Great stuff. A pair of Bromptons also fit nicely in the T6 front seat wells when parked. Trouble is though that for many the Brompton is just too expensive!
Are EVs the way forward?
- Thread starter The Flying Scotsman
- Start date
I cycled 12 miles each way to and from work days, lates and nights for three decades, all year round, winter and summer. I did it because I enjoyed it and it kept me fit, not to mention parking was a problem a lot of the time. In truth it only took 8 minutes longer than driving, although trying to park the car could make the car journey longer in duration than cycling.
I don't want a medal, but I can hand on heart say I'm not lazy and don't let lame excuses get on the way of a bitmof effort.
Some people carry tools and stuff, but my comment was clearly not aimed at tradesmen. Most people (note the use of the word most before pedanticlaly mentioning tradesmen, those with no legs, really fat people, etc) make repeated short car journeys because they're simply bone idle lazy, and that's it.
They cant be arsed. Theyre weak willed and undisciplined.They'll trot out excuses and the like, but strangely those excuses never seemed to stop me or the others that do the same, because they are just that - excuses.
I'd have respect for people if they at least had the cojones to admit it. "I drive half a mile to work because I can't be arsed" would garner a lot more respect than some lame excuses about occasionally having to carry a spanner in.
And they don't have the gumption to own up to the motivation behind their behaviour because they're ashamed, hence the fanciful lame excuses they trot out.
In 34 years of taking kids to school I have only driven it 3 times. Once because I was taking my lass straight into school from an early docs appt and I would not have had time to drive home and walk it, and twice while I was on crutches and the discomfort was simply too much. Im still doing it now even though I walk with a stick (a form of osteoporosis, knackered hip as a result - fourtunatly it desont affect me riding.) Im proud of that record.
Again, most people drive the school run because they're lazy and don't even have the stones to admit it and the sad thing is they're breeding a new generation of fat and unfit kids thwt think such behaviour is normal. Who'd have thought Wall-E would be a documentary?
Heaven help us if we ever have to go to war with such a lazy, weak, undisciplined rabble forming so much of our population.
Still, us regular cyclists will, on average, live 7 years longer than the half-a-mile drive brigade. That's not why I enjoy cycling, but that's a pretty heavy reason for people to get out their cars for these short journeys. It's quite tragic that people would willingly trade a shorter lifespan for the sake of not having to make an effort. Well, their loss.
Enjoy road pricing when it comes, because I'll be sitting pretty and laughing
I don't want a medal, but I can hand on heart say I'm not lazy and don't let lame excuses get on the way of a bitmof effort.
Some people carry tools and stuff, but my comment was clearly not aimed at tradesmen. Most people (note the use of the word most before pedanticlaly mentioning tradesmen, those with no legs, really fat people, etc) make repeated short car journeys because they're simply bone idle lazy, and that's it.
They cant be arsed. Theyre weak willed and undisciplined.They'll trot out excuses and the like, but strangely those excuses never seemed to stop me or the others that do the same, because they are just that - excuses.
I'd have respect for people if they at least had the cojones to admit it. "I drive half a mile to work because I can't be arsed" would garner a lot more respect than some lame excuses about occasionally having to carry a spanner in.
And they don't have the gumption to own up to the motivation behind their behaviour because they're ashamed, hence the fanciful lame excuses they trot out.
In 34 years of taking kids to school I have only driven it 3 times. Once because I was taking my lass straight into school from an early docs appt and I would not have had time to drive home and walk it, and twice while I was on crutches and the discomfort was simply too much. Im still doing it now even though I walk with a stick (a form of osteoporosis, knackered hip as a result - fourtunatly it desont affect me riding.) Im proud of that record.
Again, most people drive the school run because they're lazy and don't even have the stones to admit it and the sad thing is they're breeding a new generation of fat and unfit kids thwt think such behaviour is normal. Who'd have thought Wall-E would be a documentary?
Heaven help us if we ever have to go to war with such a lazy, weak, undisciplined rabble forming so much of our population.
Still, us regular cyclists will, on average, live 7 years longer than the half-a-mile drive brigade. That's not why I enjoy cycling, but that's a pretty heavy reason for people to get out their cars for these short journeys. It's quite tragic that people would willingly trade a shorter lifespan for the sake of not having to make an effort. Well, their loss.
Enjoy road pricing when it comes, because I'll be sitting pretty and laughing
Jeez, my life's been boring by comparison! I only had three kids in five years and that was hard enough, and they only needed escorting to school for a few years, not 34.
