General Cycling Discussion - Basic transportation: bikes vs. cars

Awrite. Basic transportation, bikes vs. cars. Any takers?

Allow me:

1) Cars stink.

2) Cars are money pits.

3) Cars make you fat.

Before I eat all this cake, does anyone else want enny?

OK!

4. You have to be liscened to drive them.

5. You have to be insured to drive them.

6. They make you lazy.

7. It requires a new set of knowledge to maintain them.

8. More people die from them than anything else I can think of.

W.I.P.

9. they are no fun

10. they put you on edge (that explains all the road rage)

11. cyclists are smarter

Anything else?

Chris

12. They isolate you from the sounds of the world you drive through.
13. When you do sneak up on wildlife in a car it usually causes a trip to the auto body shop.
14. You can only feel gales of wind in your face in a car, no gentle breezes.
15. You have to listen to the traffic report to avoid getting stuck in the traffic you are already in, so you also have to listen to a bunch of ads.
16. Cars use more oil in one oil change than a bike does in it's whole career, even if you lube the chain weekly.

17. With a bike, you can't just buy more speed with cash, you have to earn it with hard work and training.

18. It's easier to fix your own bike than to fix your own car (and cheaper, cheaper, cheaper).

19. Your bike could easily outlast your car (and the next car, and the next one...)

20. You can't park your car inside the building.

21. Your kids can't spill ice cream on your bike seat, and if they did, you could just wipe it off.

:)

22. Bikes allow me to strive to be the out-of-the-ordinary-insane person that I want to be someday.

23. Current cars are difficult to work on. The last car that I was able to do an oil change was 20 years old. New cars seem to be made so you can't even shove dental floss in any space around the engine.

24. You don't see to many people in cars saying "hi" or "good morning" to total strangers while you're out on the road. (Cruising on the boulevard, doesn't count .)

25. When was the last time you heard someone complain that people should drive more and be out on the roads?

26. A car doesn't allow me to splurge on decadent chocolate cakes without any remorse. (Okay, except for that time my car broke down, and I had to help push it over to the side.) :D

Originally posted by technogirl
22. Bikes allow me to strive to be the out-of-the-ordinary-insane person that I want to be someday.
I'm already there, baby.

23. Current cars are difficult to work on. The last car that I was able to do an oil change was 20 years old. New cars seem to be made so you can't even shove dental floss in any space around the engine.
Do tell.

24. You don't see to many people in cars saying "hi" or "good morning" to total strangers while you're out on the road. (Cruising on the boulevard, doesn't count .)
But "mooning" counts for something.

25. When was the last time you heard someone complain that people should drive more and be out on the roads?
Only when my wife wants me to go get some milk.

26. A car doesn't allow me to splurge on decadent chocolate cakes without any remorse. (Okay, except for that time my car broke down, and I had to help push it over to the side.) :D
Chocolate? Who said, "chocolate?" :cool:

27) Bikes allow you to find lost kids while everybody else is searching for them in cars (this happened just tonight and I am the big neighborhood hero!).

28) Bikes help you find cool stuff on the road like tools, diamonds, forgotten soft drinks, and even abandoned cars.

29) Bikes give some fellers a legitimate reason to shave their legs.

30) Bicyclists can wash and wax their vehicles and still have time to enjoy the rest of the day.

31) Bicyclists can take a shower with their vehicle.

Originally posted by mike
31) Bicyclists can take a shower with their vehicle.
Yes! Nothing beats a good ride around the tub!

I am so glad Mike has brought up this often misunderstood and neglected subject. But I will not
waste words. Try it, you'll like it! (Take it from me, I like to ride my bike in the tub wearing my Sumo thong!)

:thumbup:

32. Cars work only on one type of fuel (Which does not taste good either)

33. When cars break down, one cannot leave them to re-contruct themselves in bed for a few days.

34. When compared to the human machine, automotive engines look sheepishly stupid

peace :)

claude

Originally posted by mike

31) Bicyclists can take a shower with their vehicle.

