The contest, which received 44 submissions and 577 votes, asked participants to enter photographs illustrating the joys of their bi-wheeled rides. When you ride a bike–whether motorcycle or 1-speed cruiser–you participate in your immediate environment rather than isolate yourself from it. Cyclists feel the temperature, wind, and precipitation, if there is any. They catch snippets of conversation from pedestrians crossing the street, and smell the flowers of spring or the drying leaves of autumn. What really unites cyclists is an appreciation for their environments, their relationship with the very earth passed over by two wheels.

The winner of the photo contest is a great shot by Lenzr member ioana-vanessa bezman entitled fall.

Although it’s not an action shot, it certainly calls the viewer to action–don’t you just want to jump into that seat? Congratulations, ioana-vanessa bezman, you’ve won a Bluetooth Stereo Headset with long-range intercom and designed specifically for motorcycles. With this headset you can make hands-free calls, listen to music or GPS instructions and have intercom conversations with a passenger or other motorcycle riders.

Thanks again to everyone who participated in the contest. There were a number of fantastic entries and we had our work cut out for us choosing just one.

Brammo in Hong Kong

The traffic police get the cool copy bike at the top while the water supply department is going to drive the regular Enertia Plus

The Hong Kong city police have inked a deal with Brammo to introduce a couple of Enertia Plus bikes into their 2-wheeled task force. According to the official press release from the folks at Brammo, it seems the cities water supply boys are going to scamper to the “district service locations” on the standard Enertia Plus while the men in blue get a special LE — Law Enforcement — edition of the bike. They’re not say much in terms of what the upgrades for the LE will be besides having “special features that tailor it for authority patrol use.” Only the traffic cops will be riding the electric bike but perhaps they’re most suited for introductory services.

Having recently received a large $28 million dollar partnership investment from Polaris combined with this latest development, it spells a clear desire to push for the lead from the Oregon based camp.

Zero DS in Scotts Valley, California.

A proud police officer riding their offices new electric motorcycle

Neighbors wish to support their own in Scotts Valley, California, or so it seems. With a population of 11,580, the local law enforcement has taken delivery of a Zero DS for patrols and traffic enforcement. Similar to the Hong Kong police, they see value in it as a non-emergency motorcycle to keep us drivers all in line but unlike the aforementioned task force, it appears as if the SV fuzz have only dipped in a toe employing just one electric bike.

Zero DS for the Met in London

The london fuzz taking the new Zero Ds for a spin

A second jubilation for the Californian firm was the potential adoption of their bike by the London Police. For now, the bike is being used by the BikeSafe and ScooterSafe programs which go around attempting to teach people Motcycle Safety. Think preventative care, not reactive response vehicles.

They’ve been coy on sharing what the actual 5-0 will eventually use them for not making it a resounding applause of adoption but that they’re more so open to the idea.

BRD electric Motorcycle

Seeing the up take of electric motorcycles by our police, another small company in California by the name of BRD has built a Police Department (PD) version of their RedShift bike. By far the most expensive of the lot, The BRD retails at $15,000 with an additional $2,500 upgrade for the cop motorcycle. The company is now “taking orders” meaning they’ve built a couple of prototypes and hope people will throw them a couple bucks to get started on making a few.

Mass adoption may take some time but it seems for now, our police would love to play around with a few electric bikes at their offices.

A little foreshadowing if we do nothing

We have a hell of a lot of gas stations and in most cases, the land they’re built on is virtually condemned. Turning those lots into usable property for residential development would be a nightmare. From what I can remember from an entrepreneurial class in college, the lots are far less valuable because it’s so tough to pass safety regulations. Gas is like water and soaks in mighty easy. Definitely not going to dig a well there, I wouldn’t at least.

I’m not sure what the laws are regarding the conversion for commercial endeavours but quiet frankly, I’ve been sold enough stuff. Up until now, I’ve always just rented a room in a house for budgetary reasons so my possession were few but now I’ve started accumulating stuff. At the beginning of this year I moved into a home I could call mine and the house has literally just filled up. I don’t need more. (This is a whole conversation for another time.)

Most importantly we’re trying to ween ourselves of the gas stations liquid energy so we can’t just let the then obsolete structures sit there and become pock mark scars on the skin of our earth.

I think electric vehicles are getting off on the wrong foot

What makes cars so handy right now is that you can fuel up at one of our many fuel stations all over our cities. Electric vehicles alternatively have to be charged at home because the infrastructure isn’t in place to support them. As a result, electric vehicles manufacturers each have their own proprietary battery systems.

