Cars

For the past 2 blog entries, we have immersed ourselves into the world of the 2-wheeled power-packed vehicles. The bikes. Personally, i could drag on to continue talking about bikes for the next few hundred posts, but lets have a change of topic for once.

This week, we will be looking into something a little more different. Cars. The 4-wheeled vehicle has been the most popular form of transportation since the early ages. Lets dwell into its history for a moment.

When was the first car created?And by whom?I've done my research and most of the sources that I've checked out seems to point to the same conclusion. There don't seem to be a definite answer for the questions stated above. This is due to the fact that the cars or "automobile" seems to work the same but, with a different source of power. The list below shows some example:

AUTOMOBILE FIRSTS
Inventor	Date	Type/Description	Country
Nicolas-Joseph Cugnot (1725-1804)	1769	STEAM / Built the first self propelled road vehicle (military tractor) for the French army: three wheeled, 2.5 mph.	France
Robert Anderson	1832-1839	ELECTRIC / Electric carriage.	Scotland
Karl Friedrich Benz (1844-1929)	1885/86	GASOLINE / First true automobile. Gasoline automobile powered by an internal combustion engine: three wheeled, Four cycle, engine and chassis form a single unit.	Germany Patent DRP No. 37435
Gottlieb Wilhelm Daimler (1834-1900) and Wilhelm Maybach (1846-1929)	1886	GASOLINE / First four wheeled, four-stroke engine- known as the "Cannstatt-Daimler."	Germany
George Baldwin Selden (1846-1922)	1876/95	GASOLINE / Combined internal combustion engine with a carriage: patent no: 549,160 (1895). Never manufactured -- Selden collected royalties.	United States
Charles Edgar Duryea (1862-1938) and his brother Frank (1870-1967)	1893	GASOLINE / First successful gas powered car: 4hp, two-stroke motor. The Duryea brothers set up first American car manufacturing company.	United States

http://www.loc.gov/rr/scitech/mysteries/auto.html

Karl Benz is the only one regarded as the first pioneer of cars. He is now regarded as the guy who had invented the most practical and the first "running and operational car" in history.

The lists above summarizes my point exactly on the issue raised above earlier. There is no definite answer to that ever elusive question.

However, we should be proud of what we have achieved throughout the ages. Cars in the past is scrap metal as compared to what technology and development has done to the new,more advanced, more cutting edge cars of today.

This picture is regarded as the first operational car or "automobile". Although we are more familiar to our cars being in the form of a 4-wheeled drive, resources and ideas in the earlier ages were limited. Karl had it patented ( DRP 37435 ). DRP 37435 is later commonly known as the birth date of the vehicle.

Specs:

• Engine horizontal
• 4 cycle
• Single Cylinder
• Water-cooled
• Bore 116mm
• Stroke 160mm
• Displacement 1600cc
• 3/4 hp

Those specs seemed outdated and useless, however, in the olden days, they were regarded as a breakthrough and regarded as a work of genius. However, and remarkably, some of the features found here could still be found in cars nowadays.

For example:

• Water-cooled engine
• Electric ignition
• Mechanically operated inlet valves

This just goes to show how important Karl Benz's invention was. Little did he know that it will inspire future works of art in the future like the Ferrari Spider 360, Maserati MC12 and many more luxury cars nowadays.

Ferrari Spider 360

Maserati MC 12

Through the ages, the concept of the car remains, only the form and the elegance of the cars evolve.

4-Stroke Bikes

Its the turn of the century and the new generation of products are here. Many products have since improved due to the newer research and developments that have been done. With the help of improved technology, taking things to the next level is no hassle at all. Bikes are also affected by these improvements and a newer, more improved form of bikes are born. Thus, the emergence of the newer 4-stroke bikes.

4-stroke bikes are becoming more and more prominent and more commonly on the road nowadays. They offer riders with plenty of advantages such as comfort, cutting of costs, fuel efficiency and many more. Furthermore, these bikes are environmentally-friendly. This is due to the fact that, through improved technology, these bikes have the ability to emit little to no smoke at all! Examples of these newer 4-stroke bikes would include Yamaha Spark135, Honda CBR150 and also one of the most easiest and most cost efficient bike there is, Honda Wave125.

