Why you should buy a bicycle today
The simple bicycle is quite possibly one of the greatest achievements in mechanical engineering. Taking relatively simple, low-cost parts and assembling in a simple, easy to maintain system, the bicycle delivers phenomenal efficiency for human transportation. If you do not own a bicycle (or if you own one of the bicycle-imposters sold by Kmart, Target, Walmart, and the like) you should buy one today.
Think of the bicycle as the perfect intermediary between automobile travel and foot travel. If you’re going more than 1/2 mile but less than 10 miles, the bike is ideal. Consider:
- A bicycle is inexpensive. $150 buys you a nice used bike. $300 buys you a brand new bike. $600 buys you a really nice new bike.
- Maintenance is easy and cheap. If you keep air in your tires, lubricate your chain, and clean off the frame once in awhile your bike will stay in great shape. You’ll also replace brake pads yearly and maybe get a tune-up at the local bike shop, but on balance a bike is incredibly easy to maintain.
- The fuel is free (or better). With gasoline at $4/gallon, the “free” fuel of your legs is mighty appealing. Add to this the health benefits of aerobic exercise and you could argue it’s even better than free.
- Zero pollution. Even the electric car produces pollution at the power plant. Bikes are the closest thing to zero pollution we’re likely to see in our lifetimes.
- Bicycles last a long time. A well cared for steel frame bike will easily last 20+ years with proper maintenance (see above). Unlike an automobile, there’s very little performance degradation over that lifespan. (The main incentive for bike upgrades is a newer, lighter, faster, models.)
So there you have it. Get a bicycle.
Filed under culture, energy, environment : Comments (5) : Jun 5th, 2008 by tadfad
June 6th, 2008 at 7:43 pm
And well I’d imagine people would all be in much better shape if they rode a bike to work instead of drove. Hopefully in the near future more businesses will recognize this and add shower facilities to office buildings.
June 7th, 2008 at 1:15 am
I’ve been experimenting with my bicycle lately. With a rear rack and panniers, I can carry a surprising amount of stuff. Even with 30 extra pounds, the bike rides very steady (albeit a little slower).
Another observation–if more of us rode bicycles, riding a bicycle would be inherently easier/safer/more convenient. It’s a bit of a reverse-catch-22 : once we hit critical mass for bicycles, we get de facto representation and awareness. Here’s to leading the charge!
June 10th, 2008 at 7:55 pm
I NEED some of these panniers! I’ve been using a backpack but that is really starting to SUCK!
This was an excellent blog post by the way. Too bad more people don’t ride bikes….Some of this is simply because they really CAN’T, either they moved too far away from work or they got too fat or both. I was in the elevator with my bike recently (ya, well usually I take my bike up the stairs with me but this time I took the elevator because of peer pressure!) anyway this other woman in the elevator said, “geez I really LIKE riding my bike, and I wish I could ride it to work but I moved to Suamico (which means she might be 15-20 miles from downtown with few good bike routes). And we’re talking about “little” Green Bay here. Suamico was the boomin’ burb town where the sprawl smeared across 30 square miles in the last decade, and now all these people are oh-so-tied to their cars…even in little tiny Green Bay.
June 11th, 2008 at 10:36 am
In some situations around town, riding a bike can actually be faster than driving. With many businesses offering bike racks directly outside, you can really cut down on your driving, parking, and walking time.
The Madison Farmer’s market is a great example. Parking anywhere near the capitol on Saturday morning is a mess, but you can bike directly onto the square.
June 13th, 2008 at 10:16 am
Very good argument for biking, but you fail to mention walking as the “greenest” method of moving. The only flaw is that it’s slow, and therefore not very good at things over 2 miles. Bikes are the closest machine to zero pollution, walking is zero pollution (assuming you’re not counting food or shoes).