• PonyOfWar
    link
    fedilink
    English
    287 months ago

    users can reach speeds up to 20-plus MPH fairly easily (that’s 9,743 Kilometers per hour for my non-US readers).

    I know you guys in the US have faster e-bikes, but almost 8 times the speed of sound seems a little bit excessive.

    • @[email protected]
      link
      fedilink
      English
      20
      edit-2
      7 months ago

      Some countries use commas as a decimal point, but even then, 9.7?
      1 mile is 1.6 km with some change, so 20 miles would be around 32 km. If you’d plug the numbers in reverse, that would still give you 12.42.
      I can’t even imagine how they got that number.

      EDIT: Ooooh, they probably asked chatgpt to calculate that, or even to write the whole article.

      • @[email protected]
        link
        fedilink
        English
        67 months ago

        As an aside, metric conversions of US customary speed and distances are convenient in that they almost perfectly align to powers of two for typical land speeds.

        5 mph ~ 8 kph

        10 mph ~ 16 kph

        20 mph ~ 32 kph

        40 mph ~ 64 kph

        80 mph ~ 128 kph

        The other common speed limits in the USA are thus bitwise compositions, which Computer Science folks might appreciate:

        15 mph ~ 24 kph (16+8)

        25 mph ~ 40 kph (32+8)

        35 mph ~ 56 kph (32+16+8)

        45 mph ~ 72 kph (64+8)

        50 mph ~ 80 kph (64+16)

        55 mph ~ 88 kph (64+16+8)

        65 mph ~ 104 kph (64+32+8)

        Had the 1980s US metrication effort succeeded, we could have seen those same limits rounded off to: 25, 40, 55, 70, 80, 90, and 100 or 110 kph.

        For reference, common speeds around the world are 15, 20, 30, 50, 80, 90, and 100 kph

        think metric sign from Canada Source: https://commons.m.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:CA-BC_road_sign_I-106-100.svg

    • _haha_oh_wow_OPM
      link
      fedilink
      English
      37 months ago

      What, you don’t shatter windows all around you every time you go full speed?