Me and My Gas-powered Bicycle

It started out as a joke -- talking to friend of mine about gas-powered bicycles. I'd never heard of such a thing! Why would anyone want a gas-powered bicycle when a regular bicycle would do just fine? What's wrong? Can't peddle fast enough? The thought of spandex shorts make you uncomfortable? But then the hard reality kicked in: think it sucks to live in the US and pay upwards of 4 dollars a gallon to fill your gas tank? Cry and you cry alone pal, because over on this side of the Atlantic (in Italy) we pay nearly 9 dollars for a gallon of gas. Hey - suddenly a gas-powered bicycle doesn't sound so silly after all.

Granted I'd never seen one before but why should that stop me. I already have an electric bicycle but it was constantly having to be charged and after awhile the cost seemed to outweigh the savings. But a gas-powered bicycle? Something about the potential of getting 150 miles per gallon (or more) just seems really attractive to me. Naturally I couldn't take my family to the movies on a bicycle (maybe a bicycle built-for-two with a side-car?) but why let that stop me from doing some serious investigating!

According to bicycle-engines.com, a typical gas-powered engine that is made to fit most 5-10 speed bicycles can be had for less than $400.00. Sure - go ahead and admit it: you're snickering. You're thinking, "Why not just get a motorcycle or a scooter?" Well maybe because I don't want to! Maybe I don't want to spend whatever it costs for a motorcycle. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

Kingsmotorbikes.com points out that a typical gas-powered bicycle engine kit contains bicycle motor 80cc engine, extra quiet muffler, black Tear Drop Fuel Tank with cap and mounting brackets, chain, 44 tooth Chrome racing Sprocket, with 9 hole mounting to rear wheel & Installation hardware, chain guard, kill switch, clutch lever throttle and instruction manual. In short, every thing you need to put on the bike to make it a motorized one. A typical kit can be assembled in about 2 hours. I am not the most mechanically inclined individual in town so I admit it - I brought mine to a bike mechanic friend and he did all the dirty work for me.

What's extremely cool is that with the built-in clutch the rider can maintain full function of the original bike. Pedal, shift, and ride your bike like normal. Most engine kits only add about 19lbs to your bike. When you want to engage the engine simply release the clutch hand lever and the engine springs to life. To power off simply press the "kill" switch.

Conversely, fully installed bicycle models run between $500.00-700.00 dollars, which is still significantly lower than a motorcycle and there's no need to register with your local DMV. Speaking of which, I must side-track because a big issue to contend with locally (as in where you the reader are living at this particular moment) has to do with local legislation regarding motorized bicycles. Most Departments of Motor Vehicles (with the exception I believe of Tucson, Arizona) will not make you license a bike that goes less than 28 miles per hour. Which is why most gas-powered bikes only go 20mph.

You can learn about bicycle laws here. And some great product reviews on gas-powered bicycles can be found here.

Success stories are rampant. You can read one in particular here.

In closing, let me tell you I'm pretty happy with my gas-powered bicycle. Sure, I get as many snickers as I do thumbs up, but that's o-k. Because with all the money I'm saving on gasoline I'm laughing all the way to the bank!