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Edmonton Canada


Edmsuper

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I'm a new rider in Calgary. So far I'm very impressed by this mode of transportation and am having a lot of fun. My major concern is possible harassment from cops and other road/pathway users. There seems to be a bit of animosity among the cycle purists (despite their often aggressive cycling styles) for the electric wheels. Everything from a legal standpoint seems to suggest that if it isn't a foot or a pedal bike, it doesn't have a place anywhere on pavement in Alberta.

Just wondering if other riders in Alberta have faced any issues from police or just other crazy people while riding their wheels.

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I've been trying to ride every day this summer except for late working nights or when these torrential rainstorms hit after work. I've never been stopped by police yet (knock on wood).  :ph34r:  Welcome to the one wheeled criminal underground network. 

Some cops have buzzed by with sirens blaring while I was riding down the sidewalk which made me a bit nervous, but thankfully they were just heading to a call elsewhere.

Other path goers are cool with it.  They give me plenty of passing room, and they appreciate that I ring my bell and slow to a crawl when passing.  Cyclists usually are indifferent or will nod when I give them a nod.  I did have this one unicyclist that totally ignored me when I said hi.  I think he was too busy riding uphill as I went downhill.  Another unicyclist I ran into chatted me up about my wheel.  He didn't want to try it though.  That was weird running into unicyclists on an electric unicycle.  :blink:

Usually cyclists are flying past at high speed or are just casual riders.  One "pro-rider" didn't even bother stopping for me in a crosswalk as he rode down the road.  :rolleyes:  Other ones I pass by going uphill without effort. 

Drivers are usually very curious and rubberneck and take videos on their phones.  Just be careful as many don't see you rolling in crosswalks for some reason. 

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I ride every day in Edmonton, and the vast majority of people think the wheel thing is awesome. The odd cyclist is a bit protective of "their" bike lanes, but this has been rare. There are at least 12 of us riding wheels around these parts, some more than others, so these days most conversations with strangers begin with "I've seen people riding these around...", which is great to hear.

I travel at speed quite a bit on the roads and bike paths, but I slow right down if I feel like I'm going to pass anyone who might feel in any way scared by a 240 lb person flying by them unexpectedly.... I also carry a bike bell and use it often to let people know I am coming up behind them.

One shut in who lives on a road/bike path that I take every day complained to the police via twitter just on principle -- whippersnappers with their newfangled thingies type deal. The police response was that they considered wheels to be glorified skateboards and as such not subject to any laws, although they recommend wearing helmets. When the individual pushed the issue further they ignored him, at least publicly. 

Wheel size seems to be the key factor as a city bylaw bans bikes on sidewalks if they have a wheel size over 50cm (19.5"). 

I have ridden in and around police folk many times without issue. On Canada Day I caught up to a couple of the local constabulary riding bikes. I suggested they should be riding wheels but their thought was wheels would be stolen almost immediately. On other occasions they've been worried this would happen to my wheel if I  didn't chain it up. Oh and also on Canada Day I wheeled around the legislature grounds with all the crowds and police and whatnot - no issues there whatsoever.

Edited by yegwheel
grammar
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Thanks for the moral support, guys. It's good to hear that many folks, including police, are taking a common sense approach to these vehicles. I suppose if the public are shown plenty of examples of people riding responsibly, that's going to help our cause in the long run.

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16 hours ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

Just be careful as many don't see you rolling in crosswalks for some reason. 

I just had my first car-wheel collision for exactly this reason. Rush hour, cross walk across four lanes (two going each way); three lanes the cars were stopped and I was trying to be careful to coordinate with multiple cyclists coming from different directions behind me and didn't realize that the far lane had a car coming full speed through the cross walk. He hit the brakes but it was too late and he knocked the wheel out from under me. No significant injuries to either me or the wheel fortunately.

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Glad to hear you and the wheel are okay.  How's your crawl speed?  I usually can go slower than pedestrians walking so either I'll follow them while looking around for a safe time to pass or get ready to come to a full stop and dismount.  In crosswalks I'll scan both directions and make sure to make eye contact while moving at a crawl and stay prepared to stop.

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I can crawl fine, this particular intersection is crazy as cyclists are coming at full speed  from four different directions as it is a major intersection for the two main downtown bike lanes. So one is trying to dodge both cars and bikes at the same time. I try and get 'with the flow' of bikes as a rule. I've literally done it a couple of hundred times over the past year, just this one particular time I happened to be looking at the bikes advancing on me from behind thinking that the car situation had stabilized.

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41 minutes ago, yegwheel said:

Group photo from first yegwheel meetup. Video and more photos to come later on. Next Sunday 10am, same time, same place, a field trip is planned, looking at about 20km, route to be determined.

rtww-01.jpg

Great photo! Well gentlemen I see 5 wheels and just 3 of you. :confused1: 

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Here's the quick-n-dirty video from our session this morning. What you don't see behind the camera is a bunch more cones to navigate. We did a bunch of time trials, everyone trying all five wheels. Times to be posted on the yegwheel website later. The banging noise every time someone comes into the picture from the back is a board that we set up as an obstacle to be driven over. I was hoping to show the entire course but unfortunately the back  lens was smudged so we're stuck with the just the front view this time. Next week we'll get out of the rink and go for a little city run. We did have one cut-out on the smallest wheel, so we learned from that; in future the rule will be that if the wheel beeps the run doesn't count. Eventually we'll have a bunch more interesting obstacles and different setups as well.

Edited by winterwheel
re-added the video after restoring on youtube
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2 minutes ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

Awesome suggestion, i'll see if we can't get that done for the session two weeks from now.

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5 hours ago, Hunka Hunka Burning Love said:

You have great recall. The ramp currently sits on it’s side in the hallway beckoning for me to take it outdoors and use it again. 

One thing you will need to do (as depicted in the photos) is attach the ramp to a piece of 1/2” plywood. The ramp would not be safe for EUC jumping without the added support.

30011579738_c319f3e3dd_b.jpg

 

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Just a reminder that we'll be having our second meetup this Sunday at Ritchie arena. Meet at 10a, and somewhere between 10:15 and 10:30 we'll do a 20km (10 in, 10out) or so ride. This will be a fairly gentle one, to see how we get on. I'll have the gopro 360 camera out, so hopefully we'll be able to get some nice video. That is all.

 

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On 8/12/2018 at 9:12 AM, yegwheel said:

It's already been raining intermittently over here this morning and I'd just as soon not get caught out in something severe on our first trip out so, with regret, I think it's going to be next week for me.

Are we going to meet at Ritchie Hall this Sunday for a ride it's not looking like rain?

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