Geekfoolery

Last summer, as gas prices climbed up past $3.50 a gallon here in California, I was increasingly frustrated with my 70-mile-a-day commute, made worse by the fact that LA traffic not only was costing me more than $10 a day in gas, but I was also at least 3 hours a day behind the wheel of my car. My solution: A motorized bicycle.

Promising 200+ miles per gallon, I figured the engine would pay for itself in a couple of months in gas savings alone. And if it didn’t work, or was too much of a hassle, I only had to use it for eight weeks or so and I would come out ahead. And even though I’d be going on surface streets, I estimated via Google Maps that I’d be about even on commuting time.
The engine I chose was recommended from the pages of Kevin Kelly’s Cool Tools, a website of user-recommended tools “that just work.” The Golden Eagle Bike Engine came with mounting hardware, and excellent customer support. Anticipating that the using the engine on a daily basis would put extra strain on the bike, I took my bike in for a full tune up. The payoff period grew by about two weeks.

The engine arrived, and I installed and tested it. Things were looking good. There were no difficulties in mounting the engine, and it seemed work as advertised. Time to start getting my money’s worth by actually riding it to work.

Day 1. Things were great for about the first three quarters of the commute. The first 10 miles or so are on a wide, flat, downhill road, and I imagined this was going to be roaring success. I then got into the gnarlier parts of downtown LA, and had to refuel. With about 5 miles to go, the the engine seemed to get very anemic. Wheezy and losing power. I wasn’t sure what was happening, but the advantage of the bike engine was that when the engine doesn’t work, it’s still a bike. Not great, but I was able to pedal the rest of the way in.

I called the good folks at Golden Eagle, who diagnosed too much oil in the crankcase. I had followed the supplied instructions, but apparently the recommended amount of engine oil was too much and apt to clog the breather element. On my lunch break, I walked to the hardware store and got some tubing to drain some oil, and some WD 40 to clean the breather. The idea was that it was supposed to clear the engine’s throat, but it I couldn’t get it to work, and it was getting dark, so I ended up pedalling a long way, and getting met by Mrs. Geekfoolery and the sag wagon for the ride home.

After some weekend fiddling, the engine came back to life. I took it on a shakedown ride around the neighborhood, to make sure I was good to go.

Attempt number 2: Again, about three quarters of the way to work. Flat tire. Can’t blame the engine for that. But I was noticing that there really wasn’t a smooth route to cross downtown LA on a bike. The roads were pretty crappy. So even though I managed to get the tire fixed on my lunch break again (paying the guy to fix the wheel, adding about a week to my payoff period), and was able to successfully make it home, I noticed as I pulled the bike into the garage about 7 broken spokes. The flat tire and the bumpy rides had trashed my wheel.

There is really top-notch bike shop in Pasadena, so I took the wheel there to be rebuilt. I explained what I was trying to do… commute with a bike engine… and he told me that large guy like me, combined with the extra torque of a bike engine, was simply a bad combination. Golden Eagle disagreed, saying they had customers my size who do OK, but they did recommend tying or soldering the places where the spokes crossed. I wrapped them with copper wire and soldered them. Another week to the payoff period.

And another shakedown ride. This time I am not sure what happened. I had taken it out for a test ride on the new wheel that went great, but the next time I tried to use it for something useful (if I wasn’t going to commute, at least I could save gas on local errands) it just wouldn’t start. Odd. I downloaded the manual, I checked the compression, the spark plugs, the breather element. A single-piston engine isn’t that complicated, but I couldn’t figure it out, and when I called the mechanic at Golden Eagle, he was stumped as well. Warranty work would be free, but I still had to pay shipping… another week to the payoff period.

I got it back, and then the holidays came… a month and a half of weekends gone. So this Sunday, I re-mounted the repaired engine on the bike with the rebuilt wheel and gave it another shakedown ride. All seems OK, but it’s now winter and the sun goes down at 5pm, so I am either going to have to wait until daylight savings time to try the commute again or invest in a decent light system, which will add another 2, maybe 3 weeks to the payoff period.

I think I have enough data for a verdict here:

The bike engine as a commuting alternative can work, but there are some things to consider:

• Don’t be overambitious. Although these bikes go faster than you can pedal, about 25 or even 30 mph, unless you have some good straight riding with no lights and no cross traffic, you’re not going to average much more than 15 miles per hour. Also, if you’re a big guy like me–think XXL T-Shirts–you might just be asking too much of a 35hp engine.
• The engine is going to stress your bike and break parts. Adding an engine and the added torque, plus attempting to add a LOT of miles, you’re going to break spokes, loosen nuts, and go through tires. Be prepared to invest in the bike as well as the engine.
• Exertion. People may look at you think you’re not getting a workout, but you will. The engine I got doesn’t take over completely, especially when accelerating or when you hit a hill. You might still have to change clothes and clean up when you get to work.
• Range. The fuel tank on the engine gets you about 15 miles, more or less. You can carry extra gas in camping bottles, but then you’re bringing bottles of gasoline with you, which is an added complexity. Plus you can’t really refuel without spilling yourself, so you’re going to smell like gasoline. Refuelling at a gas station is tough, because you’re trying to squirt about a quart of gas into the tank. Unless you’re very careful, you’ll spill more than you get in the tank.

I am still going to try to get this thing to pay itself off, but it is going to take a while. Commuting on this thing is going to depend on my having a fairly light day at work, and no urgent need to be home at a particular time when I am done. Weather in CA shouldn’t be a huge issue, but daylight could be. If I am lucky, I’ll get 10 rides in this summer, then I’ll at least start to pay this thing off. Add to that some rides around the neighborhood, and I might start to get ahead of the game.

From a purely financial standpoint, if the intent is to save gas and commuting time, I might have been better off getting a second-hand motorcycle, or even a Vespa-like scooter. There would have been a larger up-front investment, plus ongoing expenses of insurance and registration, but it would have been more practical for the distance I need to cover, as well as more reliable.

On the other hand, even though I have been through a lot of trouble with the bike engine, and I am still in the hole financially, I have to admit that when it works and when the sun is shining, and the road is smooth, it’s pretty darn fun. And while gas is currently more or less stable at just over 3 bucks a gallon, I am willing to bet it’s going to go up sooner rather than later. If gas prices give us a shock, and I am still looking at 70 miles a day, the bike engine math may change. When it does, I am all set up and ready to go.

Or there may yet be another gizmo that meets the goal of saving gas and being fun to ride. We’re about due to start shopping for a new car, and while the popular choice might be something like a Prius, there is another choice that might just be the Geekfoolery pushbutton vehicle of the 21st century…

The Aptera is planned to roll off the production line in California this year, with an electric model and a hybrid that claims 300 mpg. A $500 deposit secures your place in line. I’ll update when Mrs. Geekfoolery and I decide to take the plunge.

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