Any conversions or experience in riding bicycle on rails?
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Seems like it would be fun. Lots of videos online on the subject.
One of the many problems I see is that rails that are in reasonable condition are in use so there is a high chance of encountering someone or something that isn't expecting you or wanting you to be there. Risk vs reward doesn't seem worth the risk. If you go with 'abandoned' routes you still have plenty of legal and safety issues plus from the videos I have seen looks like a pain in the butt and no fun because they tend to be overgrown at the least and maybe also have missing or severely damaged sections. Maybe desert would have chances of a good combo of abandon and still kinda usable condition? And less people that may not like the idea? But then you got to be up to the task of being on your own in the desert which is its own thing. -
Riding on single rails requires almost perfect balance. Adding about 4-6 inches to a tip-over or fall.
Sound dangerous. ..Or do you mean strapping your bike on a train or subway riding rails between stations .
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I just saw on TV that they plan to convert abandoned rail tracks into bike paths with some kind of grant from the government. Too bad they didn't opt to make more bike lanes on the roads. Something that would make eBike really useful. Rail lines around here don't go anywhere useful. And gangs been hanging out on bike paths and harassing people. Crack thieves make a hit and then cut thru to the bike paths for their getaway.Comment
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Painted bike lanes on the road are one of the places I avoid riding if at all possible. When I see one I look at the curb and see how much tire action has been going on there.Usually you can move one block over from the main street and ride in peace. I like dedicated bike stuff. But my city zoning dept. keeps rezoning the multi use trails the county puts in. Law enforcement seems to not want to be bothered policng those areas, and if they did Ebikes would probably be on their hit list. One nice thing about the rail trails is trains can't climb steep grades, so they don't exist there. -
Well Im just thinking what its going to take to get people here to want to use a bike instead of throwing them away. Only the heart of down town is visibly bike friendly and they still have bike rentals available. Scooters are used alot, but it would seem that the bakes are too or they would have been yanked by now. Cops are also resigned to be less agressive if theres bike lanes. Busses used to have bike racks on the front of the busses, but they took all those off. Just goes to show that there is not enough incentive to get a bike or eBike culture going in this city. And women should be very afraid of the current train bike paths.
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Yeah, I don't understand the OP's question
I've ridden rail right-of-ways but most of the time they suck, loose pointy rocks... there's some around here that are hard packed dirt so rideable and I have a favorite that takes me to a local distillery, but they are... well... yucky...
There are some interesting options in EU for taking bikes on the trains and riding from there which sounds really nice if you are staying somewhere you can chargeComment
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I suspect rail riding relating "conversions" are the tubing attachments that attach to the bike's frame, and both span over to the other rail and forward on the ridden rail:
Sometimes locked-together side by side bikes are used. I remember seeing a YouTube video of a very long track ride in South America a few years ago, and there are others.
Here's the video:
My guess is the rigs are all homebrew, though maybe there's a related Facehook group of aficionados.Last edited by ncmired; 01-11-2023, 07:04 AM.Comment
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Geez. I didnt know this was a thing. No wonder I see stuff like this from time to time. https://abc13.com/bicyclist-reported...crash/9405734/Comment
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I don't get close enough to them to see if its shinny. To them Im just a bug to go splat. I've seen faces of death pics of people hit by trains. And one guy around here used to go train hopping. An amature magician in the comedy club. Till he slipped and fell under the wheel while train was going slooow. It ran up his shoe, then his foot, then his ankle, then his shin, then his knee and finally let go after the wheel went up half of his thigh. His lady friend that was with him couldn't do squat. Him screaming bloody murder and all. She didn't know how to stop bleeding out in train land that's not near anything. Buy the time she came back with help, the guy was dead. He had an open casket funeral all dressed up like a magician. I never forget stuff like that. Its like life lessons. What not to do in life. -
I have a list.
Train vs fuel tanker truck is probably the worst. Truck stopped before crossing the tracks as required by law. Got cut off by merging motorists part way across. Truck driver didn't have the balls to push them out of the way. I don't recall how many burned to death in that one.
Pedestrian stuck between 2 tracks, both with trains on them. Didn't end well.
