Comments on: Flashback Friday – Clever Cycling Stuff: Cycle Detectors

By: Jan Jakob

Jan Jakob — Mon, 03 Feb 2020 00:55:34 +0000

In reply to Criggie. Tinfoil is not magnetic (okay, technically it is, but if the magnetic field is that strong, you'll have other issues), so I doubt it would affect the inductor loop.

By: Criggie

Criggie — Sun, 02 Feb 2020 21:20:00 +0000

In reply to Dave.

Dave – one hack is to check if your shoes have enough metal to trip the detectors. SPD cleats are metal, and even road cleats bolts can be enough to help trip the sensor.
All you have to do is unclip and hang one foot just clear of the surface, while coasting over the detector lines.

I wonder if a piece of tinfoil in a flat shoe would be enough to achieve the same result ? Certainly workboots with steel caps, and/or shovel protection under the arch of your foot are enough to trip sensors (just in case you ride an all-carbon bike to the worksite :))

By: Robert

Robert — Fri, 31 Jan 2020 18:45:28 +0000

Although often grumbling to myself ‘the dodgy stuff would never happen in The Netherlands’ I guess they’ve had a bit more time to tweak things to provide consistency ad quality. Am grateful for what we do have now and look forward to more cycleway construction starting again this year.

By: Dave

Dave — Fri, 31 Jan 2020 10:56:57 +0000

They are still a bit unreliable on my carbon bike with carbon wheels. I realize this is very much a first-world problem though! With alloy wheels they are fine.

By: Luuk paulussen

Luuk paulussen — Thu, 30 Jan 2020 20:23:02 +0000

They’re great if they don’t turn off while you’re waiting for the light to change…

It seems like in a lot of places they have gone back to relying on the buttons. I’m not sure if this is because they didn’t light up reliably or because too many cyclists that cross the sensor aren’t actually crossing and they don’t want the light to change unnecessarily

By: JoeC

JoeC — Thu, 30 Jan 2020 18:57:34 +0000

These are great, I cross one every day on my way to work at the southern Deans Ave crossing; the red light definitely promotes patience. Although I have noticed that if I’m behind another cyclist who crosses but I don’t make it across the sensor waits until about 1 sec after the cycle light goes red until it will activate the crossing again. Usually this is fine as I will just press the pedestrian crossing button to trigger it again or otherwise wait a few moments for the video sensor to pick you up.