natural gas

should be clean and cheap. anyone tried to convert yet? what would it
take?

 

1. A fearless rider who doesn't mind having a 6000-psi compressed gas
cylinder in close proximity to his family jewels.

2. A special compressor capable of filling the compact pressure bottle
to 6000 psi.

 

Only partially correct. The problem is NOT the saftey of the tank but
rather the shape. Currently I'm only aware of cylindrical tanks being
made. None mountable in an aceptable manner. 8^( There was a company
in england attempting to make tanks that are usable on a motorcycle.

LOL no you pull up to a filling station that delivers CNG with no
problems but good try at being a spoil sport.

 

OK, so what pressure does the station deliver the CNG to your tank?

And what does it take, about ten gallons of CNG to go 200 miles?

That's a rather inconvenient cylindrical tank to be straddling...

 

I'd have to ask. Might later this week as I've two 5gal tanks to top
off.

I've never heard data on how far you can go on a CNG fuel motorcycle.
I to would like to know.

They were working on shapes more plauable to motorcycle usage for just
the reason you gave. It's an akward problem to be sure. I know I don't
have the answers. But I'm sure there is somebody or some corporation
out there that can do it. The question then is WILL they do it. I
think it would be interesting to see if they work it out. Until then
we'll have to settle for gas, diesel, electric or steam.

 

It's interesting that you're buying CNG the same way
you can buy propane. A neighbor was happily running
a CNG Honda as a commute vehicle and refueling it
at a local filling station in the bay area.

Apparantly $5-6 grand gets you a home refueling
station if you want it.

http://www.newsweek.com/id/154709/output/print

My understanding is that by volume, a gallon of CNG
gives you roughly 70% of the energy of a gallon of
gasoline.

Any gaseous fuel will run way cleaner than gasoline or
diesel. I put 12,000 hours on a propane powered genset
that was still running strong on the original valves and
rings when we sold the house. No contamination of
the oil or washing it off the cylinder walls. The used oil
comes out clean but somewhat thicker on oil changes.

 

3,600psi, according to Rob's article.

Do you really *want* a pressure bomb in your crotch?

 

We had two propane-powered Cushman three-wheelers to get around the
wastewater treatment plant. They would only be driven 2 or 3 miles a
day and it seems to me like we were only getting about 100 miles on a
5-gallon tank of LPG.

 

Nice chart of energy content found at the URL below

Fuel Type BTUs Per
Unit Gallon Equivalent

Gasoline, regular unleaded, (typical) 114,100
1.00 gallon
Gasoline, RFG, (10% MBTE) 112,000
1.02 gallons
Diesel, (typical)
129,800 0.88 gallons
Liquid natural gas (LNG), (typical) 75,000
1.52 gallons
Liquefied petroleum gas (LPG or propane) 84,300 1.35
gallons

http://tinyurl.com/2alhb
http://www.nafa.org/Content/Navigat...els/Energy_Equivalents/Energy_Equivalents.htm

 

So you would need 7.5 gallons of LNG to equal the range of 5 gallons
of gasoline...

That's a *huge* gas tank...

 

Read what I said earlier...any way if the tank is certified, has good
reliable saftey valve. Well then I have no problem as long as it fits
in the OEM location of my motorcycle with no modifications to the
frame. It's hard ever get truly scared after you've driven through
minefields in the dark "Sure it's safe the engineers cleared them".
Aint' skeered no mo'.
8^)

 

Most people recover from their military experience after twenty years
or so and they usually realize that most people don't care about their
war stories
after only about one year back home.

 

And some of get over before we got out and just love tellin' war
stories...the cunts that couldn't cut it tend to piss and moan about
the story tellin'. ;^) I could have said that after you've been punted
by a horse you no longer get scared easy.

 

and some people kiss krustys ass but you don't see me getting on their
case do you?

 

Depends. A truck diesel, running with a cat and a CRT, actually emits
less NOX, CO2 and even particulate matter than a gas truck running
without.

I've driven both diesel and gas powered heavy trucks. fascinating. The
gas powered trucks run a lot smoother. Range is the crucial problem with
them.

 

Or: do you want thin-wall mild steel, or even plastic, that contains
four or five gallons of high-octane petrol?

 

That stuff will stick to you! DAHIKIJK okay?

 

Well actually, when I spoke of "cleaner" I was thinking of
mostly of oil and internal engine contaminants, though
I would have expected good emissions as well. I
really like the lack of oil contaminents.

And when you speak of "gas", this is CNG or propane or
"gas" as American for gasoline ?

NOX and CO2 would seem to be pretty much a given for
any ICE, though you might expect less CO2 and more H2O
for CNG.

Lower particulates seems surprising.

How about hydrocarbons ?

 

My current gasoline tank is 6.5 gallons and I'd like larger.
MPG, range and tank size is a legitimate criticism though.

 

That was pretty much my thought, though I think
I'd want the safety valve pointing somewhere other
than at my crotch. If nothing else, flash frostbite
on the family jewels sounds very unpleasant.