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This machine kills fascists, fat, and bankers
"No single raindrop ever feels like it is responsible for the flood."
Speaking of raindrops, one of my favorite movies of all time is Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid. The bicycle scene with Butch and Etta is unforgettable. Like many, I grew up riding a bike. I learned at a young age how to fix a flat and put on the chain. I loved the freedom of riding around town. My first stitches, five in the chin, were earned in a bike wreck that was caused by me. Consequences are such a powerful thing.
Sadly, kids these days tend to text their friends, or chat virtually inside an x-box game, rather than ride over to each other's home.
The bicycle is an amazing piece of technology that is capable of solving at least a few of our modern day health, financial, and energy problems. Consider that in many parts of the world where bicycles are the norm there is usually far less obesity, debt, and reliance on imported oil and the offensive war machine that is required to invade nations and murder people so that we may take their oil.
Bicycles are elegant...
Bicycles are efficient...
Bicycles are effective...
When widely adopted, bicycles can have a big effect on a population.
One reason, possibly the main reason, the Dutch are not getting more obese is bicycles:
In the Netherlands 27% of all trips and 25% of trips to work are made by bike. The average distance cycled per person per day is 2.5 km. Holland and bicycles go together like bread and jam. Despite the recession the cycle-happy Dutch are still spending a lot of money on their bicycles – nearly 1 billion euros’ worth a year. About 1.3 million bicycles were sold in the Netherlands in 2009, at an average price of 713 euros ($1,008) each. Amsterdam (the capital and largest city of the Netherlands) is one of the most bicycle-friendly large cities in the world. It has 400 km of bike lanes and nearly 40% of all commutes in Amsterdam are done on bike.
For comparison:
In the USA only 0.9% of all trips are made by bike. The average distance cycled per person is 0.1 km.
Minneapolis, San Francisco, Portland, Denver, and Boston are consistently ranked among the top bicycle cities in the USA. You will not find one of these five cities among the 25 fattest cities in the USA. Houston is the fattest city in the USA, is also probably the very worst for bicycles, and was ranked second by county for gasoline consumption, just behind Los Angeles.
The economics are obvious:
- The estimated average transaction price of a new car or truck sold in the U.S. in April was $33,560.
- Annual Cost to Own and Operate a Vehicle in 2015 is $8,698, according to AAA.
- According to Social Security data, the median net wage for a working individual in the US is $28,031.
How do average people afford a $33,560 car when they make $28,031 in a year? Debt, of course!
Through early September, Wall Street firms issued nearly $70 billion in securities backed by auto loans, up 9% from the same period a year ago, according to J.P. Morgan. About $21 billion of those were backed by subprime loans to relatively risky borrowers.
Subprime car-loan originations have taken off in recent years as lenders have loosened underwriting criteria in this sector, allowing for borrowers with low, and often no, credit scores to get access to financing. During the first half of 2015, lenders gave out $56.4 billion in subprime auto loans, up 13% from the same period a year ago and up 181% from the first half of 2009, when the market for these loans bottomed out, according to credit-reporting firm Equifax Inc.
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2015-10-22/auto-loan-market-reminds-me-wha...
In contrast, I recently bought this folding bike for less than $300. It was made in China, which I now regret, but if you are willing to spend more than $1,000, then you can get one made in the USA. They easily fold up in about 10 seconds to put it in the back of a car, carry it on a train, throw it in the storage under a bus, or take it up the elevator to an apartment or office. No gasoline expense. No insurance expense. No parking expense.
So, if you are are sick from being overweight, tired of bombing brown people to steal their oil, and want to know something you can do about it, TODAY , that will also improve your personal financial situation, then ditch the car and ride a bike. You will feel better, and better about yourself, and remember, no single raindrop ever feels like it is responsible for the flood.
Go Dutch!
Be well!
Peace!
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Nigger, I've spent over 3 years in Europe. What the fuck do you know?
You are stupid even for US standards
Your ignorance is appalling. A lot of countries in Europe have a higher standard of living than America.
