(00:00:00) Cynthia you tell us this is a real handful of a Title Here project coordinator Minnesota Community bicycle safety project was that mean (00:00:09) yes. Well, we're a bicycle education Safety project that's funded by the Department of Public Safety and we're housed and supported in the 4-H office which is part of the Minnesota extension service and the University of Minnesota campus or were housed in this in the at the st. Paul (00:00:28) campus and what sorts of information do you put (00:00:32) out. Well, I develop and deliver a variety of training programs for people throughout the state. I work with Police Department's Community Rec Centers Civic groups Schools teachers youth leaders. We do a lot of work with 4-H leaders in promoting bicycle safety education and that and that's in a variety of ways. Sometimes it's in training police officers and How to do bicycle law enforcement sometimes it's training kids on how to ride Auto ride bikes safely. Sometimes I also run a bike camp for teenagers called Pedal Power and we train teenagers to ride and to repair their bikes into and to ride safely and then we also teach them how to go back into their communities and do bicycle safety education. (00:01:20) Hmm. Cynthia also has spent some time as a mechanic as a bicycle mechanic about seven years doing that spent some time as a parts purchaser and and as a trip leader as well, so Cynthia MacArthur's really well versed in all aspects of bicycling. So if you have a question for her about some part of this sport, if you enjoy bicycling or have some sort of a concern about it, you can call us in the Twin Cities at 2276 thousand 2276 thousand in the Twin Cities elsewhere within the state of Minnesota. The toll-free number is 1-800-695-1418. 5-2 9700 in one of the Rounding States call us directly at area code 612 2276 thousand whether your concern your question be about equipment or safety operating technique. Whatever Cynthia MacArthur probably can answer your question. How's that? That's a hand. Alright. Well, we'll see. We'll see if we can make good on that promise. Now, what about the you have any idea how many bicycles there are in the state of Minnesota? (00:02:26) Well, I think they one of the statistics I heard was it for the average family has about four bicycles (00:02:35) per gallons. That's there's more bicycles and Cars Cars by a long shot. How how does the State ranked in terms of accidents? How many accidents have been (00:02:45) recorded? Well, it's a little hard to to judge that because we have a winter season so our bicycling pretty much comes to a halt although they're all there are always a few people that ride in the winter last year we had In deaths and about 1,400 accidents which was up a little bit and primary but primarily because we had a very long season if you remember we had we were biking well into February and and or at the beginning of February and well into October so we had an unusually long season. So we're not we're not we're not as high as for instance Florida has a very high accident and death rates. But of course, they've got a very large elderly population that bicycle and they have bicycling all all year round so that that contributes to it. (00:03:40) All right. We have a caller on the line with a question for Cynthia right off the bat Hello. Go ahead, please thank you. I'm wondering if you have any brochures with bicycle safety tips that one could send (00:03:50) for yes. I do. I have I have a lot of that. In fact, that's a big part of my job is Distributing bicycle safety information and also Hooking people up with other agencies and groups in the in the state that do bicycling. You can call me at six to five 9719. That's my my number at work and I can either send the brochures out to you or I have an order form with a variety of brochures for adults children School groups. The curriculum pieces manuals guides a variety of things (00:04:27) what's new in bicycles nowadays. What's popular and what's fashionable? (00:04:32) Well, I'm excited. I'm continued to be excited about the the rise of the ATB or the commuter style bicycle (00:04:41) a TB or (00:04:43) v80 be all-terrain bicycle all-terrain bicycle. I started out being called mountain bikes. But of course, we don't really have mountains around here and and they're really an all terrain there for a variety of terrains everywhere everywhere from the urban jungle to the state forests and They have come down in price considerably one of the things I would say that 90% of the people that I deal with both in classes. I teach and in programs that I coordinate I deal with the kind of Rider who is just interested in basic recreational riding and they want the bicycle to be fun and safe and the upright all-terrain style bike. That's that's just hit the market and some bike shops would probably say that they sell 60 to 80 percent of their sales are in the this type of bike. It's just made bicycling so much more fun for a lot of people. I'm hearing people say that for the first time since they were children. They got out on their bikes and are writing again and I've kind of watched as I go around the lakes and stuff and you just see an incredible number of the all-terrain or commuter style bike and I think the reason for that is for one they become more affordable. So they're not just the high tech, you know, ultimate sort of Ultralight bike that cost seven hundred to a thousand dollars you can buy those but but that's not the standard an average range is anywhere from three to five hundred and you can get a good quality bike and people feel more comfortable on it. They feel safer. They feel like they have more control and balance with it. And I feel that even though I own many bikes and several of them are are the down the drop bar 10 speeds. I do enjoy the upright bars and I'm finding a lot of people do that (00:06:34) Cynthia