I’ve been realising that Denmark’s positive attitude towards cycling has been changing my views to getting around by bike as my ‘zero tailpipe emissions’ transport option. I would never have considered cycling in the UK. But Aarhus here has growing rates of cycling, improvements underway to infrastructure, and plans and strategies to support people cycling more.
Perhaps I won’t go so far as not to get an EV here. But I certainly am not in the same kind of rush to replace my UK Hyundai IONIQ Electric as I was when I first arrived three months ago. Bicycles for part of me and my family’s transport… may be something we go for 🙂
This week I sat on a Coast Cycles Buzzraw E250, had a test ride on a Brinckers Brisbane M310 e-bike… and sadly had a bus driver close the doors twice on my son’s head! Also came across Velove’s four-wheel cargo e-bikes that are used by DHL and others, and some other things…
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Twitter @ZeroTailpipe
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26 Comments
You could buy an electric drum kit for your daughter 🙂
Bicycles make life and cities better.
Cities that encourage people to ride bicycles have less traffic congestion and reduced vehicle pollution.
Bicycles are fossil fuels free transportation and great exercise which is good for your health.
It is also good for the future of the planet and dealing with the Climate Crisis.
MG ZS EV seems to be pretty cheap. I don't know if they sell it in Denmark.
A used Nissan Leaf should be pretty inexpensive if you only plan to drive occasionally.
Do you have a place to park / plug in an electric vehicle.
I think both a EV and a Ebike would be best. Use the EBike mostly.
Cycling is excellent and environment friendly and everything else good to say. A lot is being done for cyclists here in Denmark, but the bike has its limitations – especially in winter – so I would almost recommend to continue cycling – especially when we soon get into the winter months to see if you still think it is fun. But as your cycling takes place in the city, this may well be the case.
I hope your son is recovering. It looks like a bike is going to be one part of your transport 'solution' with a car for poor weather, longer and family trips. The drum kit is a self-inflicted torment!
I'd think the biggest issue is the weather. I have bad memories as a student in Toronto biking around in slush. My hometown has been trying to build out better biking infrastructure, but there's a bit of a geography problem — there's a ~500 foot elevation difference between downtown and the residential neighborhoods to the north and west.
LOL, we just ordered 2 ebikes and car racks to put on top of our year old M3. I will enjoy watching you decide on bikes.
I'm just thinking of freezing rain, sleat, snow ,gale force winds and sleat , dropping the bike on sheet ice and breaking a hip. And for the top speed of these electric bikes , (not me at 60 years old ) some of these guys on racing bike's can really move with no ev assistance, far faster than an electric bike.
Sometimes the answer is never what you expect it to be. I will tell you a story, back in the early 2000's VW bought Rolls-Royce and Bentley only they forgot to buy the separately trademarks Rolls-Royce name. BMW scooped it up and we have the opportunity you never knew you needed. VW had planned a car for the new Rolls Royce the Phantom. Things didn't work out and we now have the renamed Phaeton (Switch the PhaNtoM N&M and turn the M 90 degrees and you get an E. The PhaEtoN was born. Relabled a VW it is the best VW ever made. There is a whole Factor called the Transparent Factory where every Phaeton is made by hand in the cleanest automotive factory in the world. Why did I tell you this?
The answer to your problem.
http://www.ooyyo.com/denmark/c=CDA31D7114D2854F111B9E6FBAA6355BBCA21D6617F286/-7630307398771990266.html/
Not EV not efficient but it is arguably the best car ever made, on top of that it blends in as it is a VW not a Rolls-Royce. It is cheap, now, and you then buy a E Bike for your enjoyment. Drive your kids to school in your Roller, and for week ends and get away time take the bike. Trips in the Phaeton are easy and it is very safe. 14 years old so it is cheap. Jeremy (or Jennifer) Clarkson had a video about it when he was employed in the UK.
You get a fun bike to ride around, an awesome car you never knew you needed and you get to have your cake and eat it too.
https://youtu.be/xm2swohEtYM
The factory Cleanest and quietest:
https://youtu.be/o1I0HzK2J-A
Great reflections mate
Your daughter almost made it to the groove of We will rock you by Queen! 😉 I think she should start playing and strat a YouTube series about her life as a starting drummer! 👍 But I am prejudiced being a drummer 😉🥁
Thanks. Your videos are always interesting and with different content from other YouTubers.
Interesting the one thing from the look of things Denmark is VERY flat making cycling easier. Where I live is very much not flat. Personally I think hills help as they get the muscles going. 🙂
Though I will say for me I prefer non-EV bicycle the old school using my own energy to get around.
