October 4, 2011 • 31 mins
Motorcycles aren't just a symbol of flexibility and freedom -- they're also brilliant feats of engineering. Tune in as Scott and Ben examine the basics of motorbikes, from their steam-powered history to their modern design.
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:00):
Go behind the Wheel, under the hood and beyond with
car stuff from how stuff works dot com. I ever
want to welcome to the podcast. I'm Scott Benjamin, the
auto editor here at how stuff Works dot com, and
I'm joined by Ben. How you doing, Ben, I'm doing
(00:21):
super I am Ben Bulling, a video writer here at
the same website. Coincidentally, what do you know? You know what?
I don't know too much, but I do have my
uh my finger to the pulse. I could say, hold
them back. You know a lot of our well, well,
thank you a lot. You know a lot about a
lot of things. Oh man, that's so kind to you.
Don't think I really appreciate it. You know, a lot
(00:43):
of people say that's Scott Benjamin. He looks too good
to be a nice guy. But you know what I
say to them, I say they're wrong. Check out the show.
Who says that I can't you know, I can't divulge
my source. I understood, alright, understood, So I've got my
finger to the pulse. As we were saying of our listener,
May and Scott, you and I have been dragging our
(01:03):
feet a little bit, mostly me. Well I'll take that.
I'll take the go. I can't. I can't let you
do that. We've got to We're going down together on
this one. Right, you know what we're talking about. I
do know what we're talking about, the motorcycle requests. So
to the dozens of people who have asked us very
kindly and occasionally reminded us that we said we would
(01:27):
do this, yeah, we're sorry for holding off. But today,
today is today. Today is the day. Is the day
we're gonna talk about motorcycles. We're gonna do. Uh, you know,
we're not gonna go deep into any particular type of
motorcycle today. We're not gonna give you, um, you know,
how to ride a motorcycle explanation maybe a little bit,
but not much, no point by point comparison to Kawasaki
(01:47):
and Harley Das Right. This isn't an instructional course. But
what we will do is, uh, we'll talk about a
few of the interesting aspects of motorcycles, because there's some
really interesting things going on and with motorcycles that you know,
I just had no idea about until you know, I
was reading about them recently. And um, I have to
divulge one thing here. Divulge I'm not a motorcycle writer.
I I absolutely love motorcycles. I I respect them. I
(02:10):
think they're awesome. I love to watch them, I love
to hear them, I love to just see them on
the road. But I'm not a motorcycle writer. I know.
I know myself. I know that if I were to
get on one of these machines, I would be dangerous
because I I you're a speed demon, sky I do.
I love speed, and I know that the adrenaline would
get the best of me and I would probably do
(02:30):
dumb things. So right now I'm holding off on doing
anything like that. Maybe at some point in the future,
but not right now. How about you. Are you a
cycle writer? You know I don't. I don't own one.
I think that for some of the same reasons, I
would not be the best person to drive a motorcycle.
I would probably feel so alive and so full of
(02:52):
energy when I was on one that I would very
quickly end up injured. And I, you know, I just
feel like that's that's a response decision on my part.
But you gotta love these things, And a lot of
people are, you know, Just as evidenced by our listener mail,
a lot of people know a lot about this. It's
(03:13):
it's sort of end. You know, you can't talk about
cars without talking about motorcycles. I agree. I mean they're
they're part of the landscape on the road every day.
I mean we see them around us all the time. Now,
listeners have a questions about uh, specific types of motorcycles
like cafe racers and choppers and um, sport bikes and
cruisers and touring bikes and uh, you know, just the
(03:33):
list goes on and on, supermoto, um, just all kinds
of different types of motorcycles. We're not going to go
into each type right now. We may at some future
point going to each individual group or you know, one
or the other, whatever, whatever, But today we just want
to cover the basics. And there's some you know, we'll
talk about. Of course, we like to do this. We
like to go back to the history of the motorcycle,
so we'll do that. And um, we're also going to
(03:55):
like I said, we're gonna talk about some some interesting
things that I just I really didn't have an idea
that all this was going on. And you know, when
you see a motorcycle on the road, but um, it
must be in a way of challenging I'm challenging to write.
I'm sure, but take me back, Scott. Let's let's go back.
I'm glad you rescued me there because no, no, no, no, no, yeah.
Let's let's take me back and take the listeners back
(04:16):
to the days of your the days before the motorcycle,
before the motorcycle? Are there? Days before the motorcycle at
the other day? Now, you would be interested to know
that Leonardo da Vinci sketched the first motorcycle and actually
road one through the streets of Italy. Yes, as you know, yeah, yeah,
that's part of the That's what the Dan Brown book
is about. Everybody who hasn't read that Leonardo da Vinci Secret,
(04:39):
The Secret, the secret he designed the first motorcycle. Sorry,
also that book, The Secret is about that. Yeah, totally false,
totally false. To serious this time, honestly, guess how far
back motorcycles go? Can you guess? Oh? Man? Um? Okay?
One question? Where will we say motorcy cycle? The definition
(05:01):
there might trip me up. So is it a two
will vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine? Are we're
tracing that back? Ben? You know the answer? Don't know?
I don't. Yeah. Um, let's say, ah, let's say, if
you're tripping me up here, is it steam power? You
know what, You're exactly right. I'm not looking at your Yeah,
I'm covering up my notes instinctively like the school. Now, um,
(05:24):
you're you're exactly right. Then I'm impressed. I'm impressed steam powered,
steam powered motorcycle in eighteen sixty nine, eighteen sixty And
you know that makes sense in the context of the
time period because steam power, you know, for for a time,
steam power was technology that designers and inventors were trying
(05:45):
to put into everything. Sure, it was the way for
a while. I mean it was until the internal combustion
engine came along and slowly replaced the steam powered vehicles. Yeah,
that's that's the way people got around. And um, you know,
besides horses and walking, and you know, we talked about
walking occasionally, but I don't know why. Yeah legend, yeah
(06:05):
I think so. Um So, anyways, this is this guy,
Steve I'm sorry, Sylvester Howard Roper created a steam cycle
in eighteen sixty nine. But there's I guess there's evidence
that he actually toured with fairs and circus um presentations.
I guess I don't circus shows as early as eighteen
sixty seven demonstrating this the steam powered cycle and it
(06:26):
was charcoal fired, had two cylinders, and I'm sure it
couldn't been very quick, but you never know. Um, I'm
sure it was a rough ride. Didn't know much of
a suspension, I'm sure. But anyways, eighteen sixty nine steam
powered motorcycle. If you can imagine that, it wasn't until
eight five that the the vehicle that you're probably thinking
of as a motorcycle, the first modern looking or the
(06:48):
one that resembles most the motorcycle motorcycle we drive. Now, Um,
that was, um, the Diamer right wagon. I'll have to
work the pronunciation of it, but the diamond right wagon.
And that was the first gas motor driven motorcycle. And
again eighty five. Get this, this is kind of interesting.
They found this probably the most interesting in the history
(07:09):
of the motorcycle. What's up? Do you remember we talked
about the Great Race? Yes, nineteen o eight, wasn't eight,
And that was the the epic journey across the United States,
and uh, while further than that, really around the around
the world. Really well, they crossed the United States. Remember
that was a big deal in itself. Um, there was
(07:30):
another guy that did it in a car in um
hanging one second nineteen o three. So UM earlier yeah,
um yeah, earlier, Horatio Jackson across the UNI. He went
from San Francisco to Manhattan in nineteen o three in
a car, UM you know, Winton automobile. Yeah. The reason
I'm telling you this is because um, in nineteen oh well,
(07:52):
prior to UH, Horatio crossing the United States and motorcycle
across the United States before and automobile ever did. I'm skeptical,
but this this makes sense. George Wyman, his name is
George Wyman, and this comes from the Motorcycle Hall of Fame. UH,
and information does in Pickerington, Ohio, which is right in
(08:12):
the middle of Ohio near Columbus. And apparently it was
the first motorized vehicle to ever cross the United States.