MacArthur is what this is we talk bicycles today at 2276 thousand. That's the number two two seven six thousand in the Twin Cities area elsewhere within the state of Minnesota. Our toll-free line is 1-800-669-9133 eyeb as the experience. I would most likely have on an all-terrain bike as opposed to Speed (00:07:01) well, first of all, you're going to feel more stable on the bike because your your hands are on upright bars that give you a little bit more of an upright position. You have a little bit more visibility and a lot of the bikes have a lot have a decreased maintenance Factor. They are well constructed and they just don't have the kinds of problems that some of the ten speeds the multi-speed down handle barred type bike (00:07:30) have do these are touring bikes have different earrings are (00:07:32) not well some of them the traditional are the real all-terrain bike will probably have 15 to 18 gives good Heavens. Yeah, three three sprockets on the front and five or six on the back (00:07:46) in probably three or four reverse gears to us, (00:07:48) right? (00:07:51) All right, so that's sort of the professional and if you got a kind of a standard one one of the less expensive ones you're talking about they have (00:07:57) you might have 10 or 12 are 12, but Going to find that that the tires are wider. So going over bumps won't be as as hard on the person and on the bike and you won't you probably won't experience as many flat tires and the bike we'll just hold together better. (00:08:14) Hey lot of folks with bicycle questions for Cynthia MacArthur this morning. So let's get some more money are starting off with you. Hello there. (00:08:22) I really occur driver who's having a problem cohabitating with the bicyclist. I live out in Minnetonka and on Minnetonka Boulevard made times. We get bicycle groups that are for breast across the entire driving lane. I was running. What is the law? And then what is the policy about such activities not hang up and listen to your answer. That's a very good question. And it's a it's a continued concern for all of us that work in the biking community in Minnetonka is a very popular place for bicyclists to go and so I'm not I'm not surprised that your concern legally. Local Riders can ride to a breast and that's only if they're not impeding traffic or on a road. That just doesn't want riding double. So riding for a breast is not legal and it's not proper etiquette. One of the things that I'm seeing in a lot of the the biking groups. Ayh, for instance American Youth hostels, which has a large organized group of people about 3,000 people that belong to it do a very good job of promoting safe riding and proper riding bicycles are a vehicle on the road there. They have to obey the same laws that a car does and on one hand. That means that If a bicyclist needs to take up a major part of a lane to be safe, they have the the illegally they can do that. But it also means that when they come to the red light they have to stop and sometimes bicyclist don't always they want the rights of the road, but they don't always want they want to be selective in how they choose. His rights, and so it's something that we work on continually and one of the things that we get a lot of cooperation with is and we encourage with the police department's is of course enforcing the laws as traffic (00:10:16) laws. Do you think any bicyclists have ever been arrested for writing for a breast or (00:10:22) yes? Yes. Yeah. We I've heard of many situations like that and it would be good to to I would like to see more of that just because we have a situation in most of the United States that bicycles are just outside the law. They are viewed as they've been viewed for many years as a toy or as an item for kids and now they're really making their Mark as a solid, you know form of transportation and we all have to share the (00:10:52) road any idea what this call to her others could do when encountering for bicyclists writing a breast or to writing a breast. Picking up a driving lane. You want to get past him. I've heard that you're not supposed to Blow Your Horn at bicyclist, but it's tempting. (00:11:06) Well, sometimes I will just sort of tap my horn not blasted. But just to let them know that I'm coming up behind them sometime. I mean writing for breast is not legal, but sometimes when bicycles are two abreast and they don't see traffic behind them A little nudge like that can help them move over and make room for car drivers. They really sure if they're going to be doing that. They should be wearing a mirror on the their Helmet or on the bicycle so they can see that in back. But the other thing is I would encourage you to report those situations to the police department so that they can begin to see that enforcement is necessary and and encouraged and to encourage them (00:11:55) moving on to another listeners question for Cynthia. Go ahead here next. Good morning. I wondered if you could talk a little bit about the proper position on a bicycle. I had heard years and years ago that your leg was supposed to be totally extended but my seat doesn't go up that high and then when I do have my seat up as high as it'll go then when I lean forward on my 10-speed it seems like my arms my upper arms just get so tired and I'm just not sure what I should be doing as far as seat adjustment and pedal adjustment and so (00:12:25) forth. Okay, that's a good question because a lot of people aren't comfortable on the bicycle because it doesn't fit them. Right. The first thing to do is to stand over the top bar. If you have a top bar if it's not an open frame 10 speed and see if you have between an inch and an inch and a half between the bar and your crotch. That's the basic measurement for the if the frame is the right size for you. My thought is that if you can't get your seat up any higher your your bike might be