Steve Jobs (RIP) Talks About the Efficiency of a Bicycle [VIDEO]
Oct 06, 2011
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The young Steve Jobs talks about the efficiency of a bicycle
I am sure that many of you have heard that Steve Jobs (of Apple fame) recently passed away. The news of his passing saddened me because he was such a creative person and he has shown that dreams of the future become reality if you are determined and you remain focused. I hope that some of his vision and persistence can be translated to the electric bike industry to create the best electric bikes possible and ultimately to see more people riding bikes in the future!
So here is the video that I promised. A young Steve Jobs talks about the efficiency of the traditional bicycle and then says that “The computer is the equivalent of a bicycle for our minds.” It may sound a little weird here but when you watch the video I think it will make more sense.
Again, he is talking about a non-electric bike but if the traditional bike is so efficient then I believe the electric bike is not too far off considering how little energy it takes compared to other forms of transportation.
What are your thoughts on Steve Jobs or bicycles efficiency? Please leave them in the comment section below
Thanks!
-Pete
P.S. Don’t forget to join the Electric Bike Report community for updates from the electric bike world, plus ebike riding and maintenance tips.
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Dear Pete!
Thank you for posting information on Steve Jobs, a brilliant person, who helped to many people to “locomote” thoughts easy and fast using computers.
Also, again thank you for your great portal for e-bikes.
Thank you Grandee! I am glad you like this post and Electric Bike Report.
-Pete
Pete,
I’d like to see a rigorous dissection of the energy usage of an e-bike v.s. a human powered bike. It seems obvious to me that for short trips that don’t involve a lot of energy, the human powered bike would win out, but it’s not so cut and dried for long trips. Unless we grow, catch or gather all of our food, the cost and energy overhead of the foods we eat are about as bad as it gets in terms of energy efficiency.
I know that Justin at e-bike Canada did a rough approximation for a masters thesis that seems to indicate that an e-bike is actually more energy efficient for longer trips than a regular bike. When he took his e-bike trip 3000 miles across Canada on less than $10 worth of electricity, that would seem to indicate that an e-bike is far more efficient. I’d hate to think what it would have cost him in massively extra food to human power that trip on a very heavy cargo bike.
I also wonder about the energy equivalency of an e-bike in comparison to a horse as a mode of personal transportation. It seems like the added acreage to support a half ton animal would blow out the energy efficiency of the horse in comparison to a few solar PV panels on the roof, but I’ve never seen anyone try to compute it.
Hi Ron, the book “Electric Bicycles” by David Henshaw and Richard Peace has a good bit on this subject. I believe they proves that in some cases the ebike is more efficient overall.
The bicycle is the ultimate toy, no matter if you are 8 or 78. It’s a time machine that takes you back to your infancy.