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From: Frank Krygowski <frkrygow@sbcglobal.net>
Newsgroups: rec.bicycles.tech
Subject: Re: Disc brake maintenance tips
Date: Sun, 23 Jun 2024 21:42:41 -0400
Organization: A noiseless patient Spider
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On 6/23/2024 3:13 PM, Roger Merriman wrote:
> AMuzi <am@yellowjersey.org> wrote:
>> 
>> While I agree that Mr Forester's work has little to no
>> application or import for you, I think he has much valuable
>> to offer for me, especially in 45 years of daily commuting
>> in traffic.
> 
> Unless I’m mistaken he and others in the vehicular cycling community named
> what folks did.
> 
> Ie folks riding like he campaigned for as most will at some point, and even
> official advice such as the Highway Code (UK) unlikely that they have heard
> of him or Vehicular Cycling.
> 
> In my experience he and Vehicular Cycling are very rarely known even among
> urban campaigners, and the idea is dismissed and discredited.

People here are indulging in guesswork! It's a bit like Tom foolishly 
speculating on what goes on in a university classroom. If you haven't at 
least read the relevant literature, it's better to ask questions instead 
of making proclamations.

I believe I'm the only person here who met John Forester, talked with 
him and corresponded with him. I'm sure I'm the only one who completed a 
course, and who was certified to teach the relevant coursework.

Forester did not claim he invented his techniques out of thin air. On 
the contrary, he was raised in Britain, and said that what he taught was 
what was taught as standard practice in Britain at that time. (I 
understand it still is, in "Bikeability" classes.)

The problem, as he saw it, was that the U.S. did not have a continuous 
bicycling culture, where at least some adults had always been riding. So 
when the 1970s bike boom hit here, young adults began riding with zero 
understanding of how to behave among other traffic. He began espousing 
ideas that seemed radical to some Americans, but were considered normal 
east of the Atlantic.

And as I said, those who claim his ideas are "discredited" are usually 
saying "because Forester didn't get masses riding bikes." But that was 
never his objective! His aim was to help those who _did_ choose to ride.

Are his techniques discredited? If, when you ride an ordinary road, you 
ride in the same direction as other traffic; if you follow road markings 
such as left turn only lanes (instead of turning left from the right 
gutter); if you ride far enough out in the lane to avoid opening car 
doors; and you stop for red lights; if you know how to communicate with 
and negotiate with car drivers so you can safely change lanes... then 
you are using the techniques you claim are "discredited."

If you know how to dissuade a "right hook" by a passing motorist, and if 
you know an emergency maneuver to employ if that fails; if you are 
really good at panic stops, because you've practiced; if you can whip 
around a pothole that you spot at the last second... then you are using 
techniques you claim are "discredited."

But if you ride only around your quiet residential complex, or on a dead 
flat bike trail completely away from others, you don't need such 
knowledge. But please don't think you're really competent.

-- 
- Frank Krygowski