too small for you your legs should be You should when you have your foot on the crank in the down position and your foot is on the pedal. You should have a slight and that's the ball of your foot. You should have a slight Bend in your knee now. If it's fully extended, you might find that you're swaying on the saddle from side to side and that would be uncomfortable. If you're with your arms being sore. The next adjustment is to put your elbow at the Horn of your seat and extend your arms straight out and the middle finger should touch the handle bars. And if you can't do that, then that means that you're extending too far. You're reaching out too far and you're going to need to get a shorter gooseneck or stem to bring those handlebars back in and get you situated better on the bicycle. I would take take your problem to a good bike shop one that will listen to your concerns and women often have this problem with bicycles because we have often have shorter torsos and and long. Legs and so we need the extension in the legs. We need the seat up but we need a shorter distance between the handlebars and the seat. (00:14:08) All right, 23 minutes past the are we're talking about bicycling technique safety equipment all aspects of bicycling the day with Cynthia MacArthur project coordinator for the Minnesota Community bicycle safety project you're on with her now. Hello there. Hello Cynthia, this is David green wood and I was wondering lately. I've been seeing a lot of younger kids riding around without using any of basic safety techniques whatsoever. And that's wondering do you think it should be made like a mandatory course in an elementary school physical education where bicycle safety is taught to reduce accidents and the listen to your answer. (00:14:43) Thanks. Okay, David, that's a that's a argument that continues in the biking Community whether or not bicycle education and safety education should be mandatory in the schools. And I I am a little ambivalent about that. I'm not sure that just by It that we're going to get the kind of education that we need. I think that we should have stronger communication and interaction with schools and I think schools should be more concerned about bicycle safety. But one of the problems with mandating it is I've been in too many schools this spring and one school all the kids were bussed so they don't bring bikes to school but they still need to deal with bicycle safety. So to get a course developed in the school. We had no bikes to use another school. I went to I asked if we could have it was just a one-hour kind of presentation I was doing and I said, well could I have a couple of bikes there so we could look them over and they said no, we're not allowed to bring the bikes to school and I thought well, that's because those kids are bussed or something. They said no because we have such a theft problem and then I have worked with schools. I worked with a school. Hello Jacob School up in Coon Rapids that the principal was very much in support of bicycle safety education and did a All school program and it was a very successful program up there so mandating it. I'm not so sure will will answer our problems. I think that everybody has to begin to see that bicycles are a vehicle on the road and that there needs to be some sort of instruction whether it comes from the parent with the young child beginning in the beginning years, whether it's in a 4-H club whether it's in the school's I think it has to be a combined effort and that's one of the things that we really support within the bike Safety project is that it's community-based some communities. It's better that it goes to the police department and they do can do a very good job of promoting it in some situations. It might be better off being dealt with in the schools. (00:16:45) All right now, it's your turn to talk to Cynthia. Thank you for waiting. Go ahead, please. Okay, thank you. I want was wondering if you could give some advice please on how to choose a good tandem bike what to look for and how to determine whether it's a good bike and a good Find one and I'll hang up and listen. Thank you. (00:17:02) Well, I brought with me the number for the tandem clubs the Twin Cities tandem Club. It's 9255185 and you'll find that the people involved with that will have all of the questions that you want to ask they'll be able to answer all of them that I think the thing with tandems is you want to go with something. That's that's good quality. One of them that I used to work with a bit was a Santana tandem which is sort of the one of the the top tandems but there are many out there that are good but you want to get something that's going to have good quality Parts on it. I've seen some tandems that are real questionable and their clunky and they're not they don't work. Right and you spend most of your time repairing them rather than riding them. And so Find a shop that specializes in tandems call a tandem Club. There's a lot of very qualified people there and they and they are very enthusiastic. They they love tandem writing and and they can help you out because they'll be certain things that you'll want to look for. Are you going to be the front writer or you know, who's going to be the back Rider? What kind of size difference are there between you and your partner? What kind of riding are you going to want to do? There's a lot of questions you need to ask so that you can get the right size bike (00:18:29) who who's has the tougher job on it. And in the one in the front of the one on the back. (00:18:34) Well, I think it's a little bit of both. I think the front person has to think about, you know, having control of the bike and and guiding it but I would my feeling from the little bit I've been on tandems is that the back person doesn't have quite the the best view and so it might get a little boring back there. (00:18:57) Who