4 ms·

Just here to remind you all about bicycles.

mc3301 5mo ago
Climate and terrain allowing, bicycles reign supreme as a transport. Especially with all the new adaptive-, electric-, accessible- cycles out there, cars should be "rare but welcome strange guests" in many neighborhoods, downtowns, etc.
- Zambyte 5mo ago
  As you mentioned, electric bicycles flatten terrains (so do wide gear ranges), and jackets neutralize climate. There seriously isn't anywhere that is inappropriate to cycle. The only major limiting factor for people feeling comfortable biking everywhere is the threat of violence due to people driving cars.
  - bluGill 5mo ago
    Lightening is another limit. I'm going to drive to work today because there is a 20% chance of thunderstorm when I'm planning to going home, and that is too much risk.
  - jamwil 5mo ago
    Without studded tires it’s very difficult to ride a bike on snow or ice.
    - aziaziazi 5mo ago
      Have you ever tried on snow ? Many bikers roams winter Finland and Russia without studded tires. Avoiding the ice is a great advice indeed, with or without those tires.
      - jamwil 5mo ago
        Actually no I can’t recall the last time I tried to ride a bike in the snow. But I know inherently that snow itself would be alright, but snow is almost always accompanied by a layer of ice below, which simply can’t be fine. This is the case in Canada at least.
1970-01-01 5mo ago
Motorcycles broadcast an equal amount of data as bicycles.
- bluGill 5mo ago
  Are you sure? Motorcycles already have computers, it isn't a stretch to think they could broadcast data about you. Maybe they are a decade behind cars in doing this, but I doubt it is anything else. Bicycles don't have enough power to spare to broadcast data. (but my ebike could and I wouldn't notice the difference)
  - 1970-01-01 5mo ago
    Yes. Point out the modem. https://www.bike-parts-honda.com/honda-motorcycle/500-MOTO/REBEL/2022/CMX500AN/Frame/WIRE-HARNESS/104925/F_38/2/43416 https://www.bike-parts-honda.com/honda-motorcycle/500-MOTO/R...
    - bluGill 5mo ago
      You are confusing what currently is for what will be. Even if there is no modem today, what makes you think they won't do one in the future?
      - 1970-01-01 5mo ago
        You could argue this for any mobile product, including bicycles. There are already subsidized trackers for them. It isn't much of a distance to the future when someone is to just build them into the frame.
- allthetime 5mo ago
  License plate, drivers license, gas purchases.
  - 1970-01-01 5mo ago
    That isn't the car manufacturer being evil, that's your government.
randusername 5mo ago
Fun fact: e-bikes are more climate friendly than human-powered bikes. 5 grams CO2 equivalent emissions per mile e-bike, 40 grams per mile for human eating exclusively bananas. Much, much worse for other dietary choices. Embodied carbon emissions in the bike itself are essentially equivalent. The Carbon Footprint of Everything (2022)
- hawkice 5mo ago
  The carbon in food is not captured or emitted in any coherent sense here. The crops are grown (capturing the carbon in the first place) for the purpose of feeding people -- in the same way that modern American forestry for paper is functionally carbon neutral (ignoring transport and processing) because the trees are in equilibrium. The counterfactual of not eating the food results in fewer crops and basically the same atmospheric carbon dioxide. Edit: if you only mean food transportation carbon, it seems impossible bananas are literally optimal per calorie.
  - randusername 5mo ago
    From the end notes, I think the author's response would be that the carbon equivalent emissions come from the fossil fuel used in growing, fertilizing, harvesting, transporting, refrigerating, packaging, and so-on. The larger point of the book is that specific accounting is messy, but if we proceed anyway we can get to the rough orders of magnitude that are more useful.
    - hawkice 5mo ago
      Bananas are like transport and refrigerator maxing! It can't possibly be the literal optimum of that metric.
- allthetime 5mo ago
  Is this accounting for the production of batteries and electrical components? That asked, some things I do for myself, and self-propelling is great for my health and longevity.

