Easy enough to calculate yourself. A quick Google says that an average motorbike might be as much as 700 pounds, and if we use the same “fat man” as the bike (300 lb), that’s a total of 1000 lb. The formula for comparative damage is (W1/W2)4, so plug that in and we get (1000/350)4, or motorbikes doing 66× the damage of the bike, or 0.00396.
If a cyclist had to pay a $10 fee, as @ChaoticNeutralCzech@feddit.de suggests, motorbikes would pay $660, while the average car driver pays a whopping $1,100,000, if you were trying to accurately account for damage done.
Firstly, you’re an Aussie, I’m an Aussie and we’re on an Aussie instance, the heck are you using pounds for? Secondly, there’s not a chance in hell the average motorbike weighs 317 kilograms! A Honda Goldwing, notoriously one of the chonkiest, plushest experiences in motorcycling, is only 390kg, and they have an 1800cc flat-six engine. I used to ride a 500cc twin and at 192kg it was heavier than a lot of 1000cc 4cyl that have more expensive, lighter materials. These days, I have a Postie Bike and that’s exactly 100kg lighter than my 500 was. It’s the equivalent of carrying a slightly overweight dude on my shoulders.
I only used pounds because the table the user above shared was in pounds. And comparative damage is just that: comparative. It’s the fourth power of the ratio between the two. So keeping to the same units was easiest.
Regarding the rest of it, remember we’re comparing it to a “freakishly heavy bicycle”. The table the other user shared implies a fat man + bike is 350 lb. My assumption was that’s 300 lb person + 50 lb bike. That would be a 23 kg bike. That’s crazy heavy. It’s more than double most bikes’ weight, and triple the weight of a racing bike. So if the motorbike weight I used is an overestimate, that’s basically just evening the playing field. (While both will still end up looking worse compared to a car than they should—which just highlights how much better both are than cars.)
Anyway, I got the figure by just Googling “motorbike weight”, which turned up this page, which says:
Some sources say the “average” motorcycle weighs around 700 pounds, but the weight depends on the brand of the bike, the engine size, and the style—whether it’s a street, off-road, touring, cruiser, or sport bike, or something else entirely.
I’m not interested in being precise enough to delve into those different factors, so going with the quoted “average” sounded good to me.
That would be a 23 kg bike. That’s crazy heavy. It’s more than double most bikes’ weight, and triple the weight of a racing bike.
It’s actually not that crazy. E-bikes tend to be at least that heavy. Mine is 30kg. In our example of a fat man riding a bicycle, he’s probably more likely to be riding an electric bike anyway.
There’s not a snowflakes chance in hell the average is anywhere near that high in Australia, or most of the world. I’d put money on it being a US-only figure, considering their obsession with large cruisers. If you include motorised scooters, which I was, then I’d say the average would be about 200kg. Considering the rate increases exponentially, I think that’s important.
