Increasing petrol prices and cycling inspiration can create new cyclists.

[VamP]

For me the cost of fuel was only a small part of the reason - my car mileage was low anyway.
I really needed a way of building exercise into my daily routine, and gyms just don't work for me. I was playing squash once or twice a week, but that stopped when my son was born.

What I've found, and is the reason I won't take a job that I can't cycle to unless I have no choice, is that cycling is simply a million times more enjoyable than driving. People often say that they enjoy driving, but they can't mean it - I find driving a grim experience.

I now arrive at work in a good mood, have more energy, and am much happier and fitter. I wouldn't swap it.

+1
Exactly, commuting is a way of getting the miles in for me, I am actually going longer ways than I need to most days. I think anything up to about 50 miles round trip daily is easily doable, and often the B road alternative route is shorter and certainly a lot more pleasant than driving.

 

[VamP]

Ahh, where to start... (can't see the vid btw at work)

Standing sprints don't come down to bhp in isolation. It's broadly a combination of bhp, weight and tyre width. You've assumed (wrongly) that I was comparing a specific car with your specific bike, which I wasn't.

A crap driver will look a crap driver [important-to those who understand] in whatever car they drive. I have seen it so many times on track. It is still 100% driver skill to drive quickly through corners in a car. Let's put an important word in here - "relative". We have played "spot the write off" on track before at the start of the day and we are often right.

I could never own a mbike - would kill myself on one.

All a bit of fun. Don't know about the willy waving as I can't see some peoples' posts.

I tend to agree with this. You get to see bikes versus cars on public days at the Nurburgring, and typically bikes are faster on the straights, and slower through the corners. I tend to pass lots of bikes, but only recall being passed by a bike once or twice in the cca 140 laps that I have driven there.

And yes, have played 'spot the write off' - it's usually quite obvious

 

[Linford]

Ahh, where to start... (can't see the vid btw at work)

Standing sprints don't come down to bhp in isolation. It's broadly a combination of bhp, weight and tyre width. You've assumed (wrongly) that I was comparing a specific car with your specific bike, which I wasn't.

A crap driver will look a crap driver [important-to those who understand] in whatever car they drive. I have seen it so many times on track. It is still 100% driver skill to drive quickly through corners in a car. Let's put an important word in here - "relative". We have played "spot the write off" on track before at the start of the day and we are often right.

I could never own a mbike - would kill myself on one.

All a bit of fun. Don't know about the willy waving as I can't see some peoples' posts.

Well my bike is 8 years old now so a few years behing the cutting edge and for all intents and purposes mechanically standard (no performance enhancing mods from the factory spec). 162kg dry with 170 wide rear tyre (relative as the contact patch on a bike is infinitely smaller than a cars due to the camber of it) 125bhp at the crank and 110bhp at the rear wheel on a dyno due to the very low drivetrain loss of straight cut gears and final drive chain and sprocket arrangement.
It is stil nippy for a 600 but the improvements have been made over time to decrease the unsprung weight and also suspension improvements, but the litre class bikes are not a massive amount heavier (maybe 175kg dry), and are knocking on the door of 180bhp (I put 5k miles on a bike like this a couple of years ago when loaned it for a season after my old bike was written off) I did actually elect to go back to a 600 as I felt that there was just too much power there and a hindrance in the real world - frankly boring as well as you could never use it legally (100mph 1st gear on the redline), and so ended up just chugging it and short shifting everywhere for 99% of the time.

I went to a scoobynet day at the powerstation a few years ago, and the scooby's lost a shocking amount of power to the transmission (a standard turbo2000 was only putting 110 bhp onto the rollers). They had a heavily modified Skyline there as well (old shape), and that was putting down 465 bhp at the wheels, but was producing 565bhp at the crank and it was by far the most powerful of all the cars there on the day.

All down to how big are your balls at the end of the day, and IMO after doing a bit of track riding appreciate you need huge ones to stay in front of the rest.

 

[Linford]

I tend to agree with this. You get to see bikes versus cars on public days at the Nurburgring, and typically bikes are faster on the straights, and slower through the corners. I tend to pass lots of bikes, but only recall being passed by a bike once or twice in the cca 140 laps that I have driven there.

And yes, have played 'spot the write off' - it's usually quite obvious

I'm not brave enough to entertain riding a bike alongside cars in an environment like that. Get it wrong in a car, you can usually walk away, do that on a bike and you get run over by the car on your chuff.

Your comments about passing bikes on the corners at the ring on the brakes also kind of demonstates that you have a much greater margin for error when you can do your braking mid corner - 50% car/50% driver

 

[Herbie]

Once a week I stop off at a cafe on the way home during my daily cycle commute. I cycle everyday of the year and in all weathers.

Well today I went into the cafe and the young lady behind the counter said that she was now finding petrol prices too expensive and that I as a cyclist had the right idea and she herself was now thinking about cycling too work. She did think about walking but there was no footpaths down the country lanes.

