05-13-2023, 12:06 AM
(This post was last modified: 05-13-2023, 12:06 AM by danbrotherston.)
(05-12-2023, 06:53 PM)tomh009 Wrote:(05-12-2023, 12:11 PM)ac3r Wrote: Here's a good article on how bicycle manufacturing is not - at the moment anyway - sustainable. Note, the website uses solar power and may go offline at times.
https://solar.lowtechmagazine.com/2023/0...again.html
Interesting. But pulling CO2 numbers from different studies (with different methodologies) does not provide a valid comparison.
In addition, he is focused on high-end road bikes (carbon fibre etc) rather than the commuter/hybrid variety that is by far the most common in the world.
Proprietary components? Yes, increasingly so. But the same thing has happened with cars, with phones, sound systems and so on. I don't think one can prevent that from happening.
I remember reading this article, I think it was posted in the NJBs subreddit, it seemed to be pretty weak...bicycles as remarkably efficient. Even the most wasteful bike (carbon fiber ebike) is going to be vastly better than a car, and as you say, those bikes aren't car replacements, they're toys, bicycles which replace cars are generally sturdy aluminum or steel bikes.
As for proprietary parts, yes and no...they don't have the best standardization, but there is no vendor locks (outside of ebikes from Bosch) and replacement parts are readily available. The idea that bicycles have a repair-ability issue also seemed very silly.
Honestly, it seemed like the author was being...a bit...reactionary...probably cycling is now a bit too mainstream for some counter culture folks (and a server powered by solar with no grid connection just screams counter culture)