The Real Reason You Should Get an E-bike

www.theatlantic.com The Real Reason You Should Get an E-bike

It’ll cut your emissions. It’ll also make you happier.

You're viewing a single thread.

43 comments

I'm not really a bike person (yet, anyways), but this summer, my car wasn't worth repairing anymore, so I got rid of it. And yeah, since I lost an option for transport, it feels completely irrational to say that I have been enjoying it as well.
Before, I'd be too lazy to walk to the shops, even though I knew the walks were the bare minimum of sport I really should do. Every other week or so, I'd take the car and fill it up. As a result, I also rarely had fresh bread, fruits and veggies at home. And shopping was stressful in the sense that I really didn't want to forget any items and had to plan ahead much more.
Now I walk there every three days or so. Not going for a walk is not an option. And if I'm spontaneously in the mood for, I don't know, kale, I can just grab some. My food spoils less often, too, because I don't buy as much in bulk. And I'm less prone to overeating on foods that I was supposed to eat over the next two weeks.
Obviously, there's downsides. Big items, I need to order online. Toilet paper is just the stupidest item in existence. Summer days can be brutal, if I can't go in the morning. Winter days, I'll have to see, although going by car was a pain on those days, too. And well, I imagine, for families, this may just not be logistically manageable.
But yeah, for me, taking the short-term comfortable option away has increased my long-term comfort.
- I'm not really a bike person (yet, anyways)
  Have a look at cargo bikes, they've diversified greatly over the last ~5 years. For example, there's models now that are smaller than a regular bike, way more nimble than a regular cargo bike, but still quite versatile if you don't need to carry three children and the kitchen sink, eg yoonit (they're a German company, not sure about availability elsewhere).
  
  I mean, I appreciate the thought, but splurging several thousand bucks on something I don't even know if I'll want to use, that just ain't happening... 😅
  
  Sure, I understand. It's still much cheaper than a car in the long run.
  And prices will eventually drop with more competition and there's not a really functional second hand market for these things since they are too new.
  But yeah it really was just an FYI in case at some point you realize "I can't do this by foot alone" you know there's a variety of options that's not a clunky "bakfiets".
  
  Depending on the size of your household, you could just get regular saddle bags for the bike and use those to transport your groceries. You'd be surprised how much fits.
  But also if you wanna continue walking you could get one of those shopping carts that grannies use, I think they're very useful and save you a lot of effort
- Toilet paper is just the stupidest item in existence.
  Consider a bidet. It could help cut down your toilet paper usage.
- Wow, congrats on the walking! Sad that your car was a write off though. I'm kinda lazy and usually end up using my bike as a replacement for walking sometimes... even when I probably shouldn't 😅
  I've found that doing more frequent, smaller shopping trips really helps with keeping fresh food at home

43 comments