Was a motorcycle and this is in and I can't determine.
I don't know if it was nineteen o two or
nineteen o three. Must have been nineteen o two, I believe. Um.
He was on a one point to five horsepower motorcycle
called the California and California you know ceases to exist anymore.
(08:35):
But um, again, one in a quarter horse power, he's
driving across the United States, and you have the conditions
must have been like no roads. I mean, I think,
I think at the time they said there were something
like one hundred miles of roads in the United States,
and those were mostly within the city. They didn't they
didn't go anywhere outside of cities. We'll tell him about.
He was probably going down, going through fields, going through
(08:56):
maybe natural deer paths. He did us. He used a
lot of rain tracks to get across the country. As
a matter of factually, as smartest can he imagine writing
on the the you know, the rails, not the rails,
but the the ties in between, the bumpy ride. That
must have been for him for most of that way.
And I know that, you know in other times he
was forging his own way, I guess. But um, and
(09:16):
of course replacement parts. He had to wait days and
days for replacement parts if he broke down. So this
took a while. This is more than endurance race fifty days.
Fifty days is what he was on the road from
May sixteenth until July six and it was thirty eight miles.
That's the distance he traveled, so, um, I don't know, unbelievable.
I mean, yeah, I mean, it wasn't until after that
(09:37):
then that Horatio made his drive across across the United
days in in a car, which was also epic journey,
very difficult. And then much later, uh they had a
great race. So there you go for for listeners. Uh,
next time you guys are at a cocktail party or
you're at the you're at the mechanics, or you're around
somebody's giving you a hard time about your motorcycle, just
(09:58):
go ahead and drop that fact. Yeah, I just dropped it,
a little uh negative information on them. There a little factory.
Yeah yeah, so, I mean, but the cool thing about
motorcycles and they've just they've evolved ever since that point.
And there's a lot of different steps that you know,
come along the way, but um, mostly they look like
by they look like bicycles. For a long long time,
(10:19):
they the idea was kind of just to put a
motor on a bicycle early on, and that was that
was what a motorcycle really was. And you know, they became,
um they became faster and better with time, of course,
as you know, as did the designs of bicycles. But um,
the idea is just a very simple way to get
from A to B. It was very efficient. I mean,
(10:40):
even these early motorcycles they're getting you know, near a
hundred miles per gallon. Um. Not that that was really
a big deal at the time. You know, the mileage
wasn't really a factor, but um, it was really an
economical way to get around. And as we know, the
taxes were much less on motorcycles. And and let me
just interject here to say, yes, very soon bold idea
(11:01):
to put a motor on a bike and see what happens, right, Uh,
but I will argue that the invention of the motorcycle
is brilliant. Really, Um, can we talk about the basics?
You want a course? Yeah, I'd love to talk about
the basics. You wanna lead me in here, or you
got something in mind? Okay? I just I do think
(11:23):
that we should emphasize again, as we've said in earlier episodes,
that one of the reasons the motorcycle from a design
standpoint is so efficient and so well done is that
it cuts the weight to power ratio by a tremendous degree,
which is why I believe you said earlier Scott in
(11:43):
a in a different podcast, you said that, you know,
regardless of the car and the motorcycle racing, the odds
are that they go from a stop at a red
light that the motorcycle will pick up faster. You know.
I've I've got a little update to that. Um, I Reese,
they watched it was just a YouTube video or something.
This is this afternoon actually breaking news. Yeah, breaking news.
(12:06):
I'm sure it's an old video anyways, but um, some viper.
You can find this online. I don't know what I searched,
but you can find a viper racing a motorcycle and
I don't remember what type of motorcycle it was. But
they did a rolling start, terribly illegal. Here's they're on
the highway. They got a camera in the car. They're
going sixty I believe, or seventy to begin with, and
the run is from a seventy mile per hour rolling
(12:29):
start with the two of them side by side on
the highway up to one hundred and seventy five and
it takes just seconds to get there. It's not very
long at all. And you know that they're side by side.
They both hit at the exact same time in the
in the view that you have through the windshield. You
see the motorcycle just fly past the viper and the
viper is somewhere in the neighborhood of um I think
(12:49):
it was seven hundred and thirty one horse power and
the bike had something like a hundred and sixty four
horse power. There's just so much less for the bike
to move. It is. It's just a body and the
weight of the cycle itself, and oftentimes that's around you know,
maybe five pounds. I don't know if if that may
even be high, maybe a lot less than that. Um
So you're talking about, you know, ridiculous horsepower to weight ratio,
(13:11):
which is exactly what they're doing. And that's why some
of these modern bikes are are getting so fast that
um there. I remember read something recently where they said
that the six C C bikes which are um well
it's like point six of the Leader are doing much
better now, are much faster and uh and quicker than
the one Leader bikes from ten years ago. And that's
(13:33):
because of weight reduction and gearing and you know, just
the the advancement of the materials that are used. Um So,
you know, don't be fooled by getting something that maybe is,
you know, a little older, but as a bigger, bigger engine,
you might be better off to get a newer bike
with a smaller engine, and you might be even that
much quicker. Um, there's a lot of factors to look
at when you're buying a bike. But that's a completely
different podcast, which yeah, it's it's just the bike has
(13:57):
just an incredible advantage over cars from from the start,
and um, it must be quite an adrenaline rush to
uh to ride one I've got I've gotta say. I mean,
I know my brother does it and he he loves it. Um,
I've had my well, my dad used to ride one. Um,
had uncle's and written one. I'm sure you know family
members are friends that have had them. Well in in
(14:17):
our co worker Tyler, who who helps produce some of
this stuff. He also he's a he's a fanatic. Yeah,
not a fanatic, A fan a fan, but not a fanatic. Yeah.
I've had very limited experience on a motorcycle. But um,
um I don't. It's a lot of fun. It's it's
a good time. And I've a you know, the Honda
Spree or whatever those were, the small scooters you can
(14:38):
ride around and stuff. One one interesting thing that I
definitely want to get to here is this issue about countersteering.
Did you read anything about counter steering in your in
your research here? Because uh, to me, that is absolutely fascinating.
Let's go into it. Okay, it's it's it's really the
it's it's the gyroscopic effect of a two wheel vehicle
on the road. I guess, um if maybe a confused
(15:01):
way to say that, but anything with two wheels on
the roads beyond a certain speed has this gyroscopic effect
of wanting to stand up right that the wheel wants
to to remain upright. Okay, it's it's. It's difficult to
understand this because I watched hit to watch a video
again to understand, and that's where I got the motorcycle
racing a viper video. This is this is kind of
(15:21):
nuts at speed or above a certain speed, and I
believe the speed is ten miles per hour roughly ten
miles per hour um. The steering is exactly opposite of
what you would think it would be. To go. Let
me get this straight, because I want to make sure
that to turn left, for instance, to turn left, okay,
if you're your head down the road and you're going
above ten miles per hour. To turn left, you would
(15:43):
push on the left hand side of the of the
UM handlebars, or you'd pull on the right. It sounds
exactly opposite of what you think it. It's counterintuitive, right. Yes,
the the gyroscopic forces or I think it's called procession
UM causes is the bike to move to the left
when you push on the left handlebar. It's really odd,
(16:05):
but you can you can watch it in action if
you watch these videos. And there's another kind of cool
thing that is UM that demonstrates this. And it's a
very simple it's a simple thing. This is this is
for kids. And I'll tell you where I heard this.
