The Bike Is the Vehicle of the Future
Bikes are nice, but the bike lovers keep writing pieces like this. Don&#x27;t get me wrong. I like them, but I think we should balance our love with these points:<p>* Only fit people can use the human powered ones for more than a short distance. If you&#x27;ve got cardio issues, a bad knee or worse, it&#x27;s not for you.
* eBikes help but even they&#x27;re not powerful enough for many situations. If you take someone moderately obese and put a hill in the way, the bike is in trouble. 40%++ of America is obese. 
* Many jobs require commuting in the dark during the winter. Bikes are much less safe in the dark, even if there are no cars around. 
* You can&#x27;t carry very much on a bike at all. Oh yeah, a few have clever trailers but even they can&#x27;t carry much. 
* It&#x27;s not so easy to carry a toddler. Sure, you can carry a baby -- if you can find a baby helmet that fits. But a toddler is too big to share a bike but too small to ride a separate one. 
* Bikes are dangerous, even without cars around. Bikes toss people over the handlebars all of the time. The tires lose traction and people crash. Cars make things worse, but getting rid of cars won&#x27;t make bikes safe. 
* Rain, snow and ice are danger multipliers. Take all of the danger of a sunny day and multiple by a large fraction. 
* Many people live too far away to bike to work. My job is a 60-80 minute ride each way. Driving takes 25 minutes. Guess which one I choose? 
* Bikes are unfair to the poor. Poor people live further away. That&#x27;s how real estate works. If the rich people don&#x27;t have time to ride, the poor are going to be riding even longer.<p>The bike riders can dream. They can claim it&#x27;s a future. But none of my objections will change in the near term. They can keep putting out propaganda. But the Americans are not buying for good and practical reasons.