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Comment by maerF0x0 | Hacker News Reader

Bikes make sense when the ambient temperature is between 12C and 27c (53-85f ish), when the distance is less than 5 miles. When it's safe (both traffic, theft, and personal safety in the areas travelled through such as high crime neighborhoods), when you dont need to transport people who cannot bicycle themselves, when you dont care about appearance at the destination (or have access to a shower/bathroom), when social status doesnt matter (eg after marriage, lol)... Remove the disincentives and people will flock to it.

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I bike to work and back every day in a USDA 7b zone (the mean average annual extreme minimum temperature is -15 to -12.2 C).

I think the range of comfortable ambient temperatures is quite a bit wider if you're willing to invest money in proper clothing (I justify it by "saving" on gas, car ownership, etc.).

At 0C with decent gloves, you're fine. At -10C, good gloves and headwear are essential, but the ride is still pretty pleasant.

IME, moisture is a bigger issue than temperature. It's the biggest cause for me not biking around town. Biking in (heavy) rain or snow requires more (and more expensive) of mental and physical prep work, and more regular maintenance, and some days I just don't want to put up with it.

On the other points, I mostly agree, although discreetly-accessible showers on both ends of the journey go a long away towards mitigating social status.

I second this... Biking in a really rainy and humid country is a nightmare for biking.

Another factor why we don't bike around is the irregular terrain with slopes. Biking in places like the Netherlands, New York is really fun as it's really effortles. Biking in places like Bolivia, Guatemala, Costa Rica or any city built within slopes not so much, and don't tell me that with a good bike gear it's solved...

> At 0C with decent gloves, you're fine.

I agree. Most Americans don't. You telling them it's not a big deal isn't convincing them. They want to be warm, not fine.

Why is social status even mentioned? What’s that got to do with anything? If you care what people think about you or your status because you arrive on a bicycle that’s on you, it’s not a general “disincentive” for cycling.

> If you care what people think about you or your status because you arrive on a bicycle that’s on you,

No, that's on evolution. We all have a desire to fit in, ascend, procreate.

I'll give you a chance to guess which is more likely to attract a mate.

A guy who says "We're going out to dinner tonight... I hope you brought your bicycle and deodorant" vs "We're going out to dinner tonight, I'll pick you up in my Tesla"

> when you dont need to transport people who cannot bicycle

See 1:12 in https://youtu.be/xSGx3HSjKDo

Or if you just mean children, bakfietsen are great for this.

> when social status doesnt matter

Build more/better bike infrastructure and people of all classes will ride, not just those who are forced to because they have no other options like now. See: any city that’s built a usable network of good bike infra.

I'm not waiting 50-100 yrs to change the cultural zeitgeist before I start dating. Thanks.

I mostly agree, if you remove disincentives people do seem to like biking a lot better.

That said, 12C is pretty warm for cycling actually. Are you sure you're not confused with F? At 12C you don't even need a hat yet. (And at that temperature you can actually ride pretty fast without needing a shower either.)

haha fair, maybe I could do even down to 5C ... But I was being conservative in my estimates of what I think >50% of commuters would tolerate.

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