• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Get a bike to save the planet

#162
fdeck said:
It's illegal here too. But riding a bike offers a vantage point to look down into cars and see what they're doing, and a lot of them are texting on their phones. We've also seen it on the highway, semi truckers holding their phones just above the steering wheel. When one of those trucks kinda wanders off the road, then makes a sudden correction, every few minutes, chances are they're on their phone.

Fortunately, bikes aren't even allowed on those roads in most states.
Click to expand...

It's considered bad form here. Definitely not cricket. Only a cad would drive and text.
 
#164
fokof said:
Invalid Link Removed


I totally agree.
It's a philosophy that I live.

I'm 50 (soon 51) , never had a car in my life , I never had a driver license.
I bike 365 days a week (North east Americas)
I have a full/satisfying professional life.
I use Trains/Taxis/Bus when I can't bike.
Yes I can transport my stuff to gigs by bike :)

I think I'm in good shape
To be exact, I don't know , I never go to hospitals, maybe I got something I don't know :)

Cities are designed around the automobiles but if more people takes up cycling , authorities will adapt like they did in Danemark or other bike friendly places.
That may not apply to most of the USA .......

Discuss
Click to expand...
Sadly it does not. Where i live there is uber, a train station ten miles away which takes you South to NYC and essentially nowhere else, or your car. You really can't live where I do and function without one.
 
#167
-Asdfgh- said:
I know our gallons are bigger (everything else is smaller here), but 25 MPG doesn't seem great to me. Not that I get the full rated MPG out of my car, but it's still about 38 MPG US gallons combined cycle.
Click to expand...
Fair enough. Nobody gets the mileage rating. Those ratings assume you are always driving at the optimum fuel efficiency for the vehicle on a level surface with no wind and only a driver in the car. I heard a study recently that showed that every car around town in a real world situation gets about 16 mpg (US). Road trip mileage will be higher.
 
#168
Gravedigger Dav said:
Fair enough. Nobody gets the mileage rating. Those ratings assume you are always driving at the optimum fuel efficiency for the vehicle on a level surface with no wind and only a driver in the car. I heard a study recently that showed that every car around town in a real world situation gets about 16 mpg (US). Road trip mileage will be higher.
Click to expand...

I get 90% in my car, which is apparently typical for the car I had. In my old car up until the last year I was getting 100%, but then bits started falling off it, and the reduced weight did not improve but seemed to compromise the efficiency, but then one of them was the hose connecting the water pump to the radiator so I suspect something became less happy with the engine. Then I got more like 75% of rated.

Around the town of about 70,000 people, which I don't tend to drive around in rush hour, to be fair, I average about 30 MPG US according to the read-out in the car, or 24 MPG US when it's really clogged.
 
#169
-Asdfgh- said:
I get 90% in my car, which is apparently typical for the car I had. In my old car up until the last year I was getting 100%, but then bits started falling off it, and the reduced weight did not improve but seemed to compromise the efficiency, but then one of them was the hose connecting the water pump to the radiator so I suspect something became less happy with the engine. Then I got more like 75% of rated.

Around the town of about 70,000 people, which I don't tend to drive around in rush hour, to be fair, I average about 30 MPG US according to the read-out in the car, or 24 MPG US when it's really clogged.
Click to expand...
I don't know what you drive, but it sounds good. I drive a Ram 1500 with the small V8. I get about 16 to and from work, close to 20 on a road trip if I drive the speed limit, and between 8 and 10 pulling the RV. This has to mean I'm paying my fair share. I average about 25 gallons a week, so that is about $500 a year in gas taxes.
 
#170
Gravedigger Dav said:
I don't know what you drive, but it sounds good. I drive a Ram 1500 with the small V8. I get about 16 to and from work, close to 20 on a road trip if I drive the speed limit, and between 8 and 10 pulling the RV. This has to mean I'm paying my fair share. I average about 25 gallons a week, so that is about $500 a year in gas taxes.
Click to expand...
Your truck is also bigger, so it's doing more damage to the roads. But chances are, everybody who drives a passenger vehicle is paying more than their fair share, compared to heavy trucks, which do the most damage. We're subsidizing the trucking industry.

