CJ

Hello guys, first let me introduce myself. I am Ronak aged 19 from Nellore, A.P. I am not a writer but the small opinion which i am going to write tells about my feeling towards our environment.

We all love our bikes much more than our GF's and wives and we also love it more when we are riding it. But a certain question always bugs me when i am riding or watching any motorsports.. Aren't we hurting our environment ?? Just think about the trees, plants, those scenic beauties around.. Taking motorsports those beasts drink gallons of fuel and just for the sake of entertainment! I say to hell to entertainment which causes damage to our environment.. Yes, i love watching valentino rossi in those tracks beating every opponent but again i get a feeling that why wasting such a valuable resource such as petrol and also polluting our environment. Everything is linked with money now.

Again i am not at all against touring. Even i love touring but the same thought comes to mind again and again. Many a times i am not able to even think about touring as the environment comes to my mind and really forces me to abandon my plans. I really dont know how to get out of this feeling!

My Request: I request the senior members to take up a xBhp green initiative.
A idea from my side would be No Biking day - Where all members will be taking a pledge to avoid bikes on that day. Also ideas regarding this will be accepted.

p.s : This is not a article but just my opinion if anyone has some questions feel free to discuss
Also please bear with my english

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Aryan

Topic Moved and Approved.

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aargee

CJ - Pollution exists in all forms everywhere. Although you don't get to see, do you know the pollution caused by aviation is much much higher & if we start celeberating no aviation day, imagine the world stranded still.

The idea of going green has started several decades back, however with the limited science knowledge we've been able to conceptualize cars such as Tesla only now. It will not be so long before we all get ourselves into electric mode soon.

There're so many such pollution with water, air; why? Even mining for gold wastes several 1000's of gallon, but still the hunt is ON right? While I agree that each motorcycle pollutes more than a car, the contribution of motorcycle pollution is only a part of the system & celeberating a no riding day will be only a drop in the ocean.

PS - with the advent of electric bikes, the pollution due to nuclear waste is even more hazardous

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Patience pays...The Vulture's virtue is patience and the bird always get it's food - Wise man saying

This is not a bakery. I don't sugar coat anything. If you ask for my opinion...then that's what you'll get. Don't be mad when it's not what you want to hear

aargee

On a second visit, just check out these guys who can help - treesforfree.org - plant a tree today
PS - I'm no way connected to these guys; I know these guys through HD who donated their fee collected for Bootcamp to them.

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Patience pays...The Vulture's virtue is patience and the bird always get it's food - Wise man saying

This is not a bakery. I don't sugar coat anything. If you ask for my opinion...then that's what you'll get. Don't be mad when it's not what you want to hear

CJ

Yes, there are many forms of ways which causes pollution but as we are a biker community..We might not be able to stop industries or any kind of nuclear wastes from polluting our planet...I think we should take a initiative to start something for our planet...remember even a little helps in someway!

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cicatrix

I must disagree that motorcycles are major polluters, au contraire I feel motorcycles are very clean and efficient means of travelling compared to other major modes like the public buses, trains, subways, aeroplanes and cars, as long as your not driving two stroker! The reasons why it is superior to other modes are:

1] Most of Indian motorcycles have puny 100 cc engines and rarely exceed 250 cc which are all designed with superior fuel efficiency in mind not the performance! Most of lawn movers and chainsaws in western countries have grater cc then our motorcycles and poorer fuel efficiency than them!

2] Most of Indian motorcycles are locally produced and locally consumed compared to western countries where such products are hurled halfway around the globe to their customer which involve much of the hidden costs and pollution due to externalization. To understand more about externalization go to storyofstuff.com, download n watch the free movie.

3] Motorcycles are simple contraption with less spare parts compared to others hence easy to produce and maintain compared to most means of motorized transports. Thus they save a lot of resource in the process of manufacturing and maintenance! There is practically not much on a motorcycle that goes bad or broken! Compared to them buses, trains and cars require a lot of servicing and repairs and even then after life of certain years their metal bodies start falling apart and render them unusable. While a 50 years old bullet can be fully restored to its best just after a few hours of wrenching! One good motorcycle could really last your entire life time!

