# Not Just Bikes

14 Hacker News commenters recommended Not Just Bikes and 6 criticized it, November 2025 to November 2026. It was recommended in 8 of 13 months. It meets the Hacker Approved badge rule.

**Verdict:** Well-researched educational videos on cycling, urban planning and self-driving cars that people recommend. Critics say videos are repetitive, one-sided, and sometimes have flawed logic.

## Why people recommend it

- Compelling case against self-driving cars (3 comments): "I find the arguments of Strong Towns and Not Just Bikes quite compelling" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47172204)) "Not Just Bikes has a good video on the problem with self driving cars" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48918619)) "makes a compelling argument that self driving cars are not the answer" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47157606))
- Pairs well with similar urbanist channels (3 comments): "The best videos on this (in my opinion) which compliment urbankchoze's post" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46647886)) "I find the arguments of Strong Towns and Not Just Bikes quite compelling" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47172204)) "I've also enjoyed Not Just Bikes and Tom Scott's England series" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49456400))
- Well-researched educational urbanism videos (2 comments): "NJB is a well-respected educational youtuber and all their videos are built on a lot of research" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49176279)) "great content on urban planning" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47794974))
- Recommended as a go-to channel (2 comments): "I personally like the “not just bikes” channel though." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47799438)) "Check out Not Just Bikes on YouTube for why and how." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47413141))

## What people warn about

- Presents one-sided or unrealistic views (4 comments): "I'm not sure I'd take him as some neutral authority on the history of cars and driving in Europe." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48502240)) "I just don't think Strong Towns/Not Just Bikes presents a realistic mental model of the world" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47160610)) "Not Just Bikes makes reddit posts for redditors in YouTube form, basically." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48088811))
- Repetitive videos focused on complaints (2 comments): "A lot of his videos have become repetitive and focused on complaints rather than specific ways of making things better." ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46998384)) "Now it's just endless videos about how cars suck, cities suck" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48085280))
- Poorly reasoned arguments and conclusions (2 comments): "he is making huge logic errors. There is good stuff there, but some conclusions don't follow" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47413411)) "I used to be frustrated at their poorly thought-out arguments" ([source](https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=49177700))

## Alternatives hackers recommend

- [Veritasium](https://hackerapproved.com/p/veritasium.md): 44 recommend
- [Technology Connections YouTube channel](https://hackerapproved.com/p/technology-connections.md): 40 recommend
- [Asianometry](https://hackerapproved.com/p/asianometry-youtube-channel.md): 24 recommend
- [Gamers Nexus](https://hackerapproved.com/p/gamers-nexus.md): 22 recommend
- [Patrick Boyle YouTube channel](https://hackerapproved.com/p/patrick-boyle-youtube-channel.md): 17 recommend

## Cite as

Hacker Approved, "Not Just Bikes", https://hackerapproved.com/p/not-just-bikes/ (counts from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026).