Let's see, $2 per US gallon? That works out to about $0.60 Canadian per litre. In 21 years of driving motorcycles I have never seen prices that low.
But I remember back in the '70s paying less than $0.80 Canadan per real , imperial 160 oz. gallon to put in my moped that got 110 mpg!
Yeah, it sure is hard to figure. When the price went over $3.00 all the "experts" on TV said it would only go higher.
So what changed other than our expectations? Did you ever think that you would think that $2.00 gas is a bargain?
What was the price when you started driving? For me it was around 33 cents a gallon. That would have been 1972. None of had even heard of OPEC yet.
Wayne
As I said, I remember paying under $0.80 per gallon in the mid '70s. The next time I bought gas was when I got my first bike in '85, and I was shocked to learn that gas was selling for just under $0.80 per litre! That's a 455% increase in 10 years!
Prices gradually dropped to the low 60s over the next 10-15 years, then shot back up. They peaked at about $1.10 per litre - about $3.72 per gallon U.S. last year after hurricane Katrina and have been gradually coming back down since.
I'm pleased that gas costs about the same now as it did 21 years ago, but I would be really happy if it was more like the U.S. prices.
No, eh? Oh well, I guess hope springs eternal. Since you claim ignorance, how about the political diatribes that were forwarded to just about as many people as could be CCed in the address list?
Although it is changing somewhat due to commercial abuse, the meaning of spam is sending any unwanted, unsolicited email.
Carbon copying half the universe when forwarding a pet peeve to everyone you can think of compromises people's privacy as well as security (no kidding), and the issue may not be one of their hot buttons or even an item of interest to the recipient.... don't do it, particularly when you have already been asked not to. Just because someone gives out an email address for discussing motorcycle issues, it does not generally mean that carte blanche has been given for broadcasting trash.
Regardless of why fuel prices rise, or fall. Regardless of who is up for election, the simple fact remains that the motorcycle has traditionally been a form of transportation that can get one or two people from one place to another useing less fuel than most automobiles. As the MPG/ 100km/l of small cars (especially diesels) climbs, I see an alarming trend from the motorcycle world of bigger and bigger bikes that go a shorter distance on each gallon/ lieter of gas (albiet 0-60 times are very fast). Same as the average car or truck that has more power every year to haul more veicle evey year. My point here is that as cyclists, we still choose to travel, yet in a way that we get further for our money. Some distances must be traveled by motorized means, and most every cycle will do it more economically than almost every car. (my car and my cx get the same MPG). But normally, when we start the bike instead of the car we have less of an impact on the environment and our pocketbooks.
I'm glad this is an international forum and that many different views are represented.
The V-Max plain and simple is built to make horsepower, not to get fuel economy.
Charles.
Yeah I agree that its sad to see all these bikes getting the same...or worse gas mileage than some of the new sub-compact cars out there.
**Pulls a soapbox out from under the desk at work and climbs up on it...I've really gotten on the diesel bandwagon lately. In looking at the history of the technology it was originally designed to run off of peanut oil. The older diesels, especially the late 70's early 80s Mercedes' Diesels get around 30+ mpg and can run off of 100% vegetable oil! It requires some simple mods, a bit more complex if you live in a colder climate but overall the engine remains virtually untouched. So now we have a 20+ year old car that gets 30+mpg, doesn't use ANY crude oil (foreign or domestic), has whats known as neutral emisions (the CO2 emisions from vegetable oil are the same as the amount of CO2 that the plant from which it came absorbed when it was alive...therfore you are not adding or taking away from the amount of CO2 in the environment)...and if you're brave enough to do so, you can aquire the fuel completely free of charge. Restaurants, especially Chinese, must pay disposal companies to haul away used vegtable oil...and are happy to allow someone to come and pick it up for free. And guess what....you're recycling that oil as well.
So I guess my point to all of this is that this is a completely viable alternative to diesel....and something that could have begun a quarter decade ago. There a few shops popping up in the Los Angeles area that sell these cars (http://www.lovecraftbiofuels.com/) and in researching this new trend it is even possible to mix diesel and Veg oil in your tank to a specific ratio and run it safely without any modifications to your car/truck.
So I'll admit...I am 26, republican, and have a gas guzzling sports car ('04 RX8 which gets about 17 mpg) but with gas prices the way they are and everything else about global warming, etc I feel as though I am doing a real disservice to everyone. So the Veg oil Benz is in the works for me...I am hell bent on never paying for fuel again...well at least until Mobile swaps up the veg oil market.
R80Dave wrote: I am betting on $4 per gallon next summer.
wildmanwill wrote: R80Dave wrote: I am betting on $4 per gallon next summer. Prophet is right on - $4/gallon...
dean wrote: wildmanwill wrote: R80Dave wrote: I am betting on $4 per gallon next summer. Prophet is right on - $4/gallon...only this is two summers... not next summer. but close. his reasoning is a little off though.
wildmanwill wrote: dean wrote: wildmanwill wrote: R80Dave wrote: I am betting on $4 per gallon next summer. Prophet is right on - $4/gallon...only this is two summers... not next summer. but close. his reasoning is a little off though. I chose the section to quote carefully, I didn't realize that posts that old were still on here, my bad...
With dollar parity, and 4 litres > 4 quarts, Canada is well over the $4 / gallon. Here in Sarnia, I paid $1.39/litre for diesel, and the bike was sucking it up at $1.21/litre for regular gas (not even mid or premium!!!)