Anons argue in comments
Bikes are awesome. I would love to experience the joy of waking up in the morning and riding a bike to work. No traffic, healthy and all that good shit. I live, however, 40min away from my work by car and 3 hours by bike, one way. I dont see this changing in the foreseeable future so my idea of freedom has to be something different.
Cop pulls you over on a bicycle:
“Drivers License and registration please”
“I don’t need those, I’m not driving this bicycle, I’m travelling on it officer. Private conveyance. I don’t contract with DMV.”
“Right you are sir, have a nice day!”
Why haven’t the sovcits cottoned on to this loophole?!
Nothing feels more like freedom than being stuck in a traffic jam.
Frankly I find bikes stupid as a proposed method of transportation.
I would love to see cities designed around everything needed being in walking distance, with a supply of inexpensive rentable cars for the things that aren’t, like meeting friends that live elsewhere, so we can travel between walkable locations, but at no time do bikes seem a reasonable option.
They have so many inconveniences and problems attached, and don’t provide enough transportation utility to make up for it.
A car provides shelter, climate control, a comfortable and relaxing ride, and enough cargo space to transport most things we could need to transport on any sort of regular basis.
A bike meanwhile provides no shelter from the elements or outdoor temperature, an uncomfortable ride that digs into your ass, requires you to exert yourself significantly, and has between zero and very little cargo space; certainly not enough to do something like shopping for groceries.
Pushing for using bikes as primary transport is ridiculous; there’s a small number of people for which that would work, but for most it doesn’t and never will. For most people, things are either in walking distance, or you need a car, so it’d be a lot better to restructure our living spaces around walking.
Cars are the ultimate symbol of freedom because you just get in and go wherever to do whatever.
Pick nanna up? sure. Go buy her groceries? Sure. In the pouring rain? Ok. Pick up her dog from the vet? Yep. Drop by the garden store and grab 50kg of fertilizer? You bet.
You can do all of those things with out any planning or notice. You just get in and go wherever the day takes you.
I’m a bit bonkers about bikes. I have a cargo e-bike. It absolutely could do all of these things in separate trips. Doing all of them together would be a challenge but I am 100% here for that so long as nanna is. The main difference is planning. You need different gear, like a bike trailer for example. You’re also probably going to pick the right time of day, like early before it gets too hot or too windy, provided that it’s not raining.
With the average commute to work in the US being 16 mi one way, The average speed of riding a bicycle in the city being 15 mph, that makes the average commute to work just over an hour long (over 2x the 27 minutes it takes in a car). If you work in a job that requires you to be presentable, then you need to add another 15 minutes to take a quick shower and change (if your workplace even has such facilities).
Obviously, this changes with e-bikes, but there’s not really a practical difference between most modern e-bikes and an electric moped.
Where are you all buying bike that don’t hurt your wallet to replace? I guess there are Walmart bikes but I’ve literally had a huffy fall apart while in motion.
My city has extreme height changes on almost every road – you’d have to be a seriously beefy rider to commute with a bike
car go further faster, and car more useful when not in big city.
Anyone who has ridden in rain and adverse weather would know one reason cars are more popular.
Not probably, a human riding a bicycle is the most efficient way to convert energy into movement. No other vehicle or animal can be as efficient.
Green Mario’s most loyal companion
Make no problem with bikes in Florida, when you arrive you are so drenched in sweat you are no longer presentable and stink to high heaven.
Biking to work if you have an office job is out of the question.
Biking to my gym or KungFu school… Perfect.
Just need the right tool for the right job.
I’m disabled in a way that means I can’t use one, but can use a car, which kinda sucks.
Fortunately bike infrastructure usually helps me in my chair, so I’m all in favor of wider bike adoption.
I don’t know your limitations, but you’d be surprised at the number of ways cycling can be made accessible.
For example, there are handbikes that attach to a wheelchair. As with all assistive tech it depends on your specific situation what is possible.
I’ve frequently seen a couple of people with recumbent hand bikes on one of the popular trails near me. They’re decently fast with the reduced air resistance, but road crossings are a bit of a hassle when you aren’t tall enough to be seen by an f450
Mount a flag to it. Quad bikes often add them so you can see them behind obstacles.
That blows. Glad the infrastructure helps your chair get around, though. Also, every biker not using a car gives you more space, so that’s an additional plus
Welcome to the Netherlands. If there’s anything that fills me with pride it’s our cycling culture. Most people have a car too, but I don’t, and I do everything by bike and public transport.
I cycled from Bruges to Amsterdam this summer and honestly it was an amazing holiday. Few days with headwind made us wish we had eBikes but the infrastructure was amazing. We basically could cycle on bike roads for 90%+ of the distance and felt very safe doing so. We loved especially Zealand landscape, food and small roads passing through the fields.
I think few countries would have made the holiday so pleasuring and chill, and obviously we encountered just so many people going on with their daily life even between cities with their bikes (I am assuming 20+ km rides). I have noticed that with ebikes also elder people had complete freedom to use bikes as they wished.
I really hope the dutch model is followed by more cities or countries.
Denmark checking in. Not unusual for people in the city not to have a car. I’m happy with my bike that I use every workday to cycle into the city centrum in all weather - I love dressing myself up in rain boots, rain paints and rain jacket and be on my way in heavy rain or snow, feeling like I’m in an episode of Deadliest Catch
I dream of immigrating there.
