Author Topic: Something cycling Mustachians would get behind  (Read 5868 times)

Pyrroc

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Something cycling Mustachians would get behind
« on: October 21, 2014, 03:54:16 PM »
Saw this today.  Thought commuting Mustachians might like to get behind a project like this.

Veloloop -- trigger traffic signals from your bike!

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/natnat/veloloop-trigger-traffic-signals-from-your-bike#project_faq_109651


PS: I'm not affiliated with this project in any way.

surfhb

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Re: Something cycling Mustachians would get behind
« Reply #1 on: October 21, 2014, 04:01:37 PM »
A muchastian would make this a DUY project.    :)

Cool idea

GuitarStv

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Re: Something cycling Mustachians would get behind
« Reply #2 on: October 21, 2014, 05:01:15 PM »
I don't have problems triggering lights any more  . . . the key is to put both bike tires exactly over the cuts in the road.  Works great around here anyway.

Eric

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Re: Something cycling Mustachians would get behind
« Reply #3 on: October 21, 2014, 05:12:23 PM »
Is that really how those sensors work?  That's pretty cool.  I always thought they were triggered by weight, since I can hit ~90% of them, and I just figured that the other ones weren't sensitive enough.

shitzmagee

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Aught3

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Re: Something cycling Mustachians would get behind
« Reply #5 on: October 21, 2014, 05:39:42 PM »
I just taped a neodymium  magnet to my bike frame. It's about 1 cm cubed and sets the lights off including the ones controlling my particular lane. Works great.

Thegoblinchief

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Re: Something cycling Mustachians would get behind
« Reply #6 on: October 22, 2014, 06:48:04 AM »
My area has switched almost entirely to visual/infrared sensors, which can pick up cyclists no problem. Sometimes the person who programmed the intersection has some really weird math working, but the sensors themselves work.

For the intersections that still have the old style sensors, that's what "dead red" laws are for :)

fallstoclimb

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Re: Something cycling Mustachians would get behind
« Reply #7 on: October 22, 2014, 07:50:16 AM »
Figuring out how to trigger those in-ground sensors changed my life.

GuitarStv

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Re: Something cycling Mustachians would get behind
« Reply #8 on: October 22, 2014, 08:04:21 AM »
Is that really how those sensors work?  That's pretty cool.  I always thought they were triggered by weight, since I can hit ~90% of them, and I just figured that the other ones weren't sensitive enough.



Around here there are cuts in the road that look like this^.  No magnets or fancy gear required.  Works with my aluminum and steel framed road bikes.  Just stick both tires directly over one of the lines and the sensor will trigger.  Figuring this out was a really big deal for me.

hybrid

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Re: Something cycling Mustachians would get behind
« Reply #9 on: October 22, 2014, 10:20:24 AM »
I don't have problems triggering lights any more  . . . the key is to put both bike tires exactly over the cuts in the road.  Works great around here anyway.

Ha, that's really good to know. We have the same around here. Will definitely use that going forward!

FreeWheel

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Re: Something cycling Mustachians would get behind
« Reply #10 on: October 22, 2014, 12:52:12 PM »
I have a few lights on my commute that won't detect my bike no matter where I place it. And since I've done more than 800 commutes, I've had plenty of chances to try them all. LOL

I just taped a neodymium  magnet to my bike frame. It's about 1 cm cubed and sets the lights off including the ones controlling my particular lane. Works great.

Exactly what magnet and where did you place it? I might try fiddling around with this.

Beric01

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Re: Something cycling Mustachians would get behind
« Reply #11 on: October 22, 2014, 04:19:03 PM »
I just use the crosswalk buttons if there's no cars around to trigger a left turn light. Takes 2 button presses - one straight and one to make your "left". If there' no cars around you can make the turn pretty quick, legally.

This is a non-existent "problem".

GuitarStv

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Re: Something cycling Mustachians would get behind
« Reply #12 on: October 23, 2014, 05:48:10 AM »
I have a few lights on my commute that won't detect my bike no matter where I place it. And since I've done more than 800 commutes, I've had plenty of chances to try them all. LOL

I just taped a neodymium  magnet to my bike frame. It's about 1 cm cubed and sets the lights off including the ones controlling my particular lane. Works great.

Exactly what magnet and where did you place it? I might try fiddling around with this.

Occasionally you come across a light that isn't calibrated properly.  Here in Toronto you just report the light to the city and they'll send someone out to fix it.  Maybe see if your city has something similar?  Then it's fixed for all the other cyclists . . .

Aught3

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Re: Something cycling Mustachians would get behind
« Reply #13 on: October 30, 2014, 02:22:42 AM »
I have a few lights on my commute that won't detect my bike no matter where I place it. And since I've done more than 800 commutes, I've had plenty of chances to try them all. LOL

I just taped a neodymium  magnet to my bike frame. It's about 1 cm cubed and sets the lights off including the ones controlling my particular lane. Works great.

Exactly what magnet and where did you place it? I might try fiddling around with this.
This wasn't exactly what I brought (can't find it now) but it was something like this: http://www.magnets.co.nz/shop/Magnets/Neodymium+Magnets/Blocks/12.5mm+x+12.5mm+x+12.5mm+Neodymium+Cube.html

I put it on the quick release lever of the rear wheel since that was a nice chunk of metal for the magnet to 'hold' on to. From the other comments above it sounds as if different cities use different set ups for their traffic detection systems so YMMV.

m8547

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Re: Something cycling Mustachians would get behind
« Reply #14 on: October 30, 2014, 10:07:38 PM »
Some places have a bike painted on the ground to show you where to put your bike. It's usually on the middle line, if there are three lines of wire in the ground.

You can test out various triggering devices at parking lot exit gates, but they might not have the same sensitivity as traffic lights.

There's one light here that takes several minutes to change if cars are waiting, and I think the crosswalk button is broken (or given absurdly low priority). The walk light for the cross road will count down, then it will go back to a white walk guy! Traffic on the cross road is almost always light, so I just run it if no one is around. Most days I go out of my way to avoid it, though.

Nudelkopf

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Re: Something cycling Mustachians would get behind
« Reply #15 on: November 01, 2014, 04:12:18 AM »
I've never had a light not recognise me, so long as I ride over the cuts in the road.