Quote:
Originally Posted by roflwaffle
There are, but sooner or later they're trumped by rubber use. A bike usually goes through something like three to six times more rubber than a car. IIRC it's something like an extra ~150-300 lbs per 100k miles, which is equivalent to the same weight in plastic or about three times that weight in steel.
For a bike that goes through tires in a reasonable amount of time, say ~15k-20k per set, the comparison isn't too bad because it only reaches the embodied energy of the car after a few hundred thousand miles, but a sport bike that goes through those tires in half the time or less will add the energy equivalent of a half ton of steel every ~100k or so.
|
I've never had a bike rust out and have to be scrapped.
Bike tires contain far less materials than car tires, in average sizes.
Since I don't have a crotch rocket, my bikes' tire life isn't that dismal.