In recent years, shared bicycles have quickly become popular in many cities and have become an important choice for people's daily travel. However, with the sharp increase in the number of bike-sharing bikes, questions about bike-sharing have also begun to surface, and many of them have said: How do bike-sharing bikes feel more difficult to ride than regular bikes?
Source: soogif
01 Riding a shared bicycle, my ass is almost numb!
Every time I ride a shared bicycle, I am most afraid of encountering uneven roads, especially manhole covers and speed bumps, which will definitely shake the whole person.
Why is it that shared bicycles are more vibrating than ordinary bicycles? Because of its weak shock resistance, the material of its body and tires is different from that of ordinary bicycles.
Unlike the high-carbon steel body used in ordinary bicycles, most shared bicycles use aluminum alloy bodies, because aluminum alloy has high strength, good durability and is not easy to wear. However, the shock absorption ability of aluminum alloy is poor, so when the shared bicycle vibrates, the vibration conducted by the aluminum alloy body is stronger, and people can feel the obvious bumps.
Source: Paixin Creative
On the other hand, regular bikes use pneumatic tires, while most shared bikes use solid tires.
The biggest advantage of using solid tires is that they have a heavy load and no air, which can avoid wear and tear problems such as punctures and tire leaks, thereby reducing the cost of tire repair. That said, solid tires are more durable than pneumatic tires. In automobiles, it is often forklifts, forklifts, loaders and other heavy vehicles that use this type of tires, and such vehicles are driven in factories, mines and other internal road sections.
Source: Paixin Creative
However, in order to achieve the goal of being strong and wear-resistant, the rubber used to make solid tires is relatively stiffer and less elastic, and there is no fill air in the tire to cushion vibrations, so the shock absorption ability is very weak.
Therefore, the aluminum alloy body and solid tires with weak shock absorption ability are the "culprits" that you feel very bumpy when riding a shared bicycle.
02 Riding a shared bicycle, it's really tiring to go uphill!
Many friends will find that riding a shared bicycle, especially when going uphill, will be very difficult, and no matter how hard you try, you can't pedal fast. In fact, there are two reasons for this.
Generally speaking, the weight of ordinary bicycles is about 10-13kg, but the weight of shared bicycles is generally about 15-17kg due to the wear-resistant alloy body and solid tires. In other words, shared bikes are heavier than regular bikes. Therefore, when it is inconvenient to park at ordinary times, even if you just move the car, you can sweat all over.
Then when climbing the hill, the gravity to be overcome by riding a shared bicycle is much more than riding an ordinary bicycle, and you will naturally feel more tired uphill.
图源：签约摄影师/IC photo
In addition to the heavier weight of shared bicycles, the gear ratio (the ratio of the gear of the crankset to the flywheel) of shared bicycles is also smaller than that of regular bicycles.
The transmission system of a bicycle is mainly composed of two types of gears: driving gears (also known as cranksets) and passive gears (also known as flywheels), which are connected together by chains. The process of cycling is equivalent to pedaling to rotate the crankset, and then the crankset drives the flywheel to rotate, so that the rear wheel rolls up, and drives the bike forward.
Generally, the number of teeth of the crankset is more than that of the flywheel, for example, the gear ratio is 4, which means that 1 rotation of the pedal can drive the wheel to 4 revolutions.
In other words, if the tooth ratio is small, the wheel will rotate less times per lap, and the bike will not be able to run far. Conversely, the higher the gear ratio, the more turns the wheel turns and the farther the bike can go with each lap.
Source: Paixin Creative
For safety reasons, shared bicycles avoid traffic accidents caused by users riding too fast, and in order to take care of the physical strength of users of different ages, the gear ratio is usually set smaller than that of ordinary bicycles.
Therefore, when you ride a shared bicycle uphill, although you keep pedaling, the distance traveled by the shared bicycle is far less than that of ordinary bicycles, and the uphill time is extended, and you certainly feel more tired.
03 Cycling is like "opening a blind box", there are far more frightens than surprises?
Friends who like to ride a bicycle or buy a bicycle by themselves should know that bicycles need to be maintained regularly, and the time interval is as short as one or two weeks and as long as one or two months depending on the frequency of bicycle use and riding mileage.
Short-term maintenance includes body cleaning, chain cleaning and oiling operations, and parts such as cranksets and flywheels in the transmission system also need to be disassembled and inspected to clean up dust and rust in time; Long-term maintenance requires further inspection of wheels, spokes, frames, handlebars and other components, and timely repair or replacement of deformed or heavily rusted parts to maintain the safety and comfort of riding.
Source: Paixin Creative
Compared with the bicycles bought by individuals, shared bicycles are used more frequently, have long riding mileage, and are in the outdoor environment for a long time, so they should be maintained more in a timely manner.
However, when we sweep a shared bicycle on the street and prepare to hit the road, we often drive "shocks" like "opening a blind box": either the saddle cannot be adjusted, or the bell is broken and cannot make a sound, or we can hear the sharp sound of chain friction or clicking noise when riding. This undoubtedly shows that the daily maintenance work of shared bicycles is not satisfactory.
In order to save labor costs and material costs, the operating companies of shared bicycles have long had a shortage of maintenance workers, low maintenance expenses, and reduced maintenance standards in terms of maintenance management, which has led to an alarming damage rate of shared bicycles, and many old vehicles are basically struggling with the passing line of "barely riding".
As a result, the shared bicycle, which was originally not in good hardware conditions, encountered poor maintenance, and then encountered bad maintenance, which was even worse.
图源：签约摄影师/IC photo
Overall, the experience of using shared bicycles is indeed less than ideal compared to ordinary bicycles: it is more bumpy when driving, more difficult to climb hills, and damage is more frequent due to the lack of proper maintenance.
But then again, bike-sharing has also brought convenience to people's lives in the city. Especially if you find yourself in an awkward distance to your destination – it's a bit of a long walk, but it's not cost-effective to take a taxi or subway, or there's no suitable stop. Then the best choice is to find a nearby "Little Yellow", "Little Blue" or "Little Green", scan the QR code, and ride there.
However, no matter what kind of transportation you are carrying, the most important thing is to follow the traffic rules and put safety first.
About the Author:
Xu Yan is a popular science writer and a writer of children's literature.
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