peddles the harder? Well Who's Cheating? I guess that's the question (00:19:00) isn't it? I was working with a school technical Learning Center up in Robbinsdale. And there was a young boy who was blind and he and his friend brought his tandem to school to fix when we did bike repair and he wrote on the back and he that was real fun for them to and it allowed him to ride a bike and joy bicycle now, (00:19:21) it's about half past the hour talking with Cynthia MacArthur about bicycles got a couple of lines available again 2276 thousand in the Twin Cities 2276 thousand for Minneapolis st. Paul area collars elsewhere within the state of Minnesota 1-800-662-2386 5 to 9700 and we've worked our way through some of the initial batch of collars. And if you've got a question and couldn't get through before here's an opportunity now, we'll take you. Hello there. Yeah. Yes. I would like to expand on a previous questions. A collar and related to safety enforcement laws like to get Cynthia's feelings about possibly licensing on both writers and (00:20:06) bicycles. Well, we do have a system in this in the state, which is the only one in the United States like this. It's a Statewide bicycle registration system and so a city can mandate licensing and when they do they have to use the Minnesota system. It's a computerized system and it's a very efficient effective system that that we feel Works real. Well and for a couple of reasons one the if the bike is stolen and found anywhere else in the state, it can be returned quite quickly to the owner because not only is the license on a computer but it's renewed every three years and so the bike is updated and you know, I Remember by licensing my bikes in a small town and there were so many dead files of bicycles that you know had been abandoned or Greek people had grown out of them or you know, whatever and there was Not a very effective way. It was a very cumbersome job for the police department to to recover the bikes. The other thing that we really promote and bicycle registration is the idea of using it for accident victim identification for instance. A lot of young kids are out riding their bikes and they don't have identification with them and they don't wear helmets and if they were to get into an accident and were knocked unconscious or maybe just too scared to talk to the people around them. They could find out who they were by just accessing the serial number on the bike and you can access the serial number through or the the person through the serial number and the license number on the bicycle in terms of Licensing the bicyclist that is a very complex problem because you've got such a diversity of riders. You've got some people about 10% of the Riders are what we would call, you know, hardcore writer that rides too. Worker rides a lot for fitness and and and is on the bike, you know, maybe you know more than 50 miles a week but a lot of riders are just Fairweather Riders. They ride around the Lakes. They ride on weekends. They take their bikes up to the lake their children and we don't have an effective system for testing people or teaching people to ride and I think the problem is is is very complex. And I don't think that that I'm not quite sure if for all the work that we would put into doing that if we would have the kind of results that we want. We it doesn't guarantee that we would have better Riders the the key to safer Riders and better shared roadway situation is for the motorists to realize that the bicycles have has the right to be out on the road and for the bicyclist to realize that they're a vehicle and they have to obey the laws and we encourage All all the people that are involved from the bike shop to the parents to to the teachers in the schools to teach bicycle safety. And we also encourage police to enforce the laws and to give tickets (00:23:23) some more folks waiting with questions on bicycles today. And you're on with Cynthia MacArthur. Hello. Okay. I thought it would be for something when cars and trucks are stopped waiting for a light to turn green and a bicycle comes and squeezes between the right-hand sides of the vehicles and the sidewalk. Is that (00:23:41) legal? Between the right hand (00:23:45) side what your specific going to stop right? Say at Minnehaha Park Way and Hiawatha of and you're sitting there waiting for the light to change on a city street and all of a sudden the his comes a bicycle and he's hopping on one foot and pedaling with the other foot and squeezing between the street and the cars on the right hand side. (00:24:04) Well that that has a bit of assessment that that would be on the part of the bicyclist. For instance. If I were coming up on that intersection, I would check to make sure that that truck or car whichever one is at the stoplight is not turning to the right if they were I would stay behind them because they've their their first and they're going to be turning and I may get in the way if if they're going straight ahead. It's okay for me to be in the right hand side as long as I'm making myself visible so that people understand what I'm going to be doing and then To use signals to indicate where I'm going to be going. I think that a lot of times bicyclists don't all they're not as predictable as they need to be out on the road and I really encourage all of my students to be very communicative with the with a putt with the drivers get eye contact signal point to where you're going to go be in a position where you're not squeezed in but that you are your you might be next to the car but you're not forcing that car to do not be able to make the turn or do what they need to do on the road. It's a lot of it is having common courtesy realizing that we all share the roads and just as in cars, sometimes we have people who come off exits and they squeezed into a lane in there, you know grouchy and honking we have