Modern Vespa

Hi! I have a Piaggio Typhoon 50 which I bought in 2005. My problem with it (guilty green conscience) is that the emissions from the 2-stroke engine are pretty nasty.

I read about this biodegradable 2-cycle motor oil called "G-oil" (links below):

http://www.getg.com/products/products.php?CategoryID=2&ProductID=10
http://planetgreen.discovery.com/tech-transport/green-motor-oil.html
http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/11/g-oil-passes-api-tests.php

... and i was wondering if anyone has used this oil or has heard anything good/bad about it? I don't want to put it into my scooter and then have it kill my machine or gum things up beyond repair.

Thanks!

Just stick with a fully sythetic 2-stroke oil

If you don't want to ruin your motor, stick with a high grade synthetic oil.

Wayne B

Using synthetic motor oil is perhaps the greenest thing you can do for your vehicle. Most synthetic motor oils are made from plants or animal fats, so they are carbon neutral. They also produce orders of magnitude lower toxic emissions than conventional oils.

Stick with synthetic, you can't get much greener.

http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/112468184/abstract?CRETRY=1&SRETRY=0

google it, there is so much literature out there about this

I was first shown this oil by the head of Piaggio USA tech services, and he said he had been using it in his SR50 for a while, with great results! It apparently doesn't smoke as much as traditional oil either.

Doesn't smoke as much? What's the point of a 2T then, if not the haze and the smell?

the loin melting sound

Unfortunately, that Wiley.com link didn't work for me. Do you have the article title?

I've shied away from synthetics due to articles such as this:
http://environment.about.com/od/earthtalkcolumns/a/motoroil.htm

"Conventional motor oils are derived from petroleum, whereas synthetic oils are replicas manufactured from chemicals that are really no kinder to the environment than petroleum. As such, conventional and synthetic motor oils are about equally guilty when it comes to how much pollution they create."

It appears from articles such as this that synthetic would likely be no better than using petroleum based.

Interesting.

Bcause some fully synthetic oils do not burn completely, they will slowly plug up the catalytic converter on a two-stroke exhaust system (assuming that you have a cat). If you don't have one, you are good to go.

Cheers and good luck,
Bob

I'll try to find a better article...but to the best of my knowledge, the recommended oil for a new scoot is usually synthetic. I know it is for 4 strokes anyway.

As far as conventional versus synthetic, synthetic oil is a relatively pure substance designed to have a homogenious composition. Conventional oil is simply all of the parts of crude that shares similar properties. Most of the soot in four stroke exhaust comes from the oil, and I bet that translates to two strokes, using synthetic reduces this soot.

The bottom line is that synthetic oils have more precise properties, they are designed, if your engine was designed to use them use them.

Its all kind of moot anyway, the biggest pollution concern for transportation is CO2, your scoot probably creates less CO2 per mile than the CO2 associated with the extra food you need to eat to walk that mile.

the piston of a fifty is the size of what? a half dollar! pleeez dont let the guilt devour you, its just a scooter not a hummer, or a 747, or...

but it's articles such as these that up the guilt factor for me. One here says that some scooters emit more pollutants than SUV's ...

http://wweek.com/editorial/3240/7867
http://www.epa.gov/compliance/resources/newsletters/civil/enfalert/scooteralert0801.pdf

i've been using the smelly "Yamalube 2" that my shop recommended when I bought the bike.

While I haven't been able to find a definitive answer, I believe Piaggio 50cc two strokes have had catalytic converters for pollution control since 2000 and after 2005 met Euro 2 anti-smog standards. They are far better for the environment than the one's tested in that horrible study quoted by the report you mentioned. Breathe easier, and enjoy your scooter!






Harvey

ah, but mine is a 2005, purchased a year prior to the emissions standards --(mention of the import restrictions here: http://www.vespaatlanta.com/typhoon.html)



(isn't it cute?)

+101!

If you are feeling guilty about your emissions you need to walk or ride a bicycle.

Oh yeah...no more burritos for you! too much methane!

Stop breathing so darn much..your emitting more than your share of CO2!

I meant from the 2005 model year on. I think your's have them.

Regards
Harvey

Articles like these make me think that journalist are either really stupid or being paid by GM. You can't compare the exhaust composition. You have compare the mass of pollution per mile. And factor in the substantially reduced pollution foot print of the manufacturing of a scooter compared to a car, with is roughly equivalent to five years of driving it.

Face it, if the car had never been invented and only scooters had been use, we would not know about vehicle pollution. No one would even have thought about it.

I still say that the a scooter is better than walking. A gallon of gas takes my scooter 70 miles and produces 8.8 kg of CO2, to walk that far would use the caloric value of 10 big macs, not that I eat fast food, or meat for that matter, which has a carbon footprint of 4 kg per burger, 40kg. So by my count scootering is 4-5 times better than walk.

There's pollution control systems on cars & scooters. If you visit places like Vietnam where scooters (most without emission systems) vastly outnumber cars you can smell & taste the unburned hydrocarbons in the air. New York Times: Dirty air in Hanoi


They're wearing masks to filter out the particulate air pollution


Harvey