Commuting via bike is good for cars and traffic, too

[oneofsix]

you are right but just about every car which has the capability to carry at least four persons has only one so a bike is better than a one personed car

yah, and if each of those four persons instead road a filthy GSX750....? then what Mr. Calculator..?

what four people? one car, one person, car at about 1/4 to 1/5 of its capacity, one bike one person bike at between 50 and 100% of its capacity. Bike takes up 1/4 or less of the road.

[Voltaire]

Whats the point of those articles.... do you really want car drivers getting motorcycles? Its not quite the same as " shall I take the car the bus or the train".... Its not like there is any Govt incentive.....quote the opposite.
I lived in London for some years, I had a work car, but mostly I'd take the bike or the tube...... fast forward 20 years I caught buses for 3 days when i got my new job and never again....they suck.
Ride the bike or scooter most days....mainly as you don't have to worry about congestion, but its fun.
This week riding a Norton Commando to work, right hand reverse change, crap brakes, kick start, 100% grin factor

[aimee]

Really? I commute about 16,000 miles each year. My rattly old 180k miles diesel Vauxhall Astra turned in about 55-60mpg, needed servicing about twice a year (and sometimes got it too), tyres last about 30k miles a set (at £250 for four).

My Bimmer costs the similar to insure, tyres are more expensive and wear out far more quickly, servicing is every 5k miles (and is more expensive), fuel (albeit petrol so a few pence a litre cheaper) about 45mpg.

Fair enough, you have an anomaly, there. My wee bike, for example, goes for over 200km on under $14 dollars of fuel. Our Peugeot 306...not so much. Hell, $14 only covers the BUS for two days, here

[aimee]

Whats the point of those articles.... do you really want car drivers getting motorcycles? Its not quite the same as " shall I take the car the bus or the train".... Its not like there is any Govt incentive.....quote the opposite.
I lived in London for some years, I had a work car, but mostly I'd take the bike or the tube...... fast forward 20 years I caught buses for 3 days when i got my new job and never again....they suck.
Ride the bike or scooter most days....mainly as you don't have to worry about congestion, but its fun.
This week riding a Norton Commando to work, right hand reverse change, crap brakes, kick start, 100% grin factor

Why would we not want more people using bikes, and fewer using cars?

[tbs]

Completely - the fuel (and car!) costs are way higher for a car than a motorbike, unless one's ferrying people around.

I had to stop using that excuse when I bought my 600. All of a sudden I was dropping a LOT more money on running it than I would on a car. (Totally worth it though).

I think that in a few years I'll convert it to a track weapon and get an electric motorbike for commuting.

[Tigadee]

Why would we not want more people using bikes, and fewer using cars?

He's worried this will happen:
http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/sh...nd-in-50-years

[arcane12]

Fair enough, you have an anomaly, there. My wee bike, for example, goes for over 200km on under $14 dollars of fuel. Our Peugeot 306...not so much. Hell, $14 only covers the BUS for two days, here

Really? I would have thought the GN would have got better feul economy - or is that lots of round town riding?

You say the tyre cost more, and last less. Are you saying you can't get two (that's full replacement) tyres for 250 pounds? And I don't mean composite race tyres, but standard cheapies, like you put on your car? What I am trying to point out, is you are not exactly comparing apples with apples here. A nice slow commute with a economical car driven efficiently, with a nice slow commute with an economical bike riden efficiently. Of course that bike will be able to use trasit lanes (depending on if there are any along the commute) which could mean less sitting in traffic, reducing fuel usage, tyre wear etc.

[Banditbandit]

Really? I commute about 16,000 miles each year. My rattly old 180k miles diesel Vauxhall Astra turned in about 55-60mpg, needed servicing about twice a year (and sometimes got it too), tyres last about 30k miles a set (at £250 for four).

My Bimmer costs the similar to insure, tyres are more expensive and wear out far more quickly, servicing is every 5k miles (and is more expensive), fuel (albeit petrol so a few pence a litre cheaper) about 45mpg.

Yeah - I've been commuting to work on bikes since sometime in the 1970s ... My last two commute bikes have cost as much as a car to run - if not more ... when I was commuting in Hawke's Bay my Bandit was costing $17 a day in gas and up to $10 a day in rubber ... (I killed a $300 back tyre in 3,000ks - at 110ks to work and home per day) ... the BMW was similar on gas ...