I read this on the tech stuff blog UM. Chris
Poulette one of the bloggers here another podcast on tech Stuff.
(16:26):
He wrote a blog entry recently about a product that
came from a company called gyro Bike, and gyro Bike
has a product the company called gyro Bike. The product
is called the gyro Wheel, and the gyro wheel replaces
training wheels on kids bikes. Weird, it's weird, so that
(16:47):
the cool it is cool. Yeah, it's what's what's really
cool about this is it's a wheel spinning within the
wheel and it's like it creates a gyroscope. And the
kid's bicycle. It's a twelve inch wheel and the wheel
I don't know which direction it spins, I don't know,
forgive me. I don't know if it goes backwards or forwards.
But it's thank you. It's spinning at all times. And
it's got three speeds. There's maximum stability and kind of
(17:08):
an intermediate setting and then the least and it's it's
for training, uh, kind of a developmental thing. You start
out with the most stable setting. It's a twelve inch
wheel for kids bike. They've shown this bike where they
just kind of give a little shove forward and the
bike stands upright the whole time because of this jarioscopic force.
And they can even kind of bump the seat, bump
the handlebars doesn't tip over. Eventually, it will slowly tip over,
(17:31):
but it will it will not tip over. That's really cool.
It is really cool. And they can even take the
wheel off of the bike and just roll the wheel
and they can kick it. They can nudge it around
no problem. They can you know, push it forward. It'll
roll forward and stand up right. The same thing is
happening with both wheels on a motorcycle. You're trying to
get you know, get your input into that to that
(17:52):
spinning wheel on the front with the handlebars, and this
jerioscopic procession is what causes it to want to remain upright.
And that's why you have to countersteer or to get
around obstacles. It's got to be very difficult to get
the hang of. And then to to think below a
certain speed, I've got to remember that it goes the
correct way. Then you lower speeds like in a parking
lot or something, you would turn the handlebars a normal
(18:14):
way like you wouldn't have a bicycle. It's something you
you intuitively grasp as you know through experience. Yea, I
would think. So that's why, UM, it's very important that
motorcycle riders go to a training course and you know,
learning learn the skills necessary. I don't just try to
go out and ride one, because you may make a
critical mistake. And you know, I think you've made a
really good explanation here. Because people who don't ride motorcycles
(18:38):
or people who would never think of riding one, usually
the first thing they say is you know, it's it's
common sense not to want to ride it. It's on
two wheels, how do you how do you keep your balance?
Something like that, and so I think it's uh, I
think that's an extent illustration. It's something a lot of
people don't know if if you think about it though,
Like when you're on a bicycle, I don't know if
(18:59):
you've ever done this, but you know, if you're rinding
your bike and you're going above a certain speed, it's
pretty easy to let your hands off the off the handlebars.
It's not really all that difficult, and you could even
lean around turns and you know, seems to be it
looked like a great trick when you're a kid, but honestly,
there's not much to it because those wheels are holding
you up right above a certain speed. When you kind
of when you slow down, that's when you have difficulty
(19:19):
staying upright. And that's the same thing with motorcycle. It's uh,
you know, the gyroscopic force is keeping you upright, or
it's it's aiding and keeping you upright. Of course, you
have to be alert and you know, on top of
things at all times, but um, it really does help
a one and I've got a friend that rides one,
and he says that, he said, honestly, at speed, you
could take the handlebars and give him a quick you know,
(19:40):
almost like a quick smack, you know, either way if
you want it. He doesn't recommend it, but the wheel
will wobble real quick, and I go right back into
position straight ahead. Um, and c o A. Just for
the sake of c o A, we are not recommending No,
oh no, no, you just told me that's possible. And
it kind of blew my mind that I thought you
had to be you know, hands on the wheel and concentrate. Well,
I mean you do have to, but um, I had
(20:01):
no idea that you could you could do that and
it would right itself that quickly and what so, so
we've dispelled one, Uh, I guess prejudice that people have
against motorcycles. Are there any other parts of writing or
driving or the design that surprised It's it's there's a
lot to it, really. I mean, you've got to use
both feet both hands to to ride a motorcycle, and
(20:24):
it's got to be confusing because it's not like a
not like a car where you know, you're just steering
with your hands. You're you're controlling motion with your feet
mostly I mean your hand, I guess if you're shifting,
but um, it's it's a little different in that the
left hand controls the clutch typically the right sorry, the
left foot is the shifter. So you've got that going on.
Then you've got the right hand, which is the throttle,
(20:45):
and the brake, the front brake because it's front hand
rear brakes, and you've got to balance the two of
those as well. So there's a lot going on. I mean,
the right foot is using the rear brake. Um, I
bet it takes an awful lot of of trial and error,
I suppose, which is not something i'd really look forward to,
I think, right at first, because they're awful heavy and
I wouldn't want it to fall from my legs, I
(21:06):
don't think. But it seems like a lot to to
I don't think of at all times. Maybe you know,
eventually you get you get it down. I mean, maybe
it's a lot easier than I think. I I, well,
you can drive like you can drive a manual, right, sure,
And I don't even think about it at this point.
But when I first started and to think about every
movement just briefly, but but um, it was there, and
(21:29):
now I really don't think about think about it all.
It's just automatic. You just naturally do that. Now you
don't even dread having to park or having to go
to a stop uphill at a red light. That's right.
I could. I could drive a manual transmission through San Francisco.
It wouldn't bug me, not even a little not even
a little hour too of traffic. Maybe that our two
(21:51):
would bug me. We're only human, worn out, Yeah, we're
only human. But so I guess the point is motorcycles
do involve all parts of your body, because it's not
just your limbs when you're when you're turning steering. A
lot of people you know, do the lane. I'll share
there's leaning involved, and how much of that it involves
the speed that you're you're traveling. Uh, there's just there's
(22:14):
there's really an awful lot involved in writing motorcycle. It's
not it's not something you can just quickly pick up
and get immediately. You do have to practice. You have
to practice, and you know, there's there's a lot more
to it than than what we're covering here. I mean,
there's there's you know the engine. We can talk about
the engines at some other point, but UM, different types
of engines. UM, there's different types of transmissions. Even as
(22:36):
a matter of fact, UM, anywhere from four to six
speeds there's no reverse, of course, because you just use
your feet to back up. UM. Trying to think of
what else here we got. There's chain drives, there's there's
shaft drives, there's belt drives. UM. Just a lot of
variety right now in motorcycles. But UM, I don't know it. Basically,
the design is is relatively unchanged since I think it's
(22:59):
about nineteen fourteen when when the motorcycle kind of took
its its form that you see even now. Really, so
it's it's been the same motorcycle for a long long time.
And I know that there's some radical new designs out there. UM.
I think I read recently that Dan Gurney has got
a new design. He's racer from UM a while back.
