Hiyo another crazy nut to join the ranks

[plantthoughts]

It's the environmental crisis, in an attempt to create the ultimate gas saver, it started with dreams of a diesel motorized bicycle, but when it became clear that the manufacturing process was not capable of delivering a small light cheap diesel yet, my furious inventing turned to the more realistic. Electric is just too expensive, though lion batteries will come down soon, it's still got a ways to go before we can put down $200-500 and end up with a long lasting ride. CNG is too volatile/highly pressurized, and Propane ends up more expensive and bulky than gasoline, so I just couldn't bite that bullet, but it will be necessary when foreign oil becomes too expensive.
So... I dreamed of tilting tadpole trikes (two wheels in front) since they're street legal as "three wheeled motorcycles" thus aren't required to be crash tested/safety approved like cars, but I'd personally rather a four wheeled vehicle since it's... safer. But that's for the future. For now, it would be an accomplishment for me to git er done, build a ridable motorized bike, and then maybe my friends will believe in me enough to help me realize the full dream: A lightweight three wheeled carcycle/microcar which can go on the hwy and still get 75+ mpg. It's all about aerodynamics at that point, but the engine will have to be as small as possible for the mpg, ideally under 250cc, and thus the frame must be light. Yea it's dangerous to have a light frame, i.e. aluminum or fiberglass or... gasp... bamboo, but if we all did it, it wouldn't be as dangerous, it's the 2+ton cars that make so risky.

 

[bluegoatwoods]

Yup, it would be better if all motorized traffic were light. Won't happen overnight, but I suppose it has to happen sooner or later.

Now comes the payoff; you'll be able to still tinker with the light transport ideas but you'll also have simply a blast with your motor assisted bicycle.

So go for it and have fun.

 

[Happy Valley]

Hello, welcome to MBc and best of luck on the projects.
Keep an eye also toward the legislative end of things in your state, something tells me we're all going to have to be active in that regard.