Edinburgh Tram Tracks

PaulS-F
PaulS-F Posts: 3
edited December 2009 in Commuting chat
That's one fall I've seen this morning and one I've heard of where people have got their wheels stuck in the track on Princes Street and come a cropper. Not looking to clever so far. Anyone been caught out on here yet?

Paul
Cheers

Paul

Comments

  • AidanR
    AidanR Posts: 1,142
    Not me (yet!). I come from Croydon where they've had trams for years - it happens but you've just got to make sure you don't cross them at too acute an angle. I suspect a few more will be caught out before that sinks in though...
    Bike lover and part-time cyclist.
  • amaferanga
    amaferanga Posts: 6,789
    We have them in Sheffield and I don't find them much of a problem. I think that once cyclists get to know where they are (and learn to cross them like you would cross rail tracks) then they're not a huge issue.

    But they are a menace to cyclists (especially novice/occassional cyclists) as one lapse in concentration (or if you're distracted by a numpty motorist) and you're on the deck.
    More problems but still living....
  • Headhuunter
    Headhuunter Posts: 6,494
    I remember my grandpa telling me about the dangers of tram tracks. He was at university in Leeds in the mid 1920s and rode a motorbike. At that time just about every major city in the UK was criss crossed with trams, he said they were a major headache for cyclists and motorcyclists.
    Do not write below this line. Office use only.
  • cee
    cee Posts: 4,553
    I have so far managed to avoid any tram tracks!
    Whenever I see an adult on a bicycle, I believe in the future of the human race.

    H.G. Wells.
  • realALBERTAN
    realALBERTAN Posts: 46
    edited December 2009
    I took my bike there once and crashed going over the "streetcar' tracks on a one way as I was changing lanes to make a left turn... I here they are a death trap in the winter...

    Toronto has them too...
    Cervelo Soloist
    Cervelo P2 (Carbon)
    Trek 4500
    some sort of cx bike

    It's not that cold out, it's just a bit windy.

    http://www.ridecalgary.blogspot.com


    www.bikecalgary.org
  • BentMikey
    BentMikey Posts: 4,895
    My mate EdinburghFixed - luckily for him he didn't have far to fall off his lowracer recumbent.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IgMQV6z ... =subtivity
  • UndercoverElephant
    UndercoverElephant Posts: 5,796
    BentMikey wrote:
    My mate EdinburghFixed - luckily for him he didn't have far to fall off his lowracer recumbent.

    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1IgMQV6z ... =subtivity

    I think I work in the same building as him! He has a crazy, Dutch, front wheel drive recumbent and a Pearson, no?
    Sun - Rain - Snow
  • BentMikey
    BentMikey Posts: 4,895
    Yup, that's right. Careful about the crazy, it's not much different from my recumbent, except mine's RWD. I even have the exact same tailbox. :wink:
  • PBo
    PBo Posts: 2,493
    Second time on the bike i brought last year? off on the sheffield tracks. Riding beside tracks, they turn left, I wanted to go straight on, but due to sweeping angle, they didn't really make it easy to get perpendicular to them.
    So despite knowing what I wanted to do, I unerringly dropped the front wheel in and crash!

    definitely that old thing about looking at the hazard, not at where you go!!!

    Now mega paranoid about hitting them at 90 degrees.

    Also had fun when on a cycle lane inside the tracks, but as I approached a stop, the cycle lane disappeared, and tracks moved in towards the pavement! :?
  • nwallace
    nwallace Posts: 1,465
    Can't remember where I read this and it's fairly hazzy.

    Think it was Montjuch Park race circuit in Spain had tram tracks on one of the straights, Bruce McLaren (Again think it was him) got his wheels caught in them at race speed. He followed them off the race track for a bit before getting the car out of them.
    Do Nellyphants count?

    Commuter: FCN 9
    Cheapo Roadie: FCN 5
    Off Road: FCN 11

    +1 when I don't get round to shaving for x days
  • nwallace
    nwallace Posts: 1,465
    Spotted this tonight
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edi ... 400094.stm

    The lines really do just suddenly appear don't they!
    Do Nellyphants count?

    Commuter: FCN 9
    Cheapo Roadie: FCN 5
    Off Road: FCN 11

    +1 when I don't get round to shaving for x days
  • always_tyred
    always_tyred Posts: 4,965
    My own routes take me across the tracks, so little issues for me. The problem will be those cycling along the street. Half way up, past the national gallery, the pavement sweeps out and forces the cyclist into the lane with the tracks in it. There is no option and the cyclist is essentially trapped in the left of the lane by the left hand tram track. Without the planning forethought to give cyclists another option at this point, someone IS going to get hurt by gormless bus drivers or agressive cabbies. Unless you bunny hop across ahead of time, you cannot take the primary. How one is supposed to turn right, I don't know.

    There should be a bike lane instead of an ornamental island right down the centre of the street.

    Edinburgh council is exceptionally good at painting miles of bike lane on big wide streets in the suburbs (with unrestricted parking, so you can never use them) which are in any case not really needed. They are far less good at tackling rather more difficult areas, such as the city centre.

    Token cycle training telling people not to ease across the tram tracks in an area where they may sometimes have no options is not going to help, however the council employee responsible can tick the box and meet their appraisal target and get that pesky salary increment, without the need to actually DO anything.
  • amircp
    amircp Posts: 132
    Totally agreed about Edinburgh's painting of cycle lanes in the widest roads. But this is probably quite typical. Increases the number of cycle lane miles etc. Midlothian CC does the same - nice wide cycle lane until you reach a pinch point where it disappears.
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  • majormantra
    majormantra Posts: 2,094
    +2. I'm not looking forward to my first tram track experience. I ride fixed in the city so full bunny hops aren't really an option.

    Matthew
  • Clever Pun
    Clever Pun Posts: 6,778
    AidanR wrote:
    Not me (yet!). I come from Croydon where they've had trams for years - it happens but you've just got to make sure you don't cross them at too acute an angle. I suspect a few more will be caught out before that sinks in though...

    I got caught a few years back some old giffer stepped out in front of me on the Addiscombe road I drifted to the left to avoid him, my front wheel went in the groove and I hit the deck. He said oh you want to be careful of those tracks sonny. I nearly killed the old fruit.
    Purveyor of sonic doom

    Very Hairy Roadie - FCN 4
    Fixed Pista- FCN 5
    Beared Bromptonite - FCN 14
  • gtvlusso
    gtvlusso Posts: 5,112
    Fell off in the Bristol docks on the tram line there.....fixed wheel. It was wet too.....I was angry at myself for being so stoopid!
  • suzyb
    suzyb Posts: 3,449
    This has just been reported on Reporting Scotland. They interviewed EdinburghFixed by the looks of it (it was his youtube clip they showed).
    Whippet
  • BentMikey
    BentMikey Posts: 4,895
    I think that was Anth of citycycling, not EF.
  • suzyb
    suzyb Posts: 3,449
    BentMikey wrote:
    I think that was Anth of citycycling, not EF.
    I'm sure they interviewed the guy whose video it was. Was a young looking guy called David.

    Mentions part of the interview here
    http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/edi ... 400094.stm
    Whippet
  • BentMikey
    BentMikey Posts: 4,895
    You're right, it was. Sorry, my mistake, I heard Anth got interviewed.

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