26-02-2012, 11:06 AM
Hi,
Many thanks for adding this interesting thread Paul.
Well said David; I agree with all your comments to the point that I think "going green" is a load of rubbish. Power stations don't have a little hamster running inside a cage to generate electricity; they burn fuel and lots of it. Vehicles of any type need to be manufactured and materials used in their construction. Manufacturing burns fuel one way or another as does making the materials.
I assume the "green people" don't live in caves but live in houses of some kind making them un-green and going against what they are telling others to do. Houses take energy to build.
Why are we not growing sustainable forests of fast growing timber that can be harvested for fuel and create better burning conditions of this fuel to lower emissions during combustion. The trees would enrich the atmosphere with oxygen replacing the oxygen used in combustion.
Both my chum David and I are ex bikers and both have owned high power BMW bikes. I'm pretty sure David would agree with me when I say that riding a small powered bike terrifies me. The Honda 50 comes to mind as these were sold in thousands many years ago; such bikes because of their slow speed and acceleration tend to get in the way of faster moving vehicles; I even felt unsafe on bikes such as BSA Bantams etc. At least with a big capacity bike you have a chance of remaining in one piece.
The demise of the British biking industry came about because of lack of investment and company directors arriving at the works in their big Jaguar cars; had these company directors ever thrown a leg across one of their bikes they would have realized just how rough the British bikes were. My 650cc BSA Lightning used to vibrate so badly that it shook the bulb filaments to bits and left my hands tingling long after it was parked up. My feet used to dance around on the footrests to add to the pleasure. My Norton 750cc Atlas was a heap of junk that would not only vibrate but break its piston skirts if taken up to 110mph. My old Norton 500cc ES2 would eject its headlamp unit allowing it to drop onto the front mudguard only prevented from completely falling off by the wiring. I've ridden many big bikes with engines up to 1200cc.
I assembled some of the new Japanese bikes that started to arrive on our shores many years ago and this started a revolution in biking in those days. The Honda CB 72's were way ahead of our bikes insomuch they were equipped with indicators and electric start. They used to arrive in wooden crates and needed assembling; the only thing I didn't like was the Philips type screws holding everything together as these must have been put in with air guns and were a real pain to remove. They ran smoothly and were well put together. The crankcases were split horizontally and a pure delight to look at once the upper section was removed to reveal both the crank assembly and gears. They didn't drop oil unlike British bikes which used to wet themselves. On the other hand I once installed two BSA Bantam 175cc engines after the brand new Bantams had been returned due to crankshaft problems.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPEjKKLPHyg&feature=related
Without doubt the best bikes I ever owned were my two BMW R75/5 750cc. These would run with a top speed as cruising speed; virtually vibration free even flat out and no messy chains to play around with as they were shaft driven. I was never worried about bits falling off and they were delightful to ride. I rode tens of thousands of miles on these with the speedo needle sitting against the stop.
Back to these electric bikes; I also think the idea to be excellent but at a price of 15,000 USD only for the well off; I wouldn't consider buying one at half this amount. As David says BMW made a mostly enclosed bike but it was petrol powered and more than able to keep up with modern traffic and it could be filled up at any petrol station. With electric start and shaft drive it would appeal to me more than this electric bike.
I've rambled on enough so it's time I removed more paint from the Myford lathe beds.
Kind regards, Col.
Many thanks for adding this interesting thread Paul.
Well said David; I agree with all your comments to the point that I think "going green" is a load of rubbish. Power stations don't have a little hamster running inside a cage to generate electricity; they burn fuel and lots of it. Vehicles of any type need to be manufactured and materials used in their construction. Manufacturing burns fuel one way or another as does making the materials.
I assume the "green people" don't live in caves but live in houses of some kind making them un-green and going against what they are telling others to do. Houses take energy to build.
Why are we not growing sustainable forests of fast growing timber that can be harvested for fuel and create better burning conditions of this fuel to lower emissions during combustion. The trees would enrich the atmosphere with oxygen replacing the oxygen used in combustion.
Both my chum David and I are ex bikers and both have owned high power BMW bikes. I'm pretty sure David would agree with me when I say that riding a small powered bike terrifies me. The Honda 50 comes to mind as these were sold in thousands many years ago; such bikes because of their slow speed and acceleration tend to get in the way of faster moving vehicles; I even felt unsafe on bikes such as BSA Bantams etc. At least with a big capacity bike you have a chance of remaining in one piece.
The demise of the British biking industry came about because of lack of investment and company directors arriving at the works in their big Jaguar cars; had these company directors ever thrown a leg across one of their bikes they would have realized just how rough the British bikes were. My 650cc BSA Lightning used to vibrate so badly that it shook the bulb filaments to bits and left my hands tingling long after it was parked up. My feet used to dance around on the footrests to add to the pleasure. My Norton 750cc Atlas was a heap of junk that would not only vibrate but break its piston skirts if taken up to 110mph. My old Norton 500cc ES2 would eject its headlamp unit allowing it to drop onto the front mudguard only prevented from completely falling off by the wiring. I've ridden many big bikes with engines up to 1200cc.
I assembled some of the new Japanese bikes that started to arrive on our shores many years ago and this started a revolution in biking in those days. The Honda CB 72's were way ahead of our bikes insomuch they were equipped with indicators and electric start. They used to arrive in wooden crates and needed assembling; the only thing I didn't like was the Philips type screws holding everything together as these must have been put in with air guns and were a real pain to remove. They ran smoothly and were well put together. The crankcases were split horizontally and a pure delight to look at once the upper section was removed to reveal both the crank assembly and gears. They didn't drop oil unlike British bikes which used to wet themselves. On the other hand I once installed two BSA Bantam 175cc engines after the brand new Bantams had been returned due to crankshaft problems.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YPEjKKLPHyg&feature=related
Without doubt the best bikes I ever owned were my two BMW R75/5 750cc. These would run with a top speed as cruising speed; virtually vibration free even flat out and no messy chains to play around with as they were shaft driven. I was never worried about bits falling off and they were delightful to ride. I rode tens of thousands of miles on these with the speedo needle sitting against the stop.
Back to these electric bikes; I also think the idea to be excellent but at a price of 15,000 USD only for the well off; I wouldn't consider buying one at half this amount. As David says BMW made a mostly enclosed bike but it was petrol powered and more than able to keep up with modern traffic and it could be filled up at any petrol station. With electric start and shaft drive it would appeal to me more than this electric bike.
I've rambled on enough so it's time I removed more paint from the Myford lathe beds.
Kind regards, Col.
Happiness is a wreck of a cabinet to restore.
