Motorcycle Miles

Motorcycle Options

["Last minute look at the '94 Yamaha Virago before blast off"]

I'll likely be one of those guys who will have some sort of two-wheeler around the house until I'm in my nineties and ready to sell off toys. I already have three.

I have a 1994 1100cc Yamaha Virago motorcycle that runs like a top. My recent roundtrip between Halifax and London proved once again how reliable, practical and exhilarating two-wheeled travel can be. I also own a 1951 red CCM and 2012 Miele hybrid bicycle. Both are smooth moves. But I'm always looking at other options.

[Yamaha president H. Yanagi introduces Tricity: London Free Press]

Yamaha's new three-wheeler is a modern update on an old theme, at least for those who live outside North America. It's one of several small, quick, economical commuting machines up for sale. And because fuel prices are heading north and are unlikely to reverse direction, small commuters will get some airplay even in London, home to more miles of expensive tarmac than The City Corporation will ever be able to properly maintain.

Link to a good review of three-wheelers at Gizmag. Read all the comments too : )

I have my own ideas about 'small, quick, economical commuting machines' as well. Whodda thunk?!

One, I like them to a certain degree.

More to follow.

["Look at the storage, in one leather saddlebag. Awesome??"]

Link to Motorcycle Miles

Photos GH

It Strikes Me Funny: “So, you think you got problems!?”

While checking my computer’s photo files today I found this picture.


I must put it in the category of ‘World’s best shots’ or ‘You think you got problems?’ And what's happening? I'm glad you asked. Read below.


“The Shot Felt Around the World!”

***

Please click here for more It Strikes me Funny.

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All Dads Have Gas 2

Unarguably, all Dads have gas. There is at least one children’s book - a true classic - about the subject. Case closed.

Fish have gas too. Just follow the bubbles.


[Toon by G. Harrison]

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Please click here for more All Dads Have Gas.

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Get ready for smaller lifestyles by 2020

A minority of people in North America has already adopted a smaller lifestyle (e.g., live in a small house, drive a smaller car or predominantly ride a bike or walk, purchase fewer clothes, shop for groceries with shorter list in hand, etc.), and has done so out of necessity or because of the many benefits,

Below is a small news clip that affects the vast majority of people and lifestyle, whether it be considered normal or excessive.


[News clip from Nov. 5, London Free Press]

The “forecast price for a barrel of oil by 2035” is $212 (according to the International Energy Agency). Methinks, the 'new normal', as far as lifestyle is concerned, will likely come into play far earlier than 2035.

For example, by 2020, when average debt per Canadian family will be at $160 or higher per $100 of income (it’s at $150 at present), many people will be considering far more than dropping TV cable, cancelling their newspaper subscription, doing without a family pet or ordering Chinese every Friday night. Many will be considering selling their big house in the burbs for something smaller that’s close to work or a good grocery store. Quite a few will definitely get rid of their second car.

Many North Americans will be caught by surprise because governments, corporations and media do such a good job at propping up the illusion (now fading in the eyes of growing numbers of people who have little hope of finding a decent job in their lifetime) that progress will continue unimpeded for as long as they hold the reins of modern society.


[“With higher fuel prices, get used to pushing.”]

Read the last line of the news clipping, i.e., the report’s forecast for 2015 is up about 10% from the same report just last year.

Hmmm, what’s happened in the last year? And have things improved since then? How does 2016 look?

Let’s hang in there for another 4 - 5 years, then we’ll all know. And while we’re waiting, let’s shift our lifestyles down a notch or two.

***

Please click here for more high-priced concerns about the future.

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Deforest City Blues: London will never be a cargo hub

[“... The massive concrete building is largely empty and has netted little business, the early predictions of a booming shipping terminal with 150 workers having fallen flat.” Oct. 15, London Free Press]

All cities chase dreams.

They want to be on the map, create a buzz, and be known for something significant.

They want to maintain a vibrant economy, keep their young people, provide a comfortable home, and “be a somebody.”

London, Ontario is no different. It dreams.

Two years ago the city dreamt of becoming a center for foreign trade, a distributor of cargo.


