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Bikes are nice, but the bike lovers keep writing pieces like this. Don't get me wrong. I like them, but I think we should balance our love with these points: *

Bikes are nice, but the bike lovers keep writing pieces like this. Don't get me wrong. I like them, but I think we should balance our love with these points: * Only fit people can use the human powered ones for more than a short distance. If you've got cardio issues, a bad knee or worse, it's not for you. * eBikes help but even they're not powerful enough for many situations. If you take someone moderately obese and put a hill in the way, the bike is in trouble. 40%++ of America is obese. * Many jobs require commuting in the dark during the winter. Bikes are much less safe in the dark, even if there are no cars around. * You can't carry very much on a bike at all. Oh yeah, a few have clever trailers but even they can't carry much. * It's not so easy to carry a toddler. Sure, you can carry a baby -- if you can find a baby helmet that fits. But a toddler is too big to share a bike but too small to ride a separate one. * Bikes are dangerous, even without cars around. Bikes toss people over the handlebars all of the time. The tires lose traction and people crash. Cars make things worse, but getting rid of cars won't make bikes safe. * Rain, snow and ice are danger multipliers. Take all of the danger of a sunny day and multiple by a large fraction. * Many people live too far away to bike to work. My job is a 60-80 minute ride each way. Driving takes 25 minutes. Guess which one I choose? * Bikes are unfair to the poor. Poor people live further away. That's how real estate works. If the rich people don't have time to ride, the poor are going to be riding even longer. The bike riders can dream. They can claim it's a future. But none of my objections will change in the near term. They can keep putting out propaganda. But the Americans are not buying for good and practical reasons.

KozmoNau7 7y ago
I would like to re-balance out your balancing: If you ride a bike every day, you probably won't be obese for long. Decent e-bikes do fine even with obese people, the motor is not the primary motor, it is only meant to assist your pedaling. Powerful LED-based lights for bikes exist, and will absolutely both make you visible to anyone, and let you see any potholes etc. You can carry plenty on a bike. For instance there are panniers and pannier bags front and back, bike trailers, backpacks made specifically for biking. Go further and you have cargo bikes, both trikes, reverse trikes and bakfiets/Long Johns. Beyond that, there are specialized moving "van" e-bikes, which I've seen used in the Netherlands. Toddlers can ride trailer bikes, which attach to your own bike, and lets them pedal and help out, preparing them to ride their own bikes. Bikes don't toss people over the handlebars "all the time", only when people have absolutely no feeling with the front brake and just jam it on as hard as they can. Learning a bit of basic motor skill completely prevents it from happening. In 30+ years of cycling, I have never lost traction once. It's basically impossible to force the rear wheel to slip unless you jam the brake for a sweet powerslide. For the front wheel, just steer around any gravel or other loose material in corners, it's a very basic bike-riding skill. Distance is a factor, that is a tradeoff you make for a less expensive house, but also a significantly longer commute. This is where bikes work great in tandem with public transit. You ride the bike to the station and bring it with you and ride the proverbial last mile. It does take a little bit of effort to optimize for better cycling conditions, but the payoff is absolutely worth it. And it won't be a perfect solution for 100% of people, because it doesn't have to be. As long as we get a significant percentage of people to bike, that's a victory! The bicycle is one of the greatest mobility-increasing inventions of human history. It put entire populations on wheels, let them transport their produce much easier and much farther than simply carrying it. They're inexpensive, simple to repair and DIY. Millions of Americans in cities like NYC, LA, SF, Seattle love their bikes. The reason they are not more popular is due to the overall infrastructure in the US being hardcore focused almost entirely on cars and cars only.
- lgunsch 7y ago
  In places with colder climates, icy roads/sidewalks can easily cause traction loss. Where I am, Edmonton, Alberta, -20°C is common for months of the year. This is combined with icy roads, and deep snow in the side streets.
  - KozmoNau7 7y ago
    Mountain bikes with knobby and even studded tires exist, and a great thing about bikes is that they're relatively inexpensive and don't take up a ton of space. I know many people have beater cars for winter, so have a beater bike instead.

KozmoNau7 7y ago

I would like to re-balance out your balancing: If you ride a bike every day, you probably won't be obese for long. Decent e-bikes do fine even with obese people, the motor is not the primary motor, it is only meant to assist your pedaling. Powerful LED-based lights for bikes exist, and will absolutely both make you visible to anyone, and let you see any potholes etc. You can carry plenty on a bike. For instance there are panniers and pannier bags front and back, bike trailers, backpacks made specifically for biking. Go further and you have cargo bikes, both trikes, reverse trikes and bakfiets/Long Johns. Beyond that, there are specialized moving "van" e-bikes, which I've seen used in the Netherlands. Toddlers can ride trailer bikes, which attach to your own bike, and lets them pedal and help out, preparing them to ride their own bikes. Bikes don't toss people over the handlebars "all the time", only when people have absolutely no feeling with the front brake and just jam it on as hard as they can. Learning a bit of basic motor skill completely prevents it from happening. In 30+ years of cycling, I have never lost traction once. It's basically impossible to force the rear wheel to slip unless you jam the brake for a sweet powerslide. For the front wheel, just steer around any gravel or other loose material in corners, it's a very basic bike-riding skill. Distance is a factor, that is a tradeoff you make for a less expensive house, but also a significantly longer commute. This is where bikes work great in tandem with public transit. You ride the bike to the station and bring it with you and ride the proverbial last mile. It does take a little bit of effort to optimize for better cycling conditions, but the payoff is absolutely worth it. And it won't be a perfect solution for 100% of people, because it doesn't have to be. As long as we get a significant percentage of people to bike, that's a victory! The bicycle is one of the greatest mobility-increasing inventions of human history. It put entire populations on wheels, let them transport their produce much easier and much farther than simply carrying it. They're inexpensive, simple to repair and DIY. Millions of Americans in cities like NYC, LA, SF, Seattle love their bikes. The reason they are not more popular is due to the overall infrastructure in the US being hardcore focused almost entirely on cars and cars only.

lgunsch 7y ago
In places with colder climates, icy roads/sidewalks can easily cause traction loss. Where I am, Edmonton, Alberta, -20°C is common for months of the year. This is combined with icy roads, and deep snow in the side streets.
- KozmoNau7 7y ago
  Mountain bikes with knobby and even studded tires exist, and a great thing about bikes is that they're relatively inexpensive and don't take up a ton of space. I know many people have beater cars for winter, so have a beater bike instead.