Lowering carbon footprint

[Johnnysmooth]

This past weekend, after much research, my wife and I purchased an bike - specifically the Tern HSD9.
Why this bike?
It can haul a sh*tload of stuff without going full in on a cargo bike.
Handling is quite nice for intended use - running errands (shopping et al) and occasional commute into city or my wife commuting to school where she works.
It is very versatile in sizing as we have two adopted girls from China, one 5' the other 5'4" while wife and I are far taller so everyone can use.

Having ridden it a couple of times now quite impressed with handling, the Bosch drive and overall design/attention to detail of Tern's engineers.

My ultimate goal is to have this bike displace at least half of our car trips that are under 10miles, at least until the weather turns for the worse here in New England and then we'll take it as it comes.

If we really want to do something about climate change, this may be a great first step that could lead civic leaders to more strongly promote bike use in their congested cities. We saw a glimmer of what might be possible during the height of pandemic, let us not slip back to old habits.

BTW, in talking to one of the shop managers at Belmont Wheelworks here in Boston area he told me ebike sales are skyrocketing - up over 300% this yr. While at the store, I estimate that 40% of all those coming in to look at bikes were checking out ebikes.

[Blue Jays]

I would be happy with an eBike for going out to buy a few gallons of milk, bread, peanut butter, and other day-to-day items when a car is not really necessary.

[AngryScientist]

This is a perfect use case for an ebike.

Question: What about security? What is your strategy for parking it when running errands or commuting to work or whatever. Generally POS thieves will steal anything not locked down.

[Johnnysmooth]

Originally Posted by AngryScientist

This is a perfect use case for an ebike.

Question: What about security? What is your strategy for parking it when running errands or commuting to work or whatever. Generally POS thieves will steal anything not locked down.

It does have a built-in ABUS rear wheel lock. Both wheels are thru axel so no quick release. Also using a small chain lock so someone can't just pick it up and walk away. It is not a light bike at some 40lbs and battery is locked in place.

[.RJ]

honest question, even if i am stirring the pot here - how is buying a new bicycle, with batteries and motor, beneficial for my 'carbon footprint' compared to using the car that I already own?

sometimes I wonder if we (collectively) spend lots of money on things (bikes, new cars, new appliances, etc, etc) to feel like we're helping the environment.

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by .RJ

honest question, even if i am stirring the pot here - how is buying a new bicycle, with batteries and motor, beneficial for my 'carbon footprint' compared to using the car that I already own?

sometimes I wonder if we (collectively) spend lots of money on things (bikes, new cars, new appliances, etc, etc) to feel like we're helping the environment.

Obviously everything has tradeoffs. Obviously the bike costs resources to produce, but then lowers emissions with every trip. Assuming he has a car and plans to continue having a car, by shifting more miles off the car and onto the bike, presumably he can now go more years between buying new cars. As such, the resources of the new cars would more than offset the resources of the bike, since car production is more resource intensive.

[.RJ]

Originally Posted by prototoast

Assuming he has a car and plans to continue having a car, by shifting more miles off the car and onto the bike, presumably he can now go more years between buying new cars

Thats a lot of 5 mile trips to take to postpone/offset a new car purchase.

I wonder about this stuff since we fret about own impact in my house. Living in an area where I dont need to use the car for everything, having 1 car, not commuting, avoiding things like single use plastic or paper (and recycling or reusing where I cant), composting, repairing stuff instead of replacing it, environmentally friendly cleaning stuff... does it matter or add up? I dont know....

[prototoast]

Originally Posted by .RJ

Thats a lot of 5 mile trips to take to postpone/offset a new car purchase.

I wonder about this stuff since we fret about own impact in my house. Living in an area where I dont need to use the car for everything, having 1 car, not commuting, avoiding things like single use plastic or paper (and recycling or reusing where I cant), composting, repairing stuff instead of replacing it, environmentally friendly cleaning stuff... does it matter or add up? I dont know....

