|
|
|
|
July 2003 News Letter (Part 2)
|
|
|
|
Please be patient as the page loads...
|
|
|
|
Bike specials good through July 16th!
|
|
|
In other "related" alternative transportation news last quarter... Dennis Weaver (Gunsmoke TV series) launched his treck across the Continent...
"Drive to Survive" to promote Hydrogen as an alternative to imported fossil fuels.
We tip our hat to this noble effort...but wonder what happened to the photo of one of our Charger bikes that once held a spot in their web site "Photo Gallery" (San Francisco Pit Stop)?? REPLACED NOW BY A FUEL CELL SUV??
For that matter, NO PEDAL CYCLES FEATURED during this "forward thinking" publicity stint for sustainable transportation alternatives!...a drive occuring during BIKE TO WORK WEEK!
We thought Dennis' assistant organizer was kidding when she said this drive was more of a "car thing"...discouraging us from being the spokes-folk for pedal cycles at the various pit stop podiums. Thankfully, the trike from Salt Lake City, Utah still holds a spot.
|
bike photo courtesy of "Autoholics Anonymous" |
|
But why was the Charger bike photo taken off the 'Drive To Survive' Site?
Was it the bikes we offered as barter, instead of CASH -- to help sponsor the effort?...
This doesn't make much sense, because NESEA (Northeast Sustainable Energy Association) was happy to auction a Charger bike at a fund raising event for their Sustainable Building Energy Conference a while back. ...and "Dennis' Drive" was timed to end at the finish line of NESEA's "Tour de Sol" solar-vehicle race, May 14th, in Washington D.C.
|
|
ODD...NO PEDAL CYCLES...?? The Charger WON the single passenger vehicle division of this same race soon after the bikes came out!!
Could it be the Toyota and Honda car dealers* who donated cars for the journey wanted the bike with it's sign "E-Bikes Make Cents" removed?
(* See *Foot-Note* below regarding the on-going struggle between car makers and alternative transportation)
|
Tour de Sol, 1st Place Winner |
|
Maybe "Dennis' Drive" WAS just "a car thing" (and "SUV thing") !
If so...we advocate EVERY bicycle, trike, and quadracycle show up at EVERY alternative transportation rally. When we get more details on the August San Francisco rally sponsored in part by Michelin, we'll notify you. (They make bike tires too!) Human power "fuel" is equally important, if not more so than the stuff that makes us lazy!
LET'S DISCOURAGE MORE CARS--WHICH REQUIRE MORE ORCHARDS TO BECOME PARKING LOTS!
Besides...young people are especially attracted to pedal cycles, and our presence makes a lasting impression.
|
Clean Caravan seeks out Hydrogen SUV's |
|
AND MAYBE, JUST MAYBE...might we design our towns and cities for PEOPLE again, instead of the CARS we drive??
...with BIKE LANES, Mass Transit THAT WORKS,
...using clean, renewable, electric and fuel cell-hydrogen powered vehicles!
...clean and efficient cars during the transition period, and for long distance, high-speed travel in the more desolate areas...
But we me don't have all the answers...and that Hydrogen could also bring it's problems--though could get us over the hump until we learn to enjoy more while consuming less! #000000 30 1
|
|
_____________________________________________________
* Foot-Note: After GM became a significant shareholder in the company who designed and made the electrical part of these "bionic" bikes...CHARGER, LLC ceased to exist. In the 1950's, after GM purchased the electric rail system in the Los Angeles area, it also ceased to exist ("not profitable"). This was a few years after the "Tucker" automobile failed, though in 1948 it was decades ahead of it's time. With a rear mounted horizontally opposed 8 cyclinder helicopter engine, this made for a safe front crumple zone and 30+ miles to the gallon... Tucker barely covered his obligations to complete 50 of these trail-blazers before going bankrupt. He died at an early age. (See the movie, "Tucker", produced by George Lucas, directed by Francis Ford Coppola).
Is it "a car thing"? Some of us think so. And not just "a car thing", but "a gasoline and diesel powered car and bus thing". Why else would GM not put a transmission in their electric EV-1 car? The company helping them design it was smart enough to use a transmission on their bike, so why not in the car??? Unless, of course the EV-1 was meant to only get a weak 50 or so miles to the charge?? Wouldn't it be something if EVERYONE wanted an electric car? There would have to be a major change in manufacturing infrastructure, wouldn't there?
|
|
SUPER SPECIALS > for building products ordered before September.
Contact us for details on how to get a free Charger bike!
|
|
|
|
