You had me till the BuY AnOthER OnE, Pay me imaginary strawman. I do love bikes though, so do the fuckers that keep taking mine.
You have enough money for a pair of bolt cutters.
Yeah Yeah I do have some of those, where you parked again you say?
If you’re big enough, you just need money for a balaclava.
Hmmmm baklavas
I think the point was to contrast this with cars. Having your car stolen is 10x worse than having your bike stolen
10x? What car can be so cheap?
Ironically, a stole one
- kryptonite U-lock.
- locking skewers for the tires, gears, seat and handle bars.
- an ugly color
At this point, they’ll need an angle grinder to get anything valuable off the bike. It’s more expensive but so long its not the standard of ever biker, bike thieves’ll target easier bikes to steal off.
It’s true although it sucks. You could have several bikes stolen a year and it’s still cheaper than a car.
Think of it that way - whoever stole your bike was probably more happy to get it than you are sad to lose it. The total happiness in the world increased. So, whatever.
There it is.
The stupidest thing I’ll read all day.
And the sun’s not even up yet.
It’s a reference to this comic https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/1314087-my-bike-got-stolen-recently
It’s, once again, comes with infrastructure. When I moved to Germany from the country with no bike infrastructure, I only thought of a bike as an expensive stuff, but here I bought a used commuter for 40 Euro and it’s fucking great. I love it, but if it gets stolen, I would be mildly frustrated and buy another one of those for 40 Euro the next day.
Moved to the suburbs in my 30s. Got a new bike to hit the nearby bike trails. First bike ride turns into agonizing ordeal as it literally feels like someone ripped open my knees and poured broken glass in them. Diagnosed with arthritis in my knees.
There are plenty of reasons people don’t use bikes, and health reasons are one of the main ones.
Going less than ten miles away? Sure
Going 30+ miles away and no rail links exist? Fuck you, I guess
back in my day if you werent rich and had a horse, we WALKED everywhere. UPHILL. BOTH WAYS. IN THE SNOW
WITH NO SHOES
Did you fight a lion on the way to school on one foot while the other foot was starting a business?
One lion? I longed for the days when there was only one lion.
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And don’t forget all the quicksand pits!
I was gonna argue, but we really are filled with out of shape people here. Even so, biking is easier than walking.
Based on your comment, it’s pretty obvious to see that you don’t have arthritis in your knees, otherwise you’d know that biking requires you to exert force to push down on the pedals, thus exerting force on your knee joint. Whereas walking is just lifting and lowering your leg, with no force exerted on the knee joint.
In other words, you don’t have arthritis and have no clue what you’re talking about.
Oh, I wasn’t saying specifically in your case, I was just saying generally. We got loads of out of shape people who would balk at being told to ride a bike, even though it would be easier than walking for them. Sorry, I wasn’t particularly clear with that comment.
Screw that. I love paying for car insurance, gas, oil change, tires, and random bolts maintenance. There is also the thrill of driving in traffic, and dealing with road rage. There is plenty that makes the car the ideal transportation mode loved by the masses.
My personal favorite is how if someone bumps you and you get the smallest scratch or dent on your door, you now have to be late for whatever you were doing, pull over (impacting other traffic) exchange insurance info deal with possible hostility for that and ultimately have a crappy day because of it.
How about the fact that cars are so complicated now that working on them yourself feels next to impossible but you also have to somehow find mechanics that you trust to fix your vehicle when you really have no objective way to know if the mechanics are just bullshitting you or are actually genuinely investigating the problem, not just tossing away what you are saying with a mental note that you are clueless. Fixing a bicycle on the other hand is almost comically simple in comparison.
Also can’t forget the thrill that it only takes a second or two of distraction at the wrong moment to kill yourself and other innocent people and irrevocably send your life down a worse path. To be clear, this experience is happening when you are tired, grumpy and stressed about getting to work or getting back from work. It’s a nice little detail that we aren’t all driving boats around or something where hitting other boats requires a bunch of really stupid choices chained together, all we have to do in a car is go slightly in the wrong direction for 3 seconds and boom just murdered somebodies kid.
Stay out of the road with the heavy machinery. Cars won. Get out of the way or get run over.
With trains, you don’t arrive sweaty, you can’t get run down by cars, and someone else parks it
I ride a bike to work every day. I’m never sweaty. The infrastructure to cycle exists so I won’t get run over by cars.
