51–60 of 83 posts
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And from those glorious big fishtailing skids we do as kids...
never stopped being fun this is why fixed gears are still a thriving niche
The math and physics and engineering behind bicycles is so cool. Such a "simple" device, but so many interesting things to dive into. I wrote my thesis on spoke patterns for the wheels [0]. Another cool thing is how the steering of a bicycle works. You don't really turn the way you want to, you actually turn the other way first to initiate so the bike moves from under you, and you then lean the other way to actually…
I have taught several kids to ride bikes. My instructions were very simple: ride, and if the bike starts tipping to one side, turn the handlebars that way. With humans, that's about all you need to say. You very quickly feel how the lean changes based on the steering input, so righting yourself becomes obvious. And when you inevitably overdo it and end up leaning the opposite way, you turn the bars that new direction…
Possible I am wrong, but there is a critical assumption, that being: “With additional inspection, knowing that the tangent vectors from the back-tire point with fixed distance to the front-tire track, we can find which way the bicycle went.”
As result, if the front and back tires do not maintain a fixed distance, prior research does not apply. Examples of factors that might produce minor variations include: suspension, untrue wheels, etc.
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Rear tires do must of your braking. If you hit the front break too hard/fast, you flip over the front tire, hit the rear brake hard/fast and you burn rubber/lose traction.
I don't even have a rear brake. Weight is transferred to the front on heavy braking, and if you have proper technique, you will not go over the bars. The front tire does all of the actual stopping.
I have literally seen people flip over their handle bars by solely using their front brake going downhill.
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You are also 17× more likely to pay the ultimate price if you travel the exact same amount on a bicycle (according to UK stats). Edit: Source: https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/...
Are you making a point? What is it?
It is a more complex equation than that..
Probably the hardest variable to quantify is the risk of injury/death.
While I agree it could be better if everyone used bikes, but in the current reality if I choose to ride my bycicle, I'm going to share the road with 2000Kg metal boxes which are sometimes driven by distracted drivers, and I'm not willing to take that risk.
So even if I combine all the costs associated with both options, and bikes are cheaper objectively, it will still be more expensive for me.
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How are you calculating that? Normally, one assume about 24% efficiency in human pedaling, so that 1kJ of energy going forward = 1 kcal consumed. Now, fuel cost is anyways a small part of owning a car. My 1k bike + food has lasted me years, while that's less than a newer car loses in value each month.
https://biketips.com/calories-burned-biking/ says I burn ~600kcal to ride 20km. 600kcal is ~200g of bread + 20g of butter. Bread costs about 5€/kg, butter costs 2€ / 250g so 600kcal is roughly 1,25€. My car uses about 6l gasoline per 100km, current price is ~1,60€ per liter, so 20km need 1,90€ of gasoline. So if I just eat cheap food riding a bike is cheaper. If I eat at McDonalds, then 600kcal is a hamburger with me…
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https://biketips.com/calories-burned-biking/ says I burn ~600kcal to ride 20km. 600kcal is ~200g of bread + 20g of butter. Bread costs about 5€/kg, butter costs 2€ / 250g so 600kcal is roughly 1,25€. My car uses about 6l gasoline per 100km, current price is ~1,60€ per liter, so 20km need 1,90€ of gasoline. So if I just eat cheap food riding a bike is cheaper. If I eat at McDonalds, then 600kcal is a hamburger with me…
Even when just sitting around your body requires energy.
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How are you calculating that? Normally, one assume about 24% efficiency in human pedaling, so that 1kJ of energy going forward = 1 kcal consumed. Now, fuel cost is anyways a small part of owning a car. My 1k bike + food has lasted me years, while that's less than a newer car loses in value each month.
https://biketips.com/calories-burned-biking/ says I burn ~600kcal to ride 20km. 600kcal is ~200g of bread + 20g of butter. Bread costs about 5€/kg, butter costs 2€ / 250g so 600kcal is roughly 1,25€. My car uses about 6l gasoline per 100km, current price is ~1,60€ per liter, so 20km need 1,90€ of gasoline. So if I just eat cheap food riding a bike is cheaper. If I eat at McDonalds, then 600kcal is a hamburger with me…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
How are you calculating that? Normally, one assume about 24% efficiency in human pedaling, so that 1kJ of energy going forward = 1 kcal consumed. Now, fuel cost is anyways a small part of owning a car. My 1k bike + food has lasted me years, while that's less than a newer car loses in value each month.
https://biketips.com/calories-burned-biking/ says I burn ~600kcal to ride 20km. 600kcal is ~200g of bread + 20g of butter. Bread costs about 5€/kg, butter costs 2€ / 250g so 600kcal is roughly 1,25€. My car uses about 6l gasoline per 100km, current price is ~1,60€ per liter, so 20km need 1,90€ of gasoline. So if I just eat cheap food riding a bike is cheaper. If I eat at McDonalds, then 600kcal is a hamburger with me…
I have an older garmin that has told me I have burned 9000 calories in a weekend, and uh, I didn’t. No evidence for that, but I simply don’t believe it. Bicycle tourists would have to have wild food intake to sustain that for weeks.
FTA: Can we verify the folklore that on a long bike trip the back-tire wear is less than that of the front tire? I’ve never heard that folklore. I thought ‘everybody’ knew back-tires wear out a lot faster because the load on them is higher and because they’re the one being powered. https://www.sheldonbrown.com/tire-rotation.html : “It is common for a front tire to outlast a rear tire by as much as three to one. Rear…
At €70 a pop, my tyres get rotated front to back, as required. Back wears out much faster.