Sunday, December 4, 2011

Yamaha's retro bike

Now that I seem to have killed the battery in my e-bike by letting it drain down to zero (something that lithium ion batteries apparently do not like), I'm trying to figure out my next step in keeping some kind of car alternative on the road. On the one hand, I could just shell out for another battery. Or...I could get one of these cool things. It's bound to be the more expensive option, but it sure looks like it would be fun to ride. It's an update of Yamaha's first motorcycle, the YA-1, first manufactured in 1955 (at left). The new version, the Y125, is supposed to get close to 200 mpg, which would get me to the grocery store and back any number of times (that's the trip that killed the bike battery).