Hmm...well, i haven't tried this one yet, but if it's worth scaring away the neighborhood kids, well, then, I'm in! :p

35. i can't afford a car...so why bother

36. Bicycle in living room requires a DOOR!
Car in the living room requires LARGE HOLE in the
side of your house!
:beer:

Originally posted by Hobbitt
36. Bicycle in living room requires a DOOR!
Car in the living room requires LARGE HOLE in the
side of your house!
:beer:

You're right, bud! Never thought of that one.

37. You can't carry your car up the stairs at a train station and board the train, carrying it with you.

:beer:

38) You can weave thru traffic and piss off everyone when you pass the traffic jam with a bike, you cant with a car. Well you could I guess, but I think there would be some jail time involved.
Additional benefit: if someone has their head out the window being rude, you can dope-slap them while riding past.

39) The music in my head beats anything on the car's radio.

40) The talk show in my head is also better, because I always agree with the host.

41) When I get gas the people around me pay for it.

42. When my bike needs professional service I can put it on top of the car and take it to my LBS. But I haven't figured out how to get the car to a mechanic on my bike without crushing the bike :confused:

43. Most policemen won't give you a ticket for speeding on your bike. Not so with a car.

Ron

44) If you give a girl a ride on your bike, she will be holding on to you whether she likes you or not.

45) Auto drivers don't get to enjoy the Fraternity of Bicyclists special "Feels for Wheels" greeting. (See the "Advocacy and Safety" Discussion group: "Does anybody ride in worse conditions?" thread posted by Claude. See the responses by Pete and me for details on this groovy new expression of bicycling unity)

46. Cars are good ? at magic tricks..they turn people into a$$holes..when they get behind the wheel !!

47. Fewer distractions like chatting on cell phone, tuning radio, reading the paper, drinking coffee, shaving, putting on makeup, styling hair. Stupid driver trick, true story: Driving on the interstate one morning while still dark I noticed in my rearview mirror a pickup overtaking quite fast with its inside (dome) light on. As the guy whizzed by at about 80 mph, I realized he had a newspaper spread out over the steering wheel, holding paper and wheel with left hand, and was holding a mug of coffee in his right hand. I slowed down a little to let him get FAR ahead.

48. Momentary concentration lapse on a bike gets you a road rash. Momentary concentration lapse in a car can kill, either you or someone else.

Pete Clark, you need rest. You missed an opportunity. Mike as hero, yet again. :)

Welcome to the newcomers who have contributed to this thread. Let us hear more from you. As you can see from Pete Clark's and Rainman's (ie, me :cool: ) posts, it is not necessary to actually have anything worthwhile or intelligent to say. :D

Originally posted by RainmanP
Welcome to the newcomers who have contributed to this thread. Let us hear more from you. As you can see from Pete Clark's and Rainman's (ie, me :cool: ) posts, it is...necessary to...have anything worthwhile or intelligent to say. :D
49. We cyclists trust each other completely and love the cycling community unconditionally; motorists seem to distrust one another implicitly and hate their own kind with a universally vehement passion.
50. I don't know of any popular "MotoringForums.com," and if I did, I would send it a virus.

If you try to maintain a decent cadence in a car, it makes you drive real jerky.

Moderator! Moderator! I protest! Pete Clark is quoting me out of context again to make it look like I said something respectful and intelligent!

Jon, love the cadence thing. I can just picture it.

51. It doesnt cost $2.20 per gallon of gas to ride a bike

52. Riding bikes allow for some cool tan lines.

53. Chicks dig scars---well some do if theres a good story behind it.
And the Best Reason

54. Chicks dig shaved legs--well most do :thumbup:

Originally posted by RainmanP
...Pete Clark is quoting me...again...I said something respectful and intelligent...

Servus!

Had to get in on this one....

55. The last time I went riding and some other rider rode very close in front of me I had no uncontrollable urge to follow him for twenty miles to shoot him! In fact, I was quite happy to draft him for awhile.

56. "Low fuel prices" means bananas were on sale at the grocery store.

57. Traffic jam? What's that...

58. No state requrement to have liability insurance for your bike.

59. Never again having to worry about finding a parking spot.

Originally posted by Ranger
56. "Low fuel prices" means bananas were on sale at the grocery store.

