A Tour of a Whole Country That Has 'Transformed Itself for Cycling'

Re:A Tour of a Whole Country That Has 'Transformed Itself fo... by Pxtl on Saturday October 26, 2013 @10:37AM (#6617513)

sigh

Every time people post about great cycling cities, the immediate reaction is a pile of reasons why it would never work here because I live in a place that's completely different and special.

There are challenges in every task. Either you overcome them or you wimp out. These are not unsolved problems. Montreal literally means Mount Royal - it's a city built around a mountain. They manage to have great cycling infrastructure.

Even worse is the moaning about winter cyclists - almost every one of the great cycling cities have bitter winters.

You're always going to have an excuse not to do something.

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Re:A Tour of a Whole Country That Has 'Transformed Itself fo... by slimbods on Saturday October 26, 2013 @11:20AM (#6617639)

I'm not looking for an excuse not to cycle, I'm a pretty fit cyclist and spend at least 10 hours a week on a bike. I'm saying that holding this up as an example that others can follow isn't ideal as they have a big natural advantage over practically anywhere else. Unless you can overcome the issues of terrain and climate, it's just not going to become mainstream like it has there. Look at the bikes they're riding, big heavy comfortable clunkers. Most people simply couldn't get those up the hills surrounding my town, they'd have to push.

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Re:A Tour of a Whole Country That Has 'Transformed Itself fo... by Segmentation on Saturday October 26, 2013 @12:12PM (#6617876)

I think the ultimate solution long-term are assisted electric bicycles. They aren't fully electric, you always have to pedal, but when you're going up hill you can enable the assistance to help you go up the hill faster.

Think of it like gym bands to aid you doing pull ups.

If the bike could charge itself through pedaling that would be a double plus.

A lot of people don't cycle because it's slow, and they may not care about the exercise benefits. If commuting they don't want to wear special attire or be sweaty when they show up to work. However, they would probably be cool with an assisted electric bicycle if they could get up hills faster without breaking a sweat.

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Re:A Tour of a Whole Country That Has 'Transformed Itself fo... by slimbods on Sunday October 27, 2013 @03:52AM (#6621192)

Perhaps, but it's a tough sell to get someone to ride a £2k electric bike instead of buying a car.

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Re:A Tour of a Whole Country That Has 'Transformed Itself fo... by MattLaroche on Saturday October 26, 2013 @11:35AM (#6617704)

As a cyclist, I'm sure you already know this.

Properly geared, bikes aren't hard to get up hills - they're just slow.

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Re:A Tour of a Whole Country That Has 'Transformed Itself fo... by seanmcdirmid on Saturday October 26, 2013 @10:48AM (#6617549)

Cycling in Chongqing would be a bit hard; even when China was the "bicycle" kingdom people rarely peddled in one of the world's hilliest cities.

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