Dutch people cycle an average of 2.6 kilometres each per day. If this pattern was replicated worldwide, the study suggests, annual global carbon emissions would drop by 686 million tonnes.
This mammoth figure exceeds the entire carbon footprint of most countries, including the UK, Canada, Saudi Arabia and Australia.
But are they good bikes though? I’ve been to Amsterdam twice, once in the 80’s and again a couple of years ago. I love the bicycle culture but the bikes themselves, not so much. I saw a few decent ones but they were few and far between the heavy looking cruisers most were riding. I was a transportational cyclist in California for a few decades and my last bike was $1100 new in 1987. Would be a few thousand today and I can’t picture riding anything lesser. My standard commute was a little over 11 Miles, so 18 km…
my favourite bikes to ride are my shittiest ones (that I keep in good condition)
they’re not actually shitty bikes, they’re just 25 years old and I bought them for next to nothing. they’re nothing like my good bikes, and yet they get ridden the most
I think if you’re having trouble enjoying yourself on a well-maintained cheap bike, the problem is with you and not the bike tbh
Oh, it’s definitely with me. Good bikes are a pleasure to ride and get you there faster, handle well and are generally safer. Clunky cruisers and lesser bikes handle poorly, go slow and shift even worse should they have gears. I still ride the 1987 Bridgestone MB-1: Cro-mo steel, suntour, drop bars. It’s old but nothing shitty about it.
I just don’t get societies that embrace the bicycle but ignore the technology and quality that makes them good.
You don’t NEED a carbon frame multi-thousand dollar bike any more than drivers need Lamborghinis. If that’s what you WANT, that’s fine, and you should buy it. For most people, they want the equivalent of a Honda Civic.
Yeah, I’m riding a massive hundred pound steel behemoth. It’s fun and carries 200 pounds of kitty litter, but I am not moving that thing faster than 7mph uphill under my own power