Why people don't commute by bike?
 

On Mon, 09 Aug 2010 22:03:16 +0100
Basil Jet wrote:
On 2010\08\09 17:22, His Highness the TibetanMonkey, Creator of the
Movement of Tantra-Hammock wrote:
On Aug 9, 8:49 am, Stephen
wrote:
Some people do, therefore you qusetion is vitiated.

Some .4% of Americans do compared to some 30% in the Netherlands.

Something is missing, right?

Yeah, all the Americans have to do is level the Rockies and the
Appalachians to make America as bike-friendly as the Netherlands.

I don't think anyone blames the americans for using their cars if they
live miles from nowhere. But you don't need a gas guzzling 5.0 V8 SUV to
bring the groceries back from the shops. It does seem that some yanks
few profligate waste of resources as a human right and that is what ****es
off many people.

B2003

Why people don't commute by bike?
 

Why people don't commute by bike?
 

In message , at 09:43:39 on Tue, 10 Aug
2010, d remarked:
I don't think anyone blames the americans for using their cars if they
live miles from nowhere. But you don't need a gas guzzling 5.0 V8 SUV to
bring the groceries back from the shops.

But you do need to own something that's also suitable for long trips on
sometimes very poor roads. The attraction of the SUV concept is that
it's a more suitable compromise than an even bigger traditional 4x4 or
pickup truck.
--
Roland Perry

Why people don't commute by bike?
 

On Tue, 10 Aug 2010 10:58:52 +0100
Roland Perry wrote:
But you do need to own something that's also suitable for long trips on
sometimes very poor roads. The attraction of the SUV concept is that
it's a more suitable compromise than an even bigger traditional 4x4 or
pickup truck.

Unless you're doing proper offroading which might involve driving over
boulders or wet fields you don't need 4 wheel drive and high ground
clearance. Farmers and other countryside workers need 4x4s, anyone else
who buys one is just a poser.

B2003

Why people don't commute by bike?
 

Roland Perry gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying:

In message , at 09:43:39 on Tue, 10 Aug
2010, d remarked:
I don't think anyone blames the americans for using their cars if they
live miles from nowhere. But you don't need a gas guzzling 5.0 V8 SUV to
bring the groceries back from the shops.

But you do need to own something that's also suitable for long trips on
sometimes very poor roads.

Some people do, indeed. A tiny minority, since most Americans would no
more dream of driving from coast to coast via back roads than they would
boiling their head in Strawberry Jam. In the event they DID actually do a
road trip, most would just stick to the Interstates.

But even for those, it doesn't need to be something as ridiculous as a
Lincoln Navigator or a Cadillac Escalade or a Chevrolet Suburban or a
Ford Expedition or a...

Hell, I did it (Massachusetts down the East Coast, then across through
Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada to California, then down the coast)
quite happily in a 2cv. Sure, aircon would have been nice in the Nevada
desert in August, but it really wasn't an issue for most of the trip...

The attraction of the SUV concept is that it's a more suitable
compromise than an even bigger traditional 4x4 or pickup truck.

You haven't seen the US idea of an "SUV", have you? Clue: We're not
talking Honda CR-V.

Why people don't commute by bike?
 

Why people don't commute by bike?
 

On 10 Aug 2010 10:20:54 GMT
Adrian wrote:
gurgled happily, sounding much like they were
saying:

Farmers and other countryside workers need 4x4s

Farmers managed to cope quite happily with Marina pickups when I was a
kid.

I guess it depends on the type of farm and where its located. A 2 wheel
drive road car won't be much use if you've got to transport some animal feed
to a field at the top of a hill on a snowy morning in january. OTOH a lot
of farmers seem quite happy to risk a broken neck driving around on quad bikes
so perhaps they don't need a landie so much these days.

B2003

Why people don't commute by bike?
 

Why people don't commute by bike?
 

Huge gurgled happily, sounding much like they
were saying:

Hell, I did it (Massachusetts down the East Coast, then across through
Louisiana, Texas, New Mexico, Nevada to California, then down the
coast) quite happily in a 2cv. Sure, aircon would have been nice in the
Nevada desert in August, but it really wasn't an issue for most of the
trip...

Try the Northern States in the winter!

There's much wider use of winter tyres in the US than here - and, again,
they're not drastically different in climate to Scandinavia. Most Scandis
manage quite happily with "normal cars", often 2wd.

You haven't seen the US idea of an "SUV", have you? Clue: We're not
talking Honda CR-V.

Good point. I got picked up from Newark Airport by a "limo" company in a
Ford Expedition. You could have fitted 12 people in it without great
effort.

I think the Chevy Suburban is so called because it's the size of a Suburb.

Why people don't commute by bike?
 

On 10 Aug 2010 10:33:47 GMT
Adrian wrote:
gurgled happily, sounding much like they were
saying:

Farmers and other countryside workers need 4x4s

Farmers managed to cope quite happily with Marina pickups when I was a
kid.

I guess it depends on the type of farm and where its located. A 2 wheel
drive road car won't be much use if you've got to transport some animal
feed to a field at the top of a hill on a snowy morning in january.

I grew up in the Peak District, not Cambridgeshire.

I don't care where you grew up. A 2 wheel drive road car ain't going up
a wet or snowy field at a steep incline no matter what you do to it so
I would suggest that the farmer you're thinking of probably used his tractor
for the difficult bits.

B2003