AHC and WI: Motorcycles Triumphant

Short Distamce Transportation

Automobiles are expencive. They are noisy, dirty and sometimes steamers explode. Motorcycles work as advertised and get good press. Motorcycles become the excepted method for local transport. Alturnative to streetcars. Those who travel between citys have the choice of trains and cars. As one newspaper ( OTL) editorialized " Automobiles are a menace! They frighten the hourses and some of the ladies. Beside that there is the expolding problem. For these reasons automobiles will never become popular." If that thinking had prevailed then something else can emerge.
 
I started riding on Feb. 25, 1965. I stopped in 2008, first because my insurance company wouldn't insure a bike over 30 years old, and second, because of arthritis in my clutch hand. I developed a firm rule never to ride when the temp. gets down to 40 below because the throttles freeze open. Two days later, the throttle cable breaks where it was kinked when the throttles froze open. I have several hundred stories.
Practical affordable transportation motorcycles are no longer sold. For what they cost now, you can buy a nice small car, get the same fuel mileage, and take all the dogs on a shopping trip without squishing the bread. I did ride with a cat once, but I didn't go shopping.
 
I started riding on Feb. 25, 1965. I stopped in 2008, first because my insurance company wouldn't insure a bike over 30 years old, and second, because of arthritis in my clutch hand. I developed a firm rule never to ride when the temp. gets down to 40 below because the throttles freeze open. Two days later, the throttle cable breaks where it was kinked when the throttles froze open. I have several hundred stories.
Practical affordable transportation motorcycles are no longer sold. For what they cost now, you can buy a nice small car, get the same fuel mileage, and take all the dogs on a shopping trip without squishing the bread. I did ride with a cat once, but I didn't go shopping.
Du lieber Gott! WALKING at -40 is ... OK, if you're properly bundled. Riding a bike!?!? Sheesh! Besides, the kind of heavy mitts I always wore at that temperature would have made it really really difficult to control (anything, let alone a bike).
 
What about a two-wheel automobile? Think of a motorcycle, with a fiberglass shell to improve aerodynamics, and a heater inside. I read that, with the right modification, it can double the gas mileage of a motorcycle, so I can see it gaining poopularity during a gas shortage.
 
Well, there were a lot more riding horses than horse-drawn wagons so, if you equate a motorcycle to a horse and a car to a wagon, you'd have to accept that it could have been feasible.

Motorcycles are not practical compared to a car. So that would have to be addressed somehow.

Taxing cars more heavily, taxing fuel and other inducements would shift attention to motorcycles as the primary form of transport.

Then there is the image thing. Most motorcyclists seem to be either gangbanger (wannabees), road racer hooligan (wannabees) or sad people in search of their lost youth...;). Not anyone you'd want to be associated with in other words.

If riding was both socially acceptable or even considered common and yet had a touch of glamour, it would sell like hotcakes.

In my country, the government has recently created tax benefits for hybrid cars while fuel is very expensive...Suddenly, hybrid cars are the best selling cars in the country. And because the cities are hopelessly congested, scooters have become extremely popular as personal transport.

So all you need would be a supportive government, suitable weather and some favourable conditions and you'd have your motorcycle heaven.
 
Du lieber Gott! WALKING at -40 is ... OK, if you're properly bundled. Riding a bike!?!? Sheesh! Besides, the kind of heavy mitts I always wore at that temperature would have made it really really difficult to control (anything, let alone a bike).

Nicely cuffed snowmobile mitts with wool mitt liners inside are rated to -40, except for the thumbs, which you have to slip in with the rest of the fingers when you get a chance. The biggest problem is what to do with your breath, developing a scarf-wrapping technique to avoid fogging the face-shield. One winter, I set up my Can-Am 175 up for ice-racing with hundreds of H Paulin sheet metal screws in a secret pattern. Sliding, speedway-style was a blast, and sliding into a snowbank was no big deal, but the thought of somebody riding over my little pink body kept me out of competition. I did ride Enduro for several seasons, finishing a well as fourth in class. Anybody else ride mud?
 
I started riding on Feb. 25, 1965. I stopped in 2008, first because my insurance company wouldn't insure a bike over 30 years old, and second, because of arthritis in my clutch hand. I developed a firm rule never to ride when the temp. gets down to 40 below because the throttles freeze open. Two days later, the throttle cable breaks where it was kinked when the throttles froze open. I have several hundred stories.
Practical affordable transportation motorcycles are no longer sold. For what they cost now, you can buy a nice small car, get the same fuel mileage, and take all the dogs on a shopping trip without squishing the bread. I did ride with a cat once, but I didn't go shopping.

I know, that is a bummer. Even in the 1980's, you could get a good scooter for under $1000. I'd like to try a motorcycle someday but a lot of those cost the same as a car. :(
 
So you think if they still sold practical motorcycles they'd be doing better?


Hmmm.. among other things, practical motorcycle would have to protect the rider from the weather, protect at least one passenger from the same, be easy to operate, and provide some limited cargo capacity.

I think they build them already. They're called cars.

What's needed aren't more motorcycles, but more "urban runabouts" like the "LeCar" and others. City streets don't require Crown Victorias and Escalades.
 
Small world. I owned a "Le Car", nice sunroof, wonderful to drive, piece of crap. Should have known, since I also owned a Dauphin.
 
I don't think the way is making motorcycles better. The problem is that they have obvious disadvantages, and if I can afford a good motorcycle, I can afford a crappy car. The end result is going to be what we have - motorcycles filling a niche and catering to a luxury market.

Rather, consider an overall lower level of prosperity. A scooter, motorised bicycle, even a bare-bones highway-capable motorcycle can be made cheaper than a basic small car. If the majority of factory workers and office drones cannot afford a car on their pay (and also, by extension, a house in suburbia), then they will travel their urban environment on two wheels. It's not as good as a car, but it beats walking.
 
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