Rain, ice and severe cold are a removed. I like bicycles, but driving to work in a heated car looking at that poor cyclist riding somewhere at 6 in the morning at -6°C, sorry, no, I'm gonna go with a car.
this post was submitted on 23 Feb 2025
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If the weather is bad enough, I will take transit instead, but cycling down to -10 C is doable without any problems.
I will be far less inclined to bike if it's raining, that I do hate with a passion. Of course, I could just work from home in that scenario as well, if I don't feel like taking transit
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They might be inexpensive where you live. I've paid more than half of my paycheck for my bicycle, and it's one of cheaper ones.
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Bikes were and still are a revolutionary technology. There's a reason suffragettes were often associated with bicycles.
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Because there's no Microcenter in my city.
But what if i need to commute 600 miles to work and back every day and on top of that once a year I drive a million miles to my vacation home? Checkmate!
I would get another job. :D
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I live in rural Norway up in the mountain side. We have wind, snow, ice and rain like hell, and I have ~150 elevation to get to the main road to get anywhere.
... I'm still considering getting a bike for all the mentioned benefits.
Don’t forget that maintenance is super cheap AND most people, with only the most basic tools, can do the work in their living room or even just on a sidewalk. And if I don’t get it right and the brakes don’t work perfectly I probably won’t fuckin’ die.
Hi, car owner here. I do all the work myself and it requires a fair bit of knowledge, expensive tools, space, and a childhood where I was never told I couldn’t do that work if I was thoughtful about it. That’s a high fuckin’ bar and requires a whole lot of privilege-oh there it is, too many people with privilege like to shit on those without and most of North America has dogshit for public transit or bike infrastructure and the “freedom of movement” with a car is all there but heavily artificial. Thanks auto industry and their lobbyists.
I do my own bicycle and auto repair, and the bicycle is way easier. Maintenance is:
- clean chain every so often (500 miles or start of the season) - get a chain cleaner tool thing ($10-20) and 50/50 Simple Green ($10 will last many years) and water, and then rinse, dry, and lube ($10 lasts years) - total process, 10 min?
- replace chain - $20 or so, plus a tool for $10 or so; do every 2k miles or so
- replace brake pads - $10-20
- tires ($50 for a fancy fire) and tubes ($10) - replace tires when bald, tubes when flat (or patch them), and get some tire levers ($5-10) to make it easier
For tools, you need a wrench set, and probably only like 2-3 sizes.
My yearly maintenance costs for all of our bikes (1 adult, two kids) combined is about $50. If that. You could also go to your local bike shop instead for about double that.
Also this is a healthy maintence regime. In my experience most cyclists do nothing on that list except swapping flat tubes and their bikes still ride just fine, if not merely sub-optimally.
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A bicycle gives you freedom of lightweight activities within a few miles of your home. You want to play baritone sax in the band 25 miles away? It's not happening with a bike.
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Cuz putting on a raincoat or some warm clothes is too much for these weak ass people.
Well... that said, I've recently ridden by bike, and during the last few kilometers I barely could move one of my fingers, because I didn't wear any kind of gloves or coat. It was cold as shit, but I still enjoyed the ride in the end, lol.
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I get the sentiment, but a raincoat isn't enough on its own. Sure, if you've got a 5 minute commute, you can get there quickly and spend minimal time in the rain.
A 20 minute commute in the pissing rain and you will be arriving soaked from head to toe. Not ideal for most. Yeh if you can shower at work then great, but then you've still got wet clothes you need to dry.
I'm very lucky that I have a 5 minute ride to work, all downhill, so unless the weather is biblical, I don't really have an excuse for taking the car.
I'm very lucky that I have a 5 minute ride to work, all downhill
That ride home though.
Yeah....
sounds like a great workout to destress from the day followed up with a nice shower at home
In The Nederlands people bike to school, which can be a bike ride of more than an hour away.
A raincote is not enough, but a rainsuit will do the job.
My issue with biking to work is the sweat …