["Don't anchor your future on shipping stuff. Buy a scooter." GH, circa 1969]

A recent news report provides an update.

Headline - Cargo hub one pricey garage

Built by taxpayers at a cost of $11 million, London’s new airport cargo terminal has housed maintenance equipment, personal vehicles for airport executives and even a stag-and-doe party.

But in the year or more since the place was built - a project to help grow London’s economy and create jobs - it hasn’t attracted much new business, critics charge. (Oct. 15, London Free Press)

When I first heard about the cargo hub idea, two years ago, I penned a few thoughts about it for The Londoner, London’s community newspaper.

Shortly after it appeared I received a phone call from a hard-working city councillor who disagreed with my views, ones that questioned, for example, pinning a city’s hopes on shipping goods from here to there when we face a future of rising fuel prices.

At the time, though I felt I handled the criticism pretty well (32 years as an elementary school teacher helps in this regard), I was most proud of being able to express some of views succinctly in one of my favourite all-time lines, i.e., “we’re backing the wrong nag in this race, Pal.”

At the conclusion of our phone conversation, we simply agreed to disagree, and to this day, I still believe the cargo hub was a very poor idea.

Wrong nag, wrong era.

***

Please click here to read about disagreements I have with other recent articles.

Also, stay tuned to read my columns about the cargo hub from 2009.

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100 Challenges Ahead: “The high price of gasoline”

A week ago I read that “the year-over-year rise in the cost of gasoline” in Q2, or the second quarter of 2011, was 28.1%, according to the Consumer Price Index, which is a part of StatsCan, I think. (London Free Press, Oct. 8)

Nothing was written about the challenges people face because of rising fuel prices but we can all predict a few of them, I bet.

The cost of driving to work will rise. The price of going shopping for groceries and clothing will rise. The same can be said for going to the YMCA for exercise or movie theatre for entertainment. Ditto for a trip to Canadian Tire for more light bulbs. In fact, every time we use our car(s), the cost of travel will be higher. Automotive oils and additives rose 24.4% so I think even looking at our car will soon cost more.

Are there ways to save money on automotive costs while gas prices rise?

For some people, yes.

Some will switch to a smaller car.


["Some will switch to a smaller pickup truck."]

Some will share a car with others, e.g., by car-pooling to work or shopping mall.

Some will carefully regulate their driving speed, e.g., reduce speed on the highway, reduce the number of fast starts and stops in traffic.

Some will organize their weekly trips more carefully by making a grocery list (vs hopping into the car every time they run out of something) or combining various shopping trips into one.

While thinking of the above solutions, however, I realized that many people will face a second and related challenge as great as the rising price of gas. Can you guess what it is?

More to follow.

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Please click here to read a related ‘Series of Significance.’

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New Children’s Book Pt 1: “All Dads Have Gas”

[Suitable for children of all ages.]

All Dads Have Gas

Chapter One - There is a loud quack in the garden

Picture in your mind a father in shorts and scruffy T-shirt a-workin’ silently in his garden with the help of his curious 6-year old son.

Both are raking weeds away from healthy tomato plants and feeling the heat of a sunny July afternoon.

Suddenly, the silence between them is broken.

“Quack!”

“Dad, did you hear that?” says the boy.

“Sorry. What’s that, son?” says the father.

“I thought I heard a duck,” says the boy.

“Where?” says the father.


["All work and no play? Not this father. I say, maintain a sense of humour at all times.": circa 1976]

“Over there,” says the boy. Then he points toward a tall tomato plant behind his father.

The father looks behind him. No duck.

“Our neighbour has chickens. Maybe you heard a chicken cluck,” says the father.

“No, it didn’t sound like a chicken cluck. It sounded like a duck quack.”

“Another neighbour has a dog. Maybe you heard a dog bark,” says the father.

“No, it didn’t sound like a dog bark. It sounded like a duck quack. A loud one.”

“Well, isn’t that the strangest thing,” says the father, as he steps into the next row of healthy tomato plants and wipes his brow.

“You’re doing a great job with that rake, son,” says the father.

“Will you help me with another row?” he asks. “Together we’ll keep our eyes peeled for that duck of yours.”

