[endymion-light]

"Bicycles are the most efficient forms of transport in energy per mile. They are often the fastest in built up areas as well."

I don't disagree, but if this is the purpose of this graphic, why not just specifically measure different forms of transport in energy per mile?

This article is putting a metric of efficiency, while ignoring the reasons why things like a dog may have less efficent locomotion over perfectly flat terrain, because there are very few natural landmarks that have perfectly flat terrain.

I'd love to see a deeper comparison, how does efficiency of locomotion compare between animals within different types of environments, obstacles, etc. Otherwise this is a graphic that was used to make a point about cycling using an abstract measure rather than actual research.

[LogicHound]

They updated the graphic to include HPV style vehicles that are more aerodynamic than bicycles (usually just a bicycle with an aero-shell). I am not sure why this has come up now because I have an old bicycle book my Grandmother bought for me back in the late 90s that discusses these vehicles and it was known then they were more efficient.

> This article is putting a metric of efficiency, while ignoring the reasons why things like a dog may have less efficent locomotion over perfectly flat terrain, because there are very few natural landmarks that have perfectly flat terrain.

You can't control for this stuff and measure it really.

> I'd love to see a deeper comparison, how does efficiency of locomotion compare between animals within different types of environments, obstacles, etc.

Again this is difficult to control for. Other than particular areas where bicycle won't work (and there are very few places where that would apply), the bicycle is still likely to win out. Even if you have to get off occasionally to navigate over/under/around an obstacle you get all the benefits of efficiency for the majority of the time.

[abakker]

my intuition is that over smoothish, but hilly terrain, mountain bikes fare very well, too, since you get to go downhill for free. once you end up in a talus field, I think it becomes clear that "efficiency" is gone for basically any creature on land.