Will bikes exist in 2050?

[telstarbox]

In 2050 will anyone still use a manual bike, with no gps tracking or rider registration? Will e-bikes have taken over the market? Will the push to autonomous vehicles put detection of bikes in the "too difficult " pile and limit us to Sustrans pavement routes?

[Jaded]

Well, no, because it will be about 500,000 people, across the whole earth, with clubs and pointed sticks.

[quixoticgeek]

In 2050 will anyone still use a manual bike, with no gps tracking or rider registration? Will e-bikes have taken over the market? Will the push to autonomous vehicles put detection of bikes in the "too difficult " pile and limit us to Sustrans pavement routes?

In the unlikely event that civilisation as we know it still exists in 2050. Yes, traditional acoustic bikes will still be a thing. There's nothing better for efficiency of moving humans about.

J

[Cudzoziemiec]

By 2050, all humans will have been GENETICALLY MODIFIED to grow their own wheels instead of feet!!!1!!!1!

[Jaded]

In 2050 will anyone still use a manual bike, with no gps tracking or rider registration? Will e-bikes have taken over the market? Will the push to autonomous vehicles put detection of bikes in the "too difficult " pile and limit us to Sustrans pavement routes?

In the unlikely event that civilisation as we know it still exists in 2050. Yes, traditional acoustic bikes will still be a thing. There's nothing better for efficiency of moving humans about.

J

Assuming that moving humans about is an important thing…

[quixoticgeek]

In the unlikely event that civilisation as we know it still exists in 2050. Yes, traditional acoustic bikes will still be a thing. There's nothing better for efficiency of moving humans about.

Assuming that moving humans about is an important thing…

As per my first sentence.

J

[Jaded]

In the unlikely event that civilisation as we know it still exists in 2050. Yes, traditional acoustic bikes will still be a thing. There's nothing better for efficiency of moving humans about.

Assuming that moving humans about is an important thing…

As per my first sentence.

J

er, no.

[quixoticgeek]

As per my first sentence.

er, no.

Oh?

J

[Jaded]

Civilisation existing versus humans needing to move about.

The first can occur without the last.

[quixoticgeek]

Civilisation existing versus humans needing to move about.

The first can occur without the last.

"civilisation as we know it"

That involves people moving.

J

[Jaded]

Civilisation existing versus humans needing to move about.

The first can occur without the last.

"civilisation as we know it"

That involves people moving.

J

I stand by what I said. Feel free to argue,

The subject of the argument is a bit more important than your argument.

There have been many civilisations without much movement. Or bicycles.

[Kim]

No.  We'll all be using pedalos.  Climate change, innit.

[Jaded]

No.  We'll all be using pedalos.  Climate change, innit.

 

[Paul H]

Exist yes, but only bought by enthusiasts, not by anyone who's only interest is in a means of transport. 

[MartinC]

Presumably the OP had a presumption that we confine the question to Europe and North America.  AIUI there are about a billion bicycles in the world, most of them owned by people from elsewhere with limited incomes, poor infrastructure and not much access to electricity.  You'd need to change all this before those billion bikes get scrapped and replaced with ebikes.

If the affluent western consumer is still around in 2050 they'll no doubt have found something better to do

[Paul H]

Presumably the OP had a presumption that we confine the question to Europe and North America. 

What about China? It's the biggest market for E-bikes.
Around 15% of the World's population don't have access to electricity, so what's being considered is the other 85%.
Hopefully over the next thirty years that number will reduce, though I suspect the current levels include a high proportion for whom what powers a bicycle is low on their list of priorities.

[IanDG]

Humans will be gone. Fish will have evolved to ride bicycles.

[Cudzoziemiec]

Quote from Yet Another Cycling Forum for Fish on 17 January 2050 at 01:23:45
The new swim indicators on the new Tunatronic 6500 fin-helmet are as much use as tits on a human.

[hatler]

I'm rather hoping that by 2050 we will have developed horse quadricycles. That will get us around quickly.

[rogerzilla]

Aren't e-bikes just e-waste in waiting?  As soon as you add batteries or electronics to a mechanical contrivance, it becomes subject to "digital rot" in the form of obsolescence, irrecoverable loss of function and cessation of support.

There had better be a damn good recycling programme for them soon.

[Kim]

Aren't e-bikes just e-waste in waiting?  As soon as you add batteries or electronics to a mechanical contrivance, it becomes subject to "digital rot" in the form of obsolescence, irrecoverable loss of function and cessation of support.

To be fair, it's not like manufacturers haven't been doing this for ages with the mechanical stuff, but electronics makes incompatibility so easy that you don't even have to really try.

At least there's nothing special about e-bikes recycling-wise.  It can go in the same pile as all the other electronic waste.

[bobb]

People were probably asking similar questions when other forms of transport invented after the bicycle came along....

One thing is for certain though - humans are absolutely terrible at predicting the future, so it's almost not worth asking the question in the first place. But I'll answer "Yes" to it anyway 

[rogerzilla]

My kids asked me years ago, "Daddy, what will the future be like?"

I said, and, I stand by this, "The same as today, but more expensive and with more chavs."

[Blodwyn Pig]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vdSqLfuRN18

[Polar Bear]

Write a letter to The Scum and ask their time traveller ...   🤔   ...   🤣🤣🤣