Where I live I wouldn’t want to bike. Too many freaking hills
Where I live (Oklahoma City), I wouldn’t want to bike for at least 5 months of the year. Between mid April and late October, we are stupid hot and humid. We had lots of days this past summer that either got uncomfortably close to or passed 40°C. Dew points in the mid 20s all summer long. You’ll break a sweat just standing outside for more than about a minute or two.
Can’t imagine what it’s like for those sorry saps in Houston or Florida.
The comfortable temp for biking is significantly higher than it is for walking, especially with the right gear. 40°C is definitely beyond reasonable tho. Planting trees and decreasing the amount of asphalt would go a long way to make it a better proposition more of the year. A societal expectation that you don’t go or do anything when weather gets that hot could bridge the difference. Unfortunately that kind of philosophy is antithetical to capitalism’s demands for productivity.
I live in a somewhat hilly city. That is why I have an electric bike. I’m never sweaty when I arrive at work
Even if the city is flat as fuck you’ll still arrive sweaty if the climate is hot. Take Phoenix for example, you will sweat even if you are in the shade and doing no physical exercise because it’s commonly 46 degrees.
Hills are only the problem if you’re not biking regularly. I’m way out of shape, but after a year on living in a country with good infrastructure, hills aren’t a problem for me anymore, really. But first couple of months it was a bit brutal, for sure.
Teach me the non-sweaty ways. I love my bike, but theres no way I can arrive not sweaty. Before you say go slow, I’m not letting no bus take my god-damn glory.
E bike.
In Germany those are only allowed to assist you up to 25kph, which means they only help you going up hills, everywhere else will be the same amount of effort
30 in Canadaz that’s enough speed for commuting.
You just don’t treat it as a competition, but as a relaxed stroll. Don’t care about any buses, just vibe with the flow.
Thats the thing though, for me the flow to vibe with is some banger tunes and pedalling as hard as I can. 😅
An Ebike is extremely helpful, especially if there are hills. Wear a breathable long sleeve SPF shirt. I like hemp and some of the stuff Colombia makes. If your route is safe enough don’t wear a helmet. Shorts and sandals are also helpful. I’ve had some success with lightweight merino clothes as well but they tend to get holey in a few years of frequent use
Only if you live at one train station and work at another.
You can also do this thing called walking. Although I am aware that in the United States that is considered suspicious behavior.
This is my favorite argument from carfolk, because they’ll treat walking one block from a bus station as some cardinal sin but will happily walk four blocks from a parking spot.
I love trains but they give me so much anxiety. I have stories of facing harassment on public transport. But it’s not just me though, here’s some idea of why public transport can suck for women or other people in case my anecdotes are just that: https://www.metro-magazine.com/10111994/sexual-crime-and-harassment-on-public-transportation-a-study
California had to make a law for race-based harassment, so it’s not just a one place or just sex-based harassment issue: https://19thnews.org/2023/02/california-introduces-bill-harassment-safety-public-transit-systems/
If public transport can come without being subjected to people and whatever miserable state of mind they’re in, I’d like that. I can at least escape a dumbass in my car, but in a train they’re either right in front of me or nearby for a long time. How do we fix this?
ITT: Carbrains
As soon as bicycles are mentioned, everyone suddenly has to transport their washing machine 200 miles in sub zero temperatures.
I think it’s more that when someone is suggesting something as a perfect thing, people naturally try to challenge that by finding faults in it.
It’s blindingly obvious cycling is not a panacea for all transport and no one is suggesting it is. Yet here they are, all pointing out what everyone knows in response to a statement that was never made.
I think you’re getting too upset about that. That’s just how people argue online.
It’s like you don’t read your peers comments. Yes, people argue this ALL THE TIME.
If I had a dime every time someone said oh just rent a truck when you need it making blind assumptions about my life and what I need, I could buy a bike with it.
The Japanese used bikes to defeat the British in Singapore. The Vietnamese used bikes to defeat the Americans in Vietnam. The Chinese used bikes to destroy manufacturing in the west.
I’ll be in the cold cold ground before I use some stupid commie machine powered by rice.
All other arguments for not using a bike are stupid.
