Would bicycles ever take over the auto industry?

I recentily got into bicycles as a hobby and I've seen movies where in the future the energy crices takes its toll on the auto industry forcing people to switch from cars to bicycles. The time machine remake shows a hypothetical future of this happening in New York when he time travels to the 2030's I think it was.

If bikes ever did take over the auto industry I would welcome the change (as much as I love cars to) things seem to be headed in that direction what with gas prices sky rocketing and new cars becoming more and more expencive to afford for most people.

Personaly I don't think you can go wrong with using a bike more than your car. I ride pretty much every where and own two bicycles (a Dyno cruiser and a Giant mountain bike) and I love riding them and maintaining them. I am thinking of getting a job at a bike shop in repairs & maintenance.

i remember once my car broke down and i cycled to work, it was eleven miles each way. guess how much fun that was..

Lots of people can't use bicycles for a variety of health reasons. Plus car equals freedom for a lot of folks.

Bad idea.

Hahahahahahahahahahahahaha....hahahahahaha..haha...wipes tear away.

No

The auto industry is here to stay. It will evolve, but it will not disappear OR be replaced by bicycles.

a reply to: paranormal78

Bicycles would easily replace cars if they had a driver/passenger compartment, four wheels and an engine that developed 300 hp.

a reply to: paranormal78

I always ride my bike 20 miles round trip to work in January in Buffalo.

I find it very pleasant and dependable.

a reply to: paranormal78

With the new high speed e-bikes, there will be at least a change for that partially to happen.

It really depends on where you live. In many parts of the Southeast US, there's just too much distance between places. The cities and counties are literally designed for cars. Also, the terrain and infrastructure can be ridiculous outside of the major cities & interstates.

a reply to: BornAgainAlien

Was going to post about Ebikes, seen some with dual motors
hit 70 mph+ in some videos.

But I tend to agree with posters who say cars are here to stay
for simple reasons like going to get groceries.

Taking the family on vacation, etc etc....

I see the Ebike becoming an option for poor single people
who cannot afford families who live in the stack em and pack em
hell holes brought to us by Agenda 21.

They miss the Warsaw Ghettoes so much they plan on bringing
them back, they have waited patiently.

Only those "more equal then others" will be allowed to have
their own single family dwelling under Agenda 21.

And if you don't like it you get the "fun camp" as hillary calls it.

Hillary's fun camps for adults

Whew thought she would say FEMA camp or something like that,
MUCH better marketing calling it a "fun camp".

I am sure the "they hate us for our freedoms" sheeple will swallow that line.

originally posted by: paranormal78
I recentily got into bicycles as a hobby and I've seen movies where in the future the energy crices takes its toll on the auto industry forcing people to switch from cars to bicycles. The time machine remake shows a hypothetical future of this happening in New York when he time travels to the 2030's I think it was.

If bikes ever did take over the auto industry I would welcome the change (as much as I love cars to) things seem to be headed in that direction what with gas prices sky rocketing and new cars becoming more and more expencive to afford for most people.

Personaly I don't think you can go wrong with using a bike more than your car. I ride pretty much every where and own two bicycles (a Dyno cruiser and a Giant mountain bike) and I love riding them and maintaining them. I am thinking of getting a job at a bike shop in repairs & maintenance.

To answer your question, no... Absolutely not. Maybe in very specific areas, like densely populated cities, you'll have a higher concentration of people using bicycles to get around, but bicycles will never replace automobiles.
The price of cars isn't the issue... Effective cars can be made for very cheap. When supply and demand requires cars to be produced in such a way, then they will be. As for fuel prices, that's all just economy too. The fuel giants are going to push gasoline on us for as long as they can, but electric cars are finally starting to make a comeback. With that, other fuel alternatives are going to start becoming commonplace as well.

a reply to: paranormal78

I suppose it's a far cry to say bike would ever replace cars entirely. Sure riding a bike 10 or more miles to work and back would be a bitch but people a couple of hundred years ago people didn't even have bicycles or cars for that matter. Sure most got arround on horses but A bicyclist in good enough shape could ride as fast as an avrage horse. Unfortunately not allot of people aren't as healthy as that. Back before cars many people were to poor to own a horse so they had to travel cross country on foot to get to long distant destinations.

There's also motorized bikes like gas and as some of you mentioned E bikes. I used to have an E bike but it was kind of a piece of junk so I sold it at a yard sale. Now I'm going to put together a gas powered bicycle using a 49cc Honda clone engine. It's a typical Grubee 4 stroke kit but it's supposed to have a top speed of 30 to 35 mph and a range of 40 to 60 miles per tank of gas. The best part is no insurance or anual registration required. I still would need an M2 license because of the 30+ mph top speed. I was thinking of upgrading it to do 45 mph (fastest I would want to be going on a bicycle)

I couldn't even get down my country road on a bike. The washboard type bumpiness would kill my neck and back.
And then there's the snow, I still have some in my yard and down the driveway. 50 km to the nearest town in either direction, one of them with hills everywhere.
And how does one fit a weeks worth of groceries, and the other things that get purchased on a bike? I've found that I actually need a pickup truck - businesses just don't deliver outside of the cities.
Try to fit 2 dogs on a bike.
4x4 with decent tires is the only way yo get around it here.

a reply to: snowspirit

I guess if the roads are bad enough a 4x4 truck is usualy the way to go. I'm also in to 4x4s. Me and my dad sometimes go off-roading in his 07 Toyota FJ cruiser. It's probably one of the best 4x4 SUVs out there. It's very reliable and handels allot of terain even without a bunch of extra options. Also gets decent gas mileage for an SUV. It is kinda pricy tho. I think my dad payed around $30k or $40k. But he went all out with the options and he also got a bull bar winch bumper.