But fuck it's much more fun ... (And I've slowed down here - it's 1.5 ks to State Highway Two where I can't open the throttle as much as I used to without putting my licence at risk ... so it is cheaper to get to work than itr was in H/Bay ...)

[aimee]

Really? I would have thought the GN would have got better feul economy - or is that lots of round town riding?

Lots of around town driving, and it's also brand new, so still bedding in and all

As for the person/people saying that cars are more fuel efficient and cheaper than bikes - well, some links:
http://www.thebikeinsurer.co.uk/ridi...driving-a-car/
http://www.getbike.net/the-car-v-mot...-to-get-around
http://www.whybike.com/blog/index.php?p=150

But yes, we could actually fairly easily build an NZ-specific model - the trick is, quite simply, just to compare a bike and a car which are, well, comparable. Not a beast vs a an old heifer, basically

Of course, I think the point still remains that bikes use less fuel than do cars (generally, again, depending on the model, how they're ridden, etc), which is cheaper and means fewer emissions are produced, and traffic jams are shortened, all of which are a good thing. Of course, I do remain confused why someone on a motorbike forum seems to be pushing cars as the better form of transport.

[arcane12]

Not a good example as they are still somewhat apart, but I do a 80km commute (40 each way) with mostly open road stuff (15 minutes tops in 50km zones). I do similar speeds on bike as I do in the car. Overtaking only on the bike if I would have done the same in the car. It costs me around $8 on the 650, whereas my car might use $14 (I have yet to do a fill/drive/fill test)?

It's a 1990 Toyota Corolla, older than the bike by a fair whack, but if anything more technologically advanced. The Scorpio might have used $6 max. And I had to push it somewhat to get ... up to 100 lets say ... so it's efficiency was probably taking a bit of a whack.

[Scuba_Steve]

A UK study a short while ago but buried quickly was that trains are the worst offenders of all when it comes to energy efficiency. It was better to put all commuters into cars.

I think over here & OZ it's buses that take top prize, but trains aren't much better.
Also a study showed theres only 1 [passenger] train system in the world that pays for itself & it's in India where it's fine to sit on the roof or hang off the back & sides.

[cheshirecat]

I know an empty London Underground train takes about 5 megawatts just to get it rolling, which is slightly more than my V4.

[ducatilover]

Completely - the fuel (and car!) costs are way higher for a car than a motorbike, unless one's ferrying people around.

Yes and no. A Dihatsu Mira may be a cheaper car to drive than most small bikes (cheaper to run over 50,000km than my VT250 was anyway, by a lot)

Your Astra has the performance of a typical 200cc motorcycle. Your BMW has the performance of a V8.

Hardly a fair comparison.

Compare your Astra with a CB125.

CB 125 will get 100 mpg, can do all legally required speeds, will need 800cc of oil every 5000km as opposed to 5l every 10000 in your Astra.

It Used around 1/10th of the resources of the Astra to be made, and will need about 1/10th of the resources to be disposed of.

It doesnt have a catalystic converter or diesel particulate filter, but its irrelevant, as they (if fitted) have long stopped working on your Astra, and even when new they only worked when fully hot - so likely never for commuter cars doing a 10km trip.

So by comparison bikes rock !

+2
But logic doesn't win, my ZX6 costs more to run than a 1600cc Corolla, ergo bikes suck?
I do love to tell people bikes are cheap though, because it makes me look like less of a hooligan (although I imagine my beige Volvo 850 might help with appearances)

[oneofsix]

Yes and no. A Dihatsu Mira may be a cheaper car to drive than most small bikes (cheaper to run over 50,000km than my VT250 was anyway, by a lot)



+2
But logic doesn't win, my ZX6 costs more to run than a 1600cc Corolla, ergo bikes suck?
I do love to tell people bikes are cheap though, because it makes me look like less of a hooligan (although I imagine my beige Volvo 850 might help with appearances)

yeah but your Mira still takes up a unit of space in congested traffic whereas your bike doesn't have to so your bike spends less time polluting AND helps the Mira driver get off the road quicker, likewise the Corolla or any other car.

[ducatilover]

yeah but your Mira still takes up a unit of space in congested traffic whereas your bike doesn't have to so your bike spends less time polluting AND helps the Mira driver get off the road quicker, likewise the Corolla or any other car.

But my bikes also emit moar greenhousey gassey shits.

I do think more bikes is a great idea, perhaps it would increase the general driver's ability to see us