As the price of gas at the pump skyrockets

Morgan3820

Morgan3820

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El Conquistador
As the price of gas at the pump skyrockets will we see more motorcycles on the road as an economy measure as seen in Europe?
 
Morgan3820 said:
As the price of gas at the pump skyrockets will we see more motorcycles on the road as an economy measure as seen in Europe?
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Maybe e-bikes. Not sure I have the stones to weave through traffic and trucks on a motorcycle.
 
I have both motorcycles and a Honda Civic Si sedan. The best motorcycle gets 50mpg if I ride easy, 45ish if I use some of it's superpowers. The Si is the sport version of the Civic, 205hp turbo, 6sp manual, and even when moving quite briskly, I get upper 30's mpg. Cars are so good the little bit extra from a motorcycle isn't worth the effort. Now if we talk small scooters that get 90mpg+, then you might be on to something.
 
It’s times like these where I’m happy to have a car that averages 35mpg. If I lived in the metro area and could walk/bike to most places, I’d certainly get an e-bike, but unfortunately that’s not very practical out here in the suburbs.
 
Car dependency is baked into our craptastic transit infrastructure and suburban sprawl legislated-as-a-preference mode of (self)sorting. We're a suburban nation with poor transit options.

As such, gasoline demand for job commuting is inelastic, and substitutions are a rare choice. Most Americans will just cut expenditures somewhere else and live with that concession.

Which is why complaining about gas prices is another form of impotent rage. Like voting in the present system. All hat no cattle.

I do hope it breaks the asset inflation going on in the flying toy market, but that's not germane to the question at large. I'd also like for the Fed to sack up, aggressively tighten the cost of borrowing and thus return the labor value they stole from me and mine, but that too is a "wish in one hand and crap on the other see which one fills first" type of thing.

Oh well, back to spectating the collapse in slow motion.
 
hindsight2020 said:
Car dependency is baked into our craptastic transit infrastructure and suburban sprawl legislated-as-a-preference mode of (self)sorting. We're a suburban nation with poor transit options.

As such, gasoline demand for job commuting is inelastic, and substitutions are a rare choice.
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We moved downtown seven years ago, and went from two cars commuting 40mi/day each to one car commuting 7mi/day. Also, we now no longer drive to go out to eat or to visit tap rooms and hear live music. It's all walking or bicycling now, and we can't be happier. Even back then we went from $500+/mo on gasoline to <$120/mo.
 
Just paid $3.99/gal in NE Chattanooga :eek:.
 
I commuted on a bike for almost 10 years. That was enough for me.
 
Morgan3820 said:
As the price of gas at the pump skyrockets will we see more motorcycles on the road as an economy measure as seen in Europe?
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How are the roads in Europe vs the USA wrt potholes?

How are the drivers in Europe vs the USA wrt not trying to kill bikers?
 
Bill said:
While you wink, I'm sure "The Narrative" of forcing people to electric is a part of the runup in gas prices. Never let a good crisis go to waste!
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Oh it’s going take more than current gases prices to make people switch. The money left over in buying a new ICE car a comparable EV, is significant. Take the new Hyundai Ioniq-5 or the Kia EV-6. Their company ICE counterparts are about $20K less. That’s a lot of gas money left over. And with the skyrocketing cost of Lithium, you can bet EV prices (ex Model 3) will continue upward.
 
Bill said:
While you wink, I'm sure "The Narrative" of forcing people to electric is a part of the runup in gas prices. Never let a good crisis go to waste!
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Why would oil companies be trying to force people to electric?

Yes, their costs are going up. They're also taking in record profits.

In the grand scheme of things, though, all we need to do to make gas prices go down is for me to buy another new EV. On two of my EV purchases, gas prices were cut in half within three months afterwards! Who wants to contribute to the cause? :rofl:
 
Bob Noel said:
…How are the drivers in Europe vs the USA wrt not trying to kill bikers?
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Most western European nations are pretty good about not killing motor- or bicyclists, but it’s primarily because there’s a ton more of them per capita then in the US, especially in cities.

But then again, most Euro cities are generally smaller and more compact than in the US. Most of the major highways bypass the cities and instead have feeders into/out of the cities. When we lived in Italy, I commuted 13 miles across two towns and a city 3+ days a week on a bicycle or motorcycle and never had even a close call.

Here, I can’t pedal outside the neighborhood without idiots trying to run me over. Here’s an example from a couple years back:
“The study said almost half of all cyclist fatalities (41 percent) in the country between 2014 and 2017 happened in Texas, California and Florida. San Antonio checks in at 16th among the most deadly cities for cyclists, with 243 annual deaths per 100,000 commuters. The study said San Antonio had 13 cyclist deaths over the last four years and just eight percent of cyclists were wearing a helmet at the time of the accident. An estimated 1,340 people in San Antonio commute on their bikes according to the study. “

Source: https://news4sanantonio.com/news/lo...f-deadliest-us-cities-for-cyclists-study-says
 
Bill said:
I have both motorcycles and a Honda Civic Si sedan. The best motorcycle gets 50mpg if I ride easy, 45ish if I use some of it's superpowers. The Si is the sport version of the Civic, 205hp turbo, 6sp manual, and even when moving quite briskly, I get upper 30's mpg. Cars are so good the little bit extra from a motorcycle isn't worth the effort. Now if we talk small scooters that get 90mpg+, then you might be on to something.
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My wife gave up her BMW 2 years ago for a small, 150cc 80mpg scooter and has never looked back. Of course, we live in Florida and she can ride all year long.
If either one of us just needs to make a local drive we usually take the scooter, unless we need to carry something big.
If we need to haul anything big, or if both need to go together, we take the truck (20mpg). But the scooter is surprisingly useful for daily stuff. Not to mention, it cost $1,800 brand new.

