cooker

I don't at all think you failed! Sorry if that was my inadvertent message. Clearly you enjoy biking and use your bike a lot. However if your useage is limited by concerns about bike theft, getting more of a throwaway second bike could give you even more opportunities to bike.

tandempower

You basically presented yourself as failing, or rather not wanting to succeed, when you started wholly rejecting ideas for overcoming hurdles and/or not coming up with your own. You see, when you are trying to do something, if you really want to succeed, you put mental effort into figuring out potential paths forward, you then identify bottlenecks for achieving those paths, and say what has to change for success to happen, whether that change needs to come from you or outside you.

You basically said the infrastructure was lacking and that was your defeat. You didn't even post any ideas you have for better infrastructure, or ways that you could better deal with the current infrastructure better. I suggested getting an older bike so you wouldn't worry as much about not being able to lock it to something fixed, and you just dismissed that, whereas this is something many people do in many areas, even Dutch cities where biking may be the dominant mode.

It seems like your point here is to get validation for e-assist bikes as being better than cars, even if they're not as 'pure' as non-assist bikes. I would say you're inviting an argument from people who don't like e-assist bikes for whatever reason. If you want to ride one and you feel better about it than driving for whatever reason(s), you can just say so and tell your reasons without sounding apologetic toward LCFers as judges of what's better or worse regarding vehicles.

Everyone has different reasons for favoring or disliking particular modes. I favor pedaling because I see motors as robbing me of the opportunity to get exercise. Someone else might see them as a way to speed up a long trip or make it over steep hills they don't want to push their bike up on foot.

wolfchild

Just because you can't LCF doesn't mean that your whole life is a failure....It simply means that LCF is impractical in your location. Yeah so what ??
Anybody who says that you failed at LCF hasn't got a clue what they talking about...let one of them LCF'ers who live in a city move up to Northern Canada and see how practical LCF would be for them.

350htrr

I was just replying to the "What's worth the distance, car-free?" from the point of view of a person trying to be car light... Thus my motivation is way less than a person who is car-free... and was pointing out what stops me from riding more.

Rollfast

What is a throwaway bike? A pre-stolen Craigslist special?

Rollfast

Why is your dentist somewhere between Seattle and Boise?

Rollfast

I don't see riding an 'e-bike' as some kind of FAILURE...wasn't the entire point to reduce wasteful usage of a vehicle made for several persons for just one and maximize efficiency?


BINGO! If you need help getting about, this would be the next best thing to just pedaling.


Notice the missing car.

Dahon.Steve

This is a good question.

I know what you're trying to get at trying to find out what motivates people to travel could very well make them seek out car free alternative transportation. Once you find out said reasons, you'll discover that very few will be motivated for bicycle travel because of the lack of infrastructure. Unless there's an abundance of bus and rail transport, it would take a Herculean effort to motivate people out of their cars.

It would have to be a natural disaster like Hurricane Sandy to motivate people to bike or bus commute. I created a post years ago about how I survived Sandy using my bicycle for two days. I remember the buses were packed to capacity after just traveling 2 miles into the route! This goes to show you what it takes to get people on public transit and I only saw a handful of other people commuting by bicycle.

I almost forgot, there were lines of cars 25 blocks long waiting for gas. You could not motivate them ever to try commuting using alternate methods.

cooker

A cheap bike you can risk getting stolen.

350htrr

There you go... Well said.

tandempower

As much as I would like to discuss the topic of how to motivate people out of their cars, that is frowned upon in this (sub)forum. So really my question is directed toward people who already LCF or seek to LCF. I'm interested in what kinds of things they would do more if they were more convenient to get to without driving.

Obviously there are things that everyone avoids because of the hassle of getting there, whether it's by car, bike, transit, walking, flying, train, or whatever. But some people like to take a walk or a bike ride to go someplace, so the question is which things would they be more likely to do, or do more often, if those things were closer, or located closer to transit stops, or had better bike infrastructure going to them, or had better bike parking, etc.

Dahon.Steve

I"m changing my opinion slightly because I don't think it's motivation that will make people carfree but government re-engineering the city like Oslo.