Make bikes or batteries, not both

We make these little buggers in standardized sizes, why not in our motorcycles?

What if we standardized battery sizes? Battery companies can put whatever technology they want inside the battery, just make them all the exact same size. Our small batteries for household appliances are currently standardized to sizes such as A, AA, C, D etc… and this made them commercially viable.

As for designing bikes, leave that to the guys who have an eye for it. It’s much like a web developer trying to design a website pr before that, a printing press operator trying to be a graphic designer: it never looks as good.

My Solution

Lets keep the convenient infrastructure of our gas stations that we love so much and pay to swap out battery packs. As I learned last week, on average the money spent over the lifetime of an electric motorcycle is roughly equivalent to that of our current bikes thanks to saved energy cost. But what if we paid the same price to current gas pumps for a battery swap as we do for our petrol? That would be an additional $2678 in 5 years or roughly $10 a week. With a regular income, it is totally feasible and poises motorcycles as the perfect vehicle to test this theory. Plus, there’s a healthy profit margin in there for the station owners.

The size of a battery on a Zero S is roughly 95-lb. Just large enough that it could be designed to fit into 10 battery packs @ just shy of 10lb a piece. These could be easily swapped in and out by hand. Think slightly super-sized battery packs like we have in our cordless drills and power tools except 10 per bike and standard sizes.

This would make adoption much quicker allowing for greater amounts to be spent on R&D to improve battery technology. Power storage is the one great hurdle to storing cleaner, non-regular energy production and as the technology improves, the batteries don’t need get smaller, but rather store more power for longer distance.

The petrol tank will be irrelevant so lets replace that part of our bikes to store our new energy. Batteries on current bikes are slightly larger than most gas tanks but being the creative humans we are, we could adapt.

I’ve put together a visual oh how I see this working.

With multiple small batteries, one could swap out empties before the bikes charge has been completely drain avoiding that great hurdle to electric vehicles: getting stuck half way home.

This isn’t a new idea but one we should seriously consider.

So could this work? No clue, but the idea seems feasible so I hand it over to you science boffins: would it?

Two years before the original Macintosh computer was introduced, the genius behind Apple Computers rode a motorcycle. Steve Jobs was photographed for a national Geographic Magazine feature on Silicone Valley riding a 1966 BMW R60/2. He was twenty-seven years old, sporting long hair, fancy tan leather boots, sans black turtleneck, and sans helmet. The article was published in the October 1982 issue of the magazine, which focuses on the cultural changes the machines then still called microcomputers would bring on the world in general and Silicon Valley in particular.

Steve Jobs was an innovator in almost everything he did. He was very keenly aware of what was cool. I hope he’s riding around in heaven with his infamous grin, with no meetings to attend, no pressure to innovate, just pure joy. Rest in peace Steve Jobs, the Lilyboys salute you.

Cost

On the outset, how much does a new electric bike cost verus a new combustion engine motorcycle? But more importantly, what are the operating costs of each and is there a break even point?

Range

This is currently the Achilles heel of the greener bikes. The eco-bikes have far less range but it’s still interesting to see how they stack up.

Environmental impact

Most importantly, are the new electric bikes going to save the polar bears, keep the rain forests lush and hopefully aid in world peace? How much CO2 do they really keep out of the air?

We’ve searched the internet and tabulated the results in a neat infographic. Click a size below to view the full size image.

Sources

The links below is where we got our information from:

• Gizmag.com
• Brammo.com
• Motorcycle.com
• ZeroMotorcycles.com
• Kawasaki.com

The Sora stores 12 kWh of electricity in lithium-polymer batteries and requires 8 hours to fully recharge. It also has the ability to email you when it has fully charged. It has a regenerative breaking system, which means the batteries charge during breaking, and It only weighs 240 kg (529.2 lbs).

The Sora is exciting as it has incredible range, which makes it’s an excellent motorcycle transport option for commuting to work or a leisurely cruise through the country side. Lito might want to rethink the name Sora though, I find it a bit soft for something so aggressive looking, and it’s not very memorable. Either way, it’s definitely Lily Approved!

While riding my K1200 to the office a couple of weeks ago, I noticed a definite slip in my clutch. I was coming out of a turn on a side street and when I cranked the throttle to accelerate the engine revved but the rear wheel did not respond. Fortunately I was going a sufficient speed not to fall over. As I was already a fair distance from home, I decided to continue on to the office with caution. I made it with no further incidents but that was enough to make me a little concerned.

