Cycling UK Forum

On my Saab, hard acceleration (according to the fuel consumption readout) is 8mpg...so a good overtaking manoeuvre costs around 30p...!

It's also amazing how small the time saving is driving at 80 compared to 60 - but about a 20% saving in fuel.

james01 wrote:

Fonant wrote:
Oil is actually in demand for two reasons: it's still relatively cheap to make .

Sorry to be pedantic but they stopped "making" oil many millions of years ago! Every fossil-fuelled car journey permanently destroys a bit more of a resource which cannot be replaced.

Doh! Getting confused between oil, which of course you can't "make", and transport fuels like petrol and diesel, which are made from oil.

We won't ever use up all the world's oil resources, in the same way we'll never use up all the world's diamonds. Some people think we've used about half of the stuff that's reasonably easy to extract. But of course we're using it faster and faster, so it'll take much less time to use up the remaining half (assuming prices don't stifle demand).

At some point crude oil might become more valuable per kilogram than diamonds, assuming that demand for the stuff remains - but it's obviously not as pretty, so demand may well disappear as we find other ways to power things.

hamster wrote:It's also amazing how small the time saving is driving at 80 compared to 60 - but about a 20% saving in fuel.

not to mention less frustration as at 60 you get stuck behind fewer other vehicles!

I used to have a completely hopeless Vauxhall Cavalier as a company car. When towing my boat (12' sailing dinghy) from races I used to slipstream TNT lorries which gave fantastic fuel consumption. It also allowed the car to stay in 5th - otherwise it needed 4th to climb any gradient.

I have a diesel Citroen C2, quite economical and as I cycle to work as often as I can, I don't need to fill up often, except it's now on one bar and I'm not looking forward to calling into Tesc/burys today. I now tend to keep below 60 mph and moderate my throttle according to the MPG readout, which on the flat is about the 55mpg reading, dropping down to about 30mpg on climbs and has been known to go off the scale, 999mpg, on drops.

glueman wrote:Fuel isn't that expensive unless you're a road haulier with lots of competition and already tight margins. For domestic users it hasn't reached critical. ... I got ear-holed the other day by someone on an adjoining pump who went into a kind of Daily Mail, Gordon Brown rant but we're still at the price perception stage, not scales falling from eyes.

I would suggest that the scales that need to fall from eyes is that the taxes of a government (ours or any other country's) have anything to do with the rising cost of fuel. The oil business attracts fat cat profiteers like no other industry. Even if there was zero govt tax on fuel it would still cost us more and more. We're hooked on the stuff and the fat cats know it.

It's that anti-democratic system of running things called capitalism. Enjoy!

james01 wrote:Sorry to be pedantic but they stopped "making" oil many millions of years ago!

just to out pedant you, but every time organic matter dies and collects in mass it has the potential to become new oil. leaves are settling in the silt at the mouth of the humber and oil maybe being laid down at spurn point as we speak

admittedly it'll take c. 200 000 000 years to make enough for the next c. 25 years consumption, but to say they've stopped making it isn't quite true.

pedant to pedant, you understand

Well, today diesel went up again.


Its now £1.32 a litre!



Im on my bike MUCH more since this all kicked off. I still need the car unfortunatly, but I now get another weeks grace due to cycling.



(When I move house - soon, and get my new bike..... later, I intend to do the Tesco shop via my cycle too!)



Mary

I've just downsized from a SAAB 9000 to a Fiat 900cc Cinquecento because the cost of filling up the SAAB was giving me palpitations, despite my salary being a tidy one, and bringing home to me what a waste of resources a car can be.

Shortly after buying the Fiat I dusted down one of the bikes in the shed, did a few trial runs over the last few weeks and commuted to work on it yesterday for the first time since I started this job three years ago.

Finally I've done two long (500 mile +) journeys in the Fiat and because it has a small engine it is much easier to cruise it on motorways at 70 mph rather than at 85 mph (yes I do know what the speed limit is but...) - this has proven to be WAY more relaxing and WAY more cost effective and doesn't seem to get me to my destination any slower.

anyway my point is this; take heart folks the price of fuel is affecting people's behaviour

workhard wrote:cruise it on motorways at 70 mph rather than at 85 mph (yes I do know what the speed limit is but...) - this has proven to be WAY more relaxing and WAY more cost effective and doesn't seem to get me to my destination any slower.

Yes, average speed is much more affected by time spent crawling along and stationary than by the top speed you manage. That's why cycling is so effective around towns - we can't go as fast, but we can keep moving much more easily.

anyway my point is this; take heart folks the price of fuel is affecting people's behaviour

Yes, and it is already, which is very good news. I seem to remember experts thinking fuel would have to reach £10/gallon before the cost would have an impact, but perhaps just the threat of that is enough. Certainly we've noticed that filling our car up is now more than £50, which feels like some barrier between acceptable running costs and serious expenditure.

We've also found that cruising at 65 instead of 70 gives a nice ~15% saving in fuel costs, and makes for a much more relaxed journey.

bit on the news thi morning compared cars bought in May 07 to May 08. Massive decrease in big 4x4s, lesser decrease in midto large family cars, and substantial increase in small economic cars bought. Yes, it's onloy one month's data but it does suggest that people's behavior is starting to change. Although didn't a similar this happen in the '70s fuel crisis in the US but when fuel came down a little many went back to their big cars.

mmm, interesting research. In the 70's cars were in many ways easier to come by. Older cars were readily bought and sold as they were easier to repair and maintain and MOTs were less stringent. Thrtrs very few cars on the road today older than 10 years.
(Im now awaiting anecdotes of uncle joe still running his '89 Astra)

A workmate is planning to drive over to france for his summer hols. He's noted that ferry prices have dropped remarkedly over this last month, as driving demand has dropped.

I live in a rural area and cycle when I can now and use train a bit if I am tired The people I feel sorry for are people in villages often there are no shops lots of local post offices have closed, and no or very little public transport.

In mid beds bus services have just been cut and train fairs gone up untill the goverment tackle these route causes nothing is going to change.

I travelled from Arras to Calais the other week by train with my bike around 100k cost 18 euro and there was a place to put my bike no problems and sit in Comfort.

I have always been a Labour supporter and was a local councillor but there is no way I would vote for them at the moment.

I live in a rural area and cycle when I can now and use train a bit if I am tired The people I feel sorry for are people in villages often there are no shops lots of local post offices have closed, and no or very little public transport.

the lack of local shops is often put down to it being cheaper to travel to a large "stack it high - sell it cheap" supermarket than pay the local shops' higher prices. With the increase in fuel prices we might see a return of the local shop, especially the local farmshop that sources its products from the locality, thus doesn't need to increase its prices due to increased delivery charges. Regional, seasonal produce - suits you sir.

pigman wrote:A workmate is planning to drive over to france for his summer hols. He's noted that ferry prices have dropped remarkedly over this last month, as driving demand has dropped.

Could be something to do with the recent surge in the €