The Myth of Fuel Efficiency

Last week I reported on Biker News Online that DOT Secretary Mary Peters launched her own blog to talk about the business of adminstering the nation's thoroughfares.

Since then, I've been reading it.

While I don't respect Peters' quest to get every state to mandate helmets, I still find her writings enlightening regarding the thought processes of our country's highway planning.

Here, she talks about gasoline taxes, why they are so high, and why they can't be repealed...

The gas tax was originally intended to be a form of highway use tax. Unfortunately, due to the growing influence of special interests, gas tax revenues have increasingly been converted into a political slush fund. When the gas tax was instituted, it was only done so because more direct charging mechanisms were not administratively or technologically feasible.

In other words, gasoline taxes were meant to pay for highway maintenance, but are no longer being used for that purpose, and instead is being raided by our elected officials and lawmakers for political leverage.

The other thing is that she said the reason why taxes were instituted back then, is because at the time, they didn't have the technological know-how to charge highway users in an efficient way.

But even though we could address the technological part now, there's basically no hope in lowering or eliminating gas taxes.

It reinforced the notion that once a tax get instituted it can never be repealed.

The other thing she says is this...

The objective should be to develop an economic model that charges users the true cost of travel.

What exactly IS the true cost of travel? Well, I believe what she's implying is that some people get 80 MPG on their scooters, while others get 15 MPG in their pickup trucks. If they all travelled 100 miles, the pickup trucks would pay far more in taxes.

And that brings up another point.

If Americans as a whole gravitated towards scooters and small displacement motorcycles for their commuting, what effect will that have on local, state, and federal gasoline taxes? Will the slush fund get smaller?

As we decrease our dependence on gasoline, government will have to find another way to make up that loss in tax revenue.

In other words, there really isn't any such thing as "fuel efficiency". In the end, lawmakers will ensure that driving a gasoline powered car for 100 miles will cost us the same as driving a solar-powered one the same distance.

Posted:   Wednesday, May 07, 2008
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Some Things Are Better Left Unsaid

US191, Arizona, somewhere between Morenci and Alpine

Posted:   Tuesday, May 06, 2008
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Joining a HOG Chapter

I guess I'm gonna have to join HOG.

According to Jake Zinsli, who writes for Royal Purple, the campus newspaper of University of Wisconsin-Whitewater, HOG members get treated like royalty...

The purchase of a Harley is also the membership to an exclusive club. I know that sounds like buying friends, but some college kids are more used to that than other. When you're a H.O.G. member, (Harley Owners Group), you get all the treatments of royalty. There are no VIP members, everyone get the same benefits.

And to think that all these years, I've been getted treated like shit.

Posted:   Tuesday, May 06, 2008
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Motorcycle Blogging & Making Money

I just wanted to tell you about a new blog I launched last month...

http://www.motorcycleblogging.com

A month ago, I noticed that Motorcycle Bloggers International has compiled many more bloggers than when I first looked at it a couple years ago. And I know I've seen many other motorcycle bloggers not on there. Blogging about motorcycles is growing at a fast pace.

And since blogging and website publishing is my business and sole source of income, I figured there's probably an untapped demand here that I can get a foothold on. I'm guessing many moto-bloggers are interested in learning how to make some money from their blogs, or at least get some tips on how to increase their audience.

I actually looked around the motorcycle blogging community, and I didn't really see anyone providing a central location for blogging topics, ranging from building an income, building traffic, and blogging ethics. So I started it.

Much of what I've written there thus far isn't necessarily unique to the motorcycle blogging community; it can apply to any blogging niche. But I'll be using motorcycle examples, and will eventually share some tips on what I do with my motorcycle blogs that may be different than what I do with my other blogs.

I've been publishing websites professionally since 1997, and have all that experience to share with you for free on Motorcycle Blogging. If you find it helpful, I'd appreciate you returning the favor by linking to it from your blogrolls.

Posted:   Tuesday, May 06, 2008
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The Changing Face of the Motorcycle Community

Was reading KT DID's post about the Laughlin River Run, that just came and went last week, and about how the crowd was a lot smaller this year than in previous years.

I've said before that I've gotten tired of rallies and runs, and just don't go to them anymore. And I didn't go to Laughlin. But I don't suspect that people are bored of rallies as I am.

In talking to other riders who went there, and some vendors that went there, police presence was really high, and they were harrassing the folks as often as they could. And there was also the heat. I understand it got pretty hot there.

But then again, Laughlin is always hot, and ever since 2002, the cops are always bothering the rally-goers. That didn't stop people last year, or the year before.

You might say it was the high price of gasoline. Maybe. But when you're riding your motorcycle, it really isn't that much more in cost. A car definitely.

I started noticing last year that crowds were thinning down at the smaller events, like poker runs, benefit rides, and bike shows. I was wondering if we had already seen the highpoint of the biker craze, and that now we're on a downward trend.

The news reports suggest that more people than ever are buying motorcycles and scooters. But that's for economic reasons; they're buying the smaller displacement bikes because they're cheaper and get higher gas mileage.

But then, maybe that's what going on.

We're seeing a different breed of biker emerging, the commuter.