The boy nods, and sniffs the air.

***

Chapter Two to soon follow.

Quack. Why, isn’t that the strangest thing?

To learn about the inspiration behind this exciting children’s book, “All Dads Have Gas,” please click here.

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Oil Prices: Nowhere to go but down? Part 2

Will oil prices go up or down in the next 10 - 15 years? Wanna bet?

(I’m sitting on my wallet. See Part 1 for context).

The safe bet is down, says Gwynne Dyer [link to recent article]. And “the same fate [as befell horse-drawn vehicles] is likely to overtake oil-fuelled vehicles in the next 35 years.”


Dyer makes the following points:

The shift will be driven by concerns about...

foreign exchange costs

energy independence

the need to curb greenhouse gas emissions

The shift will start with...

ever-tightening standards for fuel efficiency

The shift will be followed by...

the first mass-market generation of electric vehicles, due in the next two or three years

The coup de grace will be delivered by...

third-generation biofuels, probably produced from algae... fully competitive with oil in price and energy content

Based on the above factors, Dyer predicts American oil consumption will fall “quite fast, quite soon” and the same is true elsewhere.

Then he concludes, “It is a safe bet that the demand for oil is going to fall faster than the supply over the next 10 or 15 years...and if demand falls faster than supply, the price will also collapse.”

I’m going to think, and sit on my wallet a bit longer, because I smell something fishy.

Could it be the algae?

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Part 2 - Letters to the Editor: Is Bill brilliant or full of baloney?

(And is it baloney or bologna?)

In yesterday’s Letters to the Editor in the London Free Press Bill Deys, who takes exception to comments made by opponents of drive-thrus, wrote the following:

“If you ban drive-throughs, stores will need bigger parking lots.”

I wasn’t sure how Bill was going to support his claim so I decided to ride along for a spell.

He continued:

“Land is at a premium and London is getting bigger all the time. If stores like Tim Hortons and McDonald’s need more space, that is going to mean less green space and less land for agriculture.”

Bill saved his best arguments for his conclusion:

“Drive-throughs keep stores smaller, make parking lots smaller and are a benefit to the environment. Banning drive-throughs makes no sense.”


[Click here to see photo in context]

I’m tempted to close my eyes and compare A - the environmental benefits of driving across town for bland coffee, a double-bacon triple-cheeseburger and a bag of salty fries to B - taking a few minutes to poach a couple of eggs at home while fresh coffee is brewing.

Instead I’ll ask the question:

Is Bill brilliant or up to his eyebrows in mystery meat?

Click here to read another, possibly brilliant, Letter to the Editor

It Strikes Me Funny: Gas prices rise but serious carpooling is years away

Will more people carpool as gas prices rise?

In my most recent column I say it will happen - but at a painfully slow rate.

I wrote the majority of Deforest City drivers (51 per cent) won’t let anyone else near their car on a regular basis until the price of fuel hits $3.15 per litre.

Not only did I scientifically and mathematically proved it beyond a shadow of a doubt (in my humble yet brilliant opinion), I briefly mentioned the three main reasons why we change so slowly to beneficial driving habits.

I’d like to expand on one of the reasons here.

When I said many folks spend extra money on a fat list of various goodies and will shed some of those items (kicking and screaming at times) long before they carpool I meant some of the following things:

Some folks will give up 2 - 3 helpings of street meat per week in order to afford the higher cost of a fill up when gas hits $1.50. (I know I’m right).

When gas passes $1.75 a few others will play less golf, drop bowling from their schedule, cut out movie night or say “I pass” on the latest designer jeans and try to squeeze into last year’s model for another season.

Will more people carpool at $2.00 a litre?


[Click here to see photo in context]

Not very many.

People will hold yard sales, raise the a/c two degrees, not buy a third big screen TV, drop newspaper delivery, return to Basic Cable, take in a boarder, BBQ a few less times per week, eat less beef (more chicken), buy more lottery tickets, postpone new roof shingles for one more year or buy cheaper paint for the basement walls.

But the majority won’t carpool until gas hits $3.15. [However, it will happen faster than we think.]

What will you give up before you carpool?