Topic Moved and Approved.

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

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.

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!

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!

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.

@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

@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.

@^^ almost all desi bike have a Cat con in exhaust .

Ok, i'm not a genius when it comes to bikes or anything,

"but bikes have catalytic converters right ???"

I always thought bikes pollute much lesser..
This thread makes me laugh everytime i think of it..
(i may be wrong here too, just my opinion)

Considering the quantity of bikes in India there is surely a impact..There must be 1:25 (or more) ratio of cars:bikes.. So i really think bikes are more polluting than cars!! Cars are almost out of the reach of common man until the advent of nano but look at a bike.. every household almost has a bike or two in india!

Please consider the quantity of the bikes too!

@ aargee:
[1] about all 2 wheelers manufactured after jan 2000 feature cat cons.
[2] taking advice from a enthu is no substitute for real knowledge or factual data. Also the limited data churned out by ARAI shows that while hydrocarbon and CO emissions from four-stroke two-wheelers can be as high as those of petrol cars, NOx and particulate matter (read smog) levels that pose a serious health challenge are several times lower than diesel cars. Moreover, on a per passenger basis, a car emits two times more pollution compared to a two-wheeler and four times more compared to a bus. (I hope this also satisfies rags) This is all thanks to Indian government which has led the way world over in implementing stringent emission standards for two and three wheelers.

As far as I know about stats of India (I am talking from what I have read in community medicine texts) the no 1 cause of automobile pollution in India are old diesel engine. Most of my text and material, even the latest ones, dont list motorcycles, except for 2 strokers as major polluter! Even ARAI, Central Pollution Control Board and various other bodies do not blame two wheelers for air pollutions and are rather very positive of growth of two-wheeler segment as expressed in MoST study of 2000. Only current pending recommendation for 2 wheelers is total ban on 2 strokers.