I haven't you know what. I feel like I've heard
(23:20):
of that, but I have not seen seen anything. I
literally may have just seen a headliners. Yeah, he's uh,
he's got some new design where he sits, he sit
very low and the motorcycle in your arms are kind
of up almost like on a chopper with you know,
the real high handlebars kind of but um, it has
an extremely low center gravity. I don't know a lot
of details about this thing, but um, what they're saying
(23:40):
is it's it's really a radical new design that people
are really gravitating to right now, and it's gonna be
it's gonna be big. Two questions, Yeah, for we wrap
up first question. Um, I think we probably should addressed
this motorcycle safety which doesn't just apply to the cyclists themselves.
It's uh, it's it's more than that. It's uh, well,
(24:01):
I mean if we wanted to around on a quick
list of what okay, well I looked at just a
quick list on motorcycle basics dot com and they had
just to run down there's their points here. Um, you
gotta take it seriously at all times. You can't you
can't be goofing around or motorcycle. I see a lot
of people, you know, riding wheelies and you know just
kind of look looking back over their shoulder and you know,
(24:23):
talking to other people while they're riding, and um, I
think that's what they're saying. You know, just take it seriously,
look straight ahead, you know, do what you should be doing.
Remember that you are you're in something that goes as
fast as a car. Faster will not protect you faster, Yeah,
with nothing around you. That's the that's the dangerous part.
But um. The other thing that they say is practice
(24:43):
evasive or emergency movements. UM. Practice even though you don't
need them, because if you get out of out of
touch with what you need to do in an emergency,
you may not be ready at all times. So it's
a good idea is to be ready at all time.
So it's the preparedness idea. Uh. The next thing they
say is we're physical physical protection of course of the
right clothing, UM, helmet, body arm or whatever you whatever
(25:04):
you need. Um. Also another thing is to get to
keep the bike in good condition. And this goes to
what you're saying. It's not just uh, that doesn't just
involve the rider, it's the bike itself too. You gotta
make sure that everything is operating correctly and it's safe
for you and everybody around you. Don't pieces flying off.
You don't want to carry things that are want to
fall off. Um. Just make sure it's in good shape. Um,
(25:24):
and maybe and I'm gonna say this may be the
most important thing, but I don't know if it's you
can do that or not. But by the right bike
for your ability, you know what it needed to be said. Yep, yeah,
I mean know your skill level by the right bike.
If you need upgrade later, that's that's okay, you can
do that. But for the moment, you know, by the
right bike. And that I think that's a that's a
(25:46):
really good that's a really good point, I do. I
think that is too And I that one stood out
on the list to me as being probably the top
of the list here because a lot of people might
might always have wanted to ride a motorcycle and then
might save up money jump right into something that honestly
could be dangerous. There's still like a cross tracket of
some sort. Sure, you know, I mean they're gonna jump
(26:07):
onto some kind of like a supermoto bike that you
know is uh, you know, capable of two miles per
hour or something, and you know this is their first bike,
and you can't start off you know, fast and furious. No,
you have to start off maybe you know baby steps, Yeah,
swift and irritated. No. I mean beaches own, I guess,
but I mean if you if if you know your
(26:27):
skill level, you know your ability, UM choose wisely. Yeah,
what one? Mother one. I'll add in on the safety um,
although I agree with you that's one of the most important.
If you are driving another kind of vehicle a truck
for instance, or a sedan or something, and you're around motorcyclists,
do exercise caution. You know, sometimes motorcyclists can get a
(26:50):
bad rap, you know, on the highway or something, but
that really really doesn't doesn't matter unless it affects your
opinion as the person driving another vehicle beside the motorcycle.
You know, be be careful because you can't if you
are tailgating someone who's in uh, you know, a land cruise,
(27:12):
a land Rover or something, and you you bumped them,
then the odds are, depending on how faster you're going,
both of you will probably have relatively minor inner injuries.
But you can bump somebody on a motorcycle and it
can be a completely different ballgame. Oh yeah, it's dramatically different.
And the thing with motorcycles is that you know, they
have faster acceleration, They can turn quicker than than a
(27:34):
car can. They're more nimble, they can get it out
of traffic a little easier, and you may not expect
them to appear where they do appear, um, you know,
because they've got the speed. But the other thing is
that they can decelerate a lot faster than you. And
that can be shocking as well, because I've I've followed,
I've been behind a motorcycle before. I do try to
give them extra room. But the the thing is that,
(27:56):
you know, there are times when I've I've seen a
motorcycle slow down so quickly that I I feel like
I get just to maybe a little too close, And
I don't. I didn't want to, but it's because they
are such a quick rapid deceleration. My car took a
little bit longer. I was, you know, quick on the
brake as well, but um, I still felt a little
nervous at that point. Here I am closing in on
this motorcycle. I didn't, I didn't intend to. It's just
(28:16):
that he had that much more ability to He pushed
a little further and exciting decelerated faster. Um, So you
gotta watch out for it in all aspects, you know,
the acceleration the deceleration, just the in and out of traffic. Um,
it's gotta be mindful of what's around you. Nimble is
a perfect word. You know, they're very nimble. Though. I
think that motorcycles are one of you know, here in
a city. I think in a survival situation, motorcycles are
(28:40):
head and shoulders above using a car to try to
get out of the city. The only thing better would
probably be a bike, because you don't have a regular bicycle, nonpowered,
because you don't have to put fuel in it. One
last question, sure whatever happened to sidecars? Scott Side cars
are still around? Are they are? I don't see them.
You don't see them around it. There's a there's a
(29:00):
company and I wish I knew the name of her
right now. I just if if I hadn't put you
on the spot. Well, that's okay, there's a there's a
motorcycle now that looks like um, you know the old
bikes that you'd see in World War World War two,
UM usually painted olive drab green. That they exactly exactly.
There's a company that makes bikes that look almost exactly
like that. They're not alive drab green. I think you
(29:21):
can get that color, you can get all different colors.
But um that that's basically an unchanged motorcycle that's still available.
And this is really cool. What's that sidecar racing do
they have? There's awesome sidecar racing. I don't know if
you've ever seen it or not, but it's it's it's
crazy fast and they don't they look like streamliners. And
(29:41):
the guy that's in the sidecar does this just wild
thing where he gets on you know, he's about one
point he's on the back of the motorcycle leaning out
the one way. Another point he's hanging off the side
where his whole body is laid out against distributing his
exactly against the pavement. It's it's unbelievable to watch the
guy that's in the sidecar climbing around on this motorcycle
during the race. But it's really cool. Well, I would
(30:02):
feel safe for riding a motorcycle than riding in a sidecar. Yeah. Yeah,
the while the person in the sidecar, I've seen a
few spills where they end up rolling out and uh,
you know, I just kind of have to watch the
rest of the race from the sideline. Um, but it's
it's really an exciting sport. It's like new or modern
motorcycle sidecar racing. So I don't know, it's cool. Yeah, well,
(30:24):
maybe we'll do a podcast on that. Maybe we'll know
to our listeners here, guys, sorry, it took us a
little while to get to this. We hope you enjoyed
the basics of motorcycles, starting with some history, going through
the chief advantages, which in our some way disadvantages. I
don't know we got anything else on this top You know,
there's more, There's sure, there's a lot more, but we're
(30:44):
not going to do it right and at right now.
We'll we'll go into a lot of this stuff later.
I mean, I don't know what we're at. We've been
talking for an hour, so we're gonna we're gonna break
it up into some other topics and you know what,
we'll do engines later and other types of But but yeah,
I think I think we gotta cover for today. And
the only way you'll know what else we have to
say about motorcycles is to tune in next time or
(31:05):
send us an amount high speed stuff at how stuff
works dot com. Be sure to check out our new
video podcast, Stuff from the Future. Join how Stuff Work
staff as we explore the most promising and perplexing possibilities
of tomorrow. The House Stuff Works iPhone app has arrived.
