How many miles to ride to make your bike carbon neutral?

Don’t forget in those calcs that US gallons are smaller than UK gallons!

US = 3.785411784 litres
UK = 4.54609 litres

The reality is that the overwhelming majority of bikes sold are for leisure use so will never offset any carbon. It’s just another example of how the sustainability report is a marketing stunt rather anything meaningful

Cool. I’m officially carbon neutral and I can say that I beat it by miles.

Exactly the point I’ve made (and been shounted down about by some ST writers (not Hannah) before), especially around E-MTBs. Let’s be real; nearly nobody (except Mark) really rides they’re £8k full susser e-mtb to work. Half the time they are loaded into a transit van and driven 150 miles each way to a bike park to use them. As environmentally sound as burning oil and coal and gas.

The reality is that the overwhelming majority of bikes sold are for leisure use so will never offset any carbon. It’s just another example of how the sustainability report is a marketing stunt rather anything meaningful

fully agree.

but can we also consider what I would be doing with my free time and disposable income if it wasnt mountain biking?

whats an equivilent hobby I could be doing instead? I would almost certainly have a less fuel efficient car, as the current one is selected for the long distance fuel economy and bike carrying.

Maybe add a motorbike too. Both obviously made on the other side of the planet and shipped to me, as well as the fuel running costs.

Pre 2020, most of my colleagues of a similar age seemed to usemost of their annual leave on foreign stag dos and other trips, usually in the form of 4 day weekends. My 2 annual alps trips (one summer, one winter) were far less air miles than they all managed.

I also hate the manufacturer’s and media’s use of “carbon neutrality” as the be all and end all of environmental impact. Far more to a product’s overall impact than that.
Aluminium may have a lower carbon footprint than carbon fibre, but it’s mining and production is a filthy and polluting business. China produces half the worlds aluminium (India and Russia next) and we know how well known they are for good environmental practices.

A significant percentage of people who have more than one bike, commute by bike. My commuter has (easily) paid for the carbon footprint of all (7) my currently owned bikes and did that in one (7-8000km) year. I also walk the 3.5km round trip for lunch whereas my car driving colleagues seem to be HAVE to drive, even though it’s almost 5km through the one-way system. N+1 – for a sustainable lifestyle.

but can we also consider what I would be doing with my free time and disposable income if it wasnt mountain biking?

whats an equivilent hobby I could be doing instead?

Walking and/or running?

Walking and/or running?

still got to find a way to empty my wallet and get an adrenaline fix somehow

What about the carbon cost of vehicle manufacture? Does that get taken into account?

Only if it’s replacing a vehicle. If it’s not why would you?

As others have said, if it’s not replacing a motorised vehicle it’s greenwash. All hobbies have environmental impacts even if you’re Doug Forcett, what actually matters is how manufacturers support Right To Repair, how the products are manufactured and how they are distributed.

On the first point most manufacturers are **** abyssmal and until someone actually bangs their collective heads together and actually comes up with meaningful standards nothing will change (derailleur hangers, shifter mounts, brake mounts, axle widths, axle diameters etc. – pick one any or all)

Is any sport sustainable?

No of course not that’s why it’s all greenwashing. Sticking with bikes just look at races. Can you imagine the carbon footprint of the DH World Cup this weekend. Even most of the commentators are on trans ocean flights just to sit in the commentary booth. I’m quite sure trek and the other top trans will be there with lorry’s full of spare parts etc.  And dh is small scale compared to something like the giro

This stuff does boil my pi$$.

Pretty much everything you spend money on has an environmental impact – its all made of something, transported from somewhere or involves someone else doing something. Dont believe otherwise. I know change has to start from somewhere, but dabbling with the fringes and pretending that makes it ok is so false.

Some locals are trying to get a 2 mile ish cycle path built to avoid having to cycle on a busy-ish section of A road, which would link a couple of tiny villages to a town in Cornwall, and they’re trying to sell it as being an environmental scheme. There is no way that there would be anywhere near enough vehicle replacing journeys on that path to cover the environmental impact of laying all that tarmac, let alone all the middle class old people buying bikes.

Great for leisure, be great to be able to get my kids out, good for public health and road safety, would link the town into quieter country roads, but environmentally beneficial, no chance.

Looking at it my pinnacle arkose and inbred 29er offset their carbon footprint by commuting to work (2,430 & 2,418 miles respectively) now some of those are fun miles and I may have taken the scenic route rather than the direct route is take in the car (25 miles vs 15 miles).

My main play MTB doesn’t / didn’t get used for commuting.

What it has meant though is that we’ve been able to stay as a single car family, which is great.

For my MTB rides I normally try and ride from home. Can mean an hour of road work to get somewhere interesting as I live on the edge of the Peak District. Do sometimes drive if time is limited but it feels like cheating.

Other positive aspects of cycling are the physical and mental health side of things. Any day I cycled to work was generally better than when I drove in.

Edit: My bikes are alimium or steel so pretty recyclable.