Can’t tell if satire
"Cars are freedom! *
Except for the monthly finance payment, the legal obligation to insurance companies, the dependance on oil companies, etc"
Don’t forget the fact that you can be randomly stopped and forced to provide documentation that you’re legally required to carry in order to operate the machine… Unlike a bike, which you can just ride wherever.
Oh… And yeah, and most bikes don’t have computers in them that can tell on you to the cops if asked.
But yeah… Freedom.
I mean I think in my state you still have to have iD for some reason while biking, also it’s illegal to ride on the sidewalk, which everyone still does but if a cop forgot his donut that day he’s got a reason to hassle you
And don’t forget all of the other cars making it harder for you to get where you want to go, whether you’re in one or not.
Here is another reason. I can’t afford a reasonable sized apartment that can house my family near my work. So I have to travel further. Bikes are great for cities if you can afford to live in the city.
Also, what happens when it snows and you gotta get to work? Snow chains?
Snow chains?
Studded tires for bikes are quite common where I live.
You can get chains for bike tires too. I haven’t tried it myself but I’ve seen mixed reviews. Meanwhile somewhere in Europe everyone bikes everywhere in the snow with regular tires because their infrastructure is awesome, snow compactor thing is awesome, and people aren’t brainwashed by big automotive.
Where the fuck is that, Yukon?
Works anywhere where there’s snow.
Not really. Where I live, the bike infrastructure is decent, even though it has its flaws. Right now the conditions are the worst, it’s cold, we had a lot of snow recently and even though they removed most of it, there is a lot of ice still. I just have to bike slower than usual, that’s all. Last year I remember like 5 days when biking was all but impossible snow was building up faster than they managed to remove it.
biking in snow is possible and common in some places, just need the infrastructure to clear out snow in a timely matter. In some places its quite common to use a bike, even in the winter
I live in Canada. I have a set of studded tires on rims that I just swap out in the winter
These problems are interlinked. So much space in American cities is wasted on parking for cars. Then there isn’t space to build housing close to where people work.
Nothing stops you from commuting by bike. My best friend commutes over 40km by bike every day. Due to eternal traffic jams he’s not even much slower than going by car, he also almost gets to go in a straight line rather than following highways. Get out of that US centric mindset and realize a lot more is possible by bike than you might think.
One of my coworkers commutes 15 miles to work on his ebike and it takes him less time than me to drive.
MUCH slower, no protection from the elements, most can only support one person at a time. Great for shorter distances, but that’s about it.
A velocycle basically solves all these problems.
There are lots of multiple person bicycle type vehicles.
Like this magical invention
most can only support one person at a time.
As a Dutchie, that’s bullshit. Three at the least.
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Maybe Americans should ride bikes more and this wouldn’t be an issue.
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I live in America. What you describe is a problem that can be fixed.
Hmmm, maybe we should add a few more seats, more wheels, some protection from the elements, somewhere to put your luggage… oof this got heavy. Maybe something to power it as well?
Horses!
Don’t use those for fuel, they are inefficient.
I live in the hills. bikes are a pain in the dick over here :(
Ebikes fix that problem in most situations.
I gotta look into those. My old ass has been sleepin on the ebiks
We lived in Tacoma, WA for a bit and our eBike took care of things most of the time. If we were still in Seattle, I would probably have wanted a bit higher voltage because it would struggle on really steep hills. But we were able to sell our car and just use the bike for several months before we moved.
Ebikes really make biking in the US make sense. It’s just not walkable and hard to bike, but ebikes really bridge that gap unless you’re really rural.
Gonna have to get used to them anyway. Cheap oil won’t last forever and electric infrastructure for cars just isn’t realistic. Even if it was, there are too many other problems to make them scale.
How many corpses can you fit in the trunk and where would you even put the shovel while you ride?
Yeah… a basket just isn’t enough. And if the corpse gets stiff, you can’t bend them into the saddlebags anymore either.
Gotta get a bakfiet for that.
Cars were, and to some extent, still are, a statement of wealth. Having a “horseless carriage” back when personal vehicles were called that, was an easy way to distinguish that you were a successful person. As time went on, this transformed into having the latest vehicle or vehicles of a specific brand or type, or that cost x amount of dollars… Many of these points are still true today, unfortunately.
Because of the status you would demonstrate having a vehicle, demand for infrastructure from the affluent persons that owned these vehicles, most cities were built with space in mind so their richest could enjoy their personal vehicles as optimally as they could. As time went on, and more people bought cars due to the ease of transport they provided, that infrastructure demand only increased.
