{"id":413,"date":"2005-08-10T20:46:54","date_gmt":"2005-08-11T04:46:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lee.org\/blog\/?p=413"},"modified":"2007-10-16T16:16:34","modified_gmt":"2007-10-17T00:16:34","slug":"motorized-bicycle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lee.org\/blog\/2005\/08\/10\/motorized-bicycle\/","title":{"rendered":"Motorized Bicycle"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>I had been doing some research on getting a motorized bike and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bikeengines.com\/\">Golden Eagle Bike Engines<\/a> motorized bicycles, running EHO25 25cc Robin\/Subaru Mini 4 engines get about 225 miles per gallon. The similar EHO35 35cc Robin\/Subaru Mini-4 gets about 200 MPG. I&#8217;ve seem this claim verified in <a href=\"http:\/\/groups.yahoo.com\/group\/power-assist\/\">a few places<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>These are 1.1 and 1.6 horsepower 4 cycle engines made by <a href=\"http:\/\/www.robinamerica.com\">Robin Subaru<\/a> that weigh under 8 lbs&#8230; under 13 with mounting hardware.  So that&#8217;s a 200 lb rider, 25 lb bike, 15 lb engine&#8230;<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m thinking of getting a motorized bicycle because:<br \/>\n&#8211; You need a lot of motorcycle to go over the Bay Bridge comfortably&#8230;. 250CC, $3-5k used. A motorized bike costs $200 for the bike + $550 for the engine, new. I just saw a used bike and engine on Craigslist for $325.<br \/>\n&#8211; You need a lot of nerve to take a motorcycle over the Bay Bridge. Lane splitting is nerve wracking and dangerous. In the 1 month I&#8217;ve been here, I saw one bike almost get bowled over by a car that didn&#8217;t see the bike and moved into his lane (or he was being a super-duper asshole). And pretty much every lane splitting motorcycle I saw was inches away from disaster.<br \/>\n&#8211; I mostly want the motor so I can keep up with slow urban traffic&#8230; SF traffic peaks at about 35 mph<br \/>\n&#8211; It would be peachy keen if I could easily put a motorized bike on a bike rack hanging off the back of my car.<br \/>\n&#8211; It is convenient to combine a bike (that can be run under human power) with a vehicle with more range and speed. Electric bike batteries are too heavy and underpowered.<br \/>\n&#8211; A motorized bike compares favorably to a 150CC scooter:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>top speed: 30mph vs 50mph<\/li>\n<li>highway capable: no vs not really<\/li>\n<li>weight: 40lbs (can be carried up stairs) vs 200lbs<\/li>\n<li>mileage: 200mpg vs 65mpg<\/li>\n<li>safety factor in an accident: similar<\/li>\n<li>cost (new): $800 vs $2,500<\/li>\n<li>towability: bike rack vs trailer<\/li>\n<li>can be pedaled effectively: yes vs no<\/li>\n<li>passenger capacity: no vs yes<\/li>\n<li>hauling capacity: backpack &amp; 1 panier vs backpack &amp; 1-2 cubic foot storage space<\/li>\n<li>noise: similar volume (some scooters are very quiet, most scooters make a less annoying noise than a motorized bike)<\/li>\n<li>cool factor: novelty vs sleek<\/li>\n<li>insurance: free vs $400\/year (approx)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>A motorized bike wins in most of these categories. So why don&#8217;t I see more of them on the street??? Am I missing something?<\/p>\n<p>Beuller? Beuller?<\/p>\n<p>Potential negatives&#8230;.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>When riding in traffic lanes, especially at night, cars behind me might not see my (minimal compared to scooter) lights<\/li>\n<li>Cars won&#8217;t believe a bike can keep up so they&#8217;ll want to pass me, regardless of my speed<\/li>\n<li>&#8230; ?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I had been doing some research on getting a motorized bike and the Golden Eagle Bike Engines motorized bicycles, running EHO25 25cc Robin\/Subaru Mini 4 engines get about 225 miles per gallon. The similar EHO35 35cc Robin\/Subaru Mini-4 gets about 200 MPG. I&#8217;ve seem this claim verified in a few places. These are 1.1 and [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-413","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-general"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lee.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lee.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lee.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lee.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lee.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lee.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lee.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lee.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lee.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}