Originally Posted by
Retro Grouch
Check out "Scientific American" from around 1970-1973. They had an interesting article that was exactly on point. Compared to bicycling the efficiency all other means of transportation (including walking) SUCKS!
Dude! I remember that article! It mentioned that the only living system that outperformed the energy-to-motion numbers of a human on a bike was a falcon squashed up into dart shaped bomb and diving eyeballs first* straight down at 120 mph. Mind, headfirst Hail Marys into a gravity hole are not real practical means of human transport unless one's goal is a man-shaped depression in a soybean field.
To No1mad, notwithstanding your teacher's "effeciency" requirement and the intellectual limitation that forces on the whole "bikes as transportation" argument, you may want to include some of the myriad other issues that go into that calculus: freight weight limitations, safety, comfort, sweat in the workplace, clothes changing facilities, office attitudes, bike security, and a bezillion other things discussed up in the Commuting forum.
* - If you've ever seen the skeleton of these guys, a striking adaptation is their bone-reinforced eye lens to keep the eyes from distorting during a dive.