Will cars keep on growing as the bigger they are, the less mpg required by CAFE?

[Hersbird]

If the US Navy didn't exist and we had an isolationist president, I have no doubt China would have already taken Taiwan and once that was done and largely unopposed, in a short time would be ready to move on Japan. Don't forget it wasn't that long ago Japan invaded and conquered most of China. That is the way it has always happened with these grand plan leaders. Putin tests the waters in Crimea like Hitler did the Rhineland. If China was unopposed in taking Tiawan it would again be just a first step.

[Sven7]

Originally Posted by serialk11r

A Trek 1400 is not a low end model in my book LOL.

Do they not sell super cheap Asian brand bikes in Australia? Well I suppose it's low end wheels that you need not a low end bike, although if the bike is low end enough you can just buy a new bike instead of buying new wheels. Strange how the economics works out sometimes.

For many who ride daily, the extra cost is more than justified for the quality of the vehicle, and you won't get that with department store bikes. I went with a pretty low end "bike store quality" bike- the Specialized Globe Work 1- at about $500 plus fenders/racks/tires (and believe me, I could build myself a $2000 commuter real quickly if I wanted to).

I will attest to the wearing scenario, too. I took delivery of my commuter in, I believe, late January or early February this year and immediately put it into daily service. The front (rim) brake pads took about seven months to wear down to the metal. The $50 set of cyclocross tires I run for comfort, speed and traction are reaching the end of their lives after ten months. I've lost one tube to a pinch flat and one tail light to a Chevy Sonic. The original chain wore out so on went a $20 (seven speed) replacement. Thankfully the rims still have good life left, though I plan to swap to drum brakes and tubeless rims/tires before they wear out. Even when buying a $500 bike, though, the derailleur sometimes comes out of adjustment. I'd hate to know what would have happened had I bought a $100 Pacific bike.

A lot of that happened because I ride in the Michigan road salt, which I swear is about one electron away from industrial acid. But when you use a bike daily, there tend to be associated costs. Fewer costs than my automobiles, though. Add up the oil and filter, a fuel pump, gas, insurance and other expenses and it easily gets into the thousands of dollars every year.

/tangent

[Cd]

The thing I hate to see most is the increase in frontal area ( height ) in small cars. It completely throws out the proportions of the car. :



Of note in the pic above is mention that the Spark is a full half a foot taller than a full size family car from the 1970s.


Here is my car in between two other small cars :

[Sven7]

To be fair, the Civic is a low car for its size. I've noticed it's lower than just about any other car in the parking lot! Stock, it's the same width and wheelbase and similar length but seven inches shorter in height than the first gen Focus. It's nine inches shorter than the 1G Fit.

[Xist]

When an old friend actually talks to me, she periodically claims how tiny my 1987 Honda Prelude was, insisting that she hit her head while climbing in.

That is what she gets for headbutting my car!

I guess that they are attempting to make as close to spherical cars as possible, maximizing volume, minimizing surface, somehow that works out to using less materials, but it is bad for aerodynamics.

[freebeard]

What? Bad for aerodynamics? Here's a sphere that has been prolated in two dimensions, to a very high level of accuracy.



Wasn't China traditionally isolationist*. Taiwan was part of China after 1662, just as Crimea was part of Russia from 1921.

Remilitarization of the Rhineland - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia was an interesting read. Great Britain was about likely to side with Germany against France after the Franco-Soviet pact. But then it was Great Britain and France that dropped http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Edward_Rydz like hot potato in Poland. I blame Churchill, the genocidal alcoholic.


*yeah, I know—Tibet.

[Hersbird]

Nobody listened to Churchill until everything he had foresaw came to pass. It's not his fault he was right.

[Xist]

Originally Posted by Hersbird

Nobody listened to Churchill until everything he had foresaw came to pass. It's not his fault he was right.

It is not my fault that I am wrong

every

time.

[freebeard]

Hersbird -- Google /search?q=churchill+gassing+arabs. He insisted on Germany's total destruction, refusing a negotiated end to WWII, and the British people dumped him as soon as the war was over. I'd say more except this is offtopic for the Aerodynamics forum.

[gone-ot]

Churchill endured London being bombed not once, but twice, (WWI and WWII), and yet history rather conveniently condemns him for having the foresight and fortitude of wanting to ENSURE that such bombings NEVER happened a THIRD time?

But, what does this have to do with aerodynamics? Well, both bullets and bombs "slice/slide" through the air, don't they?