Specifically in America, further pressure was given to state and local governments by automobile manufacturers to build better and better roads to more places so more people would have access to roads and therefore see value in owning a personal vehicle.
Then there’s the interstate. Again, specifically talking about the states here, mostly… The Interstate systems were desired by the auto makers and people, but we’re not strictly required. AFAIK the largest push for interstate freeways came from the military, so they could rapidly move equipment from one location to another. This is why interstates are so built up; if you compare the underlying structure of most roads with what’s done for interstate freeways, the difference, at least, historically, is quite significant. The interstate was designed to have a batallion of tanks roll from place to place, something that would utterly destroy most roadways. Of course they can also move other equipment on it, since the majority of the remainder of what they would need to move is less damaging to the road than tanks… Like planes. Many interstates are designed, on purpose, to act as impromptu runways to land or take off from. This enables the military to set up shop pretty much anywhere they need to, in order to defend the land.
The existence of the interstate only drove (no pun intended) more people to want and buy cars. Further compounding the problem.
Now, many years later, city streets are generally not built for you. They’re not built with regular human lives in mind. They’re built to act as conduits for emergencies so personnel or equipment can move from place to place with ease and relative speed. Public emergency services (police, ambulance, fire) are all geared around the existence of roads for transit. Because of this and a multitude of other, somewhat less notable reasons, roads continue to be a fixture in most cities and urban areas.
Another stupid (mostly American) reason is how far away everything is. The reason everything is so distant is a simple explanation: zoning. Commercial and residential zoning created problems where getting a plot of land re-zoned to build a strip mall or plaza is challenging at best. So since you live in a residential zone, all the commercial zoned services that you use, must be on different land in different areas. The nice thing about this is that residential zones tend to be much quieter than commercial most of the time, so homes can sit in quiet area while all the hustle and bustle of the city stays separate. This has somewhat changed on recent times but it still exists as a significant issue. Since zones of residential and commercial are generally not very small, unless you live at the edge of a residential zone that borders a commercial zone, essential services like grocery stores and shops are generally a significant distance away. Owning a vehicle and road infrastructure makes this a minor inconvenience at most, unfortunately it also makes this a major inconvenience for anyone who does not (thus driving sales of personal vehicles, again, compounding the problem). Again, in recent years, maybe the last 20-30, this has been changing, and we’re starting to see, at least in large Metro areas, the rise of condos. Usually intermixed with commercial areas, it’s a home you can buy that is surrounded by commercial services within walking distance (copy/paste for apartments).
Unfortunately, due to the military and historical reasons, as well as continued demand for roads from people living in residential zones that are further away, roads are and continue to be built, and maintained, in cities.
If you look “across the pond” to Europe, there are many examples of cities that existed long before zoning was even considered and where automobiles didn’t exist that are very convenient to bike or walk through. Homes are intermixed with shops, and generally living in the city, while a bit more noisy than a residential zone, is otherwise very convenient for walking and cycling where you need to go. Mainly because cars were not a consideration at the time that those cities were constructed. Walking was common and cycling was not unusual, so the infrastructure reflects that.
We’re seeing a resurgence of this kind of anti-vehicle infrastructure thinking among people, and with the rising costs of everyday living and the expense that vehicles can incur, both in operating them, storing them and maintaining them, it’s easy to see why, especially when housing, in the form of apartments and condos, is getting closer to the commercial services that people want and use. However there seems to be a growing animosity among those that want more walkable and cycling friendly cities, with their car-driving counterparts.
I’m impartial. I own a car and live in a rural area, so I need one to get pretty much anywhere. My situation is not that of a city dweller and I see the merit in the walkable city. At the same time, I see the merit in drivable cities too. I wouldn’t mind driving to a parking structure and taking a bus/subway/bike/whatever to get into any major city, since I do so very rarely. But I can’t deny the convenience of driving into a city and parking less than a block away from my destination. Both arguments have merit and ultimately, I don’t really have any “skin in the game” (so to speak), so what happens shouldn’t be up to me, and cities should sort that out among their populous. I just know way too much about the issue, so I decided to comment. Sorry for the wall of text.
Every time I see this kind of post I just wish they would try to go to work in a +40 degree Celsius environment.
