Sunday, July 06, 2008

Thinking about new modes of transportion due to the high cost of gas? Check out these funky bikes and scooters!


Over the years, the Pope has been driven around in quite a few different vehicles, which most people refer to as the 'Popemobile.'

The last time the Pope visited the United States, for instance, his ride was a modified Mercedes-Benz M Class SUV which had been specially modified to accommodate his needs. In fact, Mercedes-Benz has a long history of creating vehicles specially for the Pope, and now Piaggio has joined in as well. Piaggio's contribution, though, features just three wheels and is made from the rickshaw platform which is popular in India, where the vehicle was created.

Read the entire story about the "Pope rickshaw" in the Auto Blog Green.


A Michigan man has found his own personal solution to high gas prices in an interesting three-wheeled enclosed scooter which leans into turns from a Chinese company known as Xingyue. Before this story, we were not at all familiar with the company, though a Google search does turn up a little information.

Powered by a 150cc single cylinder four stroke engine, the scooter is capable of traveling on any road that is not a major highway and is fully street legal. The new owner estimates that he is getting fuel mileage of around 120 miles per gallon when he keeps it under forty miles per hour and 80-90 miles per gallon when he's really wringing it out.

Read the rest in Auto Blog Green.



SO you may be asking, "what is a Battery Box Motorbike"

This Motorcycle is one of a few bikes totally designed from the ground up to be a Electric Motorcycle.

A classic internal combustion engine (ICE) motorcycle has the frame built around and designed to hold the engine and this tends to dictate much of design and look.

The BBM-1 frame is designed around holding the batteries and storing as much energy as possible within the frame. To do that and free up the chassis space for batteries, some very innovative engineering needed to be employed.

Wanna build a Battery Box Motorcycle yourself? Visit their website and find out how.

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