Fuel costs

[pggg]

NZ$1.61 per litre equals US$4.24 per U.S.gallon. This wimpering piss weak N.Z. government is currently bowing and scraping to the latest politically correct B.S. known as the Kyoto protocol by taxing anything and everything the slimy bastards can think of. China or Europe or the States pump out more pollution in one day than tiny insignificant N.Z. does in 20 bloody years. But still we pay.

[xs650mike]

98 octane is now $5.71.6...

At least you've got 98 octane, the highest that can be bought here is 91 octane. My 11 runs fine on 87 octane though.

[cueball]

Octane ratings where I fuel are 91, 95, & 98. Bike will run on lower ratings, goes harder on 98. Still hurts when nearly empty bike cost $32.76 to fill. Not supposed to cost that much. Means less fun in the hills. Bugger.

[John]

Any chance that the octane ratings are arrived at differently in various parts of the world?

[xs650mike]

That may well be the case. Oz dollars are different too.

[xs650mike]

I'm old enough to remember when gasoline smelled like gasoline and regular was 101 octane, premium 104+!

Pity the poor cagers who face $50-$60 fill ups. I've always used my bikes for my everyday transportation, I only roll my car if I absolutely have to. For many years when I lived in the city I didn't even own a four wheeled vehicle. If I needed one in town I called a taxi and if I needed one to go out of town I rented a brand new car; saved a bundle on insurance, upkeep and garage rent.

[BLUEJEEPLAB]

3.04 for premium (down from 3.17) I plan on really extending the riding season this year. 34 mpg is way better than 17. And talk about PAIN, try filling SWMBO's van at $120 a tank.

[pggg]

Well fellas, NZ has been buzzing for a while about a kiwi 'backyard mechanic' who has a motorbike running on water. Yeah - plain drinking water. "60 minutes" just aired the programme on TV. Dude pours water into the tank and the bloody thing fires up and runs sweetly. Just an ordinary old Suzuki internal combustion bike. A modified carburater is all. The guy 'treats' the water with a( for now secret) process involving a small tin box in his shed. Final patent is a few months away from settlement. The 'experts' are stumped. Pretty world changing stuff. Hoax or hero? Dunno yet. Watch this space.

[pggg]

The guy has a basic website.
http://www.biosmeanslife.com/index.htm
The video doesn't prove anything, but he's running the bike on water. Claims he's cracked the impossible secret. The 60 minutes investigation showed it happening. The scientists and reporters witnessing it checked the whole thing out. The reporter even drank the water before it was used. The witnesses were basically dumbfounded and speechless. It's bizarre. He does some secretive process similar to electrolisis or ionization to plain tap water, then runs the bike on it. I'm as skeptical as hell, but it's very intriguing. Dunno what to believe.

[xs650mike]

I'm more than sceptical, I flat don't believe it. Anyone smell the exhaust? Double bottom tank perhaps? Harry Houdini used to delight in exposing this sort of fakery (after all he was an expert at it).

[pggg]

Spookily, they reckon the bike sits there running with no fumes. An exhaust analyzer gave some CO2 readout. Experts immediately denounced it all as phony as carbon is not a by-product of hydrogen. Guy calmly tells them the carbon traces are from the hot engine oil. 99.99% of sane people will all agree that it's all a big con job though.

Mike, don't forget the world was flat for a long time. The textbooks said so. So they were right. heh-heh. I wont get into the 'goonsquads on the doorstep at midnight' and '$50 million payouts or unfortunate accidents' thing just yet, but I heard that N.A.S.A. have had the 'Top Secret' water fuel technology for years. Just not applicable for air/space transport yet. May come in handy on a planet or moon with abundant H2O though. Ground based transport is another story - thats where our friends the good ole oil companies take charge.

[BLUEJEEPLAB]

Hey, if we don't have to go out and buy Multi K $$$ Fuel Cell vehicles and can just pour tapwater into our beloved fossil fuel vehicles without modification... BRING ON THE FUTURE!!!!!

[xs650mike]

Well pggg I will keep a somewhat open mind but if this guy's for real I'm wondering why he hasn't yet been assassinated by big oil. Maybe they don't believe it either. Nicola Tesla was scorned and ridiculed for his alternating current theory and radio controlled robotic devices (even before Marconi!) but now we have alternators in our bikes and AC in our homes as well as remotely guided planes and bombs. No less an "expert" than Thomas Edison told him that the alternator was an impossibilty and fired him. Not long afterward Tesla went on to design the alternating current power plant at Niagra Falls which was built by Edison's competetor George Westinghouse and the rest is history.

[Pat Kelly]

Well, any engine that runs on water must need cleaner water than from the tap.
A 20 oz bottle of water from the vending machine is at least a dollar.
8 pints in a gallon, $7.50 a gallon for bottled water.
I'll stick with gasoline.

[BLUEJEEPLAB]

I wonder how much water I can run through my Britta water filter in a day