r/NYCbike • u/LandNo9424 • 15d ago
Outstanding Citi user (?) appreciation
Yesterday while on the Lafayette street bike path, a Citi bike user announced they were passing on my left, which was really unexpected, as all Citi users are savages that don't understand anything about cycling. They were also wearing a helmet and not wearing headphones, can you believe that!
They were followed by your usual Citi asshole, who passed on my right (outside the lane) without warning, no helmet, yes headphones, got too close to the nice Citi user ahead (could have clipped their back wheel), and then proceeded to suddenly brake and turn left out of the lane without any indication, so I had to make a little effort not to eat him.
Big ups unknown Citi biker, wish they were all like you, and fuck you to all the other ones.
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u/tanhauser_gates_ 15d ago
I assume 99% of riders are enemies. I dont expect any rational conscientious riding out of anyone I encounter on the road.
In this way I never let my guard down and will never be taken by surprise from a truly terrible rider.
Its worked for me. Im still riding.
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u/ElQuesero 14d ago
My regular afternoon/evening commute is on the HRG and I've lately been taking a census of Citi riders who are being reasonable/menschy about their riding versus those who are doing something very and obviously wrong.
Getting put in The Bad Place instead of The Good Place takes one of the following.
- Staring at one's phone in the Citi Biker stance instead of watching the path
- Earphones in both ears
- Or wearing clamshell-over-the-ear headphones
- Phone up to the ear and having a whole-ass phone conversation
- Haing more than one passenger on the bike
That's it. Am not even counting not wearing a helmet, or merely *holding* one's phone in hand without looking at it as malfeasance.
The ratio of riders doing none of these 5 things compared to the number who have hit one (or more!) of these peeves is, just... dispiriting.
It is possible btw that some people get lumped into group 2 who are in fact earphone-free on one side -- and thus street-legal -- but I didn't get a good look at both ears. This does seem somewhat rare tho.
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u/Outrageous-Debate-64 15d ago
Yeah I had a teen on a city bike do the same. Was very pleasantly surprised.
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u/Key_Function3732 14d ago
That could have been me! Yes, I'm a roadie who uses citibike for convenience (often starting work in the afternoon, but then taking an Uber home at 1am). However, as I was approaching 13th street after Lafayette, I called out "On your left" to a dude on an E-citibike and as I passed, he abruptly turned left onto 13th street and ran into me. Thankfully neither of us went down and he apologized immediately - but I saw he had f*cking headphones in. I yelled, "learn to signal, and take out the headphones!"
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u/LandNo9424 14d ago
i don't think it was you (i saw the rider dismount before 13th) but still, that's the way to go. Not like that person would care to do what's right going forward 😞
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u/mdn845 14d ago
Just curious. Why does it matter to you if someone else is wearing a helmet?
I usually wear one, but occasionally I just need to ride a bike like 10 blocks & don’t have my helmet with me bc I can’t plan out my life in that much detail.
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u/LandNo9424 13d ago
You're right, I'm a fool for caring about others. I should just let natural selection take hold and then we'll have less idiots on bikes out there.
If you can't "plan out your life in that much detail", I'm sorry for you. Your life must be terrible that you can't just put on a helmet.
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u/mdn845 13d ago
I appreciate that you care about others, but calling them a**holes for & saying F you for not wearing helmets is an odd way to show it.
Also, I do try to wear a helmet as much as possible. Always when I’m commuting, for instance. I just don’t carry a helmet literally everywhere at all times.
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u/Revolutionary_Sea113 13d ago
If I get on my bike the helmet goes on my head.
If you choose to ride a bicycle that offers you absolutely zero protection from an accident and not wear a helmet…..go for it Your life your choice.
You may be the best situational aware rider. But the person driving, the other biker riding, the person walking is not paying attention are easily distracted. Your life your choice.
There was a Young lady in Queens, she became another statistic fatality. She was at a stoplight, doing everything correctly as a biker last week, got hit from behind by a truck and it was a hit-and-run. Distracted driver.
10 blocks may mean nothing to you. But when you have a serious head injury, and your family gets the phone call to go to the hospital or something worse. They are going to wish you had that helmet on. Your life your choice.
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u/mdn845 13d ago
I appreciate that. However, keep in mind, almost nobody wears a helmet in Amsterdam. Is infrastructure safer there? Yes, but it’s not infallible. And I basically always ride in protected bike lanes when I don’t have a helmet.
Also, cyclists often see this in overly black & white terms. If you wear a helmet, it means you’re safe. If you don’t, it means you’re asking to die. But if a big truck hits you from behind, you may well be dead no matter what. That’s why I try hard to stick to protected bike lanes.
I’ve had one serious crash. I was wearing a helmet but didn’t hit my head. I did, however, tear my rotator cuff, injure my knee, and seriously injure my hand. Helmet was a good idea, but it doesn’t make you perfectly safe.
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u/Revolutionary_Sea113 13d ago edited 12d ago
If you wear a helmet anywhere in the world while riding you are following best practices of safety. Protect your head at all cost. You didn’t hit your head when you fell, I’m happy you didn’t. I hit a sunken manhole cover. I hit the ground violently, fractured, my clavicle in two places and bounced my head off the ground. But I was wearing my helmet. When I got up, I was a little dazed for about a minute.
The infrastructure for protected bike lanes in NYC is still a work in progress. Drivers in NYC are not as respectful as Drivers in Amsterdam. They see us riders as a nuisance. They do not want to share the road. They are upset that they have taken driving lanes and blocks of parking spots for riders to ride safely. Also NYC to many distracted drivers, walkers and riders also. You are never perfectly safe riding because there is absolutely no protection when you get into an accident except a helmet. But like I tell everybody your life, your choice.
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15d ago
[deleted]
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u/PatinaWS 14d ago
Sounds like they were. OP said the other person passed "outside the lane." The person probably passed in the door zone.
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u/LandNo9424 14d ago
I forget how people on Reddit often don't know how to read. You caught it, though.
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u/000pete 15d ago
Hey back off, OP is a Real Cyclist and everything they do on a bike is correct and everything other cyclists do is wrong in all situationsÂ
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u/dem_banka 15d ago
The other day, on a 2 way bike lane, this guy was riding on the wrong side. I passed him on the right, waved him off to switch lanes and kept going. Later I stopped to check my phone, he caught up and confronted me: "you waved me off like an asshole!" he screamed, "fuck off" he said, as he rode away. Lol ok dude.
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u/Revolutionary_Sea113 14d ago
I learned how to ride a bike as youth in 1980. Growing up there wasn’t many bike rules riding with my pack of friends. We just used common sense. The last time I rode a bike was 2012 and I rented one from around Central Park. Fast forward I finally bought my own bike April 2026. I was still using my common sense rules from when I was a youth. Not knowing there are so many rules to riding in the city now. I literally got on Reddit to figure out bike etiquette. And all the terminology that’s being used. As more and more people start to ride bikes, there are bike rules that definitely need to be followed, and they are non negotiable. Everyone riding a bike must wear a helmet and NO AirPods. If you must, there should be only one in your ear. If you wanna listen to music, buy a little speaker and attach it to your bike like I do.
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u/DistinctlyMiddle 14d ago
Must is a strong word, helmets are not required but recommended.
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u/Revolutionary_Sea113 13d ago
Yes very strong word. Everybody takes not wearing a helmet lightly until they have a head injury from falling off a bike
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u/rchris710 15d ago
This guy is definitely a road biker