Climate and terrain allowing, bicycles reign supreme as a transport. Especially with all the new adaptive-, electric-, accessible- cycles out there, cars should be "rare but welcome strange guests" in many neighborhoods, downtowns, etc.

Zambyte 5mo ago
As you mentioned, electric bicycles flatten terrains (so do wide gear ranges), and jackets neutralize climate. There seriously isn't anywhere that is inappropriate to cycle. The only major limiting factor for people feeling comfortable biking everywhere is the threat of violence due to people driving cars.
- bluGill 5mo ago
  Lightening is another limit. I'm going to drive to work today because there is a 20% chance of thunderstorm when I'm planning to going home, and that is too much risk.
- jamwil 5mo ago
  Without studded tires it’s very difficult to ride a bike on snow or ice.
  - aziaziazi 5mo ago
    Have you ever tried on snow ? Many bikers roams winter Finland and Russia without studded tires. Avoiding the ice is a great advice indeed, with or without those tires.
    - jamwil 5mo ago
      Actually no I can’t recall the last time I tried to ride a bike in the snow. But I know inherently that snow itself would be alright, but snow is almost always accompanied by a layer of ice below, which simply can’t be fine. This is the case in Canada at least.

1970-01-01 5mo ago

Motorcycles broadcast an equal amount of data as bicycles.

bluGill 5mo ago
Are you sure? Motorcycles already have computers, it isn't a stretch to think they could broadcast data about you. Maybe they are a decade behind cars in doing this, but I doubt it is anything else. Bicycles don't have enough power to spare to broadcast data. (but my ebike could and I wouldn't notice the difference)
- 1970-01-01 5mo ago
  Yes. Point out the modem. https://www.bike-parts-honda.com/honda-motorcycle/500-MOTO/REBEL/2022/CMX500AN/Frame/WIRE-HARNESS/104925/F_38/2/43416 https://www.bike-parts-honda.com/honda-motorcycle/500-MOTO/R...
  - bluGill 5mo ago
    You are confusing what currently is for what will be. Even if there is no modem today, what makes you think they won't do one in the future?
    - 1970-01-01 5mo ago
      You could argue this for any mobile product, including bicycles. There are already subsidized trackers for them. It isn't much of a distance to the future when someone is to just build them into the frame.
allthetime 5mo ago
License plate, drivers license, gas purchases.
- 1970-01-01 5mo ago
  That isn't the car manufacturer being evil, that's your government.

randusername 5mo ago

Fun fact: e-bikes are more climate friendly than human-powered bikes. 5 grams CO2 equivalent emissions per mile e-bike, 40 grams per mile for human eating exclusively bananas. Much, much worse for other dietary choices. Embodied carbon emissions in the bike itself are essentially equivalent. The Carbon Footprint of Everything (2022)

hawkice 5mo ago
The carbon in food is not captured or emitted in any coherent sense here. The crops are grown (capturing the carbon in the first place) for the purpose of feeding people -- in the same way that modern American forestry for paper is functionally carbon neutral (ignoring transport and processing) because the trees are in equilibrium. The counterfactual of not eating the food results in fewer crops and basically the same atmospheric carbon dioxide. Edit: if you only mean food transportation carbon, it seems impossible bananas are literally optimal per calorie.
- randusername 5mo ago
  From the end notes, I think the author's response would be that the carbon equivalent emissions come from the fossil fuel used in growing, fertilizing, harvesting, transporting, refrigerating, packaging, and so-on. The larger point of the book is that specific accounting is messy, but if we proceed anyway we can get to the rough orders of magnitude that are more useful.
  - hawkice 5mo ago
    Bananas are like transport and refrigerator maxing! It can't possibly be the literal optimum of that metric.
allthetime 5mo ago
Is this accounting for the production of batteries and electrical components? That asked, some things I do for myself, and self-propelling is great for my health and longevity.