Well, suppose you live 5 miles from work. 10 miles a day, 5 days a week, 50 weeks a year is 2500 miles today. Maybe that's 1/3 of your total driving for a year, 7500 miles. Turn 80% of those commutes into bike trips, that brings your total driving down to 5500 miles. If you were going to buy a new car every 100,000 miles, you'll now hit that in 18 years instead of 13 years. That's 1-2 less cars over a lifetime of driving.

I don't know exactly how to compare the resource cost of building a new car vs a new e-bike, but by mass, cars can be 500-1000 times larger, so even the emissions just to transport the vehicle to the point of sale are going to be significantly lower.

[jtbadge]

A handful of corporations are responsible for the overwhelming majority of greenhouse gas emissions and are actively invested into shifting blame onto the average citizen. Enough hand wringing and tsk-tsking other people over their well intentioned personal choices.

[jkbrwn]

Originally Posted by jtbadge

A handful of corporations are responsible for the overwhelming majority of greenhouse gas emissions and are actively invested into shifting blame onto the average citizen. Enough hand wringing and tsk-tsking other people over their well intentioned personal choices.

Facts.

[Dude]

I'm just here because I have a Tern GSD and freaking love it. Cheers on the new bike and enjoy the hell out of it.

[tctyres]

Originally Posted by Johnnysmooth

This past weekend, after much research, my wife and I purchased an bike - specifically the Tern HSD9.
Why this bike?
....

Originally Posted by Dude

I'm just here because I have a Tern GSD and freaking love it. Cheers on the new bike and enjoy the hell out of it.

This is cool. Thanks for posting. How did you guys figure out the battery sizing for your needs?

[Dude]

For me, I'm in the suburbs, can roll my bike right into a garage each night and travel relatively short distances each trip. A single battery on the lowest mode gets me about 25+ miles. With 100lbs of children on the back I'm usually using not the highest assist, but one below that. That gets me about 18-20 miles.

Knowing that my single battery is enough to do whatever I need as long as I'm responsible about charging it. Plus, batteries are freaking expensive and I couldn't justify the cost. With the Tern GSD, it's pre-wired for a second battery so I could always add one if I felt the need to.

Originally Posted by tctyres

This is cool. Thanks for posting. How did you guys figure out the battery sizing for your needs?

[benb]

That whole "100lbs of children" or "100lbs of groceries" is the whole key thing that would let me eliminate some car trips.

My car trips are mostly around town. Even when I was going to the office it's 4 miles from my house to the office. My son is 1-2 miles from the house and needs to be picked up at the end of the day.

One day this week so far I escorted my son to school on his his bike and we left his bike locked up there. Then I picked him up at the end of the day on my bike and we rode back. Highlight of his week for sure, but it's hard to do that every day.

I am about to go pick him up in the car any minute. His bike is not at school. If i had one of these e-Cargo bikes (or really any cargo bike, but it'd be hard) I could eliminate one of these car trips today even though it didn't work out this morning to ride to school.

Also a good part of the school year it's dark at pickup time.. maybe not so great for biking home from school. But in the morning it would be OK. A way to pick him up and let him ride on the back like a motorcycle would allow would make more trips OK.

These stupid short trips cause my car to get horrific gas mileage, it's very very wasteful. I'm getting 30% less than City EPA rating for the car. Replacing them with eBike trips would be pretty great.

If I actually had one of these we'd have to think about the risk of riding on the back of a cargo/eBike. But in the case of school 95% of the trip to/from school is on a dirt trail completely separated from the roads, so way safer.

In a few more years he will be ready to ride by himself and will likely do so a lot and that will eliminate a lot of family car trips and make it easier for me to bike commute on a regular bike.

[Jaybee]

Originally Posted by jtbadge

A handful of corporations are responsible for the overwhelming majority of greenhouse gas emissions and are actively invested into shifting blame onto the average citizen. Enough hand wringing and tsk-tsking other people over their well intentioned personal choices.

One more time for the people in the back.