1095 miles to the gallon!

[XmisterIS]

"If a person could drink gasoline, then a person could ride about 912 miles on a gallon of gas": http://auto.howstuff...question527.htm

Bear in mind that's an American gallon, which equates to 1095 miles per English gallon.

And if you're a TDF rider going at a little less than urban driving speeds, then it's "only" 300 miles to the gallon.

I know I preaching to the converted, but it just shows that for all our technological efforts, we haven't even come close to achieving with technology what we got given for free by God / Evolution / The Big Giant Head / Whatever you believe in! Even those irritating little hairdryers mopeds that are limited to 30mph can only get about 100mpg.

Can you imagine how much petrol we would save if everyone who was capable of riding a bike used a bike for round-trip journeys of less than 10 miles?!

 

[cycleruk]

the fact is most people who drive a car less then 10 miles are capable of riding a bike. problem is, whilst the car is still about, then people will continue to come up with reasons not to ride a bike. Some of the reasons i hear is "its too cold" or "too wet"

, nonsense i say, temperatures got down to -10 and lower last year and i was still riding my bike to work!

 

[davefb]

pfft , thats nothing...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/395366.stm

10k mpg !

mind you,

http://jalopnik.com/393539/hypermil...ord-with-90-mpg-drive-around-australian-coast

75mpg (uk) from a normal car... just the minor issue of "staying below 30mph"

 

[gaz]

pfft , thats nothing...
http://news.bbc.co.u...tech/395366.stm

10k mpg !

You know that is old when it says this

BBC Top Gear presenter and racing driver Tiff Needell

 

[davefb]

You know that is old when it says this

hehe, yeah.. but i've tried to google for this before and whilst there is a story about 12k mpg , its not a story, but a rubbish link

hmm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PAC-Car_II

and its a fuel cell thing, so not directly applicalbe to internal combustion

 

[SportMonkey]

pfft , thats nothing...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/395366.stm

10k mpg !

mind you,

http://jalopnik.com/393539/hypermil...ord-with-90-mpg-drive-around-australian-coast

75mpg (uk) from a normal car... just the minor issue of "staying below 30mph"

My old Golf MkVI SE w/Bluemotion managed 96.1mpg on a run from Telford to Stockport averaging 55mph with traffic.

[Edit]

Nothing compared to the 127.8mpg achieved in a Fabia though

http://new.skoda-auto.com/gbr/newsu...eves-1246-miles-on-a-single-tank-of-fuel.aspx

 

[downfader]

the fact is most people who drive a car less then 10 miles are capable of riding a bike. problem is, whilst the car is still about, then people will continue to come up with reasons not to ride a bike. Some of the reasons i hear is "its too cold" or "too wet"

, nonsense i say, temperatures got down to -10 and lower last year and i was still riding my bike to work!

Tell them to buy a velomobile! Warm AND dry.

 

[pshore]

Nothing compared to the 127.8mpg achieved in a Fabia

Nice fuel saving. Shame the first tank of fuel will cost £13805

 

[Bigsharn]

...Some of the reasons i hear is "its too cold" or "too wet"

, nonsense i say, temperatures got down to -10 and lower last year and i was still riding my bike to work!

Of course, if it IS -10 and you're cold then you're not working hard enough

>Pedal harder/faster
>Get warmer

 

[Seigi]

And I thought the Toyota Pirus had good MPG: at 73mpg. Although I do like the solar powered ventilation on the Prius which keeps your car cool while you park it on a hot summers day...

 

[MrHappyCyclist]

and its a fuel cell thing, so not directly applicalbe to internal combustion

Since when have leg muscles been classified as internal combustion?

 

[vernon]

It's a very big if and is never going to happen so it's rather pointless at attempting a comparison to show humans in a positive light when compared with cars.

It would be more realistic to compare energy efficiency.

Humans are 18-26% efficient at converting their fuel, food, into mechanical energy.
Cars are 34% efficient at converting petrol into mechanical energy.

Cars win subject to more convincing arguments in favour of humans.