Conversions

[Steve G.]

Off the top of my head, the Imperial/Canadian gallon is 4.54 litres, and the US gallon is 3.78 litres.

No wonder I can put back more pints in my favourite place in Bellingham.

Ciao, Steve G.

[docc]

Er, so, 38 miles per Imperial gallon is about 32 miles per US gallon?

 

And the postesr from Canada, Ireland , Wales, Scotland, New Zealand and Australia are all into Imperail gallons ( except for those in liters)?

[Murray]

New Zealand and Australia used the imperial gallon. With the emphasis on past tense about 30 years ago they went metric the only place you will find imperial measurements is with older people and trades who work on a variety on imported equipment. But as far as the school systems technical colleges universities and general day to day living everything is metric.

[docc]

Even in England?

[Murray]

Australia and New Zeakand are a long way from England. However i understand the english are slowly going to the metric system mainly because of thier proxinmaty to Europe. Australia and New Zealand are metric countries However all three used to use the imperial gallon over the US gallon.

[V11UK]

Metric v Imperial.....buy a Buell a fascinating mixture of fasteners on these machines. Only the American's could manufacture a motorcycle that has both metric and imperial bolts (no offence intended )

[docc]

The first machine I encountered with mixed fasteners was my 1989 Ford Taurus. Ah, well, Ford - Buell, same thing.

 

So, Chris there in the British Isles - liters or gallons?

 

Sounds like the Canadians are on km and liters.

[Guest pasturej]

Doc

 

In England we are somewhat schizophrenic when it comes to imperial vs. metric and seem to mix and match the two depending on what we are comfortable with. Petrol pumps dispense in litres yet odometers are calibrated in miles. I work out fuel consumption by calculating miles per litre and then multiplying by 4.5 to get to imperial gallons which is a measure I understand.

 

Generally though we have converted to metric in most areas: for example, shops sell fruit and vegetables by the kilogram although some diehards (nicknamed 'metric martyrs') have been taken to court for persisting in selling bananas by the pound.

 

Jonathan

[Gio]

Having lived in the UK and now Canada, I use metric but can only really relate with imperial (eg typical fuel consumption is measured in km per litre but I relate to mpg - real gallons that is ).

 

Gio

[belfastguzzi]

In UK we still pay for the bike in real British Pounds, not Euros, though the bike is weighed in kilogrammes, not pounds. (Or for a Harley you can choose between tons and tonnes.)

 

Forward motion is still miles per hour, though the distance from one end of the bike to the other will be a matter of centimetres, not feet and inches. (Again, Harley owners may prefer yards.) Perversely, feet/pounds is retained for the measure of thumpiness from the motor whose displacement will be counted in euro litres/c.c.s rather than generous cubic inches or grand British cups or fluid ounces.

 

Trusty horses are still used to measure engines rather than those nana bananas or whatever they are.

 

There seems to be a strong movement to put bars into tyres now. Pounds might have been ok for cross-plies but they musn't be up to the job for modern radials. As to tyre measurement itself..... I'll not go there. And we don't use tires here at all.

 

I like to think that tanks still come in gallons, but I guess if I measured one (you can call me Al) I would find that it is actually litres. Thankfully the common measurement of wallet capacity remains miles per imperial gallon. Miles per litre may be inevitible, but surely km per ltr are just too bizarre?

 

 

 

 

1 US fluid ounce = 29.5735297 milliliters Yikes! There's a US fluid ounce! (As well as an American litre.)

 

"I'll have 3 stones of the Empire's best paraffin for my trusty Guzzi, please. Thank you."

[Murray]

1 bar/atmosphere is around 14.6 psi or 29.92 inches or mercury. To me the Metric system is much easier to deal with I have used both.

[Guest motor72]

This reminds me of working on my old Bonneville, an ongoing effort. I had to use Whitworth tools on it. Were they metric or standard? What the hell were they?

[Steve G.]

I'm one of the late baby boomers in school in Canada during our rocky transfer to metric from British Imperial standards of measure. As a result, I have no problem with either. Funny though is that I automatically calculate metric to imperial, not just a frame of mind to metric. As well, when reading Cycle World or some other U.S. magazine, where among other things fuel mileage are listed for a machine, I automatically convert to imperial, sort of like multiply by 