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Thanks for doing the math. That's great information!
Isn't Vic's 187 the highest so far in a modern-era Vetter event for a gas-only streamliner? I remember Alan got 181 or so in 2014, and it seems like he's got that number stamped on his bike as his own, personal record.
Interesting...Even at my cheap electric rate, a streamlined electric achieving 360+ mpg-e still loses to a 187 mpg gas bike, with gas over $2.00, which is about $.13 more per gallon for gas than what I can find regular E10 for currently in middle TN. So even though my electric rate is cheap in TN, so is my gas. I normally use pure gasoline in my bike and lawn mowers, which is not even available in some states; but that stuff cost around $.50 more per gallon, which of course doesn't make sense financially, but it sort of helps reduce maintenance and storage woes with regards to the mowers, and it's just a way for me to protest ethanol for my bike, because I can justify it for my bike, since it doesn't cost much anyway, but in my 4 wheelers, it's just too much more money for just a little better mpg, so I can't force myself to buy it.
I'm not stating that I expected the media to suddenly get interested; I'm commenting only that I don't understand why this is so...how huge numbers can be published for these electric bikes and nobody but a few weirdos even care or take notice. Maybe part of it is that many Americans have been desensitized seeing huge mpg numbers published for this and that, and so they don't stop and think much about what that means. I noticed that when I used to spout off the real-world mpg of my diesel car; especially back in the days when no one had a modern-built, unmodified car that could get upper 40s (this is during the Prius 1 & 2 days and before many e-cars and more efficient gas cars), back then, it would cause little reaction from people when I'd say that's about 58% better mpg than the gas version of the same car. But, if I presented my low-fuel usage another way, that the car could go 700 miles in a real-world scenario, on 14 gallons of diesel, then they'd be impressed. It's almost as if a lot of people getting 15-25 mpg in their own vehicles just don't understand the significance of the difference in fuel usage when it's presented as miles per gallon.
Other than a too-low road tax in America, our fuel prices also get subsidized by the fact that the U.S. tax payers spend about $50 billion per year to ensure the free flow of crude oil and refined fuels around the world for the benefit of the entire world. This $50 billion estimation of the cost to keep oil and fuel distributed around the world is not reflected in the price of our fuel.
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