tip that I noticed from one of those biking articles linked above -- get a bike bell, this is helpful on a multi-use path to gently make peds aware of your existence but in traffic, if you want someone to pay attention to you? Yell. They can hear you and it wakes them up from their coffee-sipping, cell-phone yammering, driver coma.
posted by amanda at 8:18 AM on January 5, 2008

Be conscious of blind spots. When you've been riding for awhile, you get more conscious of the subtle cues that mean a driver is about to turn right....right into your path with no signal. If you're alert, you're always riding with your brakes ready for the driver to make that sudden right into a driveway or parking space. Stay out of the dead zone, the blind spot to the right of the car. Don't even think they see you if you are abreast or even ahead of the car.

I ride looking around constantly for potential steel clad missiles heading in my direction. Have an out in mind even if it's diving to the ground and doing a shoulder roll.

The hints about blinking lights on the front are good ones. A steady light may not cue a driver who's waiting to turn left across traffic and into your path. That's happened to me in rainy weather and the driver ended up honking and having a fit. I'm going to have both, a light for illuminating the road and one to blink constantly.

I'm not a big fan of being neon, but certainly being lit up helps a lot.

The more predictable you are, the more people will give you space. That means riding responsibly, taking space when you need it, yielding to cars just like you are a car. Over time you get a sixth sense about traffic and I have rarely have problems. Often that means just slowing down a bit for traffic to clear an intersection before I approach it.

Usually people have good intentions. The actually hostile driver is extremely rare. More common is the busy, cell phone chatting person who filters you out. That's the deadly scenario. Stay out of blind spots.
posted by D-ten at 11:10 AM on January 5, 2008

Listen to everything everybody else said on here. There's some good advice.

As a former bike courier [with corresponding facial reconstructive surgery], my advice is not your advice, but I recognize when my advice is not for everyone.

most important things reiterated:
-wear your helmet
-own the lane
-stay off the sidewalk
-wear your helmet
-even if it's hot
-or uncool
-or you're just going a few blocks.
-join a group and ride with people who will help ease you into things / fix your bike.
-nobody is out to get you. they just don't see you.
-so wear your helmet

This post is heavily edited.
But wear your helmet. It [quite literally] saved my life.
posted by Acari at 1:13 PM on January 5, 2008

The most important thing is to take the lane whenever you are in the slightest doubt. Don't let yourself be pushed to the side, especially when there is parking on the side of the read.
posted by ssg at 1:28 PM on January 5, 2008

Much to my surprise, no one has mentioned you need a serious bike lock. You probably need two in fact. If parts of the bike are quick-release you might want to release them and take them with you when parked.
posted by chairface at 1:42 PM on January 5, 2008

The more predictable you are, the more people will give you space.

While the intended point is good (if people know what you're about to do, they will make space for you), as written, interestingly, it's actually the opposite - drivers will give you a much larger berth if you show signs of unpredictability or lack of ability, such as wobbling. Likewise, if you're fully kitted out in road-warrior cycling clothes, drivers are more likely to assume you know how to take care of yourself and won't go out of their way to accommodate you. Similar psychology is suspected in a study showing that on average, passing cars gave you an extra inch or so if you weren't wearing a helmet. I wonder if this theory is the genesis of the Secret Project in Flight of the Conchords - a helmet that looks like hair :-)
posted by -harlequin- at 7:42 PM on January 5, 2008

It was said here a few times...but it bears repeating. Watch out for MUNI!
posted by The Light Fantastic at 9:11 PM on January 5, 2008

Plenty of good road advice here. I'll fill in a few holes regarding equipment I didn't see mentioned:

If your mountain bike still has the knobby tires, switch them out for something smoother. You'll feel the difference immediately!

Get a U-lock as mentioned above at minimum.

If you'll be running errands, look around at different rack/carrying systems - it's much more comfortable than using a backpack all the time.

Consider fenders if you'll be riding in the rain/wet.
posted by mikepop at 7:41 AM on January 7, 2008