mika
Still Wondering
Happy Birthday
US Forest Service: Fall color guide
urbanext.uiuc.edu: The Miracle of Fall – About Fall Color
mtomag.com: G 450 X test
triumph.co.uk: The ultimate hooligan project bike update
hellforleathermagazine.com: 2009 Ducati 1198 gets bigger engine, more powerbloggreenmagazine.com[/url] Met the Higgins –Aube Energya
auto
autoweek.com: Formula One team principals form new group.
topspeed.com: Confidential document reveals details on the Ferrari FX70
congoo.com: BMW Canada reduces pricing on 2009 models.
Thread: BMW Motorrad wants to hear from you. Survey link enclosed.
Stuff
webbikeworld.com: Book review – The Fine Art of the Motorcycle Engine
Packers Blog – jsonline.com
Packers.com – News from the football shrine
Green Bay Post Gazette: Packer News, Commentary
Offical site of the Premier League
GasBuddy.com has gas temperature maps intended to let you see what gas prices are around the US and Canada. Areas are color coded according to the reported local average price for regular unleaded gasoline.
US
Canada
Wonderings
I have been wondering about alternative fuels for some time. Posts about them find there way into the Stuff department on a regular basis. The core of what I am wondering about here is the impact of changes in energy mean to our passion – motorcycles.
This week and in the past I posted a link to an article about a new electric motorcycle. The bike was attractive to me visually. From what I have read about electric vehicles in general they have the linear acceleration that I liked about my RX7’s rotary engine. They lack the exhaust not that is part of the part of the joy of ridding even our quiet BMWs. MIT has worked on a sound generator for a Prius and other electric vehicles as a pedestrian safety issue. Perhaps they will develop a solution for us if we end up as electric cowboys.
Ethanol enhanced fuel is a fact of life in my region. The pros and cons are debated in very general cage terms. The impact on a motorcycle over the long haul is greater on a motorcycle than on a car, if I understand things properly. Yet in my research I have not found much motorcycle specific information that is not anecdotal in nature.
Ethanol is called an interim solution as we move to other fuels. T. Boone Pickens is pushing CNG in advertisements in my region. He touted his energy policy in person at the recent Iowa State Fair. BMW committed itself to hydrogen development some time ago. What do these mean for motorcycles? There are three issues that come to mind as you apply them to the two wheeled world.
First is range. In my reading so far the draw back to CNG vehicles is they have about half the range of gasoline based vehicles. In my daily commuting my Roadster’s low fuel light would go on at 80 miles instead of 160 or better if that is the case for motorcycles.
This takes me to my second issue, fuel tanks. In these next generations alternative fuels seem to require very different tanks and in multi fuel option cages multiple tanks. The tanks are sturdier and as a result heavier.
This takes me to the third concern of handling and safety. The weight of any sized alternative fuel tank mounted in the traditional tank location will impact the center of gravity and thus handling. Size to adjust to the range we are accustomed to will exacerbate this. As for safety; how will these hold up in an accident on the street or in the dirt? The tanks can be put in some sort of protective zone in a cage application. On a motorcycle they will be hanging out in the open.
I have a lot of questions and no answers. Some of you are engineers or in other fields that deal with these topics. There is a need for motorcycle related articles, in general and specifically here on the forum or in ON. I am not an engineer nor do I play one on television. I guess that takes me to the last thing I am wondering about. When are you going to publish?
Bike Candy
via: Bikes in the Fast Lane
THE END
US Forest Service: Fall color guide
urbanext.uiuc.edu: The Miracle of Fall – About Fall Color
mtomag.com: G 450 X test
triumph.co.uk: The ultimate hooligan project bike update
hellforleathermagazine.com: 2009 Ducati 1198 gets bigger engine, more powerbloggreenmagazine.com[/url] Met the Higgins –Aube Energya
auto
autoweek.com: Formula One team principals form new group.
topspeed.com: Confidential document reveals details on the Ferrari FX70
congoo.com: BMW Canada reduces pricing on 2009 models.
Thread: BMW Motorrad wants to hear from you. Survey link enclosed.
Stuff
webbikeworld.com: Book review – The Fine Art of the Motorcycle Engine
Packers Blog – jsonline.com
Packers.com – News from the football shrine
Green Bay Post Gazette: Packer News, Commentary
Offical site of the Premier League
GasBuddy.com has gas temperature maps intended to let you see what gas prices are around the US and Canada. Areas are color coded according to the reported local average price for regular unleaded gasoline.
US
Canada
Wonderings
I have been wondering about alternative fuels for some time. Posts about them find there way into the Stuff department on a regular basis. The core of what I am wondering about here is the impact of changes in energy mean to our passion – motorcycles.
This week and in the past I posted a link to an article about a new electric motorcycle. The bike was attractive to me visually. From what I have read about electric vehicles in general they have the linear acceleration that I liked about my RX7’s rotary engine. They lack the exhaust not that is part of the part of the joy of ridding even our quiet BMWs. MIT has worked on a sound generator for a Prius and other electric vehicles as a pedestrian safety issue. Perhaps they will develop a solution for us if we end up as electric cowboys.
Ethanol enhanced fuel is a fact of life in my region. The pros and cons are debated in very general cage terms. The impact on a motorcycle over the long haul is greater on a motorcycle than on a car, if I understand things properly. Yet in my research I have not found much motorcycle specific information that is not anecdotal in nature.
Ethanol is called an interim solution as we move to other fuels. T. Boone Pickens is pushing CNG in advertisements in my region. He touted his energy policy in person at the recent Iowa State Fair. BMW committed itself to hydrogen development some time ago. What do these mean for motorcycles? There are three issues that come to mind as you apply them to the two wheeled world.
First is range. In my reading so far the draw back to CNG vehicles is they have about half the range of gasoline based vehicles. In my daily commuting my Roadster’s low fuel light would go on at 80 miles instead of 160 or better if that is the case for motorcycles.
This takes me to my second issue, fuel tanks. In these next generations alternative fuels seem to require very different tanks and in multi fuel option cages multiple tanks. The tanks are sturdier and as a result heavier.
This takes me to the third concern of handling and safety. The weight of any sized alternative fuel tank mounted in the traditional tank location will impact the center of gravity and thus handling. Size to adjust to the range we are accustomed to will exacerbate this. As for safety; how will these hold up in an accident on the street or in the dirt? The tanks can be put in some sort of protective zone in a cage application. On a motorcycle they will be hanging out in the open.
I have a lot of questions and no answers. Some of you are engineers or in other fields that deal with these topics. There is a need for motorcycle related articles, in general and specifically here on the forum or in ON. I am not an engineer nor do I play one on television. I guess that takes me to the last thing I am wondering about. When are you going to publish?
Bike Candy
via: Bikes in the Fast Lane
THE END
