spinningmagnets said:
Although the Pro(pane)-Ped in the video sounds much quieter than the 2-stroke gasoline units many of us are familiar with, increased sound reduction is not difficult or expensive. A near-silent version would be worth advertising on RV and sailboat websites. There are two E-bike builds that I know of here with Matts tiny RC-drive on an expensive small folding bike specifically for its storage capability.
I would also like to suggest to the manufacturer of Pro-Ped to contact Staton-inc, as they are the biggest adapter kit suppliers of ICE/bicycle conversions. Although cheap Chinese 2-strokes are provided for, the recommended units are the more expensive and longer-lasting 4-stroke Honda/Subaru engines (33cc's?)
One of the areas where propane shines is in cold-weather starting. Liquid gasoline does not burn (as odd as that sounds) it must vaporise in the intake/cylinder first. In cold weather the choke raises the gasoline ratio so that even with poor vaporization, there is enough vapor to get ignition. Until the engine warms and the choke (manual or automatic) is released, the excess unburned gasoline can be easily smelled in the exhaust.
The Pro-Ped can be stored indoors, so the engine is room temp on freezing mornings, and also propane remains a gaseous vapor even at temps far below freezing. (propane lawn mower?)
There are still millions of people who would benefit from a 10-mile entry-level electric bike (and don't even know they exist), but for 20+ miles or ultra-steep hill-climbing, a propane ICE has a lot going for it. Since this sounds like a new product line, is Pro-Ped selling replacement engines by themselves yet?
Good post.
A fundamental that doesnt seem stressed, vs electric, is u can walk into a shop and get an instant recharge, or for that matter, use some pain in the ass public transport which forbids ANY fuel. Simply take the scooter get fuel at destination. Sump oil is harder, but not impossible.
But yeah, as it happens, i drive a propane car and love it. its common on indoor forklifts also.
Here in Oz, we flirted with propane as a locally produced fuel, but not enough for a full network of refill stations to develop the market unfortunately.
Yep. They run very sweet, much sweeter.
Mine is a 4L six from the local ford divisions factory, recently closed.
It has LPI (liquid P(ropane?) Injection), an awesome advance. Its like fuel injection vs carby (vaporiser). Liquid propane is sqirted precisely into the head & a/ is therefor a richer mix if desired & B/ it chills the chamber to good effect.
As i recall the numbers (its an oz ford Falcon LPI fyi), it gets 90% the mileage from a liter of gas, gets 10% more torque and develops it sooner, and the same or more power than stock, injected petrol.
If petrol gets dear again in the US, it may get popular there yet.
Converting petrol cars to gas or dual fuel was and is common by licensed fitters.
If u have propane at home, u could refill on ex road tax fuel for local motoring.
The taxi biz loved it. Engines like mine, routinely did 500k miles.
So in short, its wonderful there now seems an affordable conversion for tiny motors.
