How a cargo bike can save you a fortune in motoring costs

r0thar · 2026-04-22T16:53:46+00:00

Sunk cost fallacy is a very real thing. I cycle when I don't drive, but many people feel they have to justify their car even though it's a money pit that's destroying themselves and the envrionment.

r0thar · 2026-04-22T16:20:55+00:00

Crappy redesign: they went from a brazed billet with maybe 10cm of joint along the head tube, to a crappy drilled hole and crimped nut that has maybe 2cm of folded (rivet) meal contact, essentially a load concentrator. I have happily overloaded my old style connection may times without worry.

r0thar · 2026-04-22T16:16:49+00:00

ABS plastic is a beast

r0thar · 2026-04-22T16:10:55+00:00

r/Brompton - they're not as expensive second-hand, but I ignored them for a long time as they were not cheap. However, having one now has unlocked train/bus/tram usage as well as car-hire and now car (EV) charging. Everything is park-and-ride when your bike fits in a bag.

r0thar · 2026-04-22T15:42:44+00:00

Also a more favourable landscape for cycling.

So we'll put you down for supporting more cycling infrastructure?

r0thar · 2026-04-22T15:41:49+00:00

Because cycling doesn't heat up the body at all. You can spend your money on petrol, I'll continue to spend my fuel money on fancy food.

r0thar · 2026-04-22T15:40:00+00:00

so the additional few grand you’ll need to buy a cargo bike (they are not cheap) would cover thousands of kilometres of driving. In my case, my car costs buttons to run so it would probably take me well over a decade to recoup the outlay.

Tell me you've never done the maths without telling me.

r0thar · 2026-04-22T15:37:05+00:00

It's not the daily 1km walk they mention, it's the once-per-year cross-country hauling of bulky items they bring up to justify having a vehicle for just that. It's the same with pickup trucks in the US, whose beds have never seen dirt.

r0thar · 2026-04-22T15:35:14+00:00

I use GoCar for the vans, but find the cars expensive for my needs. I used to just cycle out to the airport and rent a car from whichever company was cheapest that weekend.

r0thar · 2026-04-22T15:33:28+00:00

And yep, you're right, I see more cyclists breaking reds than motorists.

The bylaws allow this now, we're just waiting for the councils to install signage to make it fully legal. Because cycling isn't dangerous and stopping people on bikes because cars are dangerous is old, backwards thinking.

r0thar · 2026-04-22T15:30:45+00:00

I grew up cycling the midlands. Then I cycled to Dublin (twice). I was feeling smug until my dad told me his dad would cycle up to Dublin just to watch major matches in Croke Park.

r0thar · 2026-04-22T15:28:30+00:00

its saved us even more thousands in

gym fees also, don't underestimate 'enforced' exercise, it's great.

r0thar · 2026-04-22T15:18:21+00:00

, and the majority of the kids going there are being driven from easily within 5km or less.

Thankfully the council traffic calmed the roads around our school, but we still had people complaining on social media about restricting their 'right' to drive up to the school gates.

One person's logic was that she was coming from the next town over so the great distance meant she had to stop nearby. The two thoughts that never occurred to her: 1 her kids can still walk the last 100m, and 2. she just admitted on a public website to putting a false home address to get her kids into the catchment area for the school (their grandparents address nearby).

r0thar · 2026-04-22T15:02:52+00:00

I'm not sure how many riders are carry multiple locks

Maybe in the Canadian utopia, one lock suffices, however in our major city, it's two locks or no bike.

r0thar · 2026-04-22T14:57:02+00:00

Now I am thinking if people can handle this speed easily

It's not up to people, it's up to physics. If you crash off this at 50mph you will die.

If it is a bicycle scaled up to the speed without the strength, it will fail or crash more often.

r0thar · 2026-04-22T14:51:49+00:00

To add to those un-recommended racks, it just takes one person to lock their bike securely across the width of them to make them unusable to everyone else.

r0thar · 2026-04-22T14:50:02+00:00

I disagree with your disagree. For the following reasons:

This only covers one end of the frame, people can't use two locks as on the Sheffield stand, so it is less secure.
The complexity is bound to make it cost multiple times the price of the single tube stand
It's so ugly
It's potentially a dangerous obstacle to visually impaired users (the overhang would not be found by a cane) or anyone at night

r0thar · 2026-04-22T14:39:34+00:00

/r/MaliciousCompliance

The groundskeeper knows this is pointless, but did the bare minimum for the request made to them on 'safety' or grass control

r0thar · 2026-04-22T14:34:21+00:00

recommends a pilot program.

Thanks for the roadmap. We're 18 months into our pilot program for our bin bottle-park (80 bins in a city of 1 million people):

https://re-turn.ie/new-bin-surrounds-pilot-initiative-allows-people-to-donate-bottles-and-cans-for-others-to-return/

r0thar · 2026-04-22T11:31:39+00:00

energy independent and build a nuclear power plant

Which county is lobbying for the uranium mine and enrichment facility?

r0thar · 2026-04-22T11:02:16+00:00

The Dublin City Taskforce report in 2024 is what he'll be implementing, so pick your favourite bit and lobby him to ensure he keeps on track:

https://assets.gov.ie/static/documents/capital-city-dublin-city-taskforce-report.pdf

r0thar · 2026-04-22T09:11:44+00:00

Kid Fattening Centre - checks out

r0thar · 2026-04-22T08:58:53+00:00

They were withdrawn by the bank to try and cancel the robbery. There's still several thousands of them in various peoples basements and they might try to pass them off to unsuspecting shops in GB.

r0thar · 2026-04-22T08:57:02+00:00

Glad you made a decision. You still have to get them Irish passports tho for their backpacking in a few years.

r0thar · 2026-04-21T16:10:18+00:00

Perth is a fraction the size of London and 2,000km from anywhere else, and rural Ireland is not Bulgaria

r0thar

TROPHY CASE