that situation with the bicycles and the cars to (00:25:39) just getting back to the accident situation that we were talking about clothes. The beginning of the program are most of the accidents that were recorded in Minnesota last year involving bicycles between bicycles and cars between bicycles and other bicycles bicycles alone or bicycles and (00:25:55) pedestrians. Most of the information is recorded as from bicycle to motor vehicle, although because we don't have a very consistent way of recording accidents. And so a lot of for instance, maybe people that run into parked cars or something like that are fall off their bike. They just don't report it as a bicycle accident. So it's a little hard to say interestingly about 40 percent of accidents happen on bike paths. Is that right? Tween bicyclists and that's because people aren't there riding too fast on the paths. They're not that maybe if it's a two-way path, they're not careful and they in the hit each other they're trying to pass and they don't give an audible sound or Signal properly. (00:26:45) All right. Well, let's move on to some more folks with bicycle questions today. Then you're on with Cynthia MacArthur. Go ahead, please hi say I'm wondering is it practical or feasible to convert the traditional ten-speed the round of all the rounded over handlebars into the upright handlebars. (00:27:01) It's a very good way of making the bike more comfortable. What you have to do is take off the tape on it and the brake levers put on upright handlebars. You'll have to get different brake levers and different brake cables because all of those pieces are not interchangeable a bike shop can do that and it would probably run you. Well, it's hard to save somewhere between I would say 15 and 25 dollars. That's that's a general rain that would depend on the quality of the equipment that you replaced it with. (00:27:33) I wonder why those turned on handlebars were so incredibly popular a long time ago. I mean, you could hardly find a multi-speed bike that didn't have those turns. (00:27:43) Well, I think where it developed was we used to have the old three speed in the five speed bike the old three-speed English bike and then the 5-speed Schwinn bike that was popular in the 50s and 60s and they were very heavy bikes. They weren't fitted. Well for people anyone over 5 foot 6 had a hard time writing on the bikes. They didn't fit him properly. They had steel parts. They were cumbersome. They weren't comfortable. They weren't efficient and riding and then from Europe we saw the and the tennspeed was popular over there as a racing bike and and that sort of came over to the states in the 70s and we just saw an incredible boom in bicycling back then and and for a certain type of bicycling that down handlebars position is very comfortable when I'm riding long distance, or I'm riding for a long time period of time, you know, six to eight hours at a time I do. That down handlebar position. You have more efficiency. You can you can ride better yet. You're more aerodynamic, but I would say that for most of the people riding under 10 miles an hour. The upright bar is more comfortable and actually maybe even a little bit more efficient. (00:29:00) Now, it's your turn to talk bicycles with Cynthia MacArthur go ahead, please I've been mourning to I walk around Lake of the Isles and Lake Harriet just about every day and sometimes twice and one of servation are those the Speeders that seemed to use the bike trail donor for speeding racing and I hope that they are not supposed to be doing that. (00:29:28) Yes, that's that is not the place to be training for for time trials are racing the bike path around the lakes are for recreational riding and writers who need to do that kind of Fitness training should Be using Country Roads where they can have the the distance and the safety of traffic to do that kind of training. I would like to see more more enforcement on the and the park system for for Speeders and encouraging people to ride slower. I think it's getting so crowded. It's just an accident is waiting to (00:30:08) happen. Well, you really got quite a multiple use situation on a lot of those Parkways because they're the bicycles and then and then you got the people that use their their ski pole deals, right? And then the roller skaters, right and it gets to be a real zoo down (00:30:22) there and then you get the roller skaters that are swinging their feet out and headphones on and walkmans and then you have bicycles. We're riding to a breast and then the Speeders and that's a confusing situation. (00:30:36) Yeah. It makes makes if I want to go sit on a park bench. Let's go off to your question a little Cynthia MacArthur's listening. Hello. You mentioned rearview mirrors for bicycles while back it that raised a question. I've had since I was a child and I was going to my bicycle safety course, so it seemed to me that we much safer if we follow the same rules for bicycles that we do for pedestrians along roadways that is ride facing the traffic rather than with it because you can see the cars coming at you from the front but you're generally blind to what's coming up for you coming at you from behind. Another thing that would really useful would reintroduce the bicycle Bell so that these people who are being overtaken on bicycle paths would have some kind of audible warning that the bikes were closing on them. Thanks. (00:31:18) Yes, and you in many European and English on the in England in European countries bells are required on bikes. I have bells on all of my bikes and I like it a lot because I can just come up behind someone tap the Bell a little bit. They notice me. I don't have to shout and yell or do anything. It's very very convenient to use a Bell. So it would be I think that would be a nice thing to enjoy. To make a requirement on on the bikes. I love your question writing