Bike handling for cycling commuters' road safety

Abstract

Cycling is a healthy and sustainable activity. However balance and bike handling skills are of crucial importance to avoid falling off the bike, crashing into obstacles and to prevent injuries. With the increase in cycling popularity this aspect becomes extremely important. However there is no objective system available to assess handling skills. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to develop a test battery that will enable assessing the level of bike handling skills. We tested 14 novice and 14 expert cyclists under laboratory conditions while riding a bike in a straight line. The results showed that based on the lateral deviation of the bike and the amplitude of steering we can determine the level of one’s bike handling skills. All monitored parameters were also found to be very reliable. Therefore we now have a simple and reliable tool to measure the level of expertise in bike handling. This has high practical value as we can use this protocol for assessing the effectiveness of different interventions to improve bike handling in children and commuters, but also to adapt the bikes to the cyclists’ skill level, and consequentially improve cycling road safety.