Says who? Some Jewish rag? And which american, illegals that don't speak English or educated whites in big houses on multi-acre lots with money for multiple cars, a boat, etc.?
European living standards are FAR below those of white, asian, jewish , and other productive Americans. Taking the bus and living in a closet sized apartment from cradle to grave is the typical European lifestyle.
What an incredibly stupid article.
1oz Silver American Eagles €12 @ EurGold
https://www.eurgold.eu/silver/silver-coins/american-eagle-1oz-silver-coi...
Why is it so cheap?
Oh the bicycling Butch Cassidy and the effective and efficient Sundance Kid...
You know your dick and an asshole horseman, so why don't you go fuck yourself.
Otherwise two wheels into the future and no fat chicks!
I got around town as an Ensign in JPN with a Bicycle. I rented an APT with a view of my Ship out the Window (wanted a quick commute). I could leave there about the same time as my Roommate would; and get to our Ship before he would since he had the Gate Traffic (I'd disembark, show my ID and return the Gate Guard's Salute, then straddle the Bike for a sprint across the Industrial Zones until I'd get to the Pier.
I'd travel throughout the Base on my Bike for Lunch, Errands, and to the O'Club after hours.
The bonus was, I'd take my Bike into my Stateroom, ride in on a stand while underway, or take it with me on Shore Leave after hours for a ride on another Base. I didn't do in in Bahrian(couple of Shipmates did); but its a great way to go sightseeing locally if you had the time and the worthy trail.
Annual cost to own a vehicle $8698??? My airplane didn't cost that much. My Suzuki was $207 a year for insurance and $120 FOR 12000 KILOMETERS! The Yamaha was $ 109 for insurance and half the fuel burn of the Suzuki. The little Ninja was free. The Ford Ranger was the most $680/ year insurance and around $1200 for fuel.
What planet does the author live on?
He's a retarded communist that bought into the lies about global warming and how whites have to give up their life style and live in poverty to subsidize billions of Africans and Muslims as they breed like rabbits and drive the white man to extinction.
Headless Dorksman doesn't know shit about Europe. He probably visited in the 1980s and thinks his experiences are still valid.
Lyman54
do some more math on ALL the financial costs of an auto/truck/suv
annual total price per mile $30k vehicle driven 100k miles, 200k?
oil, tires, maintenance?
parking?
taxes, registration, tolls, driver license?
(health costs?, social costs pollution etc.?)
"annual total price per mile $30k "
Again, what fucking planet are you on?
"social costs "
Just STFU.
sorry if I was not clear enough for you,
purchase cost of a $30K vehicle, also include interest on loan
if it lasts 100k miles, purchase cost alone per mile = 30 cents per mile
if it last 200k miles, purchase cost alone per mile = 15 cents per mile
how many miles do you drive annually?
how expensive is each vehicle you own?
Then add cost of tires, maintenance, insurance, etc.
Social costs? Really, are the costs such as pollution and road/highway maintenance too difficult a concept?
the beauty of free speech is that even brain dead 2 year olds get to spew their ignorance
When I read comments, like Lyman's or Pickleton's, my first question is evil or stupid? However, considering the bullet in question clearly reads, "according to AAA," which they both conveniently exclude, and is clearly a hyperlink to a fairly informative and current article as a source, I must hope that nobody is really that stupid, so I go with evil. My guess is automobile industry trolls.
agree - that's probably the $$ for a certain class of people, that exists somewhere in the US - when I had my Honda CRX 1992 fixed up as I liked, it was damn cheap to operate and insure & register - but as many new vehicles today cost $50 to $100k, hey,who's counting ? Some people pay tens of thousands in property tax each year ... outlandish !
is this seriously fucking zh? bicycles? wtf?
disclosure, i bike everywhere in new york city on the streets. it's NOT for everyone. not by a long shot. the problem, as zh readers should understand; is one of network effect.
instead of citibike, bloomberg should have made more bike lanes on EVERY avenue with concrete style islands on every crossing and the real greenways with parking off the curb everywhere (parked cars serving as a buffer to the traffic forming an effective barrier to cars weaving into the bike line) .
that would have worked. but he didn't do it. so only the serious bikers bike in nyc. its mostly too nervewracking for most folks.