Yamaha Spark135

Honda CBR150

Honda Wave125

These bikes are more developed in terms of performance wise. This means that there will be lesser hiccups and problems for the bikes. Furthermore, maintainance for the 4-stroke bikes are inexpensive and problems rarely occur. With the improved and extensive developments made to these bikes, it is a quite stable and safer mode of transportation as compared to the older 2-stroke bikes.

I have a friend who owns a Yamaha Spark135. Since the day that he first rode it, there has been minimal problems and said that it had been the best investment that he had made in a long time.

He said " Buying this bike has been the best investment that I have made. With minimal problems, the only thing that i have to worry about is petrol, which is only $8 to fill it to the max, as compared to other 2-stroke bikes which cost $15-$20 to fill it to the max. Never have I regretted my decision to buy a 4-stroke bike."

However, there is bound to be something that is compromised in order to create something so smooth and sleek. This aspect to me, personally, is the most important factor in a bike. Therefore, as soon as I heard of this news, I did not become such a big fan of 4-stroke bikes. The factors that I am referring to is its power.

4-stroke bikes are generally slower and less powerful as compared to a 2-stroke bike. No matter how hard you to push a 4-stroke bike, it will never be as fast or as powerful as a 2-stroke bike engine. For example, if a standard Honda CBR150 (4-stroke bike) is to compete in a drag race with a standard Yamaha TZM150 (2-stroke bike), there could only be 1 winner. The Yamaha TZM150 would definitely be the clear winner. Although they are of the same class, the design of a 4-stroke bike is simply not strong or powerful enough to challenge those of the 2-stroke kind.

I have ever mentioned this scenario to a mechanic before, and his answer without any hesitation would be the 2-stroke bikes. He said that the power of the 4-stroke bikes would be decreased by almost half if challenged by a 2-stroke bike.

These are the pros and cons of the 4-stroke bikes:

Pros:

• More environmentally friendly as it emits little or no smoke at all.
• It is more cost efficient as the cost of petrol, maintainance is lesser as compared to the older 2-stroke bikes.
• 4-stroke bikes are smoother, more comfortable and less likely to have any problems.

Cons:

• It lacks power as it was compromised to make it more cutting edge.

http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index?qid=20090608205820AA5xiqn

http://www.singaporebikes.com/forums/showthread.php?t=152873&highlight=stroke

Although the advantages of the 4-stroke bikes far outweighs its disadvantages, personally I prefer 2-stroke bikes to the newer 4-stroke bikes as it is packed with power and speed. No matter what, it is merely a matter of preference. So which side are you on?

2-Stroke Bikes

The first featured vehicles that we will be looking at is the ever-popular 2-stroke bikes. They are the most common form of bike-related travel mode here. Although they have been around for quite a long while, the popularity of the 2- stroke bike never dies out. Bikes such as the Yamaha TZM 150, Kawasaki KRR 150, Honda SP 150 and the ever-popular Yamaha RXZ 135, still roams the streets of Singapore. They are more commonly found as compared to the newer 4-stroke bikes.

Yamaha TZM 150

Kawasaki KRR 150

Honda SP 150

Yamaha RXZ 135

From these pictures,we can roughly see why these 2-stroke bikes are still in high demand. Obviously, the design of these bikes alone could attract ones attention. However, there is more to these bikes than just good appeal. Power. These bikes are packed with power. Be it 150cc or 135cc, these bikes are more powerful than you can imagine. With the right settings and accessories, they could go to speeds up to 200km/h-240km/h!

The lists below shows the pros & cons of the 2-stroke bikes:

Pros:

• As mentioned earlier, these 2-strokes bikes are packed with power, due to the increased power strokes per revolution.
• They are relatively cheaper as compared to the newer bikes as they are quite old.
• 2-stroke bike engines are lighter in nature thus it could gain more power and speed as compared to other bikes.

Cons:

• 2-stroke bikes emits a more harmful and polluted smoke that might harm the environment.
• Their spare parts are getting more and more difficult to come by. Those that are available are generally expensive.
• They require the use of good 2T oil. If not filled properly, the piston might get jammed which could lead to accidents.

Next week we will be looking at the newer generation of bikes. The 4-stroke bikes. Till next time, thank you!

Intro

Hey all. Yazid here. Welcome to SIWM's Cars&Bikes blog!. Here, i will be introducing to you guys the variety of popular motor-vehicles that are roaming the streets of Singapore and beyond. i will also explain the specs of the vehicles featured for the week. i hope that this bog helps those who are planning to invest in a good vehicle in the future.