apparently my city literally literally banned public rail funding, and people online love jerking off about how good biking is, so i figured might as well try. I have come up with:
pros:
- good for mental health / exercise / endorphins
- arguably quaint
- feel like an old timey guy taking his wares to market
- feel european
- can annoy others
- less of a police state around them vs cars
- more flexible parking, routes
- capacity to be peaceful
- nice in summer
cons:
- look like an annoying dork (esp w neon - which also hurts the quaint factor)
- have to wear a helmet (^)
- getting sweaty, potentially “unpresentable” for work
- still have to find safe parking
- still takes a while
- have to find new routes to places
- can’t listen to music or might die
- little meaningful protection against severe injury
- can only carry so many groceries/etc
- sucks in winter
At 06:25 they explain that 35% of the people use special wheels with nails, so that’s different of course (they also use such rails for the winter triathlon (running (with spikes), cycling (with spike wheels), cross country skiing)).
With such wheels it for sure is safer, if someone wants to go cycling in winter that’s definitely the way to go. But if there are 20 cm of fresh snow you’ll still get stuck, you need clean roads like in the video. If the roads are clean (at 09:20 they say that the roads are clean 24h per day, max. 2 cm of snow, absolutely highest they let it go is 4 cm but that’s the exception, they also have an app that shows snow levels on each street in real time) and there’s no elevation and no sharp turns it even works with normal tires, but that’s rarely the case.
- Those are tires, not wheels.
- 35% which uses them means that 65% don’t use them.
- You said “no matter gear you have”, so you can’t use that point.
- With 20cm of fresh snow, even a normal car would be stuck. But if you tell me that you use a special car (a pick-up for example), I will argue that you can use a special bike (such as a fat bike) and roll with it without problem.
Not true, winter biking really isn’t that bad and bikes are remarkably stable even on ice
Get spike wheels and stay on clean roads, if there’s too much fresh snow you’ll get stuck. Avoid elevation! And obviously avoid sharp turns
Or use one of these (only downhill) https://images.app.goo.gl/A1NitHgRBS3Qanza7 You can rent them in most ski resorts (at least in Austria)