The number I cited, 30 mpg, is what I found by recording my mileage and fuel consumption for a while. It's a Scion XA. It burns about 5 gallons a week. I'd rather have a more efficient car, but the XA was a decent compromise between efficiency and overall cost. When we bought it, the hybrids didn't seem like they were ready for prime time yet. Our primary measure for reducing fuel use is to drive less.
 
#171
fdeck said:
Your truck is also bigger, so it's doing more damage to the roads. But chances are, everybody who drives a passenger vehicle is paying more than their fair share, compared to heavy trucks, which do the most damage. We're subsidizing the trucking industry.

The number I cited, 30 mpg, is what I found by recording my mileage and fuel consumption for a while. It's a Scion XA. It burns about 5 gallons a week. I'd rather have a more efficient car, but the XA was a decent compromise between efficiency and overall cost. When we bought it, the hybrids didn't seem like they were ready for prime time yet. Our primary measure for reducing fuel use is to drive less.
Click to expand...
I don't believe a pickup does any more damage to the road than the average SUV. The SUV will outweigh me. I drive the pickup because I need to carry gear and I need to pull my RV.
 
#172
fdeck said:
But chances are, everybody who drives a passenger vehicle is paying more than their fair share, compared to heavy trucks, which do the most damage. We're subsidizing the trucking industry.
Click to expand...
The trucking industry is crucial to your existence. Virtually every single product you buy got to the store or your home via truck at some point.

Even if you have a bike, the raw materials to build the bike from the ore in the ground to the delivery of the bike to the store were transported by truck. The food you eat is transported to the grocery store by truck. A truck was required to build the house or apartment where you live. A truck picks up your garbage. Trucks deliver music gear to the stores. Even the keyboard that people use to complain about trucks was transported by truck to the store, etc., etc., etc...

It's easy to pick on trucks, but unless you live naked in the woods eating berries, trucks are essential. So, yes...everyone who pays taxes subsidizes trucks. As they should.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Atshen, catcauphonic and Stewie26
#177
Gravedigger Dav said:
I don't know what you drive, but it sounds good. I drive a Ram 1500 with the small V8. I get about 16 to and from work, close to 20 on a road trip if I drive the speed limit, and between 8 and 10 pulling the RV. This has to mean I'm paying my fair share. I average about 25 gallons a week, so that is about $500 a year in gas taxes.
Click to expand...

I've got a not new Mercedes A class. Before I had a Citroen which my sister called 'a bit Postman Pat' which was probably a better gear hauler as it was essentially a small delivery van with windows.
 
#178
duff beer said:
The trucking industry is crucial to your existence. Virtually every single product you buy got to the store or your home via truck at some point.

Even if you have a bike, the raw materials to build the bike from the ore in the ground to the delivery of the bike to the store were transported by truck. The food you eat is transported to the grocery store by truck. A truck was required to build the house or apartment where you live. A truck picks up your garbage. Trucks deliver music gear to the stores. Even the keyboard that people use to complain about trucks was transported by truck to the store, etc., etc., etc...

It's easy to pick on trucks, but unless you live naked in the woods eating berries, trucks are essential. So, yes...everyone who pays taxes subsidizes trucks. As they should.
Click to expand...

The bill for the road repair gets paid. It's either through taxes on individuals, or higher cost of products by taxing truck fleets. The former is probably more progressive.
 
#179
duff beer said:
The trucking industry is crucial to your existence. Virtually every single product you buy got to the store or your home via truck at some point.

Even if you have a bike, the raw materials to build the bike from the ore in the ground to the delivery of the bike to the store were transported by truck. The food you eat is transported to the grocery store by truck. A truck was required to build the house or apartment where you live. A truck picks up your garbage. Trucks deliver music gear to the stores. Even the keyboard that people use to complain about trucks was transported by truck to the store, etc., etc., etc...

It's easy to pick on trucks, but unless you live naked in the woods eating berries, trucks are essential. So, yes...everyone who pays taxes subsidizes trucks. As they should.
Click to expand...

I like woods and berries, but also clothes as I live in Britain. Big, thick woolly clothes. And that's in summer.
 
#180
My car is diesel, so that might flatter my MPG. I had forgotten that diesel is not so common in the USA. Air quality issues probably means this is my last diesel. I wish, when the engine finally dies I could drop in an electronic motor and battery pack with a 500 mile range
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back