In order for this to be successful, the city will need good paying jobs or people won't give up their cars to live there. An argument can be made that a billion dollar lightrail will create jobs and I've seen this happen. However, the carfree movement will need government intervention if it's going to take off.

cooker

Infrastructure is always provided by government, whether it's a freeway, a sidewalk or a subway. However government is not a separate, self contained entity - theoretically at least, it is government of the people by the people. Individual citizens and groups of citizens and other organizations lobby for the infrastructure they want, and governments provide it.

tandempower

This is P&R stuff that will get the thread moved, but have you considered that as long as the economic growth is there to fund car payments and driving expenses, money will get filtered and channeled in that direction? If you want jobs to support car-free places, the people in those places should accept wages that are lower that what they would get to pay for driving, and then gradually investors will flock to such places because the cost of labor and cost of living there is more affordable than in auto-heavy places.

As long as the jobs and GDP in CF areas are as high or higher than elsewhere, they just serve as economic growth engines to support everyone driving everywhere else.

tbo

Not in this state or county. No money for standard repaving, never mind infrastructure expansion of any sort, including even putting in complete sidewalks next to 45 mph roads. They start up and die block by block and sometimes within the same block.

Probably not a coincidence, but this state has the highest combined bike and pedestrian death rate in the country. The county is the second highest bike death rate in that state.

gregjones

The most distant rides that I do for "chores" and not recreational rides are usually to county government buildings. The only bike rack that I know of is at the courthouse in a corner of the parking deck. I just mention it to the security officers at the entrance and they keep an eye on the monitor for that camera for the short period that I am there. Otherwise, I lock my bike to the flagpole----with no regard to landscaping. The only problem that I've had was from a maintenance worker at the health department (right, the county health department has no bike rack). I pointed next door to the Sheriff's department and told him to go tell them I didn't give a damn what he thought.

Did my business, came back to flagpole. Bike was still there, no problems.

cooker

Can you ask them to install a rack?

bicyclridr4life

Pretty much no where is "too far".
Mass transit does not exist where I live.
I have not owned a car since 1995.

McBTC

Yeah, there's people who see through the LCF hypocrisy...

Mobile 155

Up until about a month or six weeks ago I would have said 6 miles. I would ride 6 miles to lunch or breakfast with friends. A little bit shorter for the DYI store or groceries. But then I tore a ligament in my right foot and that came to a screeching halt. So far I have been walking with orthopedic inserts about 1/2 to 3/4 of a mile every day but cycling has been out of the question. I have been thinking more and more how nice a E-bike would be but my wife said I would have to sell my good bike to get one.

At the rate my foot seems to be healing I might be back on the bike again in two or three more weeks. But I have learned there are times pushing through the pain is a bad idea. At least if you don't realize you have an inflamed ligament.

cooker

Hope it heals soon! Would the orthotics work in a cycling shoe, or maybe with flat pedals for casual riding?

350htrr

You don't really "need" an E-Bike. You can put on a front or rear Motor, front is easier ... and have some "assist"... and still ride a bicycle, there IS a difference, even a big difference, between an E-BIKE AND a E-ASSIST BIKE.

On level 1 assist I actually need/have to pedal 70% of every mile I ride... almost like riding a "normal bicycle", but not having to "worry" if I can make it up "that" hill...

Mobile 155

When I start back it will be flats and inserts I think. No cleats because that causes strain on the ligament when I drop the heel to climb. The medical people have suggested that I don't put in the miles on the bike till it heals. But that being said I have been itching to get back on the bike but i also know I have a tendency to try to get back too quickly. So this time any distance is too much distance. I did talk to my bike shop about a Copenhagen wheel but that will have to be ordered for my Single speed.

Mobile 155

I was just looking through the different E-bike and E-assist manufacturers and some of the E-bikes look very retro and classic. I know it should be function before form but darn those electric board racers look so good.

The thing that dawned on me is that injury and even bicycle loss can bring things to a stop. For the last three years I have put on about 800 miles a month by bicycle and the last two months I am lucky to get in 120 miles. Something with an electric motor or assist sure would be a nice option for those that can't ride for some reason. I haven't been driving much more but then I haven't been going many places either.

cooker

Do you think the single speed caused the injury? Maybe low gear spinning would cause less foot strain.