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Old 01-18-2012, 03:58 PM   #12 (permalink)
Frank Lee
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Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: up north
Posts: 12,762

Blue - '93 Ford Tempo
Last 3: 27.29 mpg (US)

F150 - '94 Ford F150 XLT 4x4
90 day: 18.5 mpg (US)

Sport Coupe - '92 Ford Tempo GL
Last 3: 69.62 mpg (US)

ShWing! - '82 honda gold wing Interstate
90 day: 33.65 mpg (US)

Moon Unit - '98 Mercury Sable LX Wagon
90 day: 21.24 mpg (US)
Thanks: 1,585
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Quote:
Originally Posted by roflwaffle View Post
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.
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