We use the savings to buy Avgas, but if that doubles in price, we might have to curtail some of our flying.
 
Velocity173 said:
Oh it’s going take more than current gases prices to make people switch.
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You are probably right if you consider current gas prices. But I have seen rumors about the price of oil tripling. If the current price of gas even doubles, you will see a lot of behavioral changes.
 
Bill said:
Not oil companies per se
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If you're thinking "the government," I think you're dreaming. They only wish they had some semblance of control over these soaring gasoline prices; if they did, they'd be trying to restrain them. Nobody wants to be blamed for this, especially in an election year.

The truth, however boring, is it's supply and demand. Removing (or even threatening to) a sizable chunk of the world's oil supply, without a simultaneous drop in demand, inevitably drives up prices across the board. OPEC has proven this time after time.
 
aterry1067 said:
‘Bout time to start shopping for a truck.
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They have started going down in price but I feel they still have a lot lot more room to go down. The dealerships will try and hang on to the high pricing that they have become used to, as there is still a inventory shortage. Once you start seeing layoffs, repossessions, then Ill go looking. Probably for late model, used.
 
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Morgan3820 said:
I don’t know. Tell me.
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don't know about Europe. But in the US there are places where the cagers are downright lethal. And then potholes EVERYWHERE. And, the leftover sand/salt on the roads don't exactly enhance motorcycle safety.

Switching to motorcycles might not be particularly viable in many areas of the country.
 
Bill said:
I have both motorcycles and a Honda Civic Si sedan. The best motorcycle gets 50mpg if I ride easy, 45ish if I use some of it's superpowers. The Si is the sport version of the Civic, 205hp turbo, 6sp manual, and even when moving quite briskly, I get upper 30's mpg. Cars are so good the little bit extra from a motorcycle isn't worth the effort. Now if we talk small scooters that get 90mpg+, then you might be on to something.
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This is what I bought my son for his first car, it was a compromise between him wanting something dumb like 1990's Maxda RX7 and something boring like a Honda Civic.......he had it for a good solid 6 weeks before he got a ticket going 89 in a 35....so now he is taking the bus again. I honestly didn't realize it was as quick as it was.....my bad.
 
Well, my daily driver is a Suburban. 16 MPG generally.

On the other hand, my commute is about 1.5 miles. A tank of gas lasts two weeks or more.
 
Bill said:
While you wink, I'm sure "The Narrative" of forcing people to electric is a part of the runup in gas prices. Never let a good crisis go to waste!
Click to expand...

I would think that would be an odd motivation by oil companies… valid argument if the price was govt controlled but it’s not. Pricing is set by primarily by international oil price, and oil company profit goals so that line of logic doesn’t add up. If oil companies wanted a lower price on it they could choose to pump more… there’s plenty of unused oil pumping permits available still today- by in large don’t choose to do so. So I highly doubt Exxon mobile is using the crisis to purposefully push folks out of ICE vehicles.
 
Velocity173 said:
Two words: Tes La. ;)
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The electricity to recharge that tes la is produced by burning gas, oil and coal. And the fission of atoms. And only about 2% comes from “green” energy.

I failed typing in junior high. The latest EIA statistics that I looked at show that 12% of our electric is produced by renewables. I typed 2%. Mea maxima culpa.
 
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I have 2 mudercycles in the garage. I'll be getting a great deal on a motorhome by mid summer!
 
I paid $3.59 per gallon at 10 am this morning at a station near my airport. On my way home from my hangar at 5:30 this evening the same station is now at $3.99…
 
Can we please see entry level jet prices come down a bit? I need to buy something and the prices have just been ridiculous!
 
I was used to $4.50+, now $5.50+, so it's weird to see people complaining about $4+. I think people get used to a price for something, whatever it is, and only notice when it goes up.
 
Could somebody help me understand something? Since oil is a global commodity, if the US stops buying oil from Russia (about $8B a year now) won't we buy oil from another country (let's use Mexico for the sake of discussion)? The oil that Mexico sells us comes from:

A. Increased production.
B. Oil that was destined for another country.

Let's say Mexico can't increase production, so B results in a shortage of the deliveries to that other country. Couldn't they just buy their oil from Russia?

It doesn't seem that the import ban on Russian oil would work unless the vast majority of countries participated in the sanctions. I must be wrong, so please set me straight.
 
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