I called BMW Toronto and asked to be transferred to service to make an appointment to have the bike looked at, what happened next was a total shock. After taking my name the service rep was able to determine that I had a 2007 motorcycle with them but when I told her that the service was for my other bike, she proceeded to tell me that they could not accept my bike because it was too old. Too old? I was told that they no longer service bikes older than 2004. I was then given the number for a former mechanic who used to work for them and has now setup a private shop out of his home in the west end of Toronto. Is this BMW’s corporate policy or just how the Toronto dealership has decided to handle their loyal customers? It seems a bit short sighted to me considering how much money I spend there each year in accessories alone.

I guess I shouldn’t be surprised as the Motorrad division of BMW Toronto has a reputation for poor service. I’ve heard this from several people first hand. I thought when the new owners took over a couple of years ago they would have sorted these things out. In fact, they expanded their motorcycle offering last year with Moto Guzzi, Aprilia, Vespa, and other Italian exotics, and then I heard were forced to shut it down. The rumour suggests they spent $300k on this expansion. You’d think they would be hungrier for business.

Anyway, I decided to take my bike to Endras Motorrad in Ajax instead. They looked at my bike in a couple of days and determined that my clutch was toast. They had to order parts from Germany which delayed my service for almost two weeks, but they did a fantastic job. Thank-you to Tyrone and John for looking after me.

I am planning to trade in my GS this winter for the 2011/12 model. Do you think I am going to give the business to BMW Motorrad Toronto? Not!

The thing that impressed me the most was the colour of the sand dunes. I’ve never seen sand so golden yellow and soft. You can see the dunes in the background of the photo below. Truly spectacular. Like hills of golden brown sugar. Sweet!

There is something surreal about the desert. It is said that parts of David Lean’s epic film Lawrence of Arabia were filmed in the Sahara even though the film was set in the middle East. I can see why it drove Lawrence mad. The desert is mesmerizing. It is also silent, hot, dry, and incredibly beautiful. I miss it.

What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well. – Antoine de Saint-Exupery

• Wheat Free & Gluten Free
• Contains Inulin
• Prebiotic and Probiotic
• Vegan
• Raw
• Peanut Free
• Promotes digestive health
• Supports the immune system
• High Source of Fiber

My favorite is the cinnamon & ginger flavor. Nobody makes anything like this and these combine the very best in raw food technology. Order them online at shashabread.com, put some in your panniers or tank bag and stop eating junk food when you’re out riding. These are definitely Lily approved!

Five things you should know about motorcycle insurance

1. Motorcycle insurance is not too expensive. You should be able to find plans between 30 and 60 dollars a month, but it all depends on where you live, how valuable your bike is and how old you are. Motorcycle insurance is usually two to three times cheaper than auto insurance because motorcycles are generally cheaper than cars and a motorcycle can do less damage to a car than a car can do to a fellow car is most cases. Not buying motorcycle insurance is gambling, not in the Las Vegas, fun type of gambling way, in the you are screwing yourself over by not buying insurance type of way.
2. Competition amongst different insurance companies is good for you! When the internet became popular in the mid-nineties all different types of insurance rates fell. This happened because access to insurance quotes became much easier and insurance companies were forced to offer their customers fairer prices. You should get a motorcycle insurance quote from at least three different companies. Do not necessarily go with the cheapest company, go with the best value.
3. Opting for a higher deductible is usually the way to go. A deductible in insurance is the fee you have to pay to use the insurance; deductibles are prevalent with almost all types of insurance, with motorcycle insurance being no exception. A high deductible will save you a ton of money over the course of a year or it could allow you to get higher quality insurance without paying more. As long as the deductible is reasonable do not automatically pick the cheapest one!
4. Drive safely. You should already know this but tickets and getting into accidents will cause your insurance rates to rise in most cases, just like it makes your auto insurance cost more. The more likely a motorcyclist is to get in an accident and have to use the insurance the more your insurance will cost, it is common sense. I personally saw my car insurance almost double after my last [and only] accident last year, motorcycle insurance costs will rise in a similar fashion.
5. Choosing the right insurance options will pay off. Extras such as towing and roadside repair will add on to your monthly insurance costs but may be worth it depending on your preferences. The best thing you can do is research your options and choose what is right for you. The one thing you do not want to do when buying any type of insurance is take short cuts, all of the information regarding the best motorcycle insurance plans is out there, you just have to find it!

On a completely different topic: Have you ever wondered “what page of google am i on?”. To some, typing their name into Google can be a mind blowing event. Things you never thought would be published on the web are right before your eyes. Try it and see for yourself.