"In 1860 it was invented a device that can substantially increase the energy efficiency: the bicycle. Simple, compact this machine could make the human movement up to four times more powerful. Pedaling quickly to a ' now runs 9 km, twice the distance covered at the same time walking briskly. Riding a bicycle requires limited maintenance and humble materials with which it was built largely repaid the investment in terms of energy. Unlike the train, which required mountains of coal, and wagons, which used the animal metabolism, the bicycle was small and efficient, and was driven by man.
[...] January 3, 1899 edition of the [New York Times ed] read:
There is a mystery around these new vehicle concepts. They are unspeakably ugly and none of them has ever had a good name or a name at least durable. The French, who, if nothing else, they are usually orthodox in matters etymological, coined 'car', that being half greek and half Latin is so indecent that we print with a certain reticence.
addition to being ugly and indecent, the cars were not very efficient as a means of transport for people. Even the car Today, at the same distance, requiring three times more energy than the trains and thirty times more than the bike. "
From: Sonia Shah, Black Gold - A brief history of oil , Mondadori, Milano, 2005
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