CityCyclingEdinburgh Forum » Questions/Support/Help

Advice for students

(21 posts)
  • Started 9 years ago by chdot
  • Latest reply from newtoit
  • This topic is not resolved

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  1. chdot
    Admin

    CEC is currently looking at ways of 'promoting active travel'.

    One thing they are considering is the idea of a leaflet handed out at freshers' fairs (or whatever they are called these days).

    Info in university/college handbooks/web sites would be a good idea too.

    Info such as -

    Cycle on the left (and only one way in Edinburgh's many cycle lanes)

    Jaywalking is a criminal offence.

    List of useful sites -

    This one, Spokes, CycleStreets, LothianBuses, Bike Station

    Apps -

    LothianBuses, CycleStreets, cyclingscotland app

    And?

    Posted 9 years ago #

  2. LivM
    Member

    Red light on the back, white light on the front.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  3. douglaswaring
    Member

    Buy a sturdy lock (do the police still sell them?) and lock bikes to banisters not balusters (or both if possible).

    Posted 9 years ago #

  4. wingpig
    Member

    Wear trousers which you can walk in comfortably. Remember that you lean forward slightly when on a bicycle and that normal undergraduate trousers may not be designed to cope with this. Buy shoes which are primarily both water-resistant and grippy rather than acceptable to the current students footwear-style paradigm. Remember that ill-chosen coats can easily conceal ill-chosen and poorly-powered bicycle lights.

    From personal experience: if you use an old carrier bag to keep your seat dry, put it inside-out to stop the blue dye from the Tesco logo being transferred to the gusset of your trousers.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  5. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Chinese science students - did you know that table salt is a cheap and effective chain lubricant?

    Posted 9 years ago #

  6. gembo
    Member

    Tie your shoe laces in triple or quadruple knots to avoid them catching in your chain. (This assumes student shoes still have laces) Buy a pair of long socks, e.g. The gentleman's half hose from marks and Spencer's. Tuck trousers in these socks, again stops them catching in chain or getting oily.

    This reminds me, I got up this morning, I usually do, and walked one foot then another, I find this a good technique, down the high street to the chemists. I asked behind the counter for a pair of laces. The woman said, sorry, we are a chemists, we don't sell laces. I said, that's terrible Boots without laces.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  7. neddie
    Member

    Come back in 40 years time to do your degree, once CEC have built safe & useable infrastructure

    Posted 9 years ago #

  8. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Chinese science students - prizes are available each year for the largest weekly shop suspended in carrier bags slung on your handlebars.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  9. chdot
    Admin

    Unless there are some points that I'm missing, there is some unnecessary stereotyping here.

    I want sensible suggestions.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  10. gembo
    Member

    You never said that, sensible suggestions. How sensible is that? Looking for sensible suggestions for students? Students want crazee suggestions. Anyway tying shoes properly and tucking trousers into socks, how is that not sensible?

    Posted 9 years ago #

  11. I were right about that saddle
    Member

    Any stereotyping is inherent in the question. Students are as diverse as any other group of citizens. Advice for them is the same as advice for any other cyclist.

    In the interests of balance I've just set up a forum for Chinese science students to mock my mathematical skills and work ethic.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  12. Greenroofer
    Member

    I recall bits of a thing in a magazine years ago about helpful advice to visitors to this country. It included:
    "The number of yellow lines by the side of the road shows the number hours you can leave your car there" and "When you're on a train, you'll find that fellow passengers welcome help with the crossword".

    I've forgotten the rest, but they probably aren't what chdot was looking for.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  13. gembo
    Member

    Make sure you can be seen by other road users (e.g. Don't wear dark clothing at night, do use the lights you have been given in this pack, red at back white at front)

    Learn how to shoulder check so that you can make sure what other traffic is doing before you attempt a manoeuvre

    Think about mudguards for your bike, they protect it and help it last longer and keep you clean

    Carry some poly bags and some rubber bands, good for your feet in the rain, saddle protection if leaving somewhere in the rain and save you 5p in shops.

    Lock your bike or it will be stolen. Learn how to fix a puncture (see side bar on this)

    Don't jump red lights more than twice in a row or a bad man called Gembo shouts You're not the messiah, you are a very naughty boy (not student specific)

    Posted 9 years ago #

  14. Dave
    Member

    I can't really think of much in the way of student-specific cycling advice. Drivers, after all, can't tell that they are students.

    I suppose compared with an average person, average students are much more likely to have good bike handling skills (since they haven't had as much opportunity to get a car and let their childhood experience atrophy).

    Posted 9 years ago #

  15. Greenroofer
    Member

    Surely the only truly 'student-specific' advice is details of what your particular seat of learning offers in the way of training, BUGs, free stuff and so on. CEC shouldn't be producing a leaflet with that on, because it will be specific to each place.

    Maybe CEC should just do a generic leaflet for people thinking of starting cycling (using all the good advice above), which would work fine for students and everyone else too.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  16. chdot
    Admin

    Individual leaflets for different institutions could - and probably should - happen.

    The reasoning is that 'students' are a significant group of people who come to Edinburgh for the first time (and stay) - on an annual basis.

    The idea is to encourage 'active travel' generally and also point out 'rules/norms'. Some people will come from countries where it is legal to turn left (right) through red lights and/or 'acceptable' to ride on pavements.

    Also worth a paragraph on Access/right to roam which, I suspect, will come as a pleasant surprise to many from outside Scotland.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  17. wingpig
    Member

    Remember that chaining bikes to railings and banisters can impede others' passage. Particularly try and avoid disabled access ramps, whose full width may be required for a wheelchair.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  18. gembo
    Member

    To generalise without stereotyping, younger people more willing to take risks, older people more risk averse. The young balance this out as dave hints at by having quicker reaction times.

    Students are often predisposed to learn things, if the things are punted at them in a way they find interesting. This forum has a wealth of knowledge that any individual, student or otherwise cannot beat. But hard to give advice without sounding old fogey ish.

    Learn your routes, never assume the monkeys in the cars know what they are doing, always look them straight in the eye at junctions, stand up out of the saddle and make yourself look like a bigger monkey to help them see you too.

    Hand signals help the monkeys in the car figure where you are going.

    Never give the two fingered hand signal to a BMW driver as they are russian Mafia.

    Sorry I have gone a bit monkey and also made generalisation about BMW monkeys.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  19. sallyhinch
    Member

    Cambridge has similar issues regarding rules of the road etc. http://road.cc/content/news/140433-dangerous-cyclists-cambridge-could-be-offered-online-course-instead-fine

    Posted 9 years ago #

  20. acsimpson
    Member

    Perhaps including a copy of the inner tube map would be a good idea and advice about the best way to use Edinburgh's network of quality parking corridors.

    Posted 9 years ago #

  21. newtoit
    Member

    @Douglaswaring Buy a sturdy lock (do the police still sell them?)

    I got one from the station at St Leonards about 6 months ago. £12.50 for a SoldSecure Gold rated Masterlock one. It's not the best, tends to jam sometimes, and a swine to carry about (the bracket is worse than useless) but it does the job for insurance purposes and locking up my bike at the flat.

    Showing how to lock up a bike properly would be handy, as I've passed Bristo Square several times and noticed lots of bikes with just the wheel locked to the stand.

    I would agree with stressing that lights are essential (and a legal requirement) when it is dark, too many unlit folks about sometimes.

    Summary of everything - trust nobody. But don't be a t**t!

    Posted 9 years ago #

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