201–210 of 286 posts
Wow, really cool scheme! Would love to see it in Scotland. A friend nicely lent me his bike and I've been going for rides every day during lockdown. Really got the cycling bug now and a scheme like this would be great.
It is so easy to do: just ask your government to increase the taxes by 100 pounds and then give you back 50 pounds. Your loss, but you will be happy for the 50 pounds you get from the government, not thinking where the money come from.
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I saw a guy outside a grocery store taking one of those to a U-lock. He said it was his own bike. Wasn’t sure what to do after that.
Take a really good picture including his face. Send picture to the local police department in case someone reports that bike stolen. Presumably if it's actually his bike, he'll be thankful.
There is no free meal.
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I have paid 40€ for my second-hand 1973 Peugeot road bike. Best bike I have ever had.
I lost my ‘70s Peugeot (I’ve no idea how that happens). Having the gears as little levers on the frame was user unfriendly but something I loved.
I absolutely love them. They wouldn’t work on a racing bike where you need to shift quickly without taking your hands off the bars but for a commuter or a touring bike they’re ideal.
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If you bike every weekday: (52 weeks/year * 5 days/week * 1€/day) + 12 = 272€. Add in however much you think these bits of hassle are worth: • various amounts of time spent looking for a bike, especially if you go somewhere they don't tend to cluster and someone else took the one you're using • bikeshare bikes are typically kind of heavy and clunky, possibly with solid tires that don't blow out but transmit every bum…
> bikeshare bikes are usually one-size-fits-all, which I guess is fine if you're the perfectly average size. I think they are tiny. I have wondered how they got this so wrong, but decided that it must be intentional. It prevents long journeys and limits the frequency of curb hopping and other damage causing activity.
People in this thread are getting really hung up on the idea that someone with a bike == cycling enthusiast. In Europe a huge amount of people just own a bike. Often some beaten up thing they probably paid €30-200 for at a flea market or bike shop and use to commute or meet friends. Maybe it's fallen into a state where it's unrideable. The €50 is just a simple nudge for all those people to get it roadworthy so they c…
> Often some beaten up thing they probably paid €30-200 for at a flea market or bike shop In Belgium, Belgian people buy mostly new ones in the range of 500-1000. People who don't earn much or students, buy the cheap/used bikes you mentioned. Electrical bikes are > 2000 € and pretty popular. In general, a whole family can bike together and it's very popular during the summer. We can bike were-ever we want during Covi…
In China 37% of the population owns a bike, but in Shanghai 60% of the daily trips are by bike.
There are more people riding bikes everyday in northern Italy (which has about 2 times the population of Belgium) than in Belgium, even though the amount of bikes per capita on a national level is much lower than Belgium.
Numbers of bikes sold alone doesn't say much, more so because in some countries bikes are a status symbol, just like being member of a golf court is in Florida.
Most do it because it says something about their life styles more than their likings.
People in this thread are getting really hung up on the idea that someone with a bike == cycling enthusiast. In Europe a huge amount of people just own a bike. Often some beaten up thing they probably paid €30-200 for at a flea market or bike shop and use to commute or meet friends. Maybe it's fallen into a state where it's unrideable. The €50 is just a simple nudge for all those people to get it roadworthy so they c…
> People in this thread are getting really hung up on the idea that someone with a bike == cycling enthusiast. I’m an American, and literally everyone I know owns at least one bike, and it’s rideable. I’m not even in a big city - in fact I live closer to cows and sheep than to anything resembling a skyscraper...
You are, far and away, an outlier.
People in this thread are getting really hung up on the idea that someone with a bike == cycling enthusiast. In Europe a huge amount of people just own a bike. Often some beaten up thing they probably paid €30-200 for at a flea market or bike shop and use to commute or meet friends. Maybe it's fallen into a state where it's unrideable. The €50 is just a simple nudge for all those people to get it roadworthy so they c…
> People in this thread are getting really hung up on the idea that someone with a bike == cycling enthusiast. I’m an American, and literally everyone I know owns at least one bike, and it’s rideable. I’m not even in a big city - in fact I live closer to cows and sheep than to anything resembling a skyscraper...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
If you bike every weekday: (52 weeks/year * 5 days/week * 1€/day) + 12 = 272€. Add in however much you think these bits of hassle are worth: • various amounts of time spent looking for a bike, especially if you go somewhere they don't tend to cluster and someone else took the one you're using • bikeshare bikes are typically kind of heavy and clunky, possibly with solid tires that don't blow out but transmit every bum…
> bikeshare bikes are usually one-size-fits-all, which I guess is fine if you're the perfectly average size. I think they are tiny. I have wondered how they got this so wrong, but decided that it must be intentional. It prevents long journeys and limits the frequency of curb hopping and other damage causing activity.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
> What I've learned while I lived in Amsterdam is that you want to invest ~30% of the value of your bike to purchase a bike lock. That advice predates the battery-powered angle grinder, which many bike thieves in Western Europe now use. Even the toughest, most expensive U-lock can be broken in about a minute with an angle grinder.
Having two locks can also be a good tactic, especially two locks in a different style e.g. a d-lock and a cable lock. The theory being that a thief would need to have two tools to steal your bike which means it's likely more hassle than other bikes that'll only have been secured with a single lock.