Some Words » Bike http://www.ianmacleod.net Occasional text by Ian Macleod, often lacking context. Thu, 05 Jan 2012 06:23:41 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 Reports of Portland Bike Heaven May Be Slightly Overstated http://www.ianmacleod.net/2009/12/29/reports-of-portland-bike-heaven-may-be-slightly-overstated/ http://www.ianmacleod.net/2009/12/29/reports-of-portland-bike-heaven-may-be-slightly-overstated/#comments Wed, 30 Dec 2009 00:57:46 +0000 Ian Macleod http://www.ianmacleod.net/?p=726 It turns out that while car lanes continue through the intersection, at least one local judge thinks that the bike lanes don’t. Okay, so he’s a judge pro tem. Either way, the fact that the law’s interpretation can be mangled to this extent is absurd. What is the point of having bike lanes if some guy decides that they are not operative at the point in the road where they are most needed?

]]> http://www.ianmacleod.net/2009/12/29/reports-of-portland-bike-heaven-may-be-slightly-overstated/feed/ 0 Repairs http://www.ianmacleod.net/2007/10/04/repairs/ http://www.ianmacleod.net/2007/10/04/repairs/#comments Fri, 05 Oct 2007 04:01:43 +0000 Ian Macleod http://www.ianmacleod.net/2007/10/04/repairs/ Someone managed to take out the driver’s side mirror on my car. They didn’t get the whole mount, just the glass of the mirror itself. I was stupid enough to think that this would not cost much to repair. It turns out that replacing the glass means replacing the entire mount. So, it’s a four hundred dollar repair all of a sudden, for a small piece of glass.

Why does the car have to be designed so that replacing the glass of the mirror mean replacing the whole mount? Shouldn’t this just be something we pop into place? I could even see the spot where it would pop into place with two clips. I wondered if I could have just popped out a mirror at the junk yard and fitted it.

Upon getting home with my repaired car I decided to hop onto my bike and go to the grocery store. When I took the first turn I realized that a screw had come loose, and my baskets were floating half free. If the other one came loose it would drop onto my tire and I’d be walking it home. Total cost of repair? 16¢ And I could do it myself. Actually 9¢ because I already had a locking nut of the right size. In so many ways biking seems like a better option. I’m down to under 40 miles a week in my car. The rest is done on the bike.

Of course winter will come soon, and I’m not that hardcore yet.

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