BBC: Cycle 'to save cash, not planet'

downfader

boybiker wrote:

Interestingly and I am sure this will ENRAGE the enviro-mentalists but according to something I read in new scientist magazine cyclists actually produce as much carbon dioxide as a modern family saloon mile for mile.
Happily I don't believe a word of the enviro-toss anyway so I do it because its fun.

Curiously the NS site went and died when you mentioned that

Carbon out put during manufacture for a bike is about 1/8th that of a full car iirc. Maintenance-wise its a LOT less, and running it compared to a car is zero. Pretty worthwhile riding a bike imo.

I dont do it for the envronment though. I do it because my job pays c*** money for what I have to do and the bus costs a fortune (£3 a ticket per small journey). I have begun thinking of my health more lately though.

linsen

it takes an enormous effort for me to cycle to work. Takes more time, poor facilities when I get there, I have to plan in advance so I don't bring work home or have to take work there (I'm a teacher), and I have to parade through a secondary school with my bike looking decidedly the worse for wear (Southampton to Winchester - if you know the area you'll know it's uphill all the way!) The only place I can keep my bike is in our store room up a flight of stairs.
I do it because I LOVE IT!!!!! I'm now at the point where I resent getting in a car - makes me feel so lazy

attica

Another for all of the above, also I use it as training to make me faster at the weekends, not quite the same as "for health benefits"

Kyrotek

I chose health benefits but fun is right behind it but I know there are other reasons. Financial is a good one but the setup costs take a while to recoup despite cycle to work schemes which I am on. Possibly I only realised what else I would need to ride my bike safely and comfortably after getting out on it for a couple of weeks like clipless pedals and shoes, a decent backpack, proper clothing etc. Then the bug hit and the wife wanted one with a trailer for the children, closely followed by a second bike for me!

Now I have been riding a while I sometimes wonder what the hell I was thinking commuting by bike with the idiots on the road but similarly when I drive the car all I do is glance enviously at the cyclists. The weekends are the payoff when you notice the increased stamina, speed and strength have been building up when you ride purely for yourself.

knight2k

It's fun was my primary answer. However all the rest, apart from time saving, are happy by-products of cycling.

singlespeedexplosif

all of the above.

Advantages:

1) I get 10 hours training in, in time which would otherwise be wasted.
2) It's quicker to cycle my commute than drive or get the train.
3) I save a fair chunk of cash (Daily saving: £6.50 train fare minus whatever 2 bananas cost. Don't even want to think what it would cost to run a car)
4) I get to eat more
5) I get a nice de-stress before and after work
6) I am healthier than I would be. Partly because I exercise lots, and partly because I don't spend 2.5 hours each day in an enclosed space with lots of miserable grey people, being coughed on by some imbecile who has decided to share his/her cold with the rest of the carriage.
7) I'm causing less environmental pollution (apart from post-curry rides) than that fat slob in his car who tries to kill me most mornings
8 ) Even in the worst weather, I arrive at work happier and drier than all those poor fools who have stood on a platform in the rain/sleet/snow/wind waiting for a train which may or may not turn up, depending on whether the driver fancied a lie-in or not.
(edit - why on earth did my 8 turn into a child's drawing of a smiling face?)

Downsides:
1) That fat slob in his car who tries to kill me most mornings
2) erm..that's about it.

girv73

singlespeedexplosif wrote:

4) I get to eat more

Now THAT I can relate to

dirk_van_gently

boybiker wrote:

Interestingly and I am sure this will ENRAGE the enviro-mentalists but according to something I read in new scientist magazine cyclists actually produce as much carbon dioxide as a modern family saloon mile for mile.

Research no doubt paid for by a car manufacturer.
CO2 is only a small part of what comes out of a car exhaust, carbon monoxide, Nitrogen dioxide, and loads of other lovely stuff to poison us.

dav1

I cant vote in this poll unless you add an all of the above option.