It is worse on days when it is worse and better on days when it is better. Those UK averages change too you know.
Excuse me, but if you do not wish to participate in the discussion at hand, which is about real statistics, and not our feelings, please go away. Better yet, visit the IP forum. They love to talk about feelings over there when the facts are inconvenient. [/quote]
Sorry I didnāt want to touch your feelings. I imagined people that lived in Taiwan for long canāt be shocked by anything. What I wanted to say is there are smaller nice cities not too far from urban areas and less polluted. Living in a traffic congested city ist just bad (I had my share of it and I donāt miss it). But its obvious many people still seem to like it. About bike riding in one of those placesā¦ I saw rarely bikes in big cities, no matter how big the pollution is (Amsterdam excluded).
I ride a bike half the time and a scooter the other half. This is through heavy traffic in Taipei. Neither is enjoyable for breathing but I find it worse when Iām on the scooter. Iām not breathing as hard but when Iām sitting at a red light behind a pack of other scooters but there is a huge amount of exhaust blowing directly in my face. Uggh!
On my bike I try to manoeuvre around the scooters to the front of the pack where the air is a bit better and since a bike is smaller than a scooter I can usually do this. But either way I frequently have bad thoughts about the long term, cancer-causing damage being done to my lungs and other organs. Iām looking into Respro. Does anyone know a shop in Taiwan that sells these? It seems like they could have a pretty sizeable market here.
I used a respro when I first came to Taiwan and rode a scooter. Seemed to work very well. However, I thought I recal reading though that such masks trap a lot of co2 inside (from your own breath) making them unhealthy to wear for any length of time, especially when doing exercises.
Honestly, I donāt recommend riding a bike in the city during the day. In Taipei, ride in the morning on the riverside bike paths or up in the mountains. Get your exercise when itās healthy to do so. Take buses or the MRT in the city. Also take vitamins C, E, and grape seed extract for an anti-oxidant cocktail.
If the Respro mask does what it claims, hell, count me in and weāll do a group order for some. Howeverā¦before I shell out for the mask and the cost of new charcoal cartridges every 30 days for the rest of my tenure in Kaohsiung county, I want to know that an independent testing lab says that it works!
I have the Respro Techno that I bought originally for mountain biking on dusty trails in Canadaā¦I think this is the top of the line model that they have, and apparently, it has a HEPA filter as well as a charcoal filterā¦because it is made for active sports, I have not found breathability to be an issue even when you are panting from a long hill climb so I donāt think you will find any problems using it for city applicationsā¦
I brought the mask to Taiwan to wear when I ride my bike or scooter in the city and it does work well in filtering out various city smellsā¦I have rather bad allergies and wearing the mask during smoggy commutes seem to have put them in checkā¦
I change the filter every few months or so if I am actively using it on a daily basisā¦I do not notice any obvious wear and tear from old filters, but I change it because it is what is recommendedā¦the mask wraps around the back of your head securely, and accomodates a bicycle helmet wellā¦it feels a little uncomfortable in the humid conditions in Taiwan thoughā¦but I guess that really canāt be helpedā¦
I did not really look into any standards that the mask conform to, because it was recommended by a biking buddy of mine, but looking at the website, it says it conforms to European Standard EN149FFP1(S)ā¦you guys can look up what that meansā¦
I bought mine from Mountain Equipment Co-op in Canada, the mask is $60CAD,and I think the replacement filters are around $30CAD for twoā¦that is all the info I haveā¦I just thought they might fit what the OP was looking for that is allā¦
.[quote=āPluck-A-Duckā]that is all the info I haveā¦I just thought they might fit what the OP was looking for that is allā¦[/quote]
Well, Iām grateful to you for providing the link and info. Now, if I could only figure out what this arcane European standard actually qualifies the product to be capable of, I might consider getting one. My Google queries simply bring me back to the Respro page again.
Are there any lawyers conversant in EU health and safety law in the audience tonight? Please come to the front of the stage!
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I imagined people that lived in Taiwan for long canāt be shocked by anything. What I wanted to say is there are smaller nice cities not too far from urban areas and less polluted. Living in a traffic congested city ist just bad (I had my share of it and I donāt miss it). But its obvious many people still seem to like it. About bike riding in one of those placesā¦ I saw rarely bikes in big cities, no matter how big the pollution is (Amsterdam excluded).