Alternate Transportation Part II
So how was I going to solve my transportation problem? Both my car and my motorcycle were starting to run poorly. I had tried the bicycle method and found it lacking.
The answer was delivered by a Bay Area company called Electric Motor Sport with their Electric Super Motard
The Super Motard is a Derbi racing bike from Spain. Originally a 50cc gas powered bike, Electric Motor Sport aquired some used bikes and converted them to full electric.
| Motor: | Etek, Perm-132 or AC induction |
| Power: | 15 -19 peak horse power |
| Top Speed : | 45 to 62 mph (adjustable with gearing) |
| Range: | 20/40 miles (SLA / LiFePO4) |
| Brakes: | Front and rear hydraulic disk |
| Charge Time: | 1.5 hours |
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- Super Motard
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- Super Motard
I went down to their Oakland office and took a test ride. I was immediately hooked on electric motorcycles. So hooked in fact that I sold my gas bike and bought the Motard. (Okay so maybe my wife made me get rid of the gas bike so I could pay for the Motard, but still…)
Riding an electric bike is a different kind of experience than riding a conventional motorcycle. With no clutch, no gears, no starter, no warmup, it is just turn on the key and go. The Motard makes a nice whirring noise as it goes, this along with chain noise and the sound of the tires is still far more quiet than a motor. In fact, with all the normal noise on the street, most people can not hear my vehicle at all. I get alot of stares as I ride down the street. The lack of noise makes people look twice. The Motard looks alot like its conventional counterpart, I have been asked by several people what kind of exhaust I have to make it run so quietly.
It is the perfect solution to my short commute.
In my next post I will let you know about my experience with this cycle.
Hey! Thanks for all the great info. I was browsing through a bunch of green websites and blogs and I came across yours and found it very interesting. There are a bunch of others I like too, like the daily green, ecorazzi and earthlab.com. I especially like EarthLab.com’s carbon calculator (http://www.earthlab.com/signupprofile/). I find it really easy to use (it doesn’t make me feel guilty after I take it). Are there any others you would recommend? Can you drop me a link to your favorites (let me know if they are the same as mine).