Changing your biking habits cos of climate change

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

If you want to limit smog locally then electric or hydrogen vehicles would help, but realistically you're still burning fossil fuels in power stations elsewhere, and with efficiency losses at each stage of delivery. Globally you're still putting the same quantity of pollutants into the atmosphere so EVs aren't addressing climate change. A reduction in journeys is what's required but we've built a globe dependent on mobility. EV's main contribution might be to force us to reduce the distances we travel!

[chickenstrip]

I think it's a ridiculous idea to be concerned about changing your biking habits due to climate change. If you banned all motorcycles overnight, how much of a contribution would that make in fixing the 'problem'? Not much, biking being a comparatively niche activity anyway.
____________________
Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE!

[Robby]

The Indian-made electric bike is very interesting to me, particularly after the Enfield Himalayan. That was released at an absolute bargain price in India, but by the time it got over here it was still very cheap, and the quality of the export models was higher. This means the same thing may happen for the electric bike.

I don't expect to see the claimed range out of it, but I don't need to. It's a bike for city commuters who want the power of a commuter bike (it is claimed that electric bikes feel more powerful, so a 30hp electric bike should feel like a 50hp petrol one). It should also be the price of a commuter bike - £5-6k OTR by the time it get here. If you live in a flat you can take the batteries upstairs to charge every other day. It only needs a range of 60 dependable miles for that use case, with the possibility of 100 miles ridden gently in perfect conditions.

EVs, and electric bikes, are addressing climate change - just in a fairly small way. This is why policy-level action is needed. The big impact at an individual level is that people who are actively reducing their emissions in one area tend to do so in other areas. So an electric car driver is more likely to insulate their home, have a more efficient boiler, and fly less (although electric car owners tend to be richer, so flying "less" is still flying a lot more than most people).

Also, the grid is not wholly run on fossil fuels so your EV is emitting less than burning petrol, even taking into account transmission losses. Fossil fuel vehicles do not have the thermal efficiency of a power station. The whole-car efficiency is even worse - unless you have a hybrid, then all of the energy from braking and decelerating is just being turned into heat, where an electric car harvests as much as it can back into the batteries.

Electric vehicles are cleaner. They have all kinds of drawbacks - cost, range, recharge time, depreciation, availability, styling - but they do very well on emissions, reliability and driving experience. All of the other problems will improve over time.

[Easy-X]

30hp... feels like 50hp!

The peak power is the peak power however you usually get the peak power straight away with electric rather than a power band higher up the RPMs. The 30hp electric bike may be quicker off the blocks but it can't actually be faster than a 50hp ICE.
____________________
Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[chickenstrip]

[Polarbear]

[Bhud]

It's like comparing a Rolex Oyster, or even a Russian mechanical Sekonda, with a Casio digital. Completely different technologies, and worlds apart. The Casio is lighter, much more accurate than even the best mechanicals, and has lots of features. It can even be bought as a very robust version. However, it will not give the user the same pleasure. On paper, being accurate to the point of a couple of seconds a month sounds good. However, in the real world you don't need or use that level of performance in accuracy. The utility argument can only go so far. Why buy a house in Surrey if you can but a cheaper one with more space in the middle of Luton. The Luton one has better public transport links too.
Utility doesn't mean level of utilitarian benefit, in economics. It's far more subjective than that. The Rolex buyer, or the Chinese Sea-Gull buyer, attaches value to intangible benefits, which compound the level of utility in the product far more than potentialities that may thworetically lie vested in the product but which may never be fully, or even meaningfully, exploited. The technology that has centuries of development within it demands a greater level of consumer involvement and participation. The whirrings of all those little gears, the periodic visits to the watch dealer for servicing and, ultimately, the expression of individual taste and choice, cannot be found anywhere in a Casio digital. The mechanical watch user can see, feel and hear their experience. It's sensual. It also connects them to a time and place. They can know exactly where and when it was made, and how it works.

An ICE bike is the same. The user chooses particular roads, which can be taken at, say, 90mph max, because of conditions and other vehicles. This experience is bundled with the smell, vibration, sound and touch. The hearing is linked with clutch, foot and throttle. Can this user be satisfied with a sitting atop a twist-and-go? No, not in the same way. I have a vacuum cleaner. That has an electric motor. The manufacturer has put a smiley face on it. That's all the character it will ever have.

[chickenstrip]

[lilredmachine]

Electric vehicles are a novelty, they will quickly become boring.

It's fun wacking the throttle in a Tesla, because it's a Tesla. At the moment they are an oddity and there isn't much out here that will go like a Tesla. But eventually, when everything out there is like a Tesla, and they all go like a Tesla, sound like a Tesla... It's going to be fucking boring.

Due to the souless nature of electric motors, pressing or twisting the throttle in one feels like pressing the throttle in another - how much of this feeling you get will depend on how powerful the motor is - but the feeling will be the same. They will also sound the same, not the cacophony of different sounds we have today.

The torque curve of an electric motor is just that - 'THE' torque curve. It's not alterable by changing cams/fueling or even configuration. It's just physics.

It is easy to envisage an electric bike that can hang with an RSV4, I know what electric technology can do better than most, but just like racing high end electric RC cars running brushless and LIPO in the BRCA, it's nowhere near as fun as a nitro motor on song or as involved in the tuning department.

The RSV4 will always have 'that' sound.

It's a sad time coming. Think of it a bit like the bloke asking the doctor whether if he gave up drinking, smoking and sex did he think he could get another ten years of life, and the doctor replying 'Why would you want another ten years of life if you can't do any of that?'



I do think this is a genuine point though. If you are a genuine -I'll avoid the term petrolhead- vehicle fanatic, I don't really understand how you can be enthused about a time when they run a percentage cleaner, but regardless of what make/model you end up with they will all be essentially the same to drive in terms of powertrain characteristics.
____________________
Bikes: too many, too much for one man to maintain anyway.

[Ste]

The "immense" rise in sales of high-emission sports utility vehicles means they now outsell electric cars in the UK by 37 to one, research has found.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50713616

[Ribenapigeon]

Tldr.
Saw this and thought I would have one if i had the cash and a garage with mains power. Will enevitably get cheaper in coming years if only because mechanically they're simpler to make and battery tech will improve.

https://youtu.be/kAkj7Uor4Cs

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

[chickenstrip]

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

[Ribenapigeon]

[chickenstrip]

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

[chickenstrip]

[Kawasaki Jimbo]

[chickenstrip]

Sorry, messing about too much with edits tonight

I don't believe anyone
____________________
Chickenystripgeezer's Biking Life (Latest update 19/10/18) Belgium, France, Italy, Austria tour 2016 Picos de Europa, Pyrenees and French Alps tour 2017 Scotland Trip 1, now with BONUS FEATURE edit, 5/10/19, on page 2 Scotland Trip 2 Luxembourg, Black Forest, Switzerland, Vosges Trip 2017
THERE'S MILLIONS OF CHICKENSTRIPS OUT THERE!

[lilredmachine]

[lilredmachine]

[chickenstrip]

[Easy-X]

I haven't ridden a proper electric motorcycle yet but I know ebikes and while the torque at launch is quite something the throttle just goes from zero to 11 and that is all: no gears, no clutch, no art, no skill - much like a scooter with a CVT.
____________________
Husqvarna Vitpilen 401, Yamaha XSR700, Honda Rebel, Yamaha DT175, Suzuki SV650 (loan) Fazer 600, Keeway Superlight 125, 50cc turd scooter

[Polarbear]