the on the run the wrong side of the road because that's a very common perception that people have that. They're safer riding on the wrong way facing traffic as a pedestrian. It is safer to face traffic because you are just moving yourself out of the way and you have a lot of control over and you have a lot of time to react to a situation right walking facing traffic riding a bike. You don't you are if you are not in a predictable spot as a vehicle on the roadway cars are trained people in cars are trained to see to look left and right and to look ahead and and look ahead to the left hand, you know to out to the left of their of their cars for traffic for you to be coming on the wrong side of the road. You're in an unpredictable View for the for the automobile. Driver and so you place yourself in a very dangerous position and also you don't have the the responsiveness that you need to get out of the way if a car was coming and you're in an unpredictable place and they suddenly see you and they try to get out of the way you don't have enough time to get you and the bicycle out of the way and a lot of accidents happen that way that's that's one of the leading causes of bicycle accidents, and the other thing is that it's against the law bicycles are a vehicle on the road and you have to obey the same rules as a vehicle (00:33:16) all types of bicycle questions welcome to day for Cynthia MacArthur bicycle safety bicycle repair bicycle technique what kinds of bikes to get and places to go to to 76 thousands. Our phone number we've got open lines again 2276 thousand in the Twin Cities elsewhere within the state of Minnesota toll-free at 1-866-553-2368 scan. Us directly at area code 6 12 and that Twin Cities number which is available to to 76 thousand. What should a casual writer look for in a new bicycle. Do you think (00:33:54) well, the first thing you want to look for is the fit to make sure that the bicycle is comfortable and it's something that you're going to ride don't be pressured into buying something that's over your head or beyond your needs or means a lot one of the things I teach in my bike repair classes is how to go into a bike shop and ask the kind of questions that you need to ask to get your needs met. (00:34:22) All right, what are some of those questions? (00:34:24) Well, one of the things that that I always came up with front with people when I was in the shop was again first of all size, but also cost. What do you want to spend and what type of riding if you want to do long distance riding and you want By a discount bike you're not going to match up your needs and so you're going to have to do some some, you know changing with that and you need a bike shop that ask those kind of questions bike shop that just, you know are looking at the glitter and the and you know shiny bikes in the high-tech and sort of blow you away with you know, that's got this kind of (00:35:01) crumble just like toolbar. (00:35:03) Yeah. I stay away from that kind of thing because that's high pressure and a lot of those things aren't important for you to know all those little intricacies if that is of interest to you. You will know that you will be reading the magazines you'll be talking to people and you don't need to know all those little increments of sizes and shapes of bolts and and gear ratios and things like that that just tend to overwhelm you and intimidate you so I would look for a shop that addresses your questions and has the has a variety of bikes that that will fit you so that you can test ride one and see if you like it (00:35:39) you've worked in Bike Shop Cynthia. I don't know if you can let us On a any industry Secrets or not, but is it all like buying a car where you dick her on the price or do you just pay the price that's (00:35:49) listed usually you pay the price that's listed bikes are are not a high mark up in a bike shop and they're usually my experience is that if you're Dickering somewhere along the line you're going to be paying for that. If you're in a show if you're in a shop that says, oh well throw in a lock will throw in this will throw in that you're probably paying a little bit higher price for the bike. One of the things to look for is is the bike shop going to follow up with good service. You might buy this bike for a couple hundred dollars, but are they going to come back and maybe offer you some discount on repair in labor is in the years to come and are they going to be there for you with the parts and that kind of thing so that it's not just a one-time, you know deal. I remember when I work I used to work up in North Dakota and we'd have people come in and say well why should why shouldn't I go to you know, the the discount store and buy the $59 bike rather than by you know, this this $200 bike from you and I'd say fine go ahead and buy that discount bike but because I know you'll be coming into me for repairs at twice the cost of what you'd pay, you know be putting out for that more expensive bike. So the cheaper bike is cheap in the initial outlay of money, but it isn't in the long run you end up putting more money into it just to (00:37:16) keep it running now you get what you pay for it? Yes, at least up to a certain point. You may not need $1,000 bike but right you probably can't get by for 50 bucks either for a new one, right? Okay. Lots of folks with questions, let's whistle through them starting with you. Go ahead. Hello. I've had knee problems and knee surgery and and I really like bicycling and I had to kind of lay off of it and I have what I have is a tends to be that I rebuilt and I thought of going back into bicycling and I wonder A different kind of have a typical, you know crooked bar ten-speed lightweight and I'd like to know if there were it would be some other kind of bicycle or some other way that it might be better for my knees. (00:37:56) I would I would