Download it today on iTunes.
Go behind the Wheel, under the hood and beyond with
car stuff from how stuff works dot com. I ever
want to welcome to the podcast. I'm Scott Benjamin, the
auto editor here at how stuff Works dot com, and
I'm joined by Ben. How you doing, Ben, I'm doing
(00:21):
super I am Ben Bulling, a video writer here at
the same website. Coincidentally, what do you know? You know what?
I don't know too much, but I do have my
uh my finger to the pulse. I could say, hold
them back. You know a lot of our well, well,
thank you a lot. You know a lot about a
lot of things. Oh man, that's so kind to you.
Don't think I really appreciate it. You know, a lot
(00:43):
of people say that's Scott Benjamin. He looks too good
to be a nice guy. But you know what I
say to them, I say they're wrong. Check out the show.
Who says that I can't you know, I can't divulge
my source. I understood, alright, understood, So I've got my
finger to the pulse. As we were saying of our listener,
May and Scott, you and I have been dragging our
(01:03):
feet a little bit, mostly me. Well I'll take that.
I'll take the go. I can't. I can't let you
do that. We've got to We're going down together on
this one. Right, you know what we're talking about. I
do know what we're talking about, the motorcycle requests. So
to the dozens of people who have asked us very
kindly and occasionally reminded us that we said we would
(01:27):
do this, yeah, we're sorry for holding off. But today,
today is today. Today is the day. Is the day
we're gonna talk about motorcycles. We're gonna do. Uh, you know,
we're not gonna go deep into any particular type of
motorcycle today. We're not gonna give you, um, you know,
how to ride a motorcycle explanation maybe a little bit,
but not much, no point by point comparison to Kawasaki
(01:47):
and Harley Das Right. This isn't an instructional course. But
what we will do is, uh, we'll talk about a
few of the interesting aspects of motorcycles, because there's some
really interesting things going on and with motorcycles that you know,
I just had no idea about until you know, I
was reading about them recently. And um, I have to
divulge one thing here. Divulge I'm not a motorcycle writer.
I I absolutely love motorcycles. I I respect them. I
(02:10):
think they're awesome. I love to watch them, I love
to hear them, I love to just see them on
the road. But I'm not a motorcycle writer. I know.
I know myself. I know that if I were to
get on one of these machines, I would be dangerous
because I I you're a speed demon, sky I do.
I love speed, and I know that the adrenaline would
get the best of me and I would probably do
(02:30):
dumb things. So right now I'm holding off on doing
anything like that. Maybe at some point in the future,
but not right now. How about you. Are you a
cycle writer? You know I don't. I don't own one.
I think that for some of the same reasons, I
would not be the best person to drive a motorcycle.
I would probably feel so alive and so full of
(02:52):
energy when I was on one that I would very
quickly end up injured. And I, you know, I just
feel like that's that's a response decision on my part.
But you gotta love these things, And a lot of
people are, you know, Just as evidenced by our listener mail,
a lot of people know a lot about this. It's
(03:13):
it's sort of end. You know, you can't talk about
cars without talking about motorcycles. I agree. I mean they're
they're part of the landscape on the road every day.
I mean we see them around us all the time. Now,
listeners have a questions about uh, specific types of motorcycles
like cafe racers and choppers and um, sport bikes and
cruisers and touring bikes and uh, you know, just the
(03:33):
list goes on and on, supermoto, um, just all kinds
of different types of motorcycles. We're not going to go
into each type right now. We may at some future
point going to each individual group or you know, one
or the other, whatever, whatever, But today we just want
to cover the basics. And there's some you know, we'll
talk about. Of course, we like to do this. We
like to go back to the history of the motorcycle,
so we'll do that. And um, we're also going to
(03:55):
like I said, we're gonna talk about some some interesting
things that I just I really didn't have an idea
that all this was going on. And you know, when
you see a motorcycle on the road, but um, it
must be in a way of challenging I'm challenging to write.
I'm sure, but take me back, Scott. Let's let's go back.
I'm glad you rescued me there because no, no, no, no, no, yeah.
Let's let's take me back and take the listeners back
(04:16):
to the days of your the days before the motorcycle,
before the motorcycle? Are there? Days before the motorcycle at
the other day? Now, you would be interested to know
that Leonardo da Vinci sketched the first motorcycle and actually
road one through the streets of Italy. Yes, as you know, yeah, yeah,
that's part of the That's what the Dan Brown book
is about. Everybody who hasn't read that Leonardo da Vinci Secret,
(04:39):
The Secret, the secret he designed the first motorcycle. Sorry,
also that book, The Secret is about that. Yeah, totally false,
totally false. To serious this time, honestly, guess how far
back motorcycles go? Can you guess? Oh? Man? Um? Okay?
One question? Where will we say motorcy cycle? The definition
(05:01):
there might trip me up. So is it a two
will vehicle powered by an internal combustion engine? Are we're
tracing that back? Ben? You know the answer? Don't know?
I don't. Yeah. Um, let's say, ah, let's say, if
you're tripping me up here, is it steam power? You
know what, You're exactly right. I'm not looking at your Yeah,
I'm covering up my notes instinctively like the school. Now, um,
(05:24):
you're you're exactly right. Then I'm impressed. I'm impressed steam powered,
steam powered motorcycle in eighteen sixty nine, eighteen sixty And
you know that makes sense in the context of the
time period because steam power, you know, for for a time,
steam power was technology that designers and inventors were trying
(05:45):
to put into everything. Sure, it was the way for
a while. I mean it was until the internal combustion
engine came along and slowly replaced the steam powered vehicles. Yeah,
that's that's the way people got around. And um, you know,
besides horses and walking, and you know, we talked about
walking occasionally, but I don't know why. Yeah legend, yeah
(06:05):
I think so. Um So, anyways, this is this guy,
Steve I'm sorry, Sylvester Howard Roper created a steam cycle
in eighteen sixty nine. But there's I guess there's evidence
that he actually toured with fairs and circus um presentations.
I guess I don't circus shows as early as eighteen
sixty seven demonstrating this the steam powered cycle and it
(06:26):
was charcoal fired, had two cylinders, and I'm sure it
couldn't been very quick, but you never know. Um, I'm
sure it was a rough ride. Didn't know much of
a suspension, I'm sure. But anyways, eighteen sixty nine steam
powered motorcycle. If you can imagine that, it wasn't until
eight five that the the vehicle that you're probably thinking
of as a motorcycle, the first modern looking or the
(06:48):
one that resembles most the motorcycle motorcycle we drive. Now, Um,
that was, um, the Diamer right wagon. I'll have to
work the pronunciation of it, but the diamond right wagon.
And that was the first gas motor driven motorcycle. And
again eighty five. Get this, this is kind of interesting.
They found this probably the most interesting in the history
(07:09):
of the motorcycle. What's up? Do you remember we talked
about the Great Race? Yes, nineteen o eight, wasn't eight,
And that was the the epic journey across the United States,
and uh, while further than that, really around the around
the world. Really well, they crossed the United States. Remember
that was a big deal in itself. Um, there was
(07:30):
another guy that did it in a car in um
hanging one second nineteen o three. So UM earlier yeah,
um yeah, earlier, Horatio Jackson across the UNI. He went
from San Francisco to Manhattan in nineteen o three in
a car, UM you know, Winton automobile. Yeah. The reason
I'm telling you this is because um, in nineteen oh well,
(07:52):
prior to UH, Horatio crossing the United States and motorcycle
across the United States before and automobile ever did. I'm skeptical,
but this this makes sense. George Wyman, his name is
George Wyman, and this comes from the Motorcycle Hall of Fame. UH,
and information does in Pickerington, Ohio, which is right in
(08:12):
the middle of Ohio near Columbus. And apparently it was
the first motorized vehicle to ever cross the United States.
