Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Wooden bikes

materiabikes.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

31–40 of 238 posts

Re: Wooden bikes

#31

Post by mcv »

sergiosgc wrote: post #14

I don't understand the market for bicycles in the thousands of euro price range. Bikes get stolen often enough for me to never be relaxed leaving such a bike outside a shop or caffe or such. If you can't leave the bike anywhere, it's almost useless, except perhaps as a virtue signalling device.

I've always had tons of bikes stolen, until I got a light cargo bike. I often only use the ring lock, yet somehow nobody seems to want to steal it. My son's bike got stolen twice over the past year right in front of our house (we park it indoors now), but nobody ever touches my cargo bike. It's the most expensive bike I've ever had.

Re: Wooden bikes

#32

Post by seotut2 »

beerlord wrote: post #27

I think bikes will become a niche sports product, replaced by E-Scooters for basic transportation around town, and autonomous cars/minibuses for anything longer.

Batteries are still too inconvenient and costly. I still regularly ride a wonderful steel bike that's older than myself (a top of the line koga miyata). So with a battery lifetime of the order of ~1000 charge cycles, if you take into considerations the costs of regularly replacing the battery, then ebikes (and e-scooters) are in a different price segment altogether.

Re: Wooden bikes

#33

Post by systemtest »

sergiosgc wrote: post #14

I don't understand the market for bicycles in the thousands of euro price range. Bikes get stolen often enough for me to never be relaxed leaving such a bike outside a shop or caffe or such. If you can't leave the bike anywhere, it's almost useless, except perhaps as a virtue signalling device.

I live in the Netherlands and have not had my bike stolen in 25 years. Just use a good lock and only park in secured parking locations with gated access and cameras.

And don't buy a bike without knowing the full history and paperwork, otherwise you are shooting yourself in the foot by supporting criminals and raising your chance of having your bike stolen in the future.

Re: Wooden bikes

#34

Post by dmurray »

seotut2 wrote: post #20

Funny how the website only highlights the advantages of wood as a material, and plays down its disadvantages. Namely, a stiffer, more rigid frame is more efficient. I personally loved how my aluminium road bike rode, more so than steel, particularly because I can feel the road, and my pedal strokes have a more direct feedback. If a frame absorbs some of that vibration, it is naturally going to absorb some of your ene…

You can read the title as "ways in which wooden bikes are superior" - a reasonable topic for a company selling wooden bikes - rather than "wooden bikes are superior in every way, and here's why". The former is also more consistent with the actual title of the article, "Why wood".

Re: Wooden bikes

#35

Post by bitexploder »

mcv wrote: post #26
seotut2 wrote: post #20

Funny how the website only highlights the advantages of wood as a material, and plays down its disadvantages. Namely, a stiffer, more rigid frame is more efficient. I personally loved how my aluminium road bike rode, more so than steel, particularly because I can feel the road, and my pedal strokes have a more direct feedback. If a frame absorbs some of that vibration, it is naturally going to absorb some of your ene…

I guess it depends on the kind of bike experience you want. I see people riding extraordinarily impractical bikes every single day. Of course that would make wooden bikes a matter of taste, and not superior by any stretch of the imagination.

How impractical can a bike be if it gets the job done? Or did you mean in some not utilitarian context?

Re: Wooden bikes

#36

Post by ArrayList »

beerlord wrote: post #27

I think bikes will become a niche sports product, replaced by E-Scooters for basic transportation around town, and autonomous cars/minibuses for anything longer.

I think you're entirely wrong. You've got to realize how many people love crushing it on a road bike and getting all the fun and fitness that come along with that.

Re: Wooden bikes

#37

Post by mcv »

bitexploder wrote: post #35
mcv wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess it depends on the kind of bike experience you want. I see people riding extraordinarily impractical bikes every single day. Of course that would make wooden bikes a matter of taste, and not superior by any stretch of the imagination.

How impractical can a bike be if it gets the job done? Or did you mean in some not utilitarian context?

They get the job done, but require much more energy to do it. Some bikes are more about looks than practicality.

Re: Wooden bikes

#38

Post by Emma_Goldman »

Interesting idea. Unconscionable price.

I don't think you could justify spending that amount of money on a bike unless it is one of your life's deepest passions. Which seems rare.

Does the quality of bikes really change that much when you go up the price range, for amateur users?

Re: Wooden bikes

#39

Post by rhinoceraptor »

sergiosgc wrote: post #14

I don't understand the market for bicycles in the thousands of euro price range. Bikes get stolen often enough for me to never be relaxed leaving such a bike outside a shop or caffe or such. If you can't leave the bike anywhere, it's almost useless, except perhaps as a virtue signalling device.

It's pretty easy to get a bike that price if you use decent, brand name components rather than cheap generic components. And if you ride a lot, it's worth it to spend more and get a bike you enjoy riding.

And with a good lock, I don't really worry about theft.

Re: Wooden bikes

#40

Post by lhopki01 »

beerlord wrote: post #27

I think bikes will become a niche sports product, replaced by E-Scooters for basic transportation around town, and autonomous cars/minibuses for anything longer.

There's more to a bike than just pure transport. There's the fact that you exercise at the same time as being one of the fastest ways around.
Post reply on HN