check out your seat the distance that your seat is up and also the position that your toe Clips are in. Sometimes that can make a difference in in the in your knees and you might want to go go into a go to a good bike shop that has a variety of parts and has the expertise talk to people see that they're the their bikers and that they've in a lot of bikers have experienced those kind of problems so they can they can help you and you can probably alter a few things on the bike and and reduce some of that knee pain. (00:38:40) Alright moving on now to you. You for calling and waiting. Go ahead please good morning. I just turned in recently. So I don't know if you talked about this but a friend of mine has tried to check me into going on a long bike trip. She's doing the gym Klobuchar this year. She has a ten-speed bike, but I have a mountain bike that I use that I live out in the country and I'm wondering if you could give your opinion about the appropriateness of using a mountain bike on a real long trip where you're doing like 80 miles a day. I'll hang up and listen (00:39:10) thing. Well some people do I would have toe Clips on the on the mountain bike and probably have a little bit narrower Tire more like a City Tire on it so that you don't have the big fat, you know off-road tire on the bike my experience. I rode my all-terrain bike in the Iron Man a couple years ago, and I did not enjoy it at all. It was it was a lot of work and maybe I'm just more used to the the down handle barred. On long distance, but but it is popular and there are tours that are offered throughout the United States for for all-terrain bicycles. I think if you're in good shape and the bike is fairly comfortable and like I said you have toe Clips you might be able to do it. I don't know if I would just jump off from very little writing to 80 miles. That might be a bit much. (00:40:06) Hmm. Let's tear. Let's try your question now for Cynthia MacArthur. Hello there. Go ahead. (00:40:12) Yes. My question is about touching up the paint on the bike. We transported our bikes improperly with one on top of the other and the chain of one dug into the paint job on the other and I'm wondering I have touch-up paint. I'm wondering how to get that smooth or if it's something that I would have to take into a bike repair shop to get done properly. Well, it's hard to touch up the bike. Usually you have to sand the the paint down to the frame and then Prime it and then put on another coat of paint and with a little bit of touch-up paint. You don't always get that kind of smooth look that you need it. If it's if it's not in a real noticeable area, you might just try using a little touch-up paint. I've touched up many of my bikes, and I've never found that to be looking very nice. I guess. It does protect it from rust. But if it's a real serious scratch, then there are many bike builders in the Twin Cities that do that kind of repair with bicycles, and they have a variety of paint and call call a reputable bike shop and ask them if they have a frame Builder that they work with that can do that for you (00:41:29) 10 minutes before twelve o'clock, I guess today Cynthia MacArthur she is project coordinator for the Minnesota Community bicycle safety project and we are talking about bicycles if you haven't gathered so far. Go ahead, please you're next. Hello there. Yes just turned in a few minutes ago reference all-terrain bicycles any recommendations and what to look for in a medium Price bike. (00:41:56) Well, the thing that I like about the all-terrain and that if you can make it into that price range is to look for the the 15 to 18 speeds and that that's with three sprockets on the front and five or six sprockets in the back and in the front you're looking for rather average range with the the first two sprockets and then with the small sprocket or commonly called a granny gear you want that to be small 28 teeth or less because that's really going to help you get up hills. Is that that very small gear the other thing that I like about the all-terrain bike is the brakes and and most good quality are a real ATB bike. I guess you could say has Ever breaks and those are breaks that are braised onto the frame of the bike and there are very solid responsive break and they require relatively little maintenance and so I've seen some bikes that are called ATVs, but they have the standard side pull caliper which can cause problems come loose and get off set. And so you don't really take care of some of the maintenance free problems that you can get away from with with an ATV bike. So look for those two features and then and then you can be looking at I mean then other things are going to be more standard they'll have alloy wheels, they'll they might have a quick release front wheel or not. That's something you can decide whether you want and other other things will be more standard color and things like that. (00:43:30) Why would you want the quick release front wheel? (00:43:31) Well on on a lot of bikes they have quick release wheel so you can get the wheels on and off most all-terrain bikes don't have quick release Wheels because if you're out in the end Our roads are in on trails that quick release might get hooked onto a branch in flipped off and then your wheel could come off. So I am not real strong on quick release in the front wheel. (00:43:56) Okay, let's move on to your question. Hello Cynthia MacArthur's listening. Hello. Hi, I'd like to do some camping and biking like we can small-scale kinds of things like over to the sparta Elroy Trail and so on there's some groups in the Twin Cities that do that kind of thing or could you make some recommendations about how to get started doing that kind of stuff? (00:44:20) Yeah, there there are some very good writing that takes place in Minnesota American Youth hostels is one of the largest organizations they have rides in way if you get their hostler magazine, there are rides every weekend almost every night. It's not there's not a boring moment with with with American Youth hostels. Their number is three. 