World First: Dual Fuel Motorcycle

The bike world is changing rapidly, aiming to follow in the footsteps of the car world. If petrol reserves run out, then that means that bikes too will have to find an alternate source of fuel unless they'll want to stick pedals on either side; unfortunately, trying to pedal a 300 pound behemoth uphill doesn't seem like our cup of tea.

That's why Yamaha is hard at work on developing on filling a gap, the first dual-fuel motorcycle. The patent has already been filled and it's being processed right now and that's why details are sketchy, but the bottom line is that Yamaha is right now trying to combine petrol with cheaper and more environmentally friendly ethanol.

We can't make heads or tails from the picture, if you can, congratulations, you're our hero. Still, it looks like a shot of a single-cylinder commuter bike, which makes sense, since this cost-cutting move is probably most appealing to money-conscious buyers.

The system works just like a regular bike, with a regular tank of gas on top of the frame. The only difference is the small tank behind the cylinder and the fuel injector, filled with either ethanol or a petrol/ethanol mix like E85 (which is 15% fuel and 85% ethanol).

In some countries the ethanol isn't that much cheaper, but in others, like USA, it really does make a difference. Then there's the added bonus of being less polluting. Yamaha is far from building the bike at the moment, but this move is sure to get other manufacturers in the business scrambling for a similar design.

This news comes right after the first electric bike was premiered by Electronic Motorsports.