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
    • rbesfe@lemmy.ca
      72·
      6 months ago

      Not true, winter biking really isn’t that bad and bikes are remarkably stable even on ice

      • spidermanchild@sh.itjust.works
        4·
        6 months ago

        What kind of ice are you riding on? Snow, even packed snow it usually ok, but turning/braking on ice is a disaster without studded tires. Source - I’ve crashed on ice several times despite being a very competent rider in all conditions for 3 decades.

      • AnUnusualRelic@lemmy.world
        41·
        6 months ago

        That’s my experience as well. I haven’t done it much (not much snow here) but I was always surprised at how easy it was even when all the cars seemed to have a really hard time.

      • pumpkinseedoil@sh.itjust.works
        4·
        6 months ago

        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.

        • Waryle
          2·
          6 months ago
          • 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.
          • pumpkinseedoil@sh.itjust.works
            1·
            6 months ago

            • Ty, always trying to improve my English. Comments like that are really helpful because noone corrects those things in real life, ig they assume they’re trivial.

            • Refer to my last sentence in the comment you replied to (no elevation, no sharp turns).

            • Even with spike tires you’ll struggle greatly as soon as you add elevation. But in one of the cities without elevation you’re correct, yes.

            • Of course it’d be stuck, but generally the situation is, at least in my country: It snows, there are for example 20 cm of fresh snow -> roads get cleaned -> there’s no / hardly any snow on the streets anymore. So the situation where you’d have to cycle on snow is when the snow is a bit deeper. If I really can’t wait for the roads to get cleaned (which happens very quickly so usually it’s no problem) I go by foot or use skis, depending on how much snow there is.

    • Nighed@feddit.ukEnglish
      1·
      6 months ago

      I really want to try though! Not dared to try on a road bike though…