Wood chippers might work too. Just saying.
Right.
This machine works, too. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/AR-15
here's a top of the line folding bike for those interested :
called IF MODE
LIKE NEW FOLDING BIKE ONE OF A KIND. LIST PRICE $2850
FOR DETAILS GO TO
pacific-cycles/Product/IF/IF%20MODE
TO SEE IT IN ACTION GO TO
.youtube /watch?v=7qM5I6th5i4 OR
.youtube.com/watch?v=4QLRlznMUYE
this was a listing i saw on ebay a couple months ago - mint condition used went for $1800.
and here's another interesting bike which looks very interesting to me, but too pricey now : http://www.ebay.com/itm/Softride-Rocket-TT-Carbon-Aero-Beam-Suspension-B...
That's a lot of money. I'll stick with my 5000 pound death machine for now. I like where your heads at , HH, but I wil get my exercise elsewhere. It's snowbird season down here, and I'm not getting taken out on my way to work by some blue hair tourist who isn't paying attention. I've seen it happen, more than once. No paths here, so they just ride on the side of the road. Good for you if you live in a good area for it. I do not.
Compromise for the less athletic - walking to public transit. Did it for 2 years ('12-'13) at the age of 52 and never felt better. Back to car commuting and feel lousy - no good routes (bus or bike) where I work now. But that folding bike looks very interesting.
Ya' forgot one, HH:
http://www.google.com/imgres?imgurl=https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikiped...
Yeah, I'm old.
Forget?
http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/2013-02-28/rabbit-hutch-kills-fasci...
I listen to Woody almost every week.
My bad.
Then again- if I see a cyclist w/o the queer-assed aero helmet and leotard suit out on the road, I give 'em right-of-way. But...
The ones with the queer-assed helmets and leotard suits seem to go out of their way to be a pain in the ass on the twisty two-lanes around here. There's plenty of challenging routes with low traffic in our urban sprawl, but nooo...! They gotta get out onto the high-traffic thoroughfares- for effect, I suppose.
Sorta like militant gays, or feminists, or negroes.
Your high horse has no fkn legs.
Hey Ace, happy Friday,
what, you got somethin' agin the Fem Army Rangers & their Light in the Loafers Spec Ops? {h/t WB7 "no boots on the ground in Syria !}
Thailand just had their first teen TransGender Beauty Contest ! Now, what you gonna say to your neighbor's songhter (son-daughter confused gender) ?
your avatar looks similar to the hand-made patch I got from a German woman @ Albert Hofmann's 100th birthday (2006) in Basel, Switzerland .... the famed bicycle day, when he discovered LSD, April 1943. He called it a "serendipitous" occasion as he had no idea how he came into contact with the material being a conscientious Swiss scientist. After the Trip started coming on, he rode his bicycle back home to discover what would be forever immortalized as " Tripping" on his couch.
Peace Out !
Back atcha' SixIsNine! Abby Hofmann... that's a name I've not heard in awhile. That third eye is a motherfucker... once it's opened, it never blinks!
That avatar is actually an album cover- Masters of Reality, Sunrise on the Sufferbus.
There's ants in the kitchen, baby/
Thought I'd let you know/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bC-d2O7K4ug
Just stay off the fkn highway, esp the twisty and hilly ones like my area. Bikes are literally a safety threat. Nothing like going around a corner and there the fkr is and have oncoming traffic as well.
"Bikes are literally a safety threat. Nothing like going around a corner and there the fkr is and have oncoming traffic as well."
Well, like the man said, bikes are good for killing fascists....LOL.
