Pollution from motorbikes

[brazealandec]

It looks like that at least some motorbikkes are not any better then cars but are worse....

http://www.guardian.co.uk/environmen...ansportintheuk

[Blue Velvet]

What constitutes 'modern'? No mention of fuel used in these tests either. 50cc scooters and 800-1150cc bikes leaves a large middle ground. Story says a variety of bikes were tested but in reality they probably had a test group of 5.

Ian Sample looks like a humourless twat.

And at the end of the day who cares. The more people I choke with noxious exhaust fumes the better.

[Usarka]

when motorcyclists frequently accelerated quickly, motorbike engines burned fuel inefficiently, giving a sharp peak in emissions

So is it the engines that are not efficient, or that they tested them under hard acceleration?

If they don't also do the emission tests for cars under similar hard acceleration then the comparison is not valid.

[ManDownUnder]

LOL.... looks like a twat who was given some numbers on a page and told to write an article to sell more ad space.

Totally and utterly meaningless... the lot of it. "A study was done"... by who? When, under what control and peer reviewed?

Tui anyone?

edit - sorry... I see the answer "by who" is in the article. I wonder what her doctorate is in

[avgas]

my bike is inefficient and that is how i like it.
not all of us can live with owning a honda jazz.

[vifferman]

The scooters would have introduced a bias to the testing in any case.
The trouble is, brief unsubstantiated 'sound bites' like the one from this twunt have a much bigger impact than they should have, and can end up being quoted as gospel instead of being given the appropriate repsect they deserve ("What? This is crap! Bin it!")

[Sully60]

Ok then Mr Twatface (since that moniker seems to have stuck)
If an 800cc powered vehicle of any description is built to comply with Euro 3 or 4 emission standards (and all other things about acceleration etc aside) then how will this produce 49% higher emissions than equivalent standard engines that on average are 100-200% bigger and have proportionally much larger weight to move?
Am I viewing this too simplistically? Maybe I am?
But one thing I’m clear on like vifferman says, these small unsubstantiated pieces of information become gospel to those looking for a cause.

I can see it now: we’ll have a bunch of cause seeking pinko greenies (mixed together a colour not unlike that of diohhrea) marching down Courtenay Place to demonstrate in front of Wellington Motorcycles?

Anybody remember the episode of Penn & Teller’s “Bullshit” where that got over a thousand signatures on their petition to ban Dihydrogen Oxide?

[Ocean1]

Can't even be fooked reading it.

Bikes are always going to be less efficient than a car per Kg/Km, they simply don't have the room or mass budget for the emission control gear a car does.

So fucken what, they move far less mass in the first place, overall polution per person is likely to be less.

[007XX]

Can't even be fooked reading it.

Bikes are always going to be less efficient than a car per Kg/Km, they simply don't have the room or mass budget for the emission control gear a car does.

So fucken what, they move far less mass in the first place, overall polution per person is likely to be less.

+1...what he said.

[klingon]

... I can see it now: we’ll have a bunch of cause seeking pinko greenies (mixed together a colour not unlike that of diohhrea) marching down Courtenay Place to demonstrate in front of Wellington Motorcycles?...

Oi! Lay off us pinko greenies! Some of us ride motorbikes too, you know.

I agree with the criticisms of the way this study has been reported. The article is from 2005. Can anybody be bothered looking up the actual research? I know I can't be bothered.

Personally I don't see how my bike that gets 200km on a tankful of gas can be putting out more emissions than a car that gets a fraction of that.

[The Stranger:Me]

Personally I don't see how my bike that gets 200km on a tankful of gas can be putting out more emissions than a car that gets a fraction of that.

At a guess - the quality of the gas is a lot worse, but the amount of gas is a lot less. Omit the last part (less gas) there and you have a possible explanation.

I guess testing 2 strokes would be another possible explanation.

That is why it would be good to see the methodology.

[Rosie]

I agree with the criticisms of the way this study has been reported. The article is from 2005. Can anybody be bothered looking up the actual research? I know I can't be bothered.

Here are the papers they are probably referring to:

Vasic, A.-M., Weilenmann, M.
Comparison of real-world emissions from two-wheelers and passenger cars
(2006) Environmental Science and Technology, 40 (1), pp. 149-154.

Mattrel, P., Vasic, A.-M., Gujer, E., Haag, R., Weilenmann, M.
VOC composition and ozone-forming potential of the exhaust gas of in-use motorcycles
(2004) International Journal of Environment and Pollution, 22 (3), pp. 301-311.

I don't have access to the articles, and don't really want to interloan them through work. If anyone can get copies of these (university staff/students?) I would be interested to have a look.

[Motu]

I haven't read the articles either,but I'm pretty sure bikes would put out more emissions than a car.A car has a shit load more dodads on it,and are a hell of a lot more advanced on engine control than bikes.....and have 4 wheels and a bonnet to carry all the shit around in.Open the bonnet of any car made after 2000 and tell me what you see - put all that stuff on your bike and it will be pretty efficient too.

[23226]

My Rocket III is apparently Euro 3 compliant , hahahahahahah.

Clearly the "euro N " ratings are a load of bollox.

[sAsLEX]

I haven't read the articles either,but I'm pretty sure bikes would put out more emissions than a car.A car has a shit load more dodads on it,and are a hell of a lot more advanced on engine control than bikes.....and have 4 wheels and a bonnet to carry all the shit around in.Open the bonnet of any car made after 2000 and tell me what you see - put all that stuff on your bike and it will be pretty efficient too.

how many cars can get 189MPG?


A Royal Enfield will. And you can fix it with a hammer, a donkey and a bucket of rocks!