Man, that's too funny. Ranger, I bet all those responses
were like, right on the tip of your tongue!
:beer:

60. One actually notices and enjoys the hills on a bike.

Chris

61. You would never meet a wild man like Chris L while driving a car, at least, you wouldn't get to talk to him!

AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHH! Chris L! :D

Originally posted by Chris L
60. One actually notices and enjoys the hills on a bike.

Chris

Notice, yes...

Originally posted by Buddy Hayden
46. Cars are good ? at magic tricks..they turn people into a$$holes..when they get behind the wheel !!
It's true. I grow fangs and hair all over...

47. If I drive, I enjoy it less, but the trip is shorter, which helps a little.

48. If I cycle, I enjoy it more and the trip is longer, which helps a lot.

49. If I walk, the trip is even longer and I still enjoy it,
until I get home an hour late, then the enjoyment vanishes.

Originally posted by Little5_Fan


53. Chicks dig scars---well some do if theres a good story behind it.





62. GUYS dig scars--in the right places--and if there's a good biking story behind it.

Sigh... My only good scar is from having 1/3 of my stomach removed. But I guess I could always claim it was from a handlebar that had lost the little protective thingie from the end.

Is the left knee a good place to have scars? I've got two there. I hope they don't decide to dig them though, that would be painful.

Chris

63. Motoring primates can't sneak up on me as easily as I can sneak up on them.

64. I can also sneak up on cats, dogs, squirrels and **** sapiens. Gives me a feeling of power (and some guilt).

65. I can't seem to sneak up on other cyclists.
:confused:

66. I hate sneaking up on red lights (a motoring primate advantage).

Originally posted by Jean Beetham Smith
12. They isolate you from the sounds of the world you drive through...
16. Cars use more oil in one oil change than a bike does in it's whole career, even if you lube the chain weekly.
It's perhaps these two differences between bikes and cars that really make cars appear evil.

If man wages war with nature, who do you think will win?

67. Cars are eating up our island planet faster than anything else in human history. I am beginning to thank God that there is a limited supply of oil...
68. Everything paved over is lost for at least one lifetime...perhaps forever.
69. Cycling solves more problems than it creates.

Originally posted by Pete Clark

If man wages war with nature, who do you think will win?

67. Cars are eating up our island planet faster than anything else in human history. I am beginning to thank God that there is a limited supply of oil...
68. Everything paved over is lost for at least one lifetime...perhaps forever.
69. Cycling solves more problems than it creates.

Nature ALWAYS wins. It's mankind's greatest folly to think that "domination" of nature is possible.

Re: 67--I'm really not a mean-spirited person, but I have this fantasy of the last barrel of oil being used up in my lifetime, and somehow celebrating.

Re: 68--It makes me want to weep when I see vast tracts where affordable housing stood as recently as a year or two ago in this city, now turned into paved parking lots for chain stores. Low-income inhabitants uprooted; the environment dealt another body-blow. Government at work.

Re:69--Yes!

70. i've never lost the title to a bike

and now one for the cars:

1. cars come in a choice of colors, most bikes do not

Originally posted by thbirks
1. cars come in a choice of colors, most bikes do not
Well, the guy's from "Cartopia," cut him a little slack.

70. i've never lost the title to a bike

and now one for the cars:

1. cars come in a choice of colors, most bikes do not

Originally posted by thbirks

1. cars come in a choice of colors, most bikes do not

Surely that was a piece of sarcasm. My LBS has got frames in all sorts of weird spanky colours (some of which I wouldn't be seen dead in).

Chris

Sorry for the double posting. No, i wasn't really being sarcastic. although, sarcasm is a hobby of mine. What i meant was that most models of bikes aren't offered with a choice of colors. My bike for instance, a Bianchi BaSS, was only made in a bright apple green color. i couldn't have gotten it in another color. i think that a bike shop employee might laugh if i asked "What other colors does this bike come in?" Sure if you buy a custom made bike you can have a choice of colors, but those make up a small percentage of bikes sold.

Cars on the other hand come in a myriad of colors. even with the cheapest car i can think of you have a choice of colors.

This must be because cars are all about style while bikes are about substance.