For the uninitiated: that is less than one tank of gas (ca 70 kg CO2) in my Toyota Prius.
hyper optimizing something implies all low hanging fruit has been picked.
I argue: it's not. It's polishing. It's functionally a bit time-wast-y compared to reductions in the cost, and price of ebikes.
I tell you what I'd like as a bike rider: I'd like the post evergiven/covid supply chain behind my brake fluid fixed. It's insanely expensive to replace brakes and gears and wheels on a street bike these days: I ride a Movida 200 which is a pretty average, low end disc-brake unit with fluid breaklines, and I am up for a horrendous cost in parts to replace: the labour I can understand, this isn't a zero-work job. But the supply chain fragility in bicycles is truly scary: I paid twice the base cost of my (admitedly secondhand) bike, repairing it these last 2 years.
I know: I should learn to do this myself. I did once long ago last century take apart a sturmy-archer 3 speed hub gear, and remake it, and I did have no left over parts. Amazing. Some of the springs were like fairy-floss. Now, I have old person shakey hands and to be frank I'd rather pay a hipster to do it for me, but the parts cost is just obscene. I'm not paying his tattoo costs, this is some anonymous bike part warehouse in the cloud, which is ripping us all off worldwide.
>I paid twice the base cost of my (admitedly secondhand) bike, repairing it these last 2 years.
Because the base price of a bike is just about nothing. So it makes sense that skilled labor quickly overtakes the cost. And you usually get a hefty discount on the price of the bike when you buy it second hand considering just about everything on the bike excluding the frame is a consumable item.
So for me, the cost of maintenance quickly outpaced the cost of the bike. But it’s still a pittance compared to the cost of car ownership.
I would say don’t learn to do maintenance yourself unless it’s something you enjoy. I enjoy riding my bike but hate tinkering with and fixing things. My bike is to get me around, not be a source of grief and annoyance.
I'm not really sure where the unrealistic expectation of zero dollar expense on maintenance of a bike comes from, but it seems the norm. No matter what though, it is still pennies on the dollar for any kind of expense from a car. The most expensive thing I can do for an upgrade to my bike is to have hydraulic brakes installed, and that's <$400 with paying for the labor of someone else to do it. Like you said, brake pads get replaced, but the set for my biker are <$20. Yes, it's not free and definitely non-zero, but it rounds to zero when compared to car ownership.
OK, so "wear the risk" -great: I take my bike in to the shop, and either I get it back at 3:30pm or.. its 3 months for replacement parts to make it, assuming the supplier has parts. Or, I have to ditch them and go back to cables. Or, an alternate vendor which means new levers, and pipes, and disks, and pads and ....
Apparently hydraulics, instead of cables. Cf. https://www.bicyclehabitat.com/how-to/disc-brakes-101-pg362....
I have hydraulic brakes on one of my bikes too. They feel great (so accurate and responsive!), but I'm glad I haven't had to get them fixed yet...
You don't need disc brakes. You don't need carbon frames, or even aluminum ones.
These things are marginally better performing than their predecessors, but we want things to get better and better forever. That is exactly what makes it unsustainable.
We'd be better off settling for good and sustainable than best and unsustainable. That's all.
There’s a bunch of people who would gain more from losing weight than whatever the marketing department of the bike company tells them, but it’s great to have this choice. I’m having just as much fun cycling as I do reading up on the tech and tinkering with my bikes, that’s time I’m not spending on being interested in cars.
[1]: https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2023/02/can-we-make-bicycl...
The kinds of cargo bikes that people get for home use are much smaller and presumably use a lot less CO2 than the commercial transporter with pedals they looked at in the paper.
Modern bicycles (except new e-bikes with chain guards and internal hub gears) require degreasing and lubing every two weeks, These are not going to be very attractive to people who use other means of transport, because cars don't need this sort of frequent maintenance.
Yes and no. Modern 11/12 speed chains maybe, but my commuter (9-spd) gets lube every 4 months or so. Yes, I have to monitor the chain wear and change it every few years, but that’s not very complicated. It goes to the workshop less often than the car.
They’re more expensive, but you can find non-electric bikes with a belt drive and a gearbox or gear hub which are very low maintenance.
and there's plenty of companies making "city bikes" that don't require super-frequent mainenance and are designed for durability and ease of use. you can get a bike optimized for light weight, but you absolutely don't have to.
What's your basis for your claim of such frequent maintenance? Also, what do you mean by a modern bike?
But when I had a basic hybrid bike I similarly just cleaned it every few months at most when it got dirty from wet rides. Worked fine for years.
Ask your local, independent bike shop for specific recommendations if you need those. Bikes components are highly standardized.
Trek, Giant, Specialized, Raleigh, Fuji... Some of these have become "just a brand name" under new ownership.
I also have a bike that I threw together from 40 year old parts, and can still get any replacement that I need from Amazon or eBay. I suspect demand from overseas may be keeping some parts for older bikes available.
I think you can contribute a lot to the lifespan of a bike by learning to do a bit of your own maintenance, so you can spot minor issues before they turn into component failures.
Anything but the cheapest of components would last years with proper maintenance (which has cost in service charges: good bike mechanics don't come cheap)
They aren't cheap but the investment I've been told is worth it:
Brands will vary both in servicability between models and which hrands are available.
Avoid any integrated electric parts that the frame is builtaround (but a bolt on motor and battery is fine whether the motor is fitted to the wheel or pedals).
Disclaimer: Own an Orbea Vector and love it.
rivbike.com
Likely far far less, the roads are insanely dangerous and toxic now.
I don't know what it is like in other cities but in mine at least one out of ten vehicles is now one of those new ridiculous monster sized trucks that not only cannot see you, they wouldn't care if they did.
The bicycle lane line is now something to cruise over for these drivers while they look down at their phones.
It's only going to take one more generation for people to stop even trying to bike anywhere, people don't want to be that stressed out.
I absolutely expect more people to be riding bicycles in this generation. It would be a complete failure on urban planners / municipal governments if that were not to happen.
But it has been over a decade since my road bike has seen pavement. I keep it to mountain biking on trails now because the traffic everywhere has gotten too insane, and the drivers just seem less and less aware/alert/smart/skilled.
And I've noticed in the last few month bad news of almost a half dozen champion bike racers killed on roads, the most memorable one in Italy, and one in San Francisco last week. The risk just doesn't seem manageable anymore.
This is the opposite of the direction we should be going, but it is what we have.
They’ll be out on the roads - get a bigger car and don’t bike. I’m sad about it as well but I don’t see many options unless you’re in a unique area.
For context, 1/3rd of Americans today are over 55.
Due to exponential growth and innovation everything any of us have ever known is one of a series of crazy experiments. I don’t think car dependency will turn out to be a good one.
That's not to say those yank tanks aren't crazy dangerous; they absolutely are. But getting rid of them doesn't make bicycling safe. Cars as a whole are the hazard.
That's about 2 months worth of my diet. Maybe less.
Like, if I cycle for an hour I'll burn enough calories to produce approx 1kg co2e from the foods I eat.
This is "switch off your LED light bulb" levels of daft.