Was a motorcycle and this is in and I can't determine.
I don't know if it was nineteen o two or
nineteen o three. Must have been nineteen o two, I believe. Um.
He was on a one point to five horsepower motorcycle
called the California and California you know ceases to exist anymore.
(08:35):
But um, again, one in a quarter horse power, he's
driving across the United States, and you have the conditions
must have been like no roads. I mean, I think,
I think at the time they said there were something
like one hundred miles of roads in the United States,
and those were mostly within the city. They didn't they
didn't go anywhere outside of cities. We'll tell him about.
He was probably going down, going through fields, going through
(08:56):
maybe natural deer paths. He did us. He used a
lot of rain tracks to get across the country. As
a matter of factually, as smartest can he imagine writing
on the the you know, the rails, not the rails,
but the the ties in between, the bumpy ride. That
must have been for him for most of that way.
And I know that, you know in other times he
was forging his own way, I guess. But um, and
(09:16):
of course replacement parts. He had to wait days and
days for replacement parts if he broke down. So this
took a while. This is more than endurance race fifty days.
Fifty days is what he was on the road from
May sixteenth until July six and it was thirty eight miles.
That's the distance he traveled, so, um, I don't know, unbelievable.
I mean, yeah, I mean, it wasn't until after that
(09:37):
then that Horatio made his drive across across the United
days in in a car, which was also epic journey,
very difficult. And then much later, uh they had a
great race. So there you go for for listeners. Uh,
next time you guys are at a cocktail party or
you're at the you're at the mechanics, or you're around
somebody's giving you a hard time about your motorcycle, just
(09:58):
go ahead and drop that fact. Yeah, I just dropped it,
a little uh negative information on them. There a little factory.
Yeah yeah, so, I mean, but the cool thing about
motorcycles and they've just they've evolved ever since that point.
And there's a lot of different steps that you know,
come along the way, but um, mostly they look like
by they look like bicycles. For a long long time,
(10:19):
they the idea was kind of just to put a
motor on a bicycle early on, and that was that
was what a motorcycle really was. And you know, they became,
um they became faster and better with time, of course,
as you know, as did the designs of bicycles. But um,
the idea is just a very simple way to get
from A to B. It was very efficient. I mean,
(10:40):
even these early motorcycles they're getting you know, near a
hundred miles per gallon. Um. Not that that was really
a big deal at the time. You know, the mileage
wasn't really a factor, but um, it was really an
economical way to get around. And as we know, the
taxes were much less on motorcycles. And and let me
just interject here to say, yes, very soon bold idea
(11:01):
to put a motor on a bike and see what happens, right, Uh,
but I will argue that the invention of the motorcycle
is brilliant. Really, Um, can we talk about the basics?
You want a course? Yeah, I'd love to talk about
the basics. You wanna lead me in here, or you
got something in mind? Okay? I just I do think
(11:23):
that we should emphasize again, as we've said in earlier episodes,
that one of the reasons the motorcycle from a design
standpoint is so efficient and so well done is that
it cuts the weight to power ratio by a tremendous degree,
which is why I believe you said earlier Scott in
(11:43):
a in a different podcast, you said that, you know,
regardless of the car and the motorcycle racing, the odds
are that they go from a stop at a red
light that the motorcycle will pick up faster. You know.
I've I've got a little update to that. Um, I Reese,
they watched it was just a YouTube video or something.
This is this afternoon actually breaking news. Yeah, breaking news.
(12:06):
I'm sure it's an old video anyways, but um, some viper.
You can find this online. I don't know what I searched,
but you can find a viper racing a motorcycle and
I don't remember what type of motorcycle it was. But
they did a rolling start, terribly illegal. Here's they're on
the highway. They got a camera in the car. They're
going sixty I believe, or seventy to begin with, and
the run is from a seventy mile per hour rolling
(12:29):
start with the two of them side by side on
the highway up to one hundred and seventy five and
it takes just seconds to get there. It's not very
long at all. And you know that they're side by side.
They both hit at the exact same time in the
in the view that you have through the windshield. You
see the motorcycle just fly past the viper and the
viper is somewhere in the neighborhood of um I think
(12:49):
it was seven hundred and thirty one horse power and
the bike had something like a hundred and sixty four
horse power. There's just so much less for the bike
to move. It is. It's just a body and the
weight of the cycle itself, and oftentimes that's around you know,
maybe five pounds. I don't know if if that may
even be high, maybe a lot less than that. Um
So you're talking about, you know, ridiculous horsepower to weight ratio,
(13:11):
which is exactly what they're doing. And that's why some
of these modern bikes are are getting so fast that
um there. I remember read something recently where they said
that the six C C bikes which are um well
it's like point six of the Leader are doing much
better now, are much faster and uh and quicker than
the one Leader bikes from ten years ago. And that's
(13:33):
because of weight reduction and gearing and you know, just
the the advancement of the materials that are used. Um So,
you know, don't be fooled by getting something that maybe is,
you know, a little older, but as a bigger, bigger engine,
you might be better off to get a newer bike
with a smaller engine, and you might be even that
much quicker. Um, there's a lot of factors to look
at when you're buying a bike. But that's a completely
different podcast, which yeah, it's it's just the bike has
(13:57):
just an incredible advantage over cars from from the start,
and um, it must be quite an adrenaline rush to
uh to ride one I've got I've gotta say. I mean,
I know my brother does it and he he loves it. Um,
I've had my well, my dad used to ride one. Um,
had uncle's and written one. I'm sure you know family
members are friends that have had them. Well in in
(14:17):
our co worker Tyler, who who helps produce some of
this stuff. He also he's a he's a fanatic. Yeah,
not a fanatic, A fan a fan, but not a fanatic. Yeah.
I've had very limited experience on a motorcycle. But um,
um I don't. It's a lot of fun. It's it's
a good time. And I've a you know, the Honda
Spree or whatever those were, the small scooters you can
(14:38):
ride around and stuff. One one interesting thing that I
definitely want to get to here is this issue about countersteering.
Did you read anything about counter steering in your in
your research here? Because uh, to me, that is absolutely fascinating.
Let's go into it. Okay, it's it's it's really the
it's it's the gyroscopic effect of a two wheel vehicle
on the road. I guess, um if maybe a confused
(15:01):
way to say that, but anything with two wheels on
the roads beyond a certain speed has this gyroscopic effect
of wanting to stand up right that the wheel wants
to to remain upright. Okay, it's it's. It's difficult to
understand this because I watched hit to watch a video
again to understand, and that's where I got the motorcycle
racing a viper video. This is this is kind of
(15:21):
nuts at speed or above a certain speed, and I
believe the speed is ten miles per hour roughly ten
miles per hour um. The steering is exactly opposite of
what you would think it would be. To go. Let
me get this straight, because I want to make sure
that to turn left, for instance, to turn left, okay,
if you're your head down the road and you're going
above ten miles per hour. To turn left, you would
(15:43):
push on the left hand side of the of the
UM handlebars, or you'd pull on the right. It sounds
exactly opposite of what you think it. It's counterintuitive, right. Yes,
the the gyroscopic forces or I think it's called procession
UM causes is the bike to move to the left
when you push on the left handlebar. It's really odd,
(16:05):
but you can you can watch it in action if
you watch these videos. And there's another kind of cool
thing that is UM that demonstrates this. And it's a
very simple it's a simple thing. This is this is
for kids. And I'll tell you where I heard this.
