The Welcome Return of the Bicycle

[n2doc]

by Lester Brown, Washington, D.C on 07. 6.10
CARS & TRANSPORTATION

The bicycle has many attractions as a form of personal transportation. It alleviates congestion, lowers air pollution, reduces obesity, increases physical fitness, does not emit climate-disrupting carbon dioxide, and is priced within the reach of the billions of people who cannot afford a car. Bicycles increase mobility while reducing congestion and the area of land paved over. Six bicycles can typically fit into the road space used by one car. For parking, the advantage is even greater, with 20 bicycles occupying the space required to park a car.

Few methods of reducing carbon emissions are as effective as substituting a bicycle for a car on short trips. A bicycle is a marvel of engineering efficiency, one where an investment in 22 pounds of metal and rubber boosts the efficiency of individual mobility by a factor of three. On my bike I estimate that I get easily 7 miles per potato. An automobile, which requires at least a ton of material to transport one person, is extraordinarily inefficient by comparison.

The bicycle is not only a flexible means of transportation; it is ideal in restoring a balance between caloric intake and expenditure. Regular exercise of the sort provided by cycling to work reduces cardiovascular disease, osteoporosis, and arthritis, and it strengthens the immune system.

World bicycle production, averaging 94 million per year from 1990 to 2002, climbed to 130 million in 2007, far outstripping automobile production of 70 million. Bicycle sales in some markets are surging as governments devise a myriad of incentives to encourage bicycle use. For example, in 2009 the Italian government began a hefty incentive program to encourage the purchase of bicycles or electric bikes in order to improve urban air quality and reduce the number of cars on the road. The direct payments will cover up to 30 percent of the cost of the bicycle.

more

http://www.treehugger.com/files/2010/07/the-welcome-return-of-the-bicycle.php

[SocialistLez]

1. I would love to see our gov subsidize bicycle use the way they do automobile use

We could develop a bicycle manufacturing industry, a bicycle repair industry (not as big as the auto repair industry), etc.

[happyslug]

3. Trek high end bikes are still made in the USA

Cannondale use to have ALL of its bicycles made in the USA, but as of 2010 the only thing Cannondale is making in the USA is "CSG plans to focus its existing Bedford operations on final bicycle and Headshok assembly, CNC machining, testing and quality control, bicycle warranty repair, inside sales/service, distribution and customer support/administration."
http://www.feedthehabit.com/mountain-biking/another-one-gone-cannondale-frames-to-be-built-in-taiwan/

List of US made bikes and Bike parts in the USA (of 2000, so list does have errors do to changes, in 2000 Cannondale made all of its bikes in 2000, but as I pointed out above, that ended in 2010):
http://www.usstuff.com/bikes.htm

Other made in USA product list:
http://www.howtobuyamerican.com/index.php

Waterford makes Cr-Mo Steel frames bicycle in Wisconsin (out of the last plant Schwinn had to make its top of the line bikes before Schwinn went bankrupt in the early 1990s, today Schwinn only exist as a name, the company was dissolved in the early 1990s do to excessive debts).
http://waterfordbikes.com/now/home.php?newstype=home&navcommand=showall

[OnlinePoker]

5. Subsidize?

In BC, they just increased the cost of every bicycle by 7% by including it as an item on the harmonized sales tax that was introduced July 1st. Bikes were tax exempt from provincial sales tax when it was separated as GST/PST. Other items now taxed that weren't before...vitamins, sports registration fees, stop smoking patches...you get the picture. We want our citizenry healthy, but they better damn well pay for the privilege.

[tinrobot]

8. Just build decent bike lanes / roads / paths

Then tax automobile drivers to pay for it.

Bikes themselves are affordable, the infrastructure for bikes is the expensive part.

[Snarkoleptic]

2. I just started a new job on the North side of Chicago.

I take the train and walk seven blocks to my office.
During this walk I see more bikes than cars, which is a great sign.
There are nice, wide bike lanes on both sides of the street and the drivers show ample respect to the cyclists.

[happyslug]

4. And Schwinn pulled out of Chicago in the early 1990s

As it first filed for Bankruptcy. Schwinn's Chicago plant made ALL of their bikes up till the 1970s, then the switch to foreign manufacturing AND Bankruptcy and dissolution in the early 1990s.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schwinn_Bicycle_Company

Can't find the old Schwinn plant's location, but it was in Chicago as late as 1978, but closed then or shortly afterwards. What Schwinn could have done had it survived till today.

[lfairban]

6. Electrically Enhanced Bikes:

"Sales of electric bicycles, a relatively new genre of transport vehicles, also have taken off. E-bikes are similar to plug-in hybrid cars in that they are powered by two sources--in this case muscle and battery power--and can be plugged into the grid for recharging as needed. Sales in China, where this technology came into its own, climbed from 40,000 e-bikes in 1998 to 21 million in 2008. China had close to 100 million electric bicycles on the road that year, compared with 18 million cars."

[bhikkhu]

7. Here's a great link on that:

http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1904334,00.html

Well worth reading. For all the fear and loathing about increased car use, it seems that bikes are far more popular still.

[lfairban]

9. Good find.

Last year Chinese bought about 90% of the 23 million e-bikes sold worldwide. Experts say that next regions to likely embrace e-bikes are Southeast Asia, where gas-powered scooters are popular, and India, where rising incomes mean personal transportation is starting to be in reach of hundreds of millions. Japan has seen steady annual sales of about 300,000 for several years, and in the cycle-crazy Netherlands e-bikes are beginning to take off. In the U.S., where bikes are still overwhelmingly used for recreation rather than transportation, e-bike sales are expected to break 200,000 this year, or about 1% of China's sales.

Read more: http://www.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1904334,00.html#ixzz0tDY6unXv

A very good Article:

China: 23 million
US: 0.2 million