By far my biggest gripe about cycling communities is the apparent hatred towards cars. I like bikes and I like cars. One is a hobby and one is a form of transportation. Neither can replace the other. There are many people that don’t necessarily need a car but I’m not one of them.
EDIT: I truly don’t understand how you haters imagine I’m supposed to haul allthisstuff around with a bike.
It is pretty reductionist. Automobiles are a fun hobby, but there are unfortunately places where infrastructure decisions make them a requirement for transit.
EDIT: I truly don’t understand how you haters imagine I’m supposed to haul allthisstuff around with a bike.
This kind of thinking is why people buy/lease 2 ton F-150s, which only ever get used as a commuter and never really see a day of “hauling goods”. Same thinking behind massive crossovers and SUVs, with piss poor gas mileage and horrible road visbility. The only time you’ll see those off-road is in a driveway 🤦♂️
People who actually NEED to “haul” stuff will own a covered bed like the one you’ve shown, or even better a panel van/box van!
There are no haters here IMO, you just come across as a troll to me personally… occasionally there’s people who want to nuke cars out of existence but they’re a minority pretty much
This community is about reducing car dependency, not removing cars as a whole, especially in rural areas where they 110% make sense. A farmer isn’t going to replace their pickup with a cargobike, or their tractor with a fietscombine or whatever. In cities where there are more efficient ways to move huge volumes of people around, cars don’t make a lot of sense, just contributing to excess noise, traffic, and smog.
The way the US was rebuilt, and continues to build today, makes it difficult to actually have any alternatives to a car. Sprawling neighborhoods make buses not ideal, wide roads make speeding possible so unsafe for cycling, the low density of these areas make them very hard to justify putting train infrastructure nearby.
I think it’s a bit shit to be forced into owning a car, with all its requirements (insurance, maintenance, gas etc) instead of having at least some options open to you (bicycle, bus, train, and car)
Well it rubs many people the wrong way when they start the article by saying “one of the best ways to improve your life: Ditch your car.” as if that’s some kind of general life advice that applies to everyone. I literally could not do my job without a car. Maybe if I lived in a city and worked in office, then yeah, but I don’t.
Well it rubs many people the wrong way when people who are clearly not the addressee of an article walk into a room stating things like, “one is a hobby and one is a form of transportation” as if that’s some kind of general life advice that applies to everyone.
Maybe if you lived in a city and worked in office
It might come as a surprise to you, but that’s the vast majority of people.
Here is some general life advice: you are not the center of the universe, nobody is coming for your car, stop feeling addressed by things that clearly aren’t about you, stop wasting other people’s time with “well that wouldn’t work for me”.
I like bikes and I like cars but when your sole method of transport is a bike and every single day your life is threatened due to the stupidity, recklessness or inattentiveness of people driving then it really starts forcing you to be more and more anti cars.
It would be fine if people could drive in a safe, predictable manner like they should but they can’t, saving an extra ten seconds on their journey is more important than another road users safety and well being more often than not.
Not saying that the majority of cyclists are any better however, particularly casual cyclists. They will go through red lights, ride on pavements and generally cause a fucking nuissance of themselves by also not riding predictably and within the road laws. This in turn can annoy drivers causing them to in turn endanger cyclists lives further.
It’s an endless cycle perpetuated by the fact that most people can’t follow the basic rules of the road for their particular vehicle and thus move in a predictable and safe manner.
By far my biggest gripe about cycling communities is the apparent hatred towards cars. I like bikes and I like cars. One is a hobby and one is a form of transportation. Neither can replace the other. There are many people that don’t necessarily need a car but I’m not one of them.
EDIT: I truly don’t understand how you haters imagine I’m supposed to haul all this stuff around with a bike.
Yeah, you truly don’t understand that literally billions of people live lives different than yours.
If you live in a city and you don’t need a car but still have your life threatened daily by cars you will have a different perspective.
It’s nice that you have no issues with bikes. That’s like saying, “No I don’t mind you eating while I smoke”.
You’re the problem.
It is pretty reductionist. Automobiles are a fun hobby, but there are unfortunately places where infrastructure decisions make them a requirement for transit.
Yes. And in other places bikes are a viable mode of transport. That’s why “bikes are a hobby” is pretty reductionist.
Are there even hobby use cases for bikes? I’ve only seen them used for transport and sport; never are a hobby.
Funny to see your comment went over quite a few heads
This kind of thinking is why people buy/lease 2 ton F-150s, which only ever get used as a commuter and never really see a day of “hauling goods”. Same thinking behind massive crossovers and SUVs, with piss poor gas mileage and horrible road visbility. The only time you’ll see those off-road is in a driveway 🤦♂️
People who actually NEED to “haul” stuff will own a covered bed like the one you’ve shown, or even better a panel van/box van!
There are no haters here IMO, you just come across as a troll to me personally… occasionally there’s people who want to nuke cars out of existence but they’re a minority pretty much
This community is about reducing car dependency, not removing cars as a whole, especially in rural areas where they 110% make sense. A farmer isn’t going to replace their pickup with a cargobike, or their tractor with a fietscombine or whatever. In cities where there are more efficient ways to move huge volumes of people around, cars don’t make a lot of sense, just contributing to excess noise, traffic, and smog.
The way the US was rebuilt, and continues to build today, makes it difficult to actually have any alternatives to a car. Sprawling neighborhoods make buses not ideal, wide roads make speeding possible so unsafe for cycling, the low density of these areas make them very hard to justify putting train infrastructure nearby.
I think it’s a bit shit to be forced into owning a car, with all its requirements (insurance, maintenance, gas etc) instead of having at least some options open to you (bicycle, bus, train, and car)
Well it rubs many people the wrong way when they start the article by saying “one of the best ways to improve your life: Ditch your car.” as if that’s some kind of general life advice that applies to everyone. I literally could not do my job without a car. Maybe if I lived in a city and worked in office, then yeah, but I don’t.
Well it rubs many people the wrong way when people who are clearly not the addressee of an article walk into a room stating things like, “one is a hobby and one is a form of transportation” as if that’s some kind of general life advice that applies to everyone.
It might come as a surprise to you, but that’s the vast majority of people.
Here is some general life advice: you are not the center of the universe, nobody is coming for your car, stop feeling addressed by things that clearly aren’t about you, stop wasting other people’s time with “well that wouldn’t work for me”.
I like bikes and I like cars but when your sole method of transport is a bike and every single day your life is threatened due to the stupidity, recklessness or inattentiveness of people driving then it really starts forcing you to be more and more anti cars.
It would be fine if people could drive in a safe, predictable manner like they should but they can’t, saving an extra ten seconds on their journey is more important than another road users safety and well being more often than not.
Not saying that the majority of cyclists are any better however, particularly casual cyclists. They will go through red lights, ride on pavements and generally cause a fucking nuissance of themselves by also not riding predictably and within the road laws. This in turn can annoy drivers causing them to in turn endanger cyclists lives further.
It’s an endless cycle perpetuated by the fact that most people can’t follow the basic rules of the road for their particular vehicle and thus move in a predictable and safe manner.
I think a lot of the hostility towards cars comes from almost being killed by vehicles on a regular basis.
Or actually being killed.
taps finger on head
Can’t be angry if you’re dead.