Passes & Canyons Blog

This is going to be an Examiner Resurrection with a twist. After putting in this brief Examiner post I’m going to add a bit to the discussion. Look for that below.

Most motorcycles get better gas mileage than most cars.

“When you add it all up, there is no question: If everyone rode motorcycles, the planet would be a greener place.”

That’s Rob Dingman, the president and CEO of the American Motorcyclist Association (AMA), in an Earth Day statement on environmental benefits of commuting and traveling on a motorcycle.

And Dingman adds, “Just as important, more of us would experience the thrill and freedom that motorcycles provide. Riding is not just easy on your bank account and the planet, riding is a fun, and often a social activity that simply makes life more enjoyable.

“Regardless of how you use your motorcycle or scooter — commuting to work, riding down the block, across town, traveling across the country — your choice to ride instead of drive has a positive impact on the environment and results in a more enjoyable, less-congested experience for you as well as your fellow road userS. For motorcyclists, every day is Earth Day.”

The AMA notes that a typical motorcycle generally gets better gas mileage than all but the most fuel-efficient cars, often 50 miles per gallon or more, and that many scooters can deliver nearly twice that. Motorcycles also require less oil and other chemicals to operate. And then there are the growing number of electric motorcycles that are even greener than the gas-powered models.

Other benefits that motorcycles offer, says the AMA, is that:

• Motorcycles take up less space than cars and trucks both during operation, and when parked. They reduce traffic congestion and, in so doing, help increase the efficiency of traffic flow on the road.
• Significantly fewer raw materials are utilized to produce motorcycles and scooters compared to cars and trucks. By some measures, it requires thousands of pounds less metal and plastic per vehicle to produce a motorcycle. The environmental benefits are realized both during production, as well as at the end of the vehicle’s useful life.
• Because motorcycles and scooters are so much more compact and lighter than cars and trucks, they cause far less wear and tear on the highways, reducing the cost and environmental impact of infrastructure repairs. In addition, because of their size, many more motorcycles can be transported from factory to consumer using the same or less energy.

OK, back to 2019. So after I put this piece up on Examiner I did some deeper digging. I wanted real answers to the question of whether bikes really are greener, and what I found was inconclusive. I wrote to Pete terHorst at the AMA for what he had to offer but the information he sent me didn’t seem to resolve my questions. I never did run the piece I envisioned and Pete later put out an AMA release on it rather than let his own efforts go to waste.

The thing that I found was that yes, motorcycles use less gas. However, because we don’t have all the antipollution devices that cars do, we actually put out more emissions. So what’s greener, using less gas and doing less road damage or putting out less emissions? How do you make that kind of determination?

Of course, much of the future appears that it will be powered by electricity. Once you put electric motorcycles into this equation there will be no question. Yes there is environmental damage associated with generating that electricity but if you have an electric bike and a solar panel powering it I don’t think you’ll ever get much greener.

Biker Quote for Today

Caution, twisting the right side hand grip of this vehicle may tend to alter the rotation of the Earth.