I read this on the tech stuff blog UM. Chris
Poulette one of the bloggers here another podcast on tech Stuff.
(16:26):
He wrote a blog entry recently about a product that
came from a company called gyro Bike, and gyro Bike
has a product the company called gyro Bike. The product
is called the gyro Wheel, and the gyro wheel replaces
training wheels on kids bikes. Weird, it's weird, so that
(16:47):
the cool it is cool. Yeah, it's what's what's really
cool about this is it's a wheel spinning within the
wheel and it's like it creates a gyroscope. And the
kid's bicycle. It's a twelve inch wheel and the wheel
I don't know which direction it spins, I don't know,
forgive me. I don't know if it goes backwards or forwards.
But it's thank you. It's spinning at all times. And
it's got three speeds. There's maximum stability and kind of
(17:08):
an intermediate setting and then the least and it's it's
for training, uh, kind of a developmental thing. You start
out with the most stable setting. It's a twelve inch
wheel for kids bike. They've shown this bike where they
just kind of give a little shove forward and the
bike stands upright the whole time because of this jarioscopic force.
And they can even kind of bump the seat, bump
the handlebars doesn't tip over. Eventually, it will slowly tip over,
(17:31):
but it will it will not tip over. That's really cool.
It is really cool. And they can even take the
wheel off of the bike and just roll the wheel
and they can kick it. They can nudge it around
no problem. They can you know, push it forward. It'll
roll forward and stand up right. The same thing is
happening with both wheels on a motorcycle. You're trying to
get you know, get your input into that to that
(17:52):
spinning wheel on the front with the handlebars, and this
jerioscopic procession is what causes it to want to remain upright.
And that's why you have to countersteer or to get
around obstacles. It's got to be very difficult to get
the hang of. And then to to think below a
certain speed, I've got to remember that it goes the
correct way. Then you lower speeds like in a parking
lot or something, you would turn the handlebars a normal
(18:14):
way like you wouldn't have a bicycle. It's something you
you intuitively grasp as you know through experience. Yea, I
would think. So that's why, UM, it's very important that
motorcycle riders go to a training course and you know,
learning learn the skills necessary. I don't just try to
go out and ride one, because you may make a
critical mistake. And you know, I think you've made a
really good explanation here. Because people who don't ride motorcycles
(18:38):
or people who would never think of riding one, usually
the first thing they say is you know, it's it's
common sense not to want to ride it. It's on
two wheels, how do you how do you keep your balance?
Something like that, and so I think it's uh, I
think that's an extent illustration. It's something a lot of
people don't know if if you think about it though,
Like when you're on a bicycle, I don't know if
(18:59):
you've ever done this, but you know, if you're rinding
your bike and you're going above a certain speed, it's
pretty easy to let your hands off the off the handlebars.
It's not really all that difficult, and you could even
lean around turns and you know, seems to be it
looked like a great trick when you're a kid, but honestly,
there's not much to it because those wheels are holding
you up right above a certain speed. When you kind
of when you slow down, that's when you have difficulty
(19:19):
staying upright. And that's the same thing with motorcycle. It's uh,
you know, the gyroscopic force is keeping you upright, or
it's it's aiding and keeping you upright. Of course, you
have to be alert and you know, on top of
things at all times, but um, it really does help
a one and I've got a friend that rides one,
and he says that, he said, honestly, at speed, you
could take the handlebars and give him a quick you know,
(19:40):
almost like a quick smack, you know, either way if
you want it. He doesn't recommend it, but the wheel
will wobble real quick, and I go right back into
position straight ahead. Um, and c o A. Just for
the sake of c o A, we are not recommending No,
oh no, no, you just told me that's possible. And
it kind of blew my mind that I thought you
had to be you know, hands on the wheel and concentrate. Well,
I mean you do have to, but um, I had
(20:01):
no idea that you could you could do that and
it would right itself that quickly and what so, so
we've dispelled one, Uh, I guess prejudice that people have
against motorcycles. Are there any other parts of writing or
driving or the design that surprised It's it's there's a
lot to it, really. I mean, you've got to use
both feet both hands to to ride a motorcycle, and
(20:24):
it's got to be confusing because it's not like a
not like a car where you know, you're just steering
with your hands. You're you're controlling motion with your feet
mostly I mean your hand, I guess if you're shifting,
but um, it's it's a little different in that the
left hand controls the clutch typically the right sorry, the
left foot is the shifter. So you've got that going on.
Then you've got the right hand, which is the throttle,
(20:45):
and the brake, the front brake because it's front hand
rear brakes, and you've got to balance the two of
those as well. So there's a lot going on. I mean,
the right foot is using the rear brake. Um, I
bet it takes an awful lot of of trial and error,
I suppose, which is not something i'd really look forward to,
I think, right at first, because they're awful heavy and
I wouldn't want it to fall from my legs, I
(21:06):
don't think. But it seems like a lot to to
I don't think of at all times. Maybe you know,
eventually you get you get it down. I mean, maybe
it's a lot easier than I think. I I, well,
you can drive like you can drive a manual, right, sure,
And I don't even think about it at this point.
But when I first started and to think about every
movement just briefly, but but um, it was there, and
(21:29):
now I really don't think about think about it all.
It's just automatic. You just naturally do that. Now you
don't even dread having to park or having to go
to a stop uphill at a red light. That's right.
I could. I could drive a manual transmission through San Francisco.
It wouldn't bug me, not even a little not even
a little hour too of traffic. Maybe that our two
(21:51):
would bug me. We're only human, worn out, Yeah, we're
only human. But so I guess the point is motorcycles
do involve all parts of your body, because it's not
just your limbs when you're when you're turning steering. A
lot of people you know, do the lane. I'll share
there's leaning involved, and how much of that it involves
the speed that you're you're traveling. Uh, there's just there's
(22:14):
there's really an awful lot involved in writing motorcycle. It's
not it's not something you can just quickly pick up
and get immediately. You do have to practice. You have
to practice, and you know, there's there's a lot more
to it than than what we're covering here. I mean,
there's there's you know the engine. We can talk about
the engines at some other point, but UM, different types
of engines. UM, there's different types of transmissions. Even as
(22:36):
a matter of fact, UM, anywhere from four to six
speeds there's no reverse, of course, because you just use
your feet to back up. UM. Trying to think of
what else here we got. There's chain drives, there's there's
shaft drives, there's belt drives. UM. Just a lot of
variety right now in motorcycles. But UM, I don't know it. Basically,
the design is is relatively unchanged since I think it's
(22:59):
about nineteen fourteen when when the motorcycle kind of took
its its form that you see even now. Really, so
it's it's been the same motorcycle for a long long time.
And I know that there's some radical new designs out there. UM.
I think I read recently that Dan Gurney has got
a new design. He's racer from UM a while back.