4] Also in our great nation of India due to utter lack of cold winter resulting in to long unusable period for motorcycle adds a lot to engine life of these already bullet proof machines! That is why in west average engine life of bike, i.e., 10,000 miles or 16,000 km, is regarded as old and pretty much unusable while an Indian boxer / splendor is still good after 100,000 km!

5] The motorcycle is better to be used as mode of personal transport and far more efficient and frugal compared to buses, trains and even tube trains as it saves a lot in transit time compared to all these means! (*when used in urban settings)

At this point I must specially mention 2 strokers as these machines burn oil along with petrol which results in production of a lot of hydrocarbons which are not only responsible for the smogs obscuring the skys of the cities and greater green house effect but also cause about 400000 deaths per year in India due to pulmonary diseases. (A WHO estimate)

So remember chaps every time you travel by motorcycle kids laugh, puppies smile, flowers bloom and trees sing your praises, unless if your driving 2-stoker then you hate your neighbors and you'r slow killing them every time you ride by their front!

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When in doubt...... Gas it!

rags

That would be true if you consider the pollution per vehicle but I'm not so sure about that assertion if you average each to the pollution caused per person.

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aargee

@Cicatrix & Rags - whether you agree or not, its a sad truth that an individual motorcycle pollutes more than a car; this is due to the presence of cataytic converter in cars that does a perfect job & its absence makes the difference with motorcycles

__________________
Patience pays...The Vulture's virtue is patience and the bird always get it's food - Wise man saying

This is not a bakery. I don't sugar coat anything. If you ask for my opinion...then that's what you'll get. Don't be mad when it's not what you want to hear

cicatrix

“Motorcycles pollute more than cars” - I have seen this mentioned in enough places both on the internet and newspapers. Often the articles are written by those with self-serving interests. This article lays out some facts and food for thought for motorcycle riders and potential motorcycle buyers.
No question – some older motorcycles, especially those that have been poorly maintained, are blue smoke belching beasts – no argument there. The same applies for many old cars.
Newer cars are great compared to older cars, especially with regard to tailpipe emissions and, in particular, greenhouse gasses.
Carbon dioxide (CO2) emissions are directly proportional to the amount of gas you burn, meaning two-wheelers contribute fewer greenhouse gas emissions per kilometre than their four-wheeled cousins.
But that's only one part of the air quality equation. When it comes to emissions of nitrogen oxide and hydrocarbons – so-called smog-forming pollutants – motorcycles and motorcycles emit many times more per kilometre than cars and trucks.
In short, motorcycles produce fewer greenhouse gasses (GHG’s) than automobiles and GHG’s are the primary enemy of climate change. But motorcycles produce a lot more smog forming emissions than an automobile. These are the emissions that put a haze in the air and provide poor air quality for breathing.
2 stroke motorcycles are much worse than 4 stroke motorcycles when it comes to smog forming pollutants and, when it comes to smog, are worse than most cars.
But how does a new motorcycle compare to a new car? Naturally, it depends on the type of motorcycle and the type of car. For the purpose of comparison, let’s compare a motorcycle to a compact car with a 3 cylinder engine. For the motorcycle, we will look at a 100cc model and we will not compare a 2 stroke model to a 4 stroke model since there are considerable differences.
Let’s approach this from the perspective of someone who wants to do the right thing for the environment. Which mode of transportation for your daily commutes minimizes your adverse environmental impact?
It should be clear there is a lot more to the environmental cost of a mode of transport than just looking at the tailpipe emissions.
To take a more logical and scientific approach, let’s consider the environmental costs of:
1. Environmental cost of producing the car or motorcycle
2. Environmental cost of operating the car or motorcycle during its useful life
3. Environmental cost of disposing of or recycling the car or motorcycle at the end of its useful life

1. Environmental cost of Producing the Car or Motorcycle
Cars are made of large amounts of metal, plastic, paint, fabric, leather rubber & glass. They have a large lead acid battery and contain other toxic fluids such as coolants and lubricants. Many of the surfaces are chemically treated for corrosion protection.
Motorcycles use many of the same materials but in much smaller quantities. (For example 2 small tires rather than 5). The battery in a motorcycle is a fraction the size of a cars and the amount of glass including headlights is miniscule by comparison.
The energy consumed in the actual assembly of a motorcycle is much smaller than a car. Most reputable motorcycle brands are made in factories that meet ISO or similar standards as are most cars.
In short, a motorcycle clearly has a much smaller carbon footprint at this stage.
To be fair, a good car will last as long as (assuming) 2 motorcycles in terms of total engine life. Even with that factored in, the motorcycle has a smaller carbon footprint associated with production.
Granted, the motorcycle can carry only 1 or two people whereas a compact car can usually carry 2 – 4 people – but how often do urban commuters carry multiple passengers?