7:5 1904 and you can call and get their list for the rides and then hook up with them other groups that do riding American Lung Association does a number of rides throughout the state and they often involve pledge, but they are a very well organized and fun group to ride with Channel 11 care is going to have a care classic ride in June and that's going to be fun. They're they're thinking about 3,000 people on that. And so there there are a lot of rides that you can you can take. We have a lot of very nice trails in Minnesota that provide for fun bicycling. So if you wanted to go to a trail Maybe just go with a couple of friends or by yourself. They're they're designed for biking they have camping there. They're just a lot of fun. I was just up at the lieutenant. Governor's annual bike ride opening up the Monger Trail at between Carlton and Duluth and it is beautiful. It's just they always Sparta is a fun trail. I've been on that several times and it's nice that I mean, I think that the longer Trail is in competition with the El Rey Sparta (00:46:02) are these Trails (00:46:03) blacktopped or some are some aren't the for instance the cicadas singing Trails down near Mankato and Faribault. That's not that's a limestone. But the Munger is some of them have partial asphalting. (00:46:20) All right. Well, we've got less than five minutes left. I don't think we can get through everybody who's waiting, but we'll try your next. Hello there. Yes. I was wondering if you had any experience on recumbent bicycles and why they have it seemed to Have gotten to the popularity that regular bicycles have I'll hang up and listen (00:46:41) Okay recumbent is a bicycle that is written in a more sitting position. Your feet are out in front of you and you're and you're pedaling it. Sometimes the handlebars are at your side rather than in front of you. I think that one of the reasons is that they're perceived as not being as stable and as as safe, maybe as a regular bike, they're also very expensive. They're they're long. They're hard to carry. I saw theriot cell up with his at the lieutenant Governor's ride and he had an incredible rack on his car that carried the the recumbent and it was definitely something that he designed himself. And so that's one of the I think difficulties they're expensive and also, There is some problem with just visibility when they're in traffic there. They're low in traffic and it can be hard for cars to see them. (00:47:45) All right now, it's your turn to talk to Cynthia MacArthur. Go ahead, please. Yeah, you got me on yes, sir. How about that? Well, I simply wanted to comment about those drop bars in the popularity of them one time. I was very much involved with bicycles then as I still am I guess but it was purely a camp idea is that was the way everybody did it had kids at that time. We wouldn't think of having any other kind of a bicycle today those same kids have light weights but they've got a bars up (00:48:12) above. Yeah. Well, I remember designing bikes for some of the kids in my neighborhood and they they can only afford like a one speed but I put down handlebars on all of them and tape them and everything and they wrote it was a one speed but just because it looked like a ten-speed it was (00:48:28) cool. Oh, yeah. Well fashion does play a big role in almost everything? That's right right time for one or two more? Students go ahead, please you're on with Cynthia. Good morning. I live in a neighborhood where there's a lot of designated highways with right turn lanes. And I normally am riding along the shoulder and when I add an intersection where the turn lane and I do not plan to change direction. I feel a little vulnerable putting myself into the flow of traffic or likewise remaining on the shoulder knowing and I'm not going to be turning right and I wonder what is the correct position to be at (00:49:03) the correct position would be to stay in that that Middle Lane which would become the middle name Lane so that the right-hand Lane turning lane would be on your right oftentimes when I'm in that kind of situation. I I check for traffic behind me. I signal I point that I'm going to be in that lane. I am very visible. I wear a helmet I wear clothes that can that are easy to be seen make sure that the bike has reflectors and everything on it. And then and move into that lane if you are in that right turning lane, then cars are expecting you to turn to and that could cause an accident because you've got to do more negotiating than to get across and to get back into that lane of yours. So it would be better for you to stay in that the the the through Thruway Lane and and be very conspicuous. (00:49:57) We've got just about a half a minute left Cynthia any any final thoughts on what a person I will look for in fixing up their bike each season. What are two or three parts that are (00:50:07) critical? Well, making sure that the drive train system is in adjustment. That's the derailers in the cranks and the chain making sure it's clean making sure that the brakes work correctly. I just overhauled the bike for a couple of friends and they were missing parts on the bike that would have caused accidents. So checking for those two things and making sure that the tires are in good shape so that you can reduce or eliminate repair of flat tires (00:50:32) and by golly that Thanks a lot for coming in and thank you. It's been fun for me Cynthia MacArthur project coordinator for the Minnesota Community bicycle safety project. She works over in the 4-H office at the at the University weekend is made possible by Ecolab Incorporated. And it's Chemlawn subsidiary. The time is 12 o'clock. This is Bob Potter speaking.