A bike, an engine and a man who doesn't have to pedal
By JASON SCHREIBER
Union Leader Correspondent
Friday, May. 30, 2008
IMAGINE GETTING 200 miles to the gallon.
It sounds like a pipe dream, but Paul Normandin found a way to make it happen.
Like so many, Normandin is fed up with his gas-guzzling sport-utility vehicle.
With gas prices soaring past the $4-per-gallon mark, Normandin has been on the lookout for a cheaper way to commute from his home in Danville to his job in Fremont.
The 36-year-old found his answer on the Internet: An engine for his bicycle.
After spending hours reading reviews and watching YouTube clips of others who have turned everyday mountain bikes into motorized transportation, Normandin decided to give it a try.
"It's a trip," he mused after making his 12-mile round-trip commute on his newly motorized 18-speed Shimano mountain bike this week.
Normandin paid $600 for the geared belt-drive, bicycle-assist engine from Golden Eagle Bike Engines.
The new rig will get him 200 miles to the gallon. It hardly compares to the 17 miles he gets with his 2000 Dodge Durango. In his first two days on the road, the bike drank about a cup of gas.
Normandin describes his contraption as a "weedwhacker engine on a bike." The tiny engine is attached to the back and a throttle was clamped onto the handle bars. The brakes work the same as they do on a normal bike.
53008BIKEH_275px (JASON SCHREIBER)
The motor attached to Paul Normandin's mountain bike gets about 200 miles to the gallon. (JASON SCHREIBER)
The bike can reach speeds of up to about 30 mph with its four-stroke engine. He can pedal whenever he wants to, but it's not required.
During his commute, he pedals a total of about 45 seconds when he has to get up a large hill and the motor lags a bit.
Normandin admits that he could have avoided the motorized equipment and stuck to just pedaling back and forth to work. But after a 10-hour workday, he said he's just too tired to pedal home.
"This works for me," he said.
The bike has other benefits as well. If he runs out of gas, Normandin can always pedal.
Along with the motor, Normandin added street tires for durability and purchased digital equipment that measures speed and distance.
He also plans to install fenders in case he gets caught in the rain.
The motorized bike has only added about three minutes to his commute, so it's hardly an inconvenience.
And it's made his commute a lot more fun.
Normandin gets a good laugh from kids waiting at the bus stop and a thumbs-up from other commuters stuck behind the wheel of their gas hogs.
"It's a head-turner for sure," he said.