Mythbusters: Is a bike greener than a car?

[sendler]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

There's no way to shut-off the sugar cane-based ethanol production in Brazil.

If it is economical, go for it.
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What is the energy source for the distillation?

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by sendler

If it is economical, go for it.
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What is the energy source for the distillation?

Nowadays it's mainly sourced from straw-fired vapor generators.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

I'm sure this one doesn't qualify as "greener" regarding the useful operational life due to the carburettor-fed engine and the absence of cats, but even a Harley-Davidson can be still considered "green" at some extent. Even with a fuel consumption comparable to a small car, they start in advantage by consuming less raw materials to be made of, then with less weight the brakes don't have too much effort put on them, reducing the consumption of friction materials, among other aspects to consider...

This beauty belongs to a guy who works at a tattoo studio in my neighborhood

It's a bobbed Sportster 1200. Altough it relies on a belt-drive, if we consider how many vehicles need belts for their camshafts, and an accessory belt for the alternator and whatever else, it's another "green" point for this motorcycle if we can consider so...



Its owner just kept the battery and the electric starter because it would be too expensive to fit it with a magneto and a kick-starter since the crankcase and the gearbox are integrated


It had a hand shifter installed, and the stock shifter pedal repurposed to activate the clutch. Altough this mod doesn't seem to have any "green" effect, sure looks cool

[wdb]

Originally Posted by cRiPpLe_rOoStEr

It had a hand shifter installed, and the stock shifter pedal repurposed to activate the clutch. Altough this mod doesn't seem to have any "green" effect, sure looks cool

The foot clutch conversion looks like a jury rig, baling wire and twine. Sorry, that is not cool looking to me. The shift lever on the other hand...

[redpoint5]

It looks like you have to reach down past your crotch to reach the shift lever. How does that work? I just don't know why you would take the thing (clutch) that requires fine motor control, and position it at your foot, and take the thing that requires no precision control (gear lever), and position it at your hand. Very dangerous forcing the rider to take a hand off the bike every time a gear change is needed.

[cRiPpLe_rOoStEr]

Originally Posted by redpoint5

It looks like you have to reach down past your crotch to reach the shift lever.

Actually, taking a closer look to the bike the lever doesn't seem so hard to reach. The seat is quite low too.

I just don't know why you would take the thing (clutch) that requires fine motor control, and position it at your foot, and take the thing that requires no precision control (gear lever), and position it at your hand.

Tell it to the car manufacturers
Well, it's nowadays unusual but you might remember old Harleys still had this layout from the factory until the 70s...

[sendler]

The question of tire life is moot for me. I got 31,000 miles on one front and two rear tires on my CBR250R. And one thing I can say for the Pilot Street bias tires that come on the R3 is that they are very low rolling resistance. I thought I had noticed this when I put the Bridgestone S20 evos in their place and my fuel economy on the R3 went down. Then when it was time to replace the IRC Roadwinners on my CBR250R commuter bike after 15,000 miles rear/ 31,000 miles front, I got another 10% improvement in fuel economy. I hope they last longer too. Some endurance riders on the Ninjette forum are getting 20,000 miles on a rear with the Michelins.
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Honda CBR250R FI Single (Honda CBR250R) | Fuelly
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[gregsfc]

I too have found that Michelin Pilots improved my mpg on another Honda fuel miser. My CTX700 came with Bridgestone Battlax from the factory (R=160/60R-17 and F=120/70R-17). In very warm weather, I could achieve at or about 76 mpg for my commutes from tank to tank with the OEM tires, but since replacing them both at or about 9300 miles, with the same riding gear, and the same, approximate accessories, with new Michelin Pilot 4s, riding the same style, speed, route, etc. I've so far been able to achieve at or about 77-78 for that same daily commute.

At this point, I can't really nail down the Pilot advantage for sure, but I've seen enough to know that I am achieving slightly better mpg than with the Battlaxs', even as the Michelin's probably have more grip than they'll have later in life. Since taking my bike back out of retirement in June, it's been hard for me to get a real good feel of it's average commute mile mpg, as I've been on a long trip or two and a couple of charity rides that have put me over 80 (one charity ride tank returned 83). But also, I've done a couple of tanks with more than normal in-town riding, however, I'd say that so far, I've skewed the numbers upward to this point and my fuelly average is at or about 78.3.

Also though, if one looks at my record, it appears that when the tires were brand new, I wasn't returning the same kind of mpg (once I measured the error and went back and adjusted) as I have been on the last seven tanks. I'm going to assume most of that improvement comes from the fact that the tires weren't broken in at first, and it's not some other factor. It could be that the temperature has really heated up since early June. My bike really likes hot weather for great mpg; and cool mornings will really drop the mpg; especially for commuting.

http://www.fuelly.com/motorcycle/hon...gregsfc/436601

One thing I noticed that does slightly reduce the perceived improvement of the Pilot 4s for me is the amount of optimistic trip meter error versus OEM. The Battlax's measured less than 1% optimistic versus a couple of GPSs; testing two or three times to ensure consistency; but the P4s have consisitently shown slightly more than 2% optimistic error. As such, I multiply my tank-ridden miles by .978, so that I know I'm reporting a conservative measurement of mpg. So while the P4s are definitely giving me superior mpg to the OEM tires, it's not as big a gain as it would show if I didn't check tires and vehicles against GPSs for accuracy. I learned to check for this back when I once replaced tires and my mpg seemingly plummeted, but in reality, the tires I thought were giving me superior mpg, were actually 10% over estimating mileage; whereas the tires I thought were killing my mpg, were actually only 1% optimistic, and my real mpg loss was only 4%; instead of what the calculator was showing me w/o accounting for trip meter accuracy.

[gregsfc]

When I think of "green", I'm thinking of the "green" in my wallet. When I was researching and choosing a powered-two-wheeler for transportation; there was a lot of things I didn't know or account for regarding my ability (financially and logistically) to be able to be a dedicated, PTW commuter; and in reference to how money-green a bike is, for my rural, mostly highway commute that includes early-morning, before sunrise commuting; it's not very green, as I've decided to ride only in good conditions.

Just as one example, a good pair of battery-powered, non-tethered, heated gloves that actually work to allow for below freezing riding; are about $200. So this time around, I'm going to be a part-time PTW commuter, as I sold those gloves when trying to sell my bike.

[sendler]

Originally Posted by gregsfc

with new Michelin Pilot 4s, riding the same style, speed, route, etc. I've so far been able to achieve at or about 77-78 for that same daily commute.

At this point, I can't really nail down the Pilot advantage for sure, but I've seen enough to know that I am achieving slightly better mpg than with the Battlaxs', even as the Michelin's probably have more grip than they'll have later in life.

Good to know the Pilot Road 4's are fuel efficient since they are also know to have the best wet grip of any street tire.