I said that I saved around £90 a month by cycling and that cycling was safe and not as bad as some people think.

So financial pressures and seeing me cycle in to the cafe every week has given her the inspiration to maybe give cycling a go.

Made me feel good today and this is the first time ever that I might have created a new cyclist. :-)

One day petrol will run out...cycles will rule...It will be like what China used to be like with millions and millions cycling.

 

[Herbie]

It's crazy that we've come to a position where people are commuting further and further distances.
Think of central Scotland. You have 1000s of people in Glasgow travelling to work in Edinburgh, and there's 1000s more travelling in the opposite direction.

Spending 2-4 hours on a bus, train or car every day isn't benefitting anyone.

I agree its bloody daft but gone are the days when folk worked in the town that they stayed in

 

[Linford]

I agree its bloody daft but gone are the days when folk worked in the town that they stayed in

This is the case for the majority of London commuters though. Many will spend 3 hours a day commuting on the trains and tubes and consider this the norm.

 

[VamP]

I'm not brave enough to entertain riding a bike alongside cars in an environment like that. Get it wrong in a car, you can usually walk away, do that on a bike and you get run over by the car on your chuff.

Your comments about passing bikes on the corners at the ring on the brakes also kind of demonstates that you have a much greater margin for error when you can do your braking mid corner - 50% car/50% driver

Never brake mid corner!!

Yes you can adjust balance of the car by trailbraking into the corner, but subsequent adjustments done using throttle. Road cars tend to have forgiveness to mid-corner braking built into their handling, but my track car was razor sharp, a small lift was enough to bring the back around, so trailbraking was hardly ever required.

And I didn't say I passed them on the corners , that's usually not safe unless it's clear they have seen you and letting you have the line. Bikes have different lines through corners than cars, but I am sure you know that, and it often seems like they have moved off the line to let you past, but in fact they are just setting up to commit to their line. Best to pass after corners, by carrying superior speed, but if a bike doesn't want to be passed, they typically have more than enough power/weight to always pull away on the straight bits.

As you say, there is too much at stake to push an overtake if that's the case. I'll just settle for a (slightly) ruined lap instead. It's the same with rubbish drivers in powerful cars TBH. And yes I agree it's a mental situation having cars and bikes on at the same time. Especially as there are no run off spaces most of the way around the ring, when you're off the bike you either get run over, or hit something hard.

Hah, look at me talking in the present tense now. That's brought back some memories. I haven't been to the ring in over two years, and no longer have a track car.

 

[VamP]

This is the case for the majority of London commuters though. Many will spend 3 hours a day commuting on the trains and tubes and consider this the norm.

Which just shows that 50 mile round trip commutes on bikes are totally feasible in the context of the time commitment required. It's a mental shift that's required, not a sacrifice of family or work time.

 

[Herbie]

This is the case for the majority of London commuters though. Many will spend 3 hours a day commuting on the trains and tubes and consider this the norm.

I know Linford its just a way of life down there and is the norm for an awful lot of people.Pesonally i would hate it..15 hours a week on a train x 48 possible weeks a year...crazy...not to mention the cost..They must have great paying jobs to make it worth it?

 

[GrumpyGregry]

Which just shows that 50 mile round trip commutes on bikes are totally feasible in the context of the time commitment required. It's a mental shift that's required, not a sacrifice of family or work time.

I wonder what percentage of cycle commuters do 50 mile round trips 5 days a week. I'm guessing it is single digit %'s

 

[GrumpyGregry]

One day petrol will run out...cycles will rule...It will be like what China used to be like with millions and millions cycling.

and as the chinese ditch bikes in favour of infernal combustion that day is accentuating towards us.

 

[MacB]

Which just shows that 50 mile round trip commutes on bikes are totally feasible in the context of the time commitment required. It's a mental shift that's required, not a sacrifice of family or work time.

50 miles is pushing it by any standards, the cumulative effect would be pretty harsh. Having had a stint at 40 miles a day I reckoned I'd be most happy at 30 miles or less.

Though this is impacted by whether you cycle for fun as well at the weekends, if you don't then a longer commute wouldn't be so bad.

 

[400bhp]

I don't want new cycle commuters. I like having the shower available at work in the mornings.

 

[jonny jeez]

back to the OP.

My office is a small practice, we have 12-13 staff mostly living locally (with 3 exceptions). Over the 3 years I've been riding to work 3 more of my colleagues have followed suit and a fourth is on the cusp. They all live within 5 miles of the office)

I think a lot has to do with them seeing that i am alive after each ride, am perfectly happy to ride is all weather but also (and this may sound daft but i believe it to be true) the precedent has been set.

In many offices its hard to know how cycling (wearing daft gear, having stuff hanging about the place leaving a bike somewhere) will go down, once one person takes the plunge many others see it as an attractive proposition.

Interestingly I also use the motorcycle and two colleagues have taken that up also.