Petrol prices and mirrors

Chuckle..
I started commuting about 10 weeks ago and I found it rather amusing
that for the first time ever, the first I heard about petrol prices
going through the roof was off the news and not at the pump!
Makes you feel sort of smug doesn't it?
Petrol could hit $2 a litre and I couldn't care - until holiday time
when I have to tow a trailer loaded with tent, 3 x bikes, 1 x tag-a-long
and everything else that we might need "just in case".
I decided to make my 15 yr old MTB more commuter friendly today with
some mudguards. I also saw some interesting end bars that have mirrors
in them that fold out from within the end bar.

http://www.bikecare.co.uk/acc/bar_ends.html

Anyone used these?

Spoken4 Wrote:
Chuckle..
I started commuting about 10 weeks ago and I found it rather amusing
that for the first time ever, the first I heard about petrol prices
going through the roof was off the news and not at the pump!
Makes you feel sort of smug doesn't it?

Not really, there's a vast amount of people (for various reasons) who
don't have the opportunity to utilise PT/cycling/car sharing etc.
Needless to mention, think of how the majority of your food is
transported. By road freight. Don't think bananas will be the only
foodstuff subject to a price rise if petrol continues to rise past
$1.30 per litre.


--
cfsmtb

speaking of cars and petrol.... I found these very amusing...

http://www.milkandcookies.com/links/43901/
http://www.milkandcookies.com/links/44061/
http://www.milkandcookies.com/links/44058/

cheers,
GPL


--
gplama

Spoken4 wrote:
Chuckle..
I started commuting about 10 weeks ago and I found it rather amusing
that for the first time ever, the first I heard about petrol prices
going through the roof was off the news and not at the pump!
Makes you feel sort of smug doesn't it?

Yep. The impact of ever increasing oil prices will bite, but not as
badly as for a lot of people who've put themselved in positions where
they're totally dependant on cars for transport. How long 'til we
have horses and carts again? And shop bicycles? 5-10 years?

Spoken4 wrote:
I also saw some interesting end bars that have mirrors
in them that fold out from within the end bar.

My 2c is that those are kind of expensive for bar-ends. I reguard
anything on the end of handlebars as consumable as they can easily get
knocked if you drop it, clip a tree, etc, not to mention the continual
bashing from learning parking.


As to petrol prices, I've just been prepareing a spreadsheets on the
cost of going away camping with the vehicle to various quiet places. Not
many have any change out for $300 for the week and we expect it to get
worse.

Spoken4 Wrote:
Chuckle..
I started commuting about 10 weeks ago and I found it rather amusing
that for the first time ever, the first I heard about petrol prices
going through the roof was off the news and not at the pump!
Makes you feel sort of smug doesn't it?
Petrol could hit $2 a litre and I couldn't care

I use the treadly for transport and the car to cart the kids around and
do a bit of shopping etc. It's on gas so only cost's $30 to fill every
two weeks whereas petrol would cost about $80. When I put the car on
gas ten years ago, my friends laughed and said i was mad, different
story now.


--
Dancier

Spoken4 wrote in news:44379180$0$7604
:

Chuckle..
I started commuting about 10 weeks ago and I found it rather amusing
that for the first time ever, the first I heard about petrol prices
going through the roof was off the news and not at the pump!
Makes you feel sort of smug doesn't it?
Petrol could hit $2 a litre and I couldn't care -

So you only care when things affect you ?

Then you should care, because prices of goods and services you do use will
go up with increased transportation costs. The delivery costs to my
business have gone up, to a point I will absorb the increases but soon I
will have to increase my prices. This will be ubiqutious and insidious.

--
Trevor S


"Unthinking respect for authority is the greatest enemy of truth."
-Albert Einstein

"cfsmtb" wrote:

Not really, there's a vast amount of people (for various reasons) who
don't have the opportunity to utilise PT/cycling/car sharing etc.

As petrol prices rise, however, new approaches to transport and living will
develop, and solutions will be found to the problems these people face. It
will have costs as some suburbs lose value, and others jump in value, due to
different travel options. Bikes, car-sharing, telecommuting and new PT
developments will all come into play in various combinations. The world
won't end, we'll just have a somewhat revised lifestyle. But history is
change. Look at what happened to Victoria's gold towns when the gold ran
out.

Needless to mention, think of how the majority of your food is
transported. By road freight. Don't think bananas will be the only
foodstuff subject to a price rise if petrol continues to rise past
$1.30 per litre.

A good argument for greater use of rail freight (as it was in Johnnie's
golden era, the 50s). Rail freight will still depend on oil, but a loco
transporting 4000 tonnes of bananas from Qld is a far more fuel efficient
option than 200 semis to transport same.

--
Cheers
Peter

~~~ ~ _@
~~ ~ _- \,
~~ (*)/ (*)

Peter Signorini wrote:

As petrol prices rise, however, new approaches to transport and living will
develop, and solutions will be found to the problems these people face.

This afternoon I noticed a couple getting out of a "Smart Car". I got out of our
van (1982 Voyager) and went over to look at the S-C. I was originally captivated
by them 3 years ago in London England when I saw them park sideways on the
street because they are so short.

The S-C imported into Canada has a 3 cylinder diesel engine (Mercedez-Benz).
When the couple returned they said that they bought the car in Nov '05 and it
started all winter without plugging it in. The car has synthetic motor oil in it
- THAT is why. Perhaps it is also parked in a garage...

The most interesting thing they told me is that the car takes 22 litres of
diesel and they go to Brandon and almost back on a fill (that is close to 200 km
each way (total of 400 km on just a bit more that 22 litres). They did not state
the speed they drove at. They did mention that the car pitches forward and back
(Like my 88" Wheelbase land Rover), BUT that the vehicle was comfortable and
quieter than their van.....

As I continue bicycling and using public transport I think I may just take a
test drive of one of these S-C sold by the local MB dealer

Ken
Winnipeg

Peter Signorini Wrote:

A good argument for greater use of rail freight (as it was in
Johnnie's
golden era, the 50s). Rail freight will still depend on oil, but a
loco
transporting 4000 tonnes of bananas from Qld is a far more fuel
efficient
option than 200 semis to transport same.

And bring back train spur lines!

Don't think that would be welcomed with open arms by public/private
propetry owners.

Hey, anything is possible in the future and come to think of it, our
film industry did produce a movie that has possibly greatly influenced
our collective consciousness - Mad Max.

Now we don't *really* want that to come to pass, do we?



--
cfsmtb