THE newly shown episode of US pop-science show Mythbusters is sure to provide plenty of ammo for the anti-bike brigade – apparently proving that bikes are actually more polluting than cars.
It's not quite the full story, of course. Bikes aren't legally forced to meet emissions restrictions as strict as those for cars, so fitting them with expensive, heavy, bulky and power-sapping emissions-reduction kit would be a stupid move for any manufacturer hoping to be competitive. And in future bikes will be forced to meet similar emissions restrictions, at which point their lower fuel consumption and reduced CO2 emissions (the only emissions test they win on in this Mythbusters test) will make them 'greener' than cars.
Perhaps more important, and missed in the testing procedure here, is the fact that bikes spendfar less time stuck in traffic – to complete the same journey as a car, they can be running for a significantly shorter time, further reducing their emissions.
Anyway, if you can't wait for the proper English version of the episode (we get a voice-over that's less cringe-worthy to British ears) a quick YouTube search will come up with the original.
Of course, it might get deleted once Discovery spot it, but why not try above.
