Neigh

I’m laughing at both the mental images of the horses being shunted through the hyper loop at high speed, or them being the motive force to pull passengers through.

As would building a fence to keep in a bird.

Yeah, you can put horses on any pasture and they will happily graze on whatever weed grows there. Gryphons (just one example of a popular fantasy mount) should be carnivorous. So how many cows do you need to feed that thing before it will fly someone safely across the countryside, without deciding that this someone looks awfully tasty?

Big flying mounts should be horribly expensive to maintain. Only the most wealthy nobles and wizards who can literally conjure money should be able to pay for them.

Personally I always have to suspend a lot of my disbelief whenever dragon mounts are being mentioned in fantasy books and there is absolutely no explanations how these creatures are being fed. Usually the topic is quietly sidelined or simply dismissed with "something something magic".

Use hydrogen for that (using coal creates 1.5 tons CO² per ton steel). Green steel needs no phosphor and sulfur too, making it stronger.

Don't forget pride and an extreme disrespect for any new idea.

So it averages out to being about average in difficulty then.

You could attach the parachute lines to electric motors that could quickly reel the parachute back in.

And make the parachute semi-rigid like an umbrella so that it folds in a predictable and reversible way.

And make the anchor point where the lines attach to the motorcycle moveable. When it's deployed, the anchor point sits at the front of the bike so the chute and lines can pull the bike forward from the front. As the chute is getting close to being fully reeled in, the anchor point swings out on an arm a couple feet to the side of the bike and it gets several feet higher so that the lines and the chute are coming in from directly overhead rather than blocking the riders view.

These are just my preliminary ideas. Of course the engineering team at GM or Toyota or whoever buys this idea off me will likely want to tighten it up a bit to take into account various locale specific regulations and practical manufacturing considerations.

i got knives what you talking about

not my biggest one tho

shit it looks like i've got all the hardware except the sail (my trike has a vertical(ish) post about the same angle we could totally pop a sail mount in or on. and i'm kind of turning my bike into a papier mache pirate frigate for halloween 2026, so this would just, uh, yeah it'd be great.

my wife blames you. i haven't told her yet, but she blames you.

huh, now i want to slap some sensors on my ebike so it can do ACC

That's why I can't understand how some bikes can cost as much as a small used car.

You know that your family can ride too? In cities which aren't car-centric hell-holes, it's normal for kids of very young ages (6-8 years old) to walk/bike everywhere on their own. It also tends to help a lot with their independence and development.

Also, if you build your cities correctly, your grocery store will be a <3 minute walk. Your spouse or kids can just walk there.

Oh yes, the grocery store commute. You can clearly see in traffic that every car is full of groceries and people everyday at all times, and is rarely one person alone

Can this argument just disappear from discourse? People don't always drive around with their partner, dog and 2.5 kids AND groceries AND spare tires AND grandparents.

The majority of people in car-centric areas use their car only to haul around themselves, which could be done with public transport or bikes.

I leave the 8-story building (with an elevator), walk 5-10 minutes (one road crossing with lights), buy groceries, in 30 minutes I'm back home.

Something is wrong with that murrka thing.

Step one: leave the family (especially toddlers and infants) at home with a trusted caretaker or dog. Step two, ride about 15mph so you don't drain the battery too fast. Step three, wake up

Some people are completely unable to understand that not everybody lives in a city with everything on their doorstep, some people have children, and some people need to be able to transport more than a few small items at a time.

There are bikes that have motors, it helps reach further away locations.

I find the opposite to be true. Taking a train is so much more convenient. Don't have to find a place to park, don't have to do any work to get there. Just sit down and wait

Bikes are nice because I don't have to worry about traffic much, and generally parking isn't an issue

Cars are really inconvenient. You have a gigantic vehicle that you have to navigate around many other vehicles, then find a parking spot, usually not close to where you're actually going

I can't speak to trains (our rail system is a joke here) but I've been having more fun traveling and saving money by using my bike. Since I'm on the ground floor, it's very convenient.