Forum

[Wheaters]

My intro to bikes was grass track racers, in the late 1960s and early ‘70s, which all ran on methanol and castor oil. They smelled fantastic but the regulation one gallon tank was enough for only about four laps of the oval circuit.

[singleminded]

Population growth – the big problem? Why is Hungary paying its population to increase their family sizes? China scraped its one child per family nonsense. Countries are struggling because of ageing populations and declining numbers of younger people.

Several countries are seeking to increase population growth for very simple reasons. More people means a bigger workforce who will work for less money. Therefore they will have a competitive edge in world markets. Also, more people = more customers for big business.

Putin is handing out medals to Russian families who produce 10 children.....

The reasoning for needing to go to E10, electric vehicles etc. are all based on the fundamental assumption of population growth. Therefore, sort-out population growth and this will go a long way to resolving pollution issues.

[trophyvase]

Lou E makes a good point. Royal Enfield workshop manuals for almost all Redditch bikes (250 Crusader/GT Continental; Super Meteor/Constellation; Interceptors Mk1/Mk11) include a comment on carburettor settings when alcohol is used. At that time (1950-1960s) various petrol brands were advertised as ‘containing alcohol’ (Cleveland Discol!).

The advice was increase main jet by 1% for every 1% of alcohol in the fuel. Would this apply to using ethanol or is the alcohol content of ethanol too little to make a difference? I thought ethanol was a form of pure alcohol. But I may be wrong. If ethanol = alcohol then I guess the jetting advice in these old manuals may be still useful.

[Presto]

Population growth myths - and the reality. To quote the statistical facts:

"The global population growth rate peaked long ago - in 1962 and 1963 with an annual growth rate of 2.2%; but since then, world population growth has halved.
For the last half-century we have lived in a world in which the population growth rate has been declining. The UN projects that this decline will continue in the coming decades.
Is the global population growing exponentially? The answer is no."

[stinkwheel]

One potential unseen advantage of biofuel. There is such a thing as E85. It's available at the pump in parts of the EU. While it's got a low energy density and so would need massive re-jetting to run properly on a carbed bike, it also has 108 octane.

Think of the compression ratios you could run!

[singleminded]

Population growth myths - and the reality. To quote the statistical facts:

"The global population growth rate peaked long ago - in 1962 and 1963 with an annual growth rate of 2.2%; but since then, world population growth has halved.
For the last half-century we have lived in a world in which the population growth rate has been declining. The UN projects that this decline will continue in the coming decades.
Is the global population growing exponentially? The answer is no."

Interesting...

What is the source of this information?

[Presto]

Primary source UN.
But a google search on 'population growth' will take you there.

[Presto]

Trophyvase I think you're right about ethanol being alcohol.

I din't know the workshop manual included that advice. If ethanol rises to 10% that's enough to make a difference if it means main jets have to be increased by 10% .

[Rattlebattle]

I found a useful website on which the following data appear:

Stoichmetric AFR:

Pure gasoline = 14.7:1
10% ethanol = 14.04:1
15% ethanol = 13.79:1
E85 = 9.75:1

I’m not sure about the impact that 10% and 15% ethanol content has on jet sizes but in my view it would be best practice to choose a fuel and jet for that. It’s less of an issue on EFI bikes though even here E85 is outside the inbuilt self-adjustment range. I believe it’s certain high end vehicles (Mercs etc) that use this fuel on the continent.

As for world population I was aware that it is set to fall, but I believe there are various reasons why individual governments want to increase the birth rate. Countries with disproportionate numbers of unproductive old people may choose to do this as an alternative to immigration, one that may be more politically acceptable. President Erdogan of Turkey is on record as urging Muslims to have many children, to become the majority religion in their country, so we have “religious” grounds too. Putin is probably concerned about the rise of China and India as economic super- powers and military forces, so it’s about power and influence.

In my view there is no universal reason why certain countries adopt this approach. I would argue that the current need to control emissions arises from the increased affluence of second-world countries acquiring similar living standards to the West, rather than population growth. The world cannot support this without serious efforts to reduce pollution. There is no silver bullet to resolve this because national interests and those of big business never work together.

[Wheaters]

Ethanol is the alcohol in "booze" and isn't specifically toxic per se.
Methanol is a poison which can be ingested through the skin!

Both are best avoided, they will both get you one way or another!

P.s. As my father used to say: Do as I say, not as I do!