ESL Blogs

The most efficient vehicle.

In consideration of the current economy recession. It's time to think about commuting more efficiently. That is by bicycle. Bicycle is a very efficient way of transportation, in both, mechanical and biological means.From mechanical viewpoint, the bicycles efficiency can be up to 99%! Which means, that up to 99% of energy, that you transmit to pedals, will be delivered to wheels.. :DFrom biological viewpoint: A human traveling by bicycle at speed of 15 to 24 kilometers per hour, is using the same amount of energy required to walking!Reference: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_performanceWell beside of being extraordinarily energy efficient. Bicycle also require less space for parking slot than a car. U don't have to worry about finding free parking slot near your home, u can take it even into your bedroom with you. That's what I do. :)It sounds just as like a pipe dream? Aspiration of some bicycle crazies?Well it seems so. I only bicycle for fun and as for exercise. I can't use my valuable bicycle for every day commute. I'm afraid of thieves, I can't leave it somewhere. I should carry so many locks with me, to lock it properly.. Lock also wheels that have quickreleases and saddle that is also mounted with quickrelease.. And there should be 2 different types of locks for everything. If thief can handle one type. He might not have tools for other. :) Or maybe I just should keep another invaluable bike to commute in town. The one, that thieves are not interested in? Anyways I think it feels much better to ride a bicycle, than a motorcycle or car. Well I have easy to talk. I don't have a car nor driver license or money to get them. But I have driven little of with them. It's not so interesting.There's many different types of bicycles for different purpose of use. With large range of prices. It seems that reasonable bikes start with price of roughly something 500$. Or maybe little less? Well It seems In Estonia they have about 100$ higher price than example in USA.. (all the transportation fees and so on) So in USA the prices of rideable bicycle maybe start with roughly 400$ maybe..? Cheaper ones are often too terrible to ride, they are sometimes called as "bicycle shaped object". Then there are different types of bicycles. Mountain bikes, city bikes, hybrid bikes, road bikes, cruisers, working bikes and so on. Some have less gears, some more gears, some weight more, some less... Well Mountain bike have slow gears, so it's not good for flat city road, it's only good for deep slopes in mountains.. City bikes looks often like mountain bikes, but they have higher gears. But often they also offer some horrible, heavy and unrideable things as city bike. Hybrids are a combination of something - mountain, city, and road bike. They are lighter than mountain bikes, they have little faster gears, but have also enough slow gears, and they have big 700cc wheels similar to road bikes. Road bike is light weight bike with 700cc wheels and aero handlebar, meant to drive fast in good road.I bought my current bicycle on last autumn. I had a old mountain bike before. It was good bike too, but I got tired of pedaling a slow gear mountain bike in flat roads. This time I chosed to buy a hybrid bicycle. There was 3 different choices, that I had to chose between. Well I was first going to buy Scott Sportster P5, but then, in end I bought Wheeler cross 36 because there wasn't my size of Scott's P5 in store, I had to order it. And Wheeler had suspended seat post and also front(fork's) suspension did look better to me. I'm not sure, if it's really better, But also price was cheaper. I thought that the store that was dealing with Scott's bikes, surely had added some little extra to prices, since it's a well known trademark.Well. Obviously my bike's suspension is still cheap for rally. I mean, it doesn't have lockout function. First it did jump on road like nut when pushing too hard to pedals, but I got it rideable by adjusting suspension's preload to it's maximum.. well I think it's okay. It's very good bike for me. It doesn't feel as firm and controllable as my old suspensionless mountain bike did. In high speed when trying to pedal very fast and hard, it felt a bit unpredictable. I think it can be, because I haven't found the best adjustment for handlebar and saddle. I don't know the best adjustment for hybrid bike. Or maybe the suspended seatpost's suspension takes also some stiffness away, so it don't let me to feel the right "response". I replaced the original saddle with a thinner and harder one from my old bike, now it's better... But suspension is good thing. Some roads here are so bad too. That without it, it's a pain to cycle. I didn't dare to push it over the speed of 60 km per hour. That was with little help of wind, on down hill. It didn't had enough stability.. but I think there's no need to go that fast also. There were some chicks who were passing by of me with their road bikes, on uphill, but well I need to stay calm and think that I'm just so nice guy that I'm letting them by, and not that I couldn't go as fast .I didn't had enough money to get all accessories together with bike from start. I have heard, that when buying a bicycle then 1/3 of it's price is bicycle, the rest 2/3 u should have to spend for accessories, especially for clothes. They say that better buy a cheaper bicycle and good accessories.. Not a very expensive bicycle and no right clothing. I only bought mudguards and bike together, rest I had to buy bit by bit. And some things I had before. And some got from old bike. Since it was almost winter and dark. I had to get lights too, because of the order of law. And then rain and wind resistant jacket and tights, but that wasn't enough to be able to ride in winter. I also needed studded tires, because of ice. But I didn't buy them, I had too few money. :) So I couldn't cycle in this winter almost at all. There was also too many dead animals on roads. It took the pleasure away. Well there's many things u need to buy beside of a bicycle, especially when want to ride also in bad weather. The most important are probably padded pants.. They have invented so many different things, that make cycling more enjoyable. There were even electrical shoe sole warmers that work with rechargeable batteries. But yeah. Most of things were so expensive.Well...

Pros and cons.

Pros:1. It's cheaper than car.2. It doesn't pollute air.3. It makes you lose extra weight.4. U feel good after a ride as like after a exercise.5. U have a excuse why to wear tights or even better a skinsuit :P6. People will smile to you more, especially in bad weather.7. U can park it to your bed room.8. It's more fun to go to a trip to green near the town by bicycle.9. It's faster than walking.10. It doesn't consume gasoline.Cons.1. It's still expensive.2. U get tired when cycle too long.3. U have to wear embarrassing revealing clothes (everyone see how fat you are) to enjoy and feel comfortable in bicycle saddle. (Well actually they make different cycling clothes too, but you don't want those right?!)4. There's not enough safe bicycle lanes/roads.5. U have to carry a big bag on your bike with many locks to keep your bike from thieves.6. There are many dead animals in road that make you feel sick......I can't think more now.