In article ,
Werehatrack wrote:

On Tue, 28 Sep 2004 08:35:23 -0700, Ryan Cousineau
wrote:

Retreads are not a new concept; big truck tires are routinely re-capped.
I don't know exactly why car tires are generally not retreaded, though I
have some speculative guesses.

From several sources in the industry, the reason is simple; used
belted radials are not a reliable source of carcasses because the
common flaws that make them unsuitable are not readily detectable by
economically feasible inspection methods.

The 200 mpg carburetor exists. You can find them attached to 50 cc
scooters.

From what I've seen, the Chinese-made scooters sold in this area
wouldn't crack 150mpg coasting downhill without a rider. The tech
they use is *crude*; they're at the level of toys, not serious
hardware. 200mpg may be claimed, but I sincerely doubt that anything
close is actually achieved. The people I know who have had one state
that 60mpg is more like the real figure.

I wasn't even thinking about the various unlicensed motorized
kick-scoots and mini-motorcycles that are currently rolling around; I
was referring to real live normal, licensed scootes like the Honda
Jazz/Metro, Yamaha BWs 50, etc.

But having looked them up, I have overstated the real-world claimed
mileage for these. The most optimistic site I could find quotes a top of
130 mpg. I extrapolated from the performance of the Suzuki GN125, a very
small motorcycle which tested out at over 100 mpg.

I was going to make a snarky comment about how the popularity
of scooters indicates how much people really care about fuel economy,
but at least in Canada, scooters are hot sellers. BC also has a a
growing (though not booming) market for electric bicycles, as the rules
were relaxed to allow electric bicycles with a maximum assisted
level-ground speed of 32 km/h to be ridden on the roads without a
license or insurance.

In the US, in past years, interest in scooters and other low-power
personal transport devics has usually been stifled by application of
regulations. In the early '70s, mopeds managed to get a toehold due
to the gas crunch, but the reports I am hearing currently lead me to
believe that the present crop of scooters will not make a lasting
impression. Most of them are, quite frankly, crap, and existing laws
make their use on streets and highways questionable or illegal,
depending on where you are and who you ask. That's not the way to
build an alternate transportation structure.

Again, I'm not talking about the mini-scoots and other silliness; I mean
real live scooters with lights, license plates, and non-dubious legality.

As for my self-imposed 200 mpg challenge, I could probably manage it on
a scooter, as the basic tendency with those poor things is to wring
their necks at every stoplight to get max acceleration. That's not
crazy, since max acceleration is still pretty tepid.

Rode a pretty cool Benelli in Greece,

--
Ryan Cousineau, http://www.wiredcola.com
Verus de parvis; verus de magnis.