My dad did just the same, although 13 miles each way. In the summer he would also have a bike ride at lunch.
It serves him well. Doctors are always impressed with his fitness levels even now and he retired probably a decade ago.
What sticks in my mind is how poor the cycling gear was back then. He literally rode in those rubberised cotton coat and trousers when it rained. No breathability whatsoever. He later changed that for a weirded cape that fitted over him and the handlebars. These days we get nice breathable stuff at least. Hands were always a problem as he has reynauds - no glove helps. Didn’t stop him though.
My grandad was a park keeper, cycled 30 miles each way on an old fashioned rod braked 3 speed until his retirement. I guess folk just got on with it then and did what needed doing.
It always seems to be my feet that got cold before my hands. Mind you, they're a long way from the rest of me.
It always seems to be my feet that got cold before my hands. Mind you, they're a long way from the rest of me.
I'm still rattled after my cobalt inspired rant earlier in the thread... when was somebody going to tell me there isn't any cobalt used in a lithium iron phosphate battery anyway? 
And there was I thinking you were going to tell us how much cobalt there is in Reynolds 531 or similar bicycle tubing
It’s fine, the volcanos will just make more for us, right?And there was I thinking you were going to tell us how much cobalt there is in Reynolds 531 or similar bicycle tubing
Meanwhile, in China.
Germany still mines lignite (very dirty coal!) and imports hard coal from various countries to power a series of plants that feed into the German grid. In fact, hard coal and lignite currently generate 31.3% of the country's electricity (up from 28.1% the previous year).
Although they also knock out green energy systems in no time too.
Meanwhile back home… decades for a bit of train track for a ‘high speed’ train that would be embarrassed by ‘normal speed’ trains in other countries. And said track doesn’t meet its destination at either end.
Some countries have installed sections of in road charging for EVs (as part of a test so far but a couple of car manufacturers (Toyota is one, I forget the other) are building and supplying vehicles that can use this system.
This is where the ‘let’s not bother’ attitude some seem to have, along with the arguing about stuff and nimbyism, probably lets us down.
I've always admired French road construction. They really do get on with it. Always a new roundabout or 2 on my usual route each year along with nice new dual carriageways
They seem to last too. Despite getting hotter summers and still seeing winters like ours. Not sure what’s different in the ingredients of their surfacing materials.
And their roads are usually well maintained and clean and tidy.
Mind you, their military is a third bigger than ours for a third less expenditure as well, so I suspect that they're less inclined to have an enormous wasteful and useless tier of civil servants at every twist and turn, hence more cash to spend on stuff like roads.
Mind you, their military is a third bigger than ours for a third less expenditure as well, so I suspect that they're less inclined to have an enormous wasteful and useless tier of civil servants at every twist and turn, hence more cash to spend on stuff like roads.
Apparently China approved 83% less coal fired stations in the first half of 24 vs 23.
Meanwhile they added as much new clean energy generation in the first half of this year as the UK produced from all sources in the same period last year.
And until a few months ago the UK was looking at building a new coal fired power station!
Of course you didn't - you just decided to drone on about 'records showing global temps rising for decades' because you fully appreciated that no-one was disputing that fact.
Keep dancing on the head of that pin and, hopefully, one day you'll slip and get skewered by it.
Somewhere in France last year on a single carriageway road we came across road workers in a dropside with beacons flashing, followed by a bloke wheeling a line painter, followed by a van with his hazards on. Rolling road block, no body died, job done.
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Oh aye, China don't give a monkeys about anything other than world domination their stated aim to be in control of Europe by 2055.
Aye, the last lot were still looking at building another coal fired station, but the fly in the ointment was they didn't want to pay for it and no one else wanted to pay for it either. Recent court rulings about coal mining would apply equally to power coal power stations, so it seems unlikely in the extreme that it would have ever happened if they'd remain in government.
Mind you, they (or a few of them at any rate) also wanted to build a bridge or tunnel to Northern Ireland...
HS2 shows how odd transport can be. An environmentally friendly (or less damaging) form of transport...but it would have to run at full capacity for 200 years to offset the carbon used in its construction.
There's no free lunch with transport. We have to accept that even the best forms are still damaging and if we really want to make a difference we need to simply use it a bit less, like me on me bike. I'm saving the planet, or at least killing it a little more slowly, one hop to the shops at a time.
