StametsFuck Cars
MultiplexerOut of curiosity:
What’s that “note” a bike doesn’t need?
Endymion_MallornLeases are often referred to as car notes in slang.
“Probably one of the most fuel efficient vehicles in existence” is one of the dumbest takes I’ve ever seen. The human body is a ridiculously inefficient machine.
sort of the human body is pretty inefficient but a 20 mile bicycle ride can burn around 1000 calories while a gallon of fuel contains 31,000 calories.
berkscountynature.org/calories_in_gallon.html
I am not a chemical engineer so I am not sure how equivalent these two measurements are… I mean for starters I can eat 1000 calories… but I think if I tried to get 1000 calories by consuming gasoline; I would die.
AniviaKeep in mind how much CO2 gets emitted for the food you eat during it’s production. Being vegan helps.
Of course it’s still much between than driving a car, but an ebike would be even better. Even if you charged it with electricity from a coal power plant the CO2 emissions would be way lower
being vegan would help if it effected production
a 20 mile bicycle ride can burn around 1000 calories
That really would be efficient!
But I guess you actually meant to say kilo calories ;-)
This odd shortening of kilocalories to calories drives me mad every time. Like, we just ignore three orders of magnitude, adding massive confusion?
It's less disability-friendly than a car, can't carry cargo, and can't transport passengers. You try to have a suburban family with just bicycles - especially if one of the kids has balance issues from early childhood onward. It's not possible. The automobile is viewed as the ultimate symbol of freedom because it can serve multiple roles and has a massive variability in speed.
Yeah, honestly the “just get a bike” rhetoric is general pretty ablist.
VeganCheesecakeIf everyone except for those with disabilities switched to public transport, bikes, it’d be a massive improvement.
I don’t think anyone wants to outlaw motor transport, especially for those without other options.
CatoblepasE-bikes are great for people with disabilities who can balance and the elderly. I see old people zipping along on e-bikes a lot here in LA. For everyone else, public transit or para transit is often a better option than a car. A car that can accommodate a wheelchair or disabled driver is usually expensive.
The main reason wheelchair-accessible vehicles (usually a minivan) are so expensive is because no major manufacturers construct them in the factory. So you’re paying for the original vehicle, plus a third party to remove the middle seats (what happens to them, I’d like to know!) cut the sides and lower the floor, adding sections to the doors and rerouting the wiring, install a ramp and “kneeling” capabilities, plus tiedowns and in some cases special controls for driving. Also the driver’s and front passenger seats are set into removable raised platforms. The automatic doors have become standard but used to also be part of the conversion. If the body were constructed with these differences from the start, perhaps in a dedicated factory, the savings would be considerable.
The savings are even greater if you take public transit, which is much roomier than any van and has no associated fuel/repair costs that you’re responsible for. It sucks everywhere doesn’t have such options.
pelespiritNot everywhere has public transit. Also, the people with families can’t spend 2 hours each way getting to work. I’m for bikes and public transit, it’s just not the answer to everything. You’re comments are being naive about this.
Thanks for emphasizing the last part of my comment: it sucks everywhere doesn’t have such options. Good public transit isn’t going to take 2 hours each way, and it sucks transit isn’t decent everywhere.
Seattle’s transit is getting better, but it’s still a long haul. If you live in a suburb and your work is in Seattle, but not close to the transit, you’re in for a slog.
“you try to have a suburban family with just bicycles”
Almost like those suburbs were designed around cars at the exclusion of all other transport
Almost like those suburbs were designed around cars at the exclusion of all other transport
Absolutely true, but it’s still where we are.
With this mentality that’s also where you’ll be in 20 years.
Change starts small.
FenderStratocasterGet your lazy ass on a bike, ya bum!
If I even look sideways at it, I end up with at least broken nose, probably broken knees.
