Motorbikes '16 times worse than cars for pollution'

[Lou Girardin]

would love to see how they work this one out. Absoluetly no way a big SUV that gets 2.0 MPG is outputing less shit than a bike doing 40 MPG

(exaggerated for point making assistance)

Quite easily in fact, especially if that SUV has state of the art anti-pollution gear.
Don't mistake what goes in with what comes out. A test some years ago on a Volvo in London showed that the exhaust was cleaner than the polluted air the engine was breathing.

[Coyote]

Is it as easy as chucking on a catalytic converter to clean up the exhaust? I know they're expensive since they're coated with platinum in some cases, but would it solve the problem? I've noticed a few husky motards now come with them stock, and I heard if installed correctly they won't decrease performance significantly

[Big Dave]

Pfft. I couldn't give a rat's arse.

me either - lets do a burnout, chuck a few monos and go to the pub.

[The Stranger:Me]

Doubt it very much.

The Honda Blackbirds destined for california have several additional mods. Such as systems to catch the fuel evaporating from the tank and to push air into the exhaust ports to burn excess fuel and raise the temperature of the gasses to allow the Cats to function correctly.

[TonyB]

Someone may have made this point already, but if they were adding 2 stroke scooters into the average emmissons for bikes then it's not hard to see why they came to this conclusion.

Having said that, with the exeption of a couple of the latest BMW's, NO bike has a complex engine management system like you find in a modern car. There are no knock sensors, airflow sensors, exhaust sensors etc so you'd have to assume they wouldn't run as efficiently.

BUT- having said THAT, show me the emissons readout for a car engine that makes 160hp/litre... actually, maybe thats not such a good argument to bring up.

[Lou Girardin]

Someone may have made this point already, but if they were adding 2 stroke scooters into the average emmissons for bikes then it's not hard to see why they came to this conclusion.

Having said that, with the exeption of a couple of the latest BMW's, NO bike has a complex engine management system like you find in a modern car. There are no knock sensors, airflow sensors, exhaust sensors etc so you'd have to assume they wouldn't run as efficiently.

BUT- having said THAT, show me the emissons readout for a car engine that makes 160hp/litre... actually, maybe thats not such a good argument to bring up.

Honda S2000 makes 120 bhp/litre and meets all emissions requirements.

[brazealandec]

Is it possible to install a catalytic converter on one's bike?

[Pwalo]

Is it possible to install a catalytic converter on one's bike?

It's possible, but pointless if your bike's not designed to run with it. If you really are concerned about your emmissions then buy a later model machine.

Of course the whole argument relies on vehicle emmissions being major contributers to 'greenhouse gases'. Statistically they seem rather insignificant.