apparently my city literally literally banned public rail funding, and people online love jerking off about how good biking is, so i figured might as well try. I have come up with:
pros:
- good for mental health / exercise / endorphins
- arguably quaint
- feel like an old timey guy taking his wares to market
- feel european
- can annoy others
- less of a police state around them vs cars
- more flexible parking, routes
- capacity to be peaceful
- nice in summer
cons:
- look like an annoying dork (esp w neon - which also hurts the quaint factor)
- have to wear a helmet (^)
- getting sweaty, potentially “unpresentable” for work
- still have to find safe parking
- still takes a while
- have to find new routes to places
- can’t listen to music or might die
- little meaningful protection against severe injury
- can only carry so many groceries/etc
- sucks in winter
Go to asian countries, plenty of elderly on bicycles. It is just the elderly in western countries are sedentary which leads to atrophied muscles.
With the handicapped you can make the same argument with operating a motor vehicle.
Side note: I like cars. I even have a sim rig at home to race around in. But car centric infrastructure brings more negatives than positives.
The major difference is depending on the city.
Absolutely in Tokyo and Saigon, bike riders of all ages were going about their lives. But I can’t imagine being a elderly bike rider in some US cities. Some drivers WANT to fuck with bikers. It’s disgusting.
Indeed, I should have worded my comment better. I just want to point out that it is an infrastructure issue rather than bicycles being objectively worse than cars.