I once saw Arnld Swarzenegger do that in Santa Monica
true, i stay off those roads w/out bike lanes - still, motorcyclists are averaging over 5,000 deaths a year lately on US roads - way more than bicyclists. SPEED does it.
ot - Russian creator of RT Russia Today tv found dead in DC Hotel Dupont - http://abcnews.go.com/ABCNews/putin-associate-found-dead-dc-hotel/story?...
Dup, but might as well not waste space.
Quite the link to the RT dude.
The psychopaths sure do play for keeps!
It's not the speed that does it, it's impact.
As the old saying goes, it's not the fall that kills, it's the sudden stop at the end.
Had a couple of motorcycle related unfortunate incidents, but have done myself more damage on a bicycle!
If you drive without consideration of what other fkrs are out there, you are the problem.
All cosy behind a couple of tons of metal and air bags.
Fucking wimp.
And if you ride your fucking bike without consdieration that a couple tons of metal and air bags might not be able to quickly compensate for your stupidity, well.... fucking bump.
Or is it thump bump?
When I first started going out on my bike alone, about 1962ish my dad gave me some good advice.
Ride as if everyone else on the road is a raving lunatic who's out to get you.
I've likely got about 80,000 miles on me now. I think it worked.
So true. They should drive as if bikes are cars that drive slower.
Priuses were built to provide training in that respect.
If the 3 seconds it might cost you to safely avoid someone riding a bike is a big issue for you, you should probably reassess what's important in your life.
Failing that, next time you drive to work, count the number of bikes you pass, multiply by 3 and get up that many seconds earlier in a morning.
Actually, the problem is certain cyclists who will do ANYTHING to conserve their precious MOMENTUM. The beauty of a motor is that stopping and starting is no big deal. But the real fun starts with two wheels, 150+ hp, 250- kgs. Sitting on the one speed is boring (or eventually becomes boring). Acceleration is where it is at. And every time you slow down becomes another excuse to speed up again. For the smart guys, sports motorcycles breed politeness. You want to cut in front of me? Certainly. No rush. I can pass you whenever I feel like it. Sure you made me slow down, but pretty soon I can speed up again. I wonder which gear I'll use today? Phuket! Drop it back to second? First? I'm in your way? Sorry about that. Goodbye.
Gave up cars about 5 years ago.
I still have one, it's just in storage.
I ride 8-10 miles a day minimum - work's about 4 miles.
Never saw the point of commuting, it's just an expensive waste of life.
I've got better things to do than sit bored/homicidal in a line of static steel boxes as far as the eye can see.
I ride trails for fun and fitness.
60 and good for 50 miles almost any day.
Best health care investment you can make, unless you push your luck too far. I've been known to do this. Shattered wrist with an encore of broken ribs.
I learned to drive in the early '70s when driving was more fun. Now it's just putting yourself out there to be a revenue stream for local government. Fuck that.
Debtmobiles!
It would be good to know some health metrics you have, both before and after. I bet your weight, resting heart rate and Cholesterol all reduced
When I was 40, I could hardly walk or even hold a knife and fork, due to rheumatoid arthritis.
Took some nasty meds for a while then changed my whole lifestyle.
Been in remission for about 5 years now.
My blood pressure is, to quote my rheumatologist, perfect.
Cholesterol likewise.
Fitness Feels Good!
Well done. I ride a 1980 peugeot, same bike that won TDF many times. I am lucky i commute by internet or plane. I would be afraid to commute by bike.
Kudos Logicalman! Did you change anything about your diet?
+1
bikes are a helluva lot of fun - I gave up autos 7 + years ago. Used to love driving, DC to NYC in 4 hours, California SF to LA in 6 hours, etc, etc. Now in Colorado, and internet, 5 bikes - Specialized Allez my #1, Raleigh Road bike #2, Schwinn 1971 Sports Tourer, very fast and collectable ....
just missed a Krestel SCi all carbon fiber classic 1990s beauty this morning on ebay....keepin' my eye out for a score on a full carbon .... or else just buy China - now around $380 for full carbon frame & forks, road or mtn 29er delivered ...
used to be one could work on cars, but not now - bikes one can totally get geeky on and customize it as you wish, and prices are great now, kinda like computers too...