WahotsNonsense, you can absolutely have standard cargo bikes like this:
Or cargo bikes with gunner seats mounted in them
And there are recumbent and adaptive ebikes and normal bikes too, for people with disabilities or balance issues. Heck, you can even attach trailers to virtually any standard bike, and many different trailer options exist, from pet carriers to cargo, to food service to fully adult men.
Bikes shouldn’t be going above 28mph anyways. We have high speed rail if someone wants to do 150mph through a city.
Cars are definitely the present, but they absolutely don’t need to be the future.
Try having a disability that prevents you from driving and you may see just how shit car dependency is.
My unfortunate blend of disabilities means that I can neither drive nor bike. I'm at my best in places with good taxis/rideshares supported by buses. Trains, light rail, and the like are nice ideas, but I have to take a cab or a bus from the station anyway, so I might as well go door-to-door in the cab. So I do want car dependence, because as we become less car dependent, we lose mobility.
You should visit one of the university cities in the Netherlands, and then tell me if you're still fine with cities designed around bike traffic.
I have, I am?
I can’t believe more people have figured this out yet. The simple answer is: money. The REAL answer is that money itself is the dominant life form on our planet. Humans are powerless against anything that allows money to congregate and reproduce. Billionaires are quite literally the reproductive organs of the money demon that rules us. Politicians are the brain. We (the tax paying citizens) are the food.
So why do we drive cars instead of riding bikes? Money wills it so.
Sure, that’s why.
Let me hop on my bike for the 12-mile round trip to the nearest grocery store. No idea how I’m getting anything home though.
It’s a quick trip out to our camp in the swamp, only 52-miles out and back, 3 miles of which are impassable on a bike. I’ll just carry it over my head.
Then I’ll make the quick 625-mile round trip to pick up my kids 4 times a year. Hope they got their own bikes!
“But if we all lived packed in like rats in arcologies, we wouldn’t need cars!”
Plus, as we’ve seen, it is much easier to escape the secret police on a bike
Unless the secret police have bikes as well!
Evkob (they/them)I’ve seen a couple cops (RCMP) on bikes in my city. They definitely didn’t seem to be really comfortable on the bikes. Would definitely be easier to lose them in a bike chase than a car chase.
I haven’t seen RCMP on bikes, but the locals on bikes have a season and only seem to be around large events. I’m not sure their skill level but, I’m pretty sure they aren’t ready to chase a cyclist.
Inexpensive? In THIS economy?
We can’t sell a bike for any price around here. People just leave them out for whoever wants them.
Okay… fine argument.
But… inexpensive?
Really?
My wife and I find bikes for free all the time, especially kid’s bikes. People just leave them by their trash cans for pickup. Can’t even sell them they’re so common. Guy at the flea market gave her a nice purple adult bike last Saturday.
Same bikes from Walmart? Oh hell no.
I wish I could still ride a bike. I walk for most of my errands and just enjoying the local nature trails, but bike seats are agony after both a bike accident 40 years ago (thrown 10 feet after an RV sideswiped me) and catastrophic car accident 11 years ago. Both made my existing lower back issues far more urgent and exceptionally painful before getting on a bike.
IllecorsI’ve heard full suspension bikes enable some people who have back pain. Might be worth giving it a shot, depending on your pain levels.
TrackinDaKrakenSnow and rain, but mostly snow.
Hills. I’m 60, and not getting younger, my knees are going.
Some people just can’t. But, when I could, I did.
Have you thought about getting an ebike instead? My old folks got a pair and it completely changed the game for them
You don’t even have to be old. Ebikes are car replacements and can tow children, groceries, and furniture with ease. They flatten hills, get you to work on time and without sweat, and significantly extend the realistic travel radius around your home/work/last transit stop. Expect to pay pennies to recharge it, rather than two or three figures for a full tank of gas.
Any fitness benefits you get are just a cherry on top. Ebikes just make it so much easier to skip the car trips in your village or city.
“tow furniture with ease” is complete bullshit lmao
Have you seen the new electric motors coming out? 120 nm of torque is a lot.
