Wheels-Near-U blog

This week we are looking at motorbikes for our Wheels of the World, from the inventions of the Japanese to the risky riding of europe. We also look at a novel electric powered motorbike.

Please note: Please drive and ride safely at all times, we do not condone, support or recommend anyone attempts any stunts or anything which they see in videos shown as part of this series, they are shown only to provide a varied range of material from around the world - Dangerous Driving Kills.

First up - A novel invention from across the world - Japan brings you the walking motorbike! - Far from your usual two wheeled road bike this comical machine will transport you from a to b - at a leisurely speed.

Next we go to another motorbike from Japan that runs almost silently - “a new electric motorbike with a hybrid plug-in, electromagnetic-permanent magnet motor, and is seven times more cost-efficient than scooters running on petrol.”

Finally we visit America for a few motorbike stunts - don’t try this at home!

This week rather than focus on one motor critic we are going to look at quotes from the non motor related arena. From Bill Bryson the world famous american writer to George Bernard Shaw the well known Irish literary critic this weeks Motor critics probably never expected to feature on Wheels-Near-U, but their quotes are both funny and noteworthy.

“Germans are flummoxed by humour, the Swiss have no concept of fun, the Spanish think there is nothing at all ridiculous about eating dinner at midnight, and the Italians should never, ever have been let in on the invention of the motor car.” - Bill Bryson - (American Writer)

“I want to die in my sleep like my grandfather… Not screaming and yelling like the passengers in his car.” - Will Shriner (American Comedian born in 1953)

“They think they can make fuel from horse manure - Now, I don’t know if your car will be able to get 30 miles to the gallon, but it’s sure gonna put a stop to siphoning” - Billie Holiday (American jazz singer from the 1930s to the 1950s)

“There are only three sports: bullfighting, motor racing, and mountaineering; all the rest are merely games.” - Ernest Hemingway (American novelist who won the Nobel Prize for Literature in 1954)

“What Englishman will give his mind to politics as long as he can afford to keep a motor car?” - George Bernard Shaw (Irish literary Critic, Playwright and Essayist who won the 1925 Nobel Prize for Literature)

Next in our series of vehicle videos from around the globe we look at the tractor - usually seen working the fields or towing things it is the work vehicle for the countryside. But this weeks Videos show some alternatives to your stock tractors, with tuned, solar panelled and film starring machines!

First up is a video of a frankly mad tuned tractor, entitled only ‘GSI Engine in a tractor’ - Not the sort of tractor you see everyday, this tractor drives down a track at speeds you would expect from a racing car! - Believed to be German.

Next up a Solar Power Converted tractor that makes the news in America - This 1954 Farmall tractor was converted to run off huge solar panels fixed where the roof would usually be, then using a power take-off to run the motor. The tractor remains original but uses absolutely no fuel. This news story describes how this eco-friendly tractor was built and the story behind it and its creator!

Finally this week we turn our attention to cinema - This video shows a novel use of the tractor - as a combat tool! The star of this film uses the tractor too disable a group of men riding tractors in order to escape..