I only have the one bike.
Giant - front suspension hard rear.
It's 4 years old - got a great deal on it $700 for what was listing at $1200 at the time.
It's got about 12,000 miles on it. - 3rd set of wheels - second set of forks - god knows how many chains.
Feels like part of me when I'm riding.
Every now and again, on a good trail in perfect conditions, after a nice big bowl, you can achieve cycling nirvana, when everything clicks and you are just flying. Fuck, I love that.
You are both inspirational.
No television, no car, and no debt are my three big lifestyle goals.
I am not there yet, but eyes on the prize.
HH - you may want to check out the e-bike options, you can convert basically any bike over to ebike, for only $1k. get a 48v 20ah battery with a 1000w brushless wheel/motor. Range is around 30 miles, -+ the type you get and how you use it - There are front or rear or mid drive motor options. I'd prefer mid-drive, they can be a little more pricey, otherwise go with a front wheel motor... that's what I've been advised. Most of the new LifePo4 battery's claim more than 1000 recharges, so that'll last a good while. If you have some $$ to spend the Colorado ebike maker OptiBike is top of the line. I think they range from $4k to $8k
I don't have one yet, still saving the $$....plus with my road bikes it's a blast to just go all out on my own...yes, my thighs are 24" now, pretty good in the sprints -
the local PD has been cracking down on school zones lately = i've passed probably 10 cars pulled over in the past 2 months for speeding...
"HH - you may want to check out the e-bike options, you can convert basically any bike over to ebike, for only $1k. get a 48v 20ah battery with a 1000w brushless wheel/motor."
I really appreciate that your heart is in the right place, but I think your knowledge is somewhat lacking. Electric bicycles have been my primary focus for over three years now, I've built two from scratch, TIG welded the frames and everything. These are able to carry 250 pounds of rider and cargo up very steep hills, hills that go on for mile after mile, even in 100 degree weather, with a range of up to 40 miles on flat ground on a single charge. These were not done with a 1000 watt hub motors, I'm afraid those tend to get rather toasty rather quickly, and after running hot for a while they delaminate and stop working. My designs are based on a high-performance 1000 watt American made brushless motor and a two-stage reduction drive outputting to the left side of the rear wheel.
Regarding LiFePo4 battery technology, I purchased a 36V one from a name brand manufacturer that has the cells made in China. Was supposed to provide 540 watt-hours. I got 300 out of it. Then I got an AllCell Nickle-Cobalt-Aluminum lithium battery, and that battery has performed to within 97% of the original spec after over a year's use, a number that I'm more than thrilled with. It's unlikely I'll ever buy another battery from China, or made from Chinese components.
Long story short, IMHO the vast majority of what is being sold as ebikes and ebike conversion kits are simply not that good, certainly not for anything resembling heavy use in the real world. The current design paradigm came from China, for the Chinese market, and IMHO does not serve the needs of the rest of the world very well at all. In the pursuit of low price they've created a whole lot of junk, bicycles that I know I'd never want to ride because they're just not at all well made.
For example, a common complaint I've heard is "does anyone know of a hub motor that can last more than 2000 miles?" The motor I'm using is going to last more than 20,000 miles, easy; probably more like 50,000. It's all a question of proper design and engineering.
I'm of the opinion that electric bicycles can and should be real vehicles, able to handle real weather, real hills, and real distance. No license needed, no insurance, no registration, no parking fees, no gasoline; each charge costs about twenty cents. My prototypes can handle any hills, real weather, and they weigh under 85 pounds; you can wheel them up the stairs and park them next to your bed while you charge them, the battery used is that safe and stable.
Electric bicycles are my passion, I'm of the opinion that once vendors begin supplying quality products that really perform and really last then this market can finally take off. I could see a day where a lot of two-car families instead become one car / one e-bike families, while others who cannot afford the expense of a car could instead use an e-bike as their primary transportation.