Cycling tips in HK

[ycchai]

i have a storage box lined up near my apartment to store the bike in, and may have found a sports club with a swimming pool near my work place, where I’ll hopefully be able to lock up my bike...

Get a cheap rack like this from taobao, it beats having the bike stored in storage and a pain to go pick it up
https://img.alicdn.com/imgextra/i3/1...1884894921.jpg

I only ride in early morning or late at night when there is little traffic. You can see quite a few cyclist who does that on the western side during those hours. Even at those time you need to be very careful with minibuses taxi etc. Commuting to work is not practical due to various issue, parking, sweaty etc but I do it when I go to the office on the weekend or late at night. Beats taking bus or MTR

[Bob Loblaw]

To the OP:

Speaking as someone who lives in the NT, and who rides some here (bike share bikes) but spends a lot of time running; and as someone who back in the US enjoyed road riding quite a bit, some thoughts:

-Biggest issue for road riding in Hong Kong is just that there isn't that much Hong Kong. It's small. If you want to go out and ride 80km or so it's hard not to do it w/a lot of repeating roads, out-and-backs, etc. (Also why I don't understand people buying ferraris and the like here).

-Yes, the NT has a lot of bike paths. You can ride fast on them when they're not busy. When they are, fughedaboutit.

-Bike storage is a thing. Your bike can live someplace other than where you live, if you don't want it crowding up your apartment and you don't want to ride around you own neighborhood anyway. In related news, sometimes you'll see people on the train who are wearing bike kits and helmets but don't have a bike with them.

-My understanding is that there is good mountain biking on Lantau. I haven't seen it but I do remember reading about it.

-For NT mountain biking, it doesn't look good - from what I see. There are tons of trails but many have lots and lots of steps and are super steep. Also, someone in charge of "mountain biking" in Hong Kong seems to not know what mountain biking is. There are routes labeled as mountain biking trails but they're paved and wide enough for a car. Not saying better NT mountain bikign doesn't exist but I've seen very little, and I've been on a lot of NT trails.

-Air pollution aside (and it's an issue), HK is a great place to be an endurance athlete, if you're willing to adjust your events and training to the conditions here. Just, don't expect to be able to replicate what you're doing in London. (not that I'm some big London expert, I should note).

best of luck!

[civil_servant]

that's... kind of a weird thing to say.

Absolutely, a strange way of minimizing a huge problem. That's the kind of brainwashing expected from government officials trying to make people believe they are doing a good job when in fact they should've built proper bicycle infrastructure. @Golem must be a Trump supporter.

[Flat Hunter]

Check out here Rapha cycling https://www.facebook.com/search/top/...fans%2Fchapter

[rani]

I've noticed some trails on HK island have No Cycling signs. Haven't seen a cyclist on the Pokfulam trials but a friend's dog got spooked by a cyclist near Mid-Levels -Pik Shan Path. Dog ran for its life and was lost for 3 days.

[JAherbert]

for three months it is not worth it. lock your bike outside and I reckon it will be nicked and on a boat to China the same day. when you arrive you'll find HK is not bike friendly, generally, you cant take your bike inside buildings or that sports club you mentioned, so needs to be locked up outside. On the road a double decker bus occupies about 99% of the lane leaving nothing for cyclists, try to claim the whole lane is unpopular with impatient car drivers. Pick up secondhand bike and indoor trainer use it for three months and sell it when you leave.

[MandM!]

for three months it is not worth it. lock your bike outside and I reckon it will be nicked and on a boat to China the same day. when you arrive you'll find HK is not bike friendly, generally, you cant take your bike inside buildings or that sports club you mentioned, so needs to be locked up outside. On the road a double decker bus occupies about 99% of the lane leaving nothing for cyclists, try to claim the whole lane is unpopular with impatient car drivers. Pick up secondhand bike and indoor trainer use it for three months and sell it when you leave.

Often times a double decker bus occupies 125% of the lane. Lol.

As a car driving in south side, there isn't any room for a car + bus, much less the cyclists that ride on the road. I'm quite adventure seeking and somewhat fearless but geez these people push the test. It's very easy for a driver to get focused on an oncoming bus or looking at their GPS as the roads are super tricky then a biker magically appears? Smash or ran you off the road. I've had close calls myself, there's no space for a car to go to let you have any room. Slow down traffic and people go psycho. An 18 year old in their daddy's Ferrari might pass you and crash or a drunk driver. You never know. Buses often mount the sidewalks taking out a dozen people (happened few times last year). I am cautious waiting at street lights when on foot.

Need to be a bit more understanding that HK is different than UK. You'll quickly learn or make the news...

[JAherbert]

Need to be a bit more understanding that HK is different than UK. You'll quickly learn or make the news...

agree 100%, there was a hong kong cyclist that died in a crash with minibus during a road race, the road was not even closed for the race
Cyclist dies in minibus collision during race | South China Morning Post

[Golem]

On average, between 15-20 cyclist die on the roads in London. It's not hard to find headlines of cyclists killed in any city. In 2014, in HK there were 7 fatalities. There is an inherent risk to cycling and even more so in urban area. Some people that clearly don't cycle much here because they are afraid are projecting their fear making it sound way worse than it actually is. A great many of of us spend hundreds of hours on the road yearly and are alive and well. Spend some time in a cycling discussion group and you'll get a very different perspective.

[UK/HKboy]

On average, between 15-20 cyclist die on the roads in London. It's not hard to find headlines of cyclists killed in any city. In 2014, in HK there were 7 fatalities. There is an inherent risk to cycling and even more so in urban area. Some people that clearly don't cycle much here because they are afraid are projecting their fear making it sound way worse than it actually is. A great many of of us spend hundreds of hours on the road yearly and are alive and well. Spend some time in a cycling discussion group and you'll get a very different perspective.

The lower numbers of fatalities may be due to lower numbers of cyclists on the roads though. If there is a percentage of cyclists then maybe that would be more telling of how dangerous it is.

I do agree with MandM that driving is more difficult in Hong Kong, even compared to London city centre. It requires much greater awareness and attention due to the proximity of everything, the numbers of cars and buses and the pedestrians who don't always follow road rules. This increases the likelihood they cannot react fast enough to situations and cyclists will suffer more in collisions.