Woman is walking across a rail road draw bridge over the river. Guess what, when the train is gone they put the bridge back up.
Guy on MC goes over the guardrail on a 3 level overpass. Lands on the rail road tracks 100' below and gets hit by train. The overpass is that high because it crosses the river and sail boats pass below it.
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Here's a California rail riding company: https://www.skunktrain.com/railbikes/
"Railbiking" seems to be a good search word.
"Rails to Trails" is the phrase I usually see associated with repurposed and converted abandoned or surrendered rail right of ways.Last edited by ncmired; 01-12-2023, 05:27 AM.Comment
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I thought rails to trails was a thing everywhere, its been a big thing in my region for years. I think there are a few near me in WI that date back to the 1950's. For my region the 80's seem to be when a lot of lines were abandoned so we have quite a few rail trails now. I don't think many are fully paved, they all seem to have sections that are usually something like crushed limestone. I don't think 19c 110psi road tires would be ideal for the limestone sections or the paved sections in some cases. Some cases the limestone is a lot smoother than 30+ year old pavement.
In the 80's I rode a bunch of them on my '10 speed' which had 27x1 1/4 smooth tires. Recently I have done a few on my street E bike. They tend to be pretty flat which is nice and on an E bike you can basically consider them flat because you don't feel a couple percent grade at all. I remember one we used to ride that was about 30 miles was something like a 1.5% grade almost the whole way. You can't see that but you can sure feel it pedaling. Once we figured that out we made sure to either ride it down hill or do the up hill first.Comment
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SoFla only has 2 rail lines and they're both still busy. Central FL has some though.2% grade is a big deal to a freight train with steel wheels on wet or frozen rails.Once they get rolling they really don't like to stop. -
The main reason I'm building my train bike is to ride the 300 mile-ish GAP Trail & C&O Canal, which is roughly half & half rails to trails and converted canal towpath. I'll Amtrak from home to D.C., from there Amtrak over to Pittsburgh, ride the bike back to D.C., then Amtrak ride home. Since the bike path is never too far from the D.C./Pittsburgh Amtrak line, in case of a catastrophic issue I'll uber over to the nearest rail station.
If this trip turns out enjoyable, I'll look at the other bike trails reachable via Amtrak - but only ones with overnight B&B or hotel accommodations, as my old bones like a hot morning shower.Last edited by ncmired; 01-11-2023, 10:25 AM.
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I rode that Skunk Railroad when they ran a steam train on it!
I do think a fair bit of riding a bike on the rail. That posted link showed how to do it. A rail route would be the best bike route ever, except for the damned trains.Comment
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If I were to engage in riding on rails I think some sort of recumbent bike setup and a throttle lock would be the way to do it since it's not really very interactive riding... that and a really big battery - enough for the TV, reading light at night and beer cooler?Comment
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The overall concept seems sort of boring. Mentioned above 2% grade is huge for a train and wide sweeping curves, so no real hills, twists, turns, jumps, or anything else that might be considered 'fun', etc. Around here, we have some "rails to trails" where they took out the rail and saved the path - they are definitely some of the more boring rides....long, straight, hardly any turns, spend 15-20 minutes grinding up a 'hill' then the downside is so shallow, you can hardly coast.
If it happens to be a 'live' / in use rail, then you're risking death in getting run over by a 70mph freight train or 90+mph amtrack, or arrested if the normal or railroad police see you.Comment
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I think rail scooters would be cool. Those powered skateboards with handlebars. Just pop the tires off and away you go. -
Yep, could be very boring - the "where" and surrounding scenery would make all of the difference. A nearby (not converted rails to trails) bike & walking trail follows a river, snaking along the river and then though wooded areas, as the terrain required - makes all the difference - versus an open, say in the midwest straight with no trees or shade flattish slog.
I'm hoping for the best on the GAP Trail & C&O Canal trek. I have looked at pictures, videos, and google earthed a fair amount of it.Last edited by ncmired; 01-13-2023, 10:15 AM.
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Rails is rails.
It's retro, and it's got rockitsLast edited by Retrorockit; 01-13-2023, 11:21 AM.
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