As winter rolls in I suppose could be interesting not that I know what Denmark winters are like, suspect snow and cold though being a Scandinavian country.
I also don't like coffee so understand your daughter completely. Water or milk for me for non-alcoholic drink, typically water though. Good for her. 🙂
If you go for the e-bike option, I recommend Gortex waterproofs. I actually got some Danish army surplus, 3 layer Gortex combat trousers and jacket for winter cycling. Dry as a bone and warm as toast. 🙂 (With your family around you, it is obvious how much more relaxed you are than in previous videos.)
Cycling is ONLY! sustainable if you are Vegan or live on a meat poor diet! It is a myth that cycling is good for the environment in general: The CO2 footprint from food consumption per Dane is 3.4 tonnes per year. That includes growing farming, transport microwave dishes and restaurant visits,( this is from a 2017 EU study) and as cycling say 20 km each day @ 20km/h increases your caloric need by 23.4%, which results in 120g CO2/km. This is exactly as much as a gasoline car, even if you include fossil fuel infrastructure. An EV in Denmark emits around 64g CO/km, so it is obviously better to drive electric car there than riding a bike, especially if you are more people in the car. If you get an electric bike, you can get as low as 17g CO2/km if you don't use pedal assist, and even on the now road legal 45kmh e-bikes, you still only emit 40g/km. So pedalling is definitely out of the question if you care about the environment.
N.B.: If you however are on a starch rich diet, which many people who exercise are, you metabolic footprint drops, so you should be able to get down to around 80g CO2/km. You can also chose to ride your pedal bike slowly. at 15km/h your CO2 emission is halved compared to riding at 20km/h. so it is possible to be green on a bike if you are careful about your diet or get an E-bike.
I did 18 months by bicycle on Long Island NY right through two winters and finally gave up after getting hit and run two times in 9 months in one of the few actual bicycle lanes
Once you make the commitment to a certain amount of misery it’s becomes pretty easy other than the car issues
It’s just two hostile of and environment with no repercussions for the careless motorist
Wait for winter.
Hiya Duncan, if more countries were like Denmark where everything is close by and mass transit was available, the world might not have this climate change problem. Biking to stay fit and healthy do have their benefits. You have been brave to move to Denmark and I wish I could shake your hand and pat you on the back for doing such a wonderful job of moving ahead in life. Your family must also be in a happier place now that you are close at hand to help them get acclimated to their new home.
Family is a handful job at the best of times. I AM IMPRESSED at your perseverance. One foot ahead of everyone means you are going in the right direction.
Definitely that that at 2:44 you were going to say your friend hit a pot hole so big he died, and that bust was his memorial statue for dying from a pot hole. Glad that's not the case!
Considering the weather in Finland, how many months a year can you really use a bicycle?
About EV, if you can wait, the Tesla Model Y will certainly the most practical and efficient EV to get for your family.
Bicycles are the answer to all our problems. Until it rains. I'm a keen fair-weather cyclist and you have to ask yourself the question of the ages. "How will it do on a wet January evening in Stoke?"
A Wike Salamander might work, the best thing is you don't need to leave it outside in stores or at work. May fit on a bus… works great for moving stuff and not leaving your bike for thieves.
https://youtu.be/RZi7WNTDTAU
I've been trying to find a trailer stroller and a folding bike but there seems to be no solution.
DONT DO IT! TOO DANGEROUS
I just looked up the weather in Denmark. It never gets cold there, 0C at the coldest, hardly any snow. Cycling should be fine. E Bike should work out good. Advantage of not having a car is no insurance, no licence, no parking fees. E bike is going to be used with the motor but you could pedal at times. 0C you just need a vented windbreaker. Stay healthy, cycling is beats walking every day. Carrying a helmet everywhere and as long as you use a good lock and have to carry that, it isn't great but it isn't bad either.
I'm 3.5 years into no car and I can say the Bus sucks. Walking is slow but more people could with much more walking than they do. Trains are great but a bicycle is awesome. An E Bike makes the Bicycle twice as good. Even here where it does get cold. -1C right now, dips down to -5C today and -13C tonight. If it is too cold to ride you walk or take the bus. But there, Denmark, it never gets cold. Always summer there.
Thanks Duncan. The legal speed limit of 25 km/h for electric bikes is about the same as the 16 mph limit in Britain. Any faster/more powerful, and they're classed as electric motorcycles, which require registration, insurance, crash helmets, a driving license and MOT tests. It's a kind of parallel to the distinction between a moped and a motorcycle; capabilities, not function.