It must be nice to work in a place that won’t mind if you arrive drenched in sweat.
Edit: I love the hive mind, you guys live in the real world? You want me to leave where I bought my house, where I have been living most of my life and leave my family because I don’t live in a bicycle weather place? I could search for another job but I’m not flipping burgers where I could jump on like nothing matters. And to be honest my city isn’t a bicycle town, I would get killed in the street if I tried that. I’m glad where you live you can do that but some places aren’t that small/prepared enough.
I try to do whatever I can but you want me to do things that aren’t possible, and I’m not the only one, that’s what I disliked about Reddit, everything was black or white… Sometimes you guys are just like vegans.
It must be nice to work in a place that won’t mind if you arrive drenched in sweat.
coughs nervously in works-from-home
But yeah, it’s more weather dependent for sure
It would be one thing if all employers offered locker rooms and adequate time to get ready along with safe storage.
adequate time to get ready
But doesn’t that depend on you? If you arrive earlier you have more time
I don’t get paid to arrive earlier, so it’s gonna depend on them for me dawg
I would’ve figured work starts once you’re ready for work. If that includes showering and you need more time for that, you should come earlier so you can shower.
To me it’s no different from taking the time to shower at home. You can sleep later if you don’t shower but I take the time. No pay for that though.
While I was mostly joking with my comment and the context of having to bike to work in a hot climate.
I agree with you initially, that works starts when you’re ready to work. I think that definition of ready is a little subjective.
As far as I’m concerned the moment I deviate from my normal non-working behavior is when I am starting work.
Realistically I feel that begins at the commute to work for me, I have some personal bias here since I have an hour long commute when I do. I work from home a lot of the time, so again that also skews my perception of when I “start” work.
Well that sucks.
Figure it out.
Oh I have it figured out.
You probably should do the same.
Excellent👍
There is a way to get all of this and more
Tbf you could just take a shower at workplace after the commute, assuming you have showers at work.
How many people actually have showers in their workplace?
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+the fact that some other people do Real Work^TM where you get dirty and shit and need to have shower before going home. Factories and shit.
Probably more if cities were designed around bicycles in the way they currently are around cars.
No idea, every place I’ve worked in at least.
Pretty common to have at least one where I live, but it depends on which sector you work in for sure.
A lot
So let’s build more urban heat islands and parking lots. Exactly what a +40 C environment needs. Biking might be unpleasant in 40 C weather, and the cyclist might get a bit sweaty, but all of the positives are true. And cars are just going to make the planet hotter.
Here in Palestine people drive bikes the most in the hottest city, Jericho. It reaches 40 degrees there. An ebike would make you get less hot from exertion. In combination with good urban planning with small streets and trees and buildings creating lots of shade it’s workable. It’s not sustainable to have air conditioned cars transport people everywhere. This is what living in a hot climate means.
But Texas exceptionalism!
Honestly, no matter the mode of transportation, I’d arrive drenched in sweat in a 40° environment.
I would probably not even step outside unless absolutely necessary. At that temperature I would already suffer indoors, and if I stepped out I’d faint if I stayed out there for longer than thirty minutes.
Have you considered, that different places need different infrastructure?
I might also remark, that your houses are utterly unprepared for the -5C where I’m at currently, but that would be stupid.
Where do you live that it’s 40+ degrees at ~8am in the morning, the entire year round?
Or could you simply be looking for an excuse?
Australia
Also Brazil
Edit: not to mention the flash-flooding thunderstorms, tree-shattering winds, and so, so many hills.
Most tropical/subtropical areas will have a heat index in this range for the majority of the year thanks to humidity.
I live in Florida and maybe for two months of the year I could cycle around without getting soaked, either by rain or humidity.
I do cycle around for fun though.
Not everyone lives in sunny California, some people live in the perpetual 100% humidity tropical climate.
Also screw second and third shifters, right?
I live in a ‘perpetual 100% humidity tropical climate’. 8am would be 20-22 degrees. Afternoons would be hot though.
For some reason the slow and relaxed franchise with Vin diesel doesn’t sound like a blockbuster to me.
I never learned how to ride a bicycle, I should really get to it someday. I just walk everywhere I need to go, or use carpooling/bus/subway…
Go for it! I think it really helps getting around more easily! Once you learn it you won’t forget even if you don’t ride your bike for a long time, so it’s worth it IMO!
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