My ebike has 80nm of torque, and that’s enough to hit 21% grade hills at 9mph. On flats, that’s enough to lift 235 lbs and do a wheelie, haha.
It doesn’t necessarily mean fast, but it does mean it can haul gear.
tow a couch with a bike and tell me its easy, e bike or no
also i have a couple decent e bikes and theyre sick but i straight up would never move furniture with them lol
Depends a bit on the furniture, a couch wouldn’t even fit in my car. But a futon or some leather barstools? Absolutely.
Also family and groceries.
I wouldn’t ask my 9YO on a bike at 7:30 am on winter to go to school everyday. Also no family trips. The place we go to the most is on the other side of mountains 3 hours away by car.
Groceries would have to be more regular. I currently fill the car and go like once a month or month and a half
You’re aware that families in europe go on family trips by taking the train across the mountains?
That’s part of the problem, you americans don’t like to think far beyond your horizon (cars). Or maybe you just can’t imagine what a city would look like that is built for pedestrians and public transportation.
I’m from Latin america. There is a single train that goes through my city and has only a few stops. I’d love to take the train. It just doesn’t take me where I need to go. Heck I’ve been looking for an excuse to take one for months
Ah sorry, maybe my restriction to the US of A was wrong, I apologize for expluding central/south america that seems to have the same problem.
So for people criticising with rain, wind, snow, and groceries - none of these are nearly the issues you think they are, and there are a wide variety of bike configurations and gear that address these challenges.
The real issue is having to share the road with cars. I’ve just had too many close calls, and the growth of self-driving vehicles makes me more nervous to be on the road than ever.
Because of cars I hate being on the road whether in a car or on a bike, and every car that passes by automatically makes me tense up these days. I hope a new Carrington event makes all of them useless.
Bitch it’s negative 40 I’m not taking a bike. I’m not walking. That’s insane.
Negative 40 (yay, I don’t have to clarify whether it’s Celsius or Fahrenheit!) is navigable. Take proper clothing!
Source: living and walking in a northern city
SpaceCowboyIt’s one of those things where people imagine they’re going to go on a big road trip… someday. Some may have done this when they were younger and imagine they’ll do it again because they aren’t too old for that yet.
But the reality is having to plan to go places in specific routes at specific times to avoid traffic, sitting bumper to bumper in gridlock cursing out all of the idiot drivers all around you, while constantly being stressed one of the most expensive things you own might get damaged. Then voting for someone to fix the problem of all of the other idiots on the road because you’re the only one that isn’t an idiot… but you definitely are one of the idiot drivers.
But maybe this weekend you’ll take a road trip and enjoy the freedom. Well not this weekend, you’re too exhausted from commuting 15 hours this week to be able to get up before sunrise to beat the cottage country traffic. But next weekend you’ll enjoy that freedom for sure!
Bikes are good for short distances of say 5-20km. Try to bike 500km in 5 hours? Or haul a couch on a bike? Yeah, much freedom.
grrgyleThis is why it’s nice to split a car and hitch with friends and neighbours (and other lending library stuffs while you’re at it). Just like the lawn mower you might share, no one (well no one with access to quarter-decent infra) needs a car every day, but it’s handy to have access for hauling big stuff.
It’s the symbol of freedom because kids in north America are locked up until they start to drive. Since you can’t walk or cycle without risking your life, parents have to drive their kids everywhere until they are old enough to drive. This then is perceived as liberation.
Of course car centric infrastructure is the reason you need to be driven in order to be safe. It’s the product of decade long lobbying by the car industry.
Plus a car takes a bullet much better than a bike
Well I guess that’s another problem Europeans don’t have, but we’re not here to take your guns away!
Bikes are cool and all, but no AC. And no good for a 40 mile highway commute. I also enjoy comfy seats and being able to easily and comfortably transport multiple people with a nice sound system etc…