I haven't you know what. I feel like I've heard
(23:20):
of that, but I have not seen seen anything. I
literally may have just seen a headliners. Yeah, he's uh,
he's got some new design where he sits, he sit
very low and the motorcycle in your arms are kind
of up almost like on a chopper with you know,
the real high handlebars kind of but um, it has
an extremely low center gravity. I don't know a lot
of details about this thing, but um, what they're saying
(23:40):
is it's it's really a radical new design that people
are really gravitating to right now, and it's gonna be
it's gonna be big. Two questions, Yeah, for we wrap
up first question. Um, I think we probably should addressed
this motorcycle safety which doesn't just apply to the cyclists themselves.
It's uh, it's it's more than that. It's uh, well,
(24:01):
I mean if we wanted to around on a quick
list of what okay, well I looked at just a
quick list on motorcycle basics dot com and they had
just to run down there's their points here. Um, you
gotta take it seriously at all times. You can't you
can't be goofing around or motorcycle. I see a lot
of people, you know, riding wheelies and you know just
kind of look looking back over their shoulder and you know,
(24:23):
talking to other people while they're riding, and um, I
think that's what they're saying. You know, just take it seriously,
look straight ahead, you know, do what you should be doing.
Remember that you are you're in something that goes as
fast as a car. Faster will not protect you faster, Yeah,
with nothing around you. That's the that's the dangerous part.
But um. The other thing that they say is practice
(24:43):
evasive or emergency movements. UM. Practice even though you don't
need them, because if you get out of out of
touch with what you need to do in an emergency,
you may not be ready at all times. So it's
a good idea is to be ready at all time.
So it's the preparedness idea. Uh. The next thing they
say is we're physical physical protection of course of the
right clothing, UM, helmet, body arm or whatever you whatever
(25:04):
you need. Um. Also another thing is to get to
keep the bike in good condition. And this goes to
what you're saying. It's not just uh, that doesn't just
involve the rider, it's the bike itself too. You gotta
make sure that everything is operating correctly and it's safe
for you and everybody around you. Don't pieces flying off.
You don't want to carry things that are want to
fall off. Um. Just make sure it's in good shape. Um,
(25:24):
and maybe and I'm gonna say this may be the
most important thing, but I don't know if it's you
can do that or not. But by the right bike
for your ability, you know what it needed to be said. Yep, yeah,
I mean know your skill level by the right bike.
If you need upgrade later, that's that's okay, you can
do that. But for the moment, you know, by the
right bike. And that I think that's a that's a
(25:46):
really good that's a really good point, I do. I
think that is too And I that one stood out
on the list to me as being probably the top
of the list here because a lot of people might
might always have wanted to ride a motorcycle and then
might save up money jump right into something that honestly
could be dangerous. There's still like a cross tracket of
some sort. Sure, you know, I mean they're gonna jump
(26:07):
onto some kind of like a supermoto bike that you
know is uh, you know, capable of two miles per
hour or something, and you know this is their first bike,
and you can't start off you know, fast and furious. No,
you have to start off maybe you know baby steps, Yeah,
swift and irritated. No. I mean beaches own, I guess,
but I mean if you if if you know your
(26:27):
skill level, you know your ability, UM choose wisely. Yeah,
what one? Mother one. I'll add in on the safety um,
although I agree with you that's one of the most important.
If you are driving another kind of vehicle a truck
for instance, or a sedan or something, and you're around motorcyclists,
do exercise caution. You know, sometimes motorcyclists can get a
(26:50):
bad rap, you know, on the highway or something, but
that really really doesn't doesn't matter unless it affects your
opinion as the person driving another vehicle beside the motorcycle.
You know, be be careful because you can't if you
are tailgating someone who's in uh, you know, a land cruise,
(27:12):
a land Rover or something, and you you bumped them,
then the odds are, depending on how faster you're going,
both of you will probably have relatively minor inner injuries.
But you can bump somebody on a motorcycle and it
can be a completely different ballgame. Oh yeah, it's dramatically different.
And the thing with motorcycles is that you know, they
have faster acceleration, They can turn quicker than than a
(27:34):
car can. They're more nimble, they can get it out
of traffic a little easier, and you may not expect
them to appear where they do appear, um, you know,
because they've got the speed. But the other thing is
that they can decelerate a lot faster than you. And
that can be shocking as well, because I've I've followed,
I've been behind a motorcycle before. I do try to
give them extra room. But the the thing is that,
(27:56):
you know, there are times when I've I've seen a
motorcycle slow down so quickly that I I feel like
I get just to maybe a little too close, And
I don't. I didn't want to, but it's because they
are such a quick rapid deceleration. My car took a
little bit longer. I was, you know, quick on the
brake as well, but um, I still felt a little
nervous at that point. Here I am closing in on
this motorcycle. I didn't, I didn't intend to. It's just
(28:16):
that he had that much more ability to He pushed
a little further and exciting decelerated faster. Um, So you
gotta watch out for it in all aspects, you know,
the acceleration the deceleration, just the in and out of traffic. Um,
it's gotta be mindful of what's around you. Nimble is
a perfect word. You know, they're very nimble. Though. I
think that motorcycles are one of you know, here in
a city. I think in a survival situation, motorcycles are
(28:40):
head and shoulders above using a car to try to
get out of the city. The only thing better would
probably be a bike, because you don't have a regular bicycle, nonpowered,
because you don't have to put fuel in it. One
last question, sure whatever happened to sidecars? Scott Side cars
are still around? Are they are? I don't see them.
You don't see them around it. There's a there's a
(29:00):
company and I wish I knew the name of her
right now. I just if if I hadn't put you
on the spot. Well, that's okay, there's a there's a
motorcycle now that looks like um, you know the old
bikes that you'd see in World War World War two,
UM usually painted olive drab green. That they exactly exactly.
There's a company that makes bikes that look almost exactly
like that. They're not alive drab green. I think you
(29:21):
can get that color, you can get all different colors.
But um that that's basically an unchanged motorcycle that's still available.
And this is really cool. What's that sidecar racing do
they have? There's awesome sidecar racing. I don't know if
you've ever seen it or not, but it's it's it's
crazy fast and they don't they look like streamliners. And
(29:41):
the guy that's in the sidecar does this just wild
thing where he gets on you know, he's about one
point he's on the back of the motorcycle leaning out
the one way. Another point he's hanging off the side
where his whole body is laid out against distributing his
exactly against the pavement. It's it's unbelievable to watch the
guy that's in the sidecar climbing around on this motorcycle
during the race. But it's really cool. Well, I would
(30:02):
feel safe for riding a motorcycle than riding in a sidecar. Yeah. Yeah,
the while the person in the sidecar, I've seen a
few spills where they end up rolling out and uh,
you know, I just kind of have to watch the
rest of the race from the sideline. Um, but it's
it's really an exciting sport. It's like new or modern
motorcycle sidecar racing. So I don't know, it's cool. Yeah, well,
(30:24):
maybe we'll do a podcast on that. Maybe we'll know
to our listeners here, guys, sorry, it took us a
little while to get to this. We hope you enjoyed
the basics of motorcycles, starting with some history, going through
the chief advantages, which in our some way disadvantages. I
don't know we got anything else on this top You know,
there's more, There's sure, there's a lot more, but we're
(30:44):
not going to do it right and at right now.
We'll we'll go into a lot of this stuff later.
I mean, I don't know what we're at. We've been
talking for an hour, so we're gonna we're gonna break
it up into some other topics and you know what,
we'll do engines later and other types of But but yeah,
I think I think we gotta cover for today. And
the only way you'll know what else we have to
say about motorcycles is to tune in next time or
(31:05):
send us an amount high speed stuff at how stuff
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