Motorcycles are of three types: street, off-road and dual purpose. Street bikes include scooters, mopeds and cruisers besides others. Off road motorcycles are meant for racing and not for riding on streets. The dual purpose motorcycles have features which make them permissible to be used on the streets at the same time are fit for motor racing.

Automobile pollutions have become unbearable in many cities. Traffic snarls are a daily occurrence. This makes motorcycles a favorite amongst vehicles. It has a lower carbon emission. Its fuel efficiency is much higher than other vehicles that take to the road. Its smaller mass is the reason for its better fuel economy. Motorcycles emit lesser greenhouse gas as compared to cars. But its pollution level per mile is ten times and could even reach up to twenty times as compared to the pollution level of cars. Motorcycle emits nitrogen oxide. This is produced as a byproduct of combustion. Nitrogen oxide is a major component of smog. It is the lower efficiency of its catalytic converter that causes nitrogen oxide to be produced.

Sales of motorcycles have shown a steady increase globally. This has been despite a slowdown in the global economy. The growth of the market for motorcycles was 6.5 percent. The steady rise in the price of gasoline and the economic slowdown both contribute to the increase in the market for motorcycles. Amongst motorcycles, the sale of electric scooters too has been rising. This is a good option amongst motorcycles with the increasing price of gasoline. Besides, there is almost no air and noise pollution. Improved battery technology is further expected to make electric scooters more popular in the near future. There are many models available in the market. Some of the models are Eped Sport/City, ZAP Zapino, Vectrix VX-1, Yo Speed, E-Solex, EVT-4000e, Razor E200S, Io-scooter, Peugeot Scoot'Elec and Ezip Electric Scooters.

Motorcycle sales are the highest in the Asian countries of Vietnam, Indonesia, India and China. It is owned by more people than are other vehicles. The number of motorcycle owners in Taiwan was double that of automobile owners. Registration of motorcycles crossed 50 percent in the United States. Motorcycles predominate the traffic in the frontier towns of Latin America.

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