what if...?

[2manyoranges]

some of us oldies of a particularly stubborn disposition made a decision early on to eschew suspension forks, press-fit anything and especially disk brakes. mind you, at the same time, I wouldn't go back to cotter pins, there is still progress after all.
same goes for cars, automatic electronic hand brakes are vastly inferior to a proper mechanical hand brake - yet we are all forced to have them now and as far stupidly heavy DSG gear boxes and cars without a gear shift lever. Don't even get me started on EVs - ghastly chinese rabbit hutches full of 2 tons of duracells and piloted by virtue signaling zealots who couldnt me more wrong about emissions and where they are generated. We live in a world where people invent solutions for problems that dont exist and who find all sorts of ways to justify their invention that dont hold water when properly examined. not immediately solvable by forums like this one alas

Yikes…touched a nerve…but you raise some very good points - on handbrakes, I drive in the Alps at lot in the winter and avoids cars with e-handbrakes. Then, the point you raise over the origins of energy used to charge EVs is indeed a big issue and the consequences of rare earths in batteries, plus poor recycling are also real issues. While this forum by itself is a minority sport, many of us are connected with organisations where influential policy is being made, so I personally really welcome discussion, however heated, but welcome particularly discussions of evidence and research. I agree that many new ‘innovations and leaps forward’ just aren’t, some of them really are steps backwards….

 

[argonsixar]

Yikes…touched a nerve…but you raise some very good points - on handbrakes, I drive in the Alps at lot in the winter and avoids cars with e-handbrakes. Then, the point you raise over the origins of energy used to charge EVs is indeed a big issue and the consequences of rare earths in batteries, plus poor recycling are also real issues. While this forum by itself is a minority sport, many of us are connected with organisations where influential policy is being made, so I personally really welcome discussion, however heated, but welcome particularly discussions of evidence and research. I agree that many new ‘innovations and leaps forward’ just aren’t, some of them really are steps backwards….

I sometimes wonder if we would make a bigger difference to emissions if cars were forced back to their 1970s dimensions! Imagine how much manufacturing energy would be saved ; steel, plastics, rubber, rare earth elements; if every single vehicle was 10 to 20 % smaller ?

 

[bikeworkshop]

I've had a small electric car for 10 years, driven 80,000 miles, generated more electricity on the roof pv array than the cars used.
This doesn't make it green.

Not driving is green.

On yer bike

 

[highlandsflyer]

I've had a small electric car for 10 years, driven 80,000 miles, generated more electricity on the roof pv array than the cars used.
This doesn't make it green.

Not driving is green.

On yer bike

This!

 

[MattiThundrrr]

I sometimes wonder if we would make a bigger difference to emissions if cars were forced back to their 1970s dimensions! Imagine how much manufacturing energy would be saved ; steel, plastics, rubber, rare earth elements; if every single vehicle was 10 to 20 % smaller ?

Your experience with the cars of the 70s might be slightly different than what I recall
70s was the era of the gas guzzling land yacht in North America. Nothing but vast expanses of obese garbage

 

[2manyoranges]

This!

I know that this thread is suffering from Deep Drift, but I think we have seen a pretty weird period of human (and planetary) history, where a small proportion of the world has grown up with expectations of weekends in foreign capitals, global mobility for pleasure etc. As this period progressed, I revelled in ferreting around in chalk streams and looking at the fascinating ecology, riding in the forests and across the hill. Local. Local interest. Local mobility. And was never short of deeply moving and exciting new experiences and learning. I think we may need to turn to this as a ‘new’ way of being, if we are to solve the climate challenges this may be an essential shift in expectations and lives….

 

[FluffyChicken]

I guess Rimming is out then?

Still sounds like the next best thing.

 

[2manyoranges]

Your experience with the cars of the 70s might be slightly different than what I recallView attachment 889758
70s was the era of the gas guzzling land yacht in North America. Nothing but vast expanses of obese garbage

Matt .. my rigs of the 1980s….




The Ami8 was so sh+t that we had to go up hills in Cornwall in either first (making passengers walk up the hills) or in reverse…seriously…

I now have one of these….

 

[FluffyChicken]

... DSG gear boxes and cars without a gear shift lever...

While not exactly a what if.. More a rant for another topic we have.

You can have your shitty shift lever sticks and I'll keep my DSG. So much better and nicer to drive.

 

[highlandsflyer]

I know that this thread is suffering from Deep Drift, but I think we have seen a pretty weird period of human (and planetary) history, where a small proportion of the world has grown up with expectations of weekends in foreign capitals, global mobility for pleasure etc. As this period progressed, I revelled in ferreting around in chalk streams and looking at the fascinating ecology, riding in the forests and across the hill. Local. Local interest. Local mobility. And was never short of deeply moving and exciting new experiences and learning. I think we may need to turn to this as a ‘new’ way of being, if we are to solve the climate challenges this may be an essential shift in expectations and lives….

The Covid days were educational to many.