A while back I mentioned that I bought a gas motor to put on my bike. It has been working just great, but I just haven’t had a chance to write about it. For the past couple months (except when Jen or I were traveling), I’ve been commuting 1-2 days per week on it, and for my 15-mile round trip, it only takes about 5 minutes longer each way than driving my car, depending on how many stop lights I hit. I still have yet to use all of the two gallons of gas I bought back in September, and I figure I’m getting somewhere around 150 MPG, which I think is good considering the number of hills on my ride to work. In a few more months, there will be a more direct route to work opening up, and I suspect that my trip will get even shorter. Maintenance on the little engine is a breeze; an oil change takes just a couple minutes. I’ve never really been a hands-on car guy, so learning about the little engine has been fun experience for me. I’ve likened the little engine to riding a tandem with Lance Armstrong on the back; the bike is a little unwieldy with the extra weight on it, but you go a lot faster.

The only trouble I’ve had so far is that my (ten year old) chain broke on the way to work on Thursday. Luckily, the motor allowed me to quickly buzz back home and get my car, though it’s evident that the motor prefers to have some help from the pedals.