The popularity of motorcycles that we saw in the early 2000s was perhaps a fad. And fads are meant to fade away. The smaller percentage of us who found something that connected with our souls have held on to discover our true niches, be it in a riding club, a motorcycle club or just hanging out at the biker bars. The rest of them may have decided to hang up their $300.00 Harley jackets in exchange for some other fashion statement.

In December of 2006, some friends and I took a ride to Long Beach, CA, to visit the International Motorcycle Show, that showcases the newest models in factory motorcycles. Not choppers, not customs, but all the "regular" bikes.

Maybe that's the kind of show that will replace the chopper shows. Instead of bikini-clad hoochies straddling $50,000 choppers, we'll be seeing more conservatively appointed models standing next to cheaper, smaller, commuter bikes.

Posted:   Friday, May 02, 2008
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Weekday Afternoon Motorcycle Ride

Four of us met this afternoon for a motorcycle ride into San Clemente, for some lunch at Pizza Port.

Thursday afternoon rides have been a regular occurrence for us for the past several weeks. While traffic is still heavy during the week, there's always a sense that we're taking advantage of something unique.

For one thing, the weather always seems to be at its best between Monday and Friday. Maybe that's what we're taking advantage of.

The popular biker hangouts are not as crowded at this time. You get quicker service, and a pick of the best seating. Maybe that's what we're taking advantage of.

There's also a sense of gratitude, that we have the freedom to get away during a weekday afternoon, and not put our careers in jeopardy. Maybe it's that freedom we're taking advantage of.

Everytime I take a joy ride during the week, there's always someone out there who tells me that they're envious of me, or that they hate me for this freedom. But the fact is that I once worked "for the man", in an office building, from morning to evening, and had to commute along freeways of SoCal. I was like everyone else.

I remember an episode of "Moonlighting" where Bruce Willis said, "your job will never love you back". That statement struck me, and I kept it filed away in the back of my mind. Then during a really bad day at work, I pulled that statement out of the file cabinet, and made the connection, that no matter how I hard work, I'll never get anything more than just a paycheck, and that paycheck will never let me get ahead in life.

At the time, I was dabbling with the Internet, learning how to make websites. I decided I would make a website that folks would find useful and interesting. That was in 1997. I worked two full-time jobs, my "day job", and the other working from about 5:00pm to 2:00am, building this website, and learning how to make money from it.

My wife will attest to the many years of frustration she had with me for not spending enough time with her. For awhile, the only way I knew I was married was by the dinner she had ready for me when I returned home from the office.

But in 2003, at the age of 37, I quit that day job. I tell people that I retired at 37, because I could work at home, and be my own boss.

But the truth is that this wasn't handed to me on a silver platter. I worked my ass off to make this happen. My wife sacrificed several years of happiness to let me get to this point. And now, we can spend all kinds of time together.

I guess if I'm taking advantage of anything, it's the freedom that this country gives us. No one has to be unhappy in this country if they put their mind to it. I wasn't lucky either. And I wasn't born rich. I was just tired of waiting for something to happen.

Posted:   Thursday, May 01, 2008
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The Harley Sucks People

You've all seen Harley-Davidson Beef Jerky.

Has anyone out there introduced this material into their blood streams?

I did a review of this product a couple of years ago on Biker News Online...
http://www.bikernewsonline.com/ 2007/03/harley-beef-jerky-reviewed.htm

It sucks, in case you don't care to read about it.

H-D continues to extend itself into every nook & cranny of our society, which is a good thing for "brand marketing", but I think it's part of what alienates them from many people.

People get annoyed at seeing some company's logo everywhere they turn their eyes. It used to be that computer geeks loved Google, but now that Google has gotten their greedy little hands on every aspect of the Internet world, they're now the gorilla that everyone likes to hate.

The same is true with Microsoft. It so successfully dominated the computer and software business, that Apple loyalists, and Linux loyalists hated anything associated with it.

As motorcyclists, we know about a similar hatred. If Harley-Davidson was just a small company, producing about as many motorcycles as Big Dog, there wouldn't be any disdain for the company, the motorcycle, and the people who ride them. It's not that people hate the Motor Company for its motorcycles, it's that they hate them for their marketing success. They hate them for all the RUBs and posers they drew into the motorcycle society.

So when these Honda riders, BMW riders, and sport bike riders, start seeing "Harley-Davidson Beef Jerky" in grocery stores, it reinforces this negativity. And that negativity is further reinforced by the Harley-Davidson shower curtains, and the Harley-Davidson Lip Balm.

The same can be said of Orange County Choppers.

Americans love a success story, but they hate it when that story creeps into every aspect of their lives.

The negativity goes both ways too. There are Harley loyalists who bash metric bikes both verbally and physically. Have you ever been to a Honda bash? I know some Harley loyalists who like to poke fun at metric riders, even though they themselves started out on a metric bike.

As for the quality of Harley-Davidson motorcycles, the database of recall notices seems to suggest that Honda and Yamaha are of equal quality. I continue to read blogs about Ducatis and BMWs having problems. Motorcycle manufacturers these days can't afford to build a bike that doesn't require repair work.

So what's the strangest H-D logoed product you've seen?

I guess I'm still surprised that they haven't come out with Harley-Davidson personal lubricant. Seems like it goes right along with the whole "Glide" thing.

Posted:   Tuesday, April 29, 2008
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