2. Environmental cost of Operating the car or motorcycle during its useful life
In this area we have some interesting questions. No question, the motorcycle is using less gas to go the same distance but the car may come out the winner if you are usually carrying 3 or 4 people. The other issue is how cleanly and efficiently the fuel is being burned and how harmful are the tailpipe emissions.
If we look at a compact car....
If we look at a 4 stroke motorcycle....

In short, if you are drinving a newer 4 stroke motorcycle with a catalytic converter or even fuel injection, your carbon footprint from tailpipe emissions will be better than a compact car.
Now, here’s the interesting thing about fuel when you look at the big picture. No question that the car will require much greater quantities to go the same distance. More gas consumed must be related to a bunch of factors:
Exploration and drilling costs
Shipping cost of the product to be refined into gas
Refining environmental costs
Environmental costs of moving the fuel to the filling stations
Obviously, something that uses more gas is going to produce a much larger carbon footprint when you look at all of these factors.
Short story, most motorcycles probably burn dirtier during their life than the average car when looking only at the tailpipe emissions. Even so, they probably come out ahead when you take a holistic approach and look at all the factors.
Gas is the big one here, but let’s not forget all the lubricants, coolants, and batteries that a car uses during its life compared to a motorcycle – much more environmental cost here for the car. (unless the car usually only travels with 3 or 4 occupants compared to the motorcycle’s maximum of 2)
What about the environmental cost associated with creating parking spaces for all those cars vs motorcycles??? No question, if a lot more people commuted on motorcycles we could turn a lot of parking lots into parks!

3. Environmental cost of Disposing of or recycling the car or motorcycle at the end of its useful life
When we looked at the environmental cost of production, we saw what types of materials go into the respective vehicles. Both cars and motorcycles are getting much better at using recycled materials in production and they are also being made of materials that can be recycled at the end of their useful life.
Motorcycles just use a whole lot less materials. The average 100 cc motorcycle weighs around 100kg whereas the average compact car weighs close to 1-1.5 ton. That just means a whole lot less material that ultimately has to be reprocessed or sent to a land fill.
Most cars will last as long as 2 motorcycles so, to be fair, we have to look at the disposal cost of 1 car compared to say 2 motorcycles. Again, the nod goes to the motorcycle.

I have probably left out a lot of factors here on both sides of the argument but not nearly as many as most articles do when the look just at one aspect of tailpipe emissions and draw conclusions about overall environmental impact. This misinformation of sticks in the minds of consumers and policy makers and the record needs to be made more complete.
With this article I hope to provide some food for thought and some facts to set the record straight next time you hear someone say “Motorcycles pollute more than cars” Hope you guys get my point.

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When in doubt...... Gas it!

aargee

@cicatrix - sorry, its too long to read; anyway I see you're trying level best to disapprove, but pulling out cost of manufacturing, parking space, recycling factors or gas drilling factors will not get us anywhere & that argument will get us no where. I too sincerely wish along with you that motorcycles pollute less, but again, its a universal truth that it is not so & I've provided one good example of the presence of catalytic converter.

Anyway, long story short, I've come across people saying that a splendour pollutes more than an Alto & the person who owns both of them maintains to the mint. Though the spelendor's emission norms are way to less than what governments legal limits it is still more than Alto. Again, I hope this justifies your comparison of 100CC motorcycle with a 3 cylinder engine.

PS - Pls let me know the motorcycle that has a factory fitted catalytic converter as I'm under the impression that motorcycles only have mufflers & not catalytic converters.

__________________
Patience pays...The Vulture's virtue is patience and the bird always get it's food - Wise man saying

This is not a bakery. I don't sugar coat anything. If you ask for my opinion...then that's what you'll get. Don't be mad when it's not what you want to hear