Super Fast Bicycle

Here is another motor assisted bicycle. It has a motor for propulsion which delivers speeds up to 50 miles per hour. However, the motor is designed to run only when you pedal the bicycle. This is another expression of the idea of a lightweight, fuel efficient neighborhood vehicle. A great deal of short range travel can be done by bicycle. However, some people would like a little help, and that is where motor assisted bicycles come in. The particular model in the video is awfully pricey though: over 40 thousand dollars!

Motor Powered Bicycle

Here is another option for a low fuel consumption neighborhood vehicle. If you are not ready to pump the pedals on a bicycle and a motorcycle seems to expensive or foreign to you, try adding a small motor to your bicycle!

Cargo Bike in Action

Do you find yourself driving a few blocks to the supermarket when it comes time to buy groceries? Even if you have considered walking those four or five blocks maybe you never did it because of the difficulty you would have carrying all the groceries back home. Walking a handful of blocks takes very little time, saves on gas and is good for your health. But it is true that on foot you are really limited in how much cargo you can carry.

That is where cargo or freight bicycles come in. With a cargo bike you could quickly cover a few blocks to the supermarket ( getting some exercise on the way ) and then carry your groceries back home without trouble. And best of all, the whole shopping trip would not cost you even a drop of gasoline!

The video shows off a cargo bicycle for those people who have never seen one.

Fred Flintstone Saves on Gas

Remember Fred Flintstones' pedal powered stone age car? He would put his feet down through a hole in the cabin floor and run to get it going. It might have been stone age technology, but it didn't use a drop of gasoline. As our petroleum era starts to go into the decline phase, the circle has come around again. Just as the stone age cars of the imagined Flintstone past were, so will be the future: petroleum free. Bicycles are an excellent solution for individual personal neighborhood or short range travel.

The video shows a Flintstone style car that has been converted into a four place bicycle. Not very practical ... you would be much better off with a bicycle. You can use a freight bicycle or a bicycle trailer if you want to carry small loads. But it is amusing. Note how at the end of the video the police pull the contraption over. Although the video took place in Toronto, Canada that could be seen as a symbol of the US addiction to cars and oil consumption. The authorities slap down fun, innovative ways to save on gas even as GM and Ford are dying from their failure to adapt to the emerging expensive oil future.

Electric Bikes Take China By Storm

Electric bicycles are a very energy efficient means of transportation. Unlike a car, in which the engine has to move thousands of pounds of metal to transport a single person a bicycle has very little extra mass. An electric motor on a bicycle needs to move the rider and not much more. Plus the rider can help out with a little pedal power.

Considering that China is now the leading manufacturing nation in the world, we will soon see store shelves filling up with what is popular there. The era in which US product choices shaped international markets is ending. That coupled with the coming era of oil scarcity means we will be seeing a lot of electric bikes soon. And that is great news for saving on gas.

Electric Bikes

We are in the age of electronic mail and electronic books, so it is no surprise to hear about an electric bicycle. Electric bicycles are normal bikes outfitted with a battery and an electric motor. This motor can propel the bicycle by itself or it can add an assist to pedal power. The extra weight of the batteries and electric motor does make it harder to pedal than a normal bike though. Such a bicycle can be completely recharged in two or three hours using a standard wall socket. If you are thinking of saving on gas by doing your commute on bicycle but have been turned off by hills in your area, an electric bicycle could be the solution. You can use the electric motor to give you an uphill assist.

If you do not want to buy an all new electric bicycle, there are kits which convert any ordinary bike to electric. They basically amount to the installation of an electric motor and battery. This video shows off the concept.

Build a Bicycle Trailer

The best way to save on gas is not to use your car. Alternative means of transport are walking, taking the bus or riding a bicycle. However, one big advantage of a car is all the cargo capacity it gives you. This can be replaced when bicycling with the use of a bicycle trailer. For short trips to pick up a bag of groceries say a bicycle trailer is all you need. Moreover, it is pretty easy to make your own trailer if you don't want to buy a new one. The video below gives a little tour of a homemade bicycle trailer.

Freight Bikes

During the American golden age that followed World War II, plentiful cheap fuel and the spanking new interstate highway network ushered us into the rise of the personal automobile and “18-wheeler” trucks. As a result, every other method of transport was at least partly neglected. In that world, this made economic sense. But in a world of consistently high fuel prices it is not good to have all your eggs in one overpriced basket.

In a world of high gas prices it makes more sense to diversify transport. Each particular function served by transport can be more efficiently served by a specialized mode. For example, we have looked before at Neighbourhood Electric Vehicles and considered the use of a motorcycle instead of a much heavier and fuel hungrier vehicle. In the long distance point to point hauling of bulk freight specialized trains can be the most fuel efficient solution. And so on.

Freight bikes are bicycles designed to carry a light cargo over local distances. They are almost always tricycles, necessary for stability while loading, parking and unloading. Normally a large box or wire frame basket is attached to the front or rear. Special relatively heavy duty gearing is installed. The frame is also heavier and sturdier.

Although they seem symbolic of underdevelopment to many people, freight bikes are actually a very good solution in situations of fuel unavailability or high fuel price. Obviously their range and cargo load are limited by the human power source. It is also very difficult to operate them in hilly terrain. But for local delivery over flat ground they are perfect. I suspect that as the price of gasoline rises relative to labor we will see more and more of these on the streets of the United States. And if that helps us save on gas, it is a good thing.

Wheel Covers Can Reduce Air Resistance

Racing bicycles have flat disc wheels instead of the open spoked type found in everyday bicycles. The reason is because flat disks have less air resistance. And as speed increases, air resistance quickly increases until it becomes the limiting factor.

The same principle applies to your car. Smooth wheel covers will help streamline the airflow around the wheel well area, lowering the air resistance. Less air resistance means you will get better fuel economy. The next video demonstrates a simple homemade wheel cover. It doesn't have to be fancy. From the point of aerodynamics it only has to be a flat surface. You can even use pie plates!



You can also try to earn a little advertising money with your wheel covers. There are companies like CapAds which sell smooth wheel covers that carry advertising. The wheel cover is designed to stay still and not rotate so the ad can be clearly seen. From the point of view of aerodynamics the important point is that the flat advertising space acts to reduce air resistance! The following video shows a car equipped with advertising wheel covers.



There is a saying that there are no such things as magic silver bullets but there are silver BBs. The idea is that in the real world you can't just push a button and solve big problems like reducing your fuel consumption. But often there are a lot of little things you can do that add up to a solution. The silver BB solution requires work because each individual BB requires a little effort to implement. Just as the benefit of the BBs adds up to a solution, the work required adds up too and can be in total quite an investment. But at the end you have the problem solved. So if saving on gas is a problem for you, consider adding aerodynamic wheel covers to your list of BBs.

Human Powered Speed Record

A new Human Powered Vehicle speed record has been set. Sam Whittingham hit 82.4 miles per hour in a specially built racing bike in the Nevada desert. That is much faster than the 40 MPH or so records set by Olympic cyclists. The lesson here for saving on gas is to see how he reached such speeds. Of course Sam Whittingham is in great physical shape. He was a competitive cyclist himself. But how did he reach double the speed of the Olympic record?

The real secret is friction reduction. The bike has a very carefully streamlined shape and is small, so as to present less of a front to the wind and reduce weight. In fact, the bike is basically just big enough to hold his body. He can't move his head or arms when riding or maybe better wearing it. To reduce rolling resistance in the tires, they are very thin, less than an inch across. The bike also has very highly leveraged gears. The lowest gear has such a high velocity ratio that it is harder pedal than the highest gear on a racing bike. It takes 5 miles to get up to his top speed.

Although we are not going to be traveling around every day in body hugging, lightweight missile bikes we can see how friction reduction and gearing provide the key to massive increases in performance. Now what we need is for Detroit to seriously start applying the same lessons to their products.

Going By Bike Gives Best Gas Mileage

You get the best gas mileage when you don't drive! By changing your habits and reducing the miles you drive you automatically save on gas. For many of us one of the biggest sources of miles is the commute to and from work. If you can make the commute by bicycle you will save on gas mileage and improve your fitness at the same time. Depending on the distance, the type of road in your area, traffic density and factors such as bike storage or showers at work bicycle commuting can be more or less attractive. The video gives some tips and hints on how to deal with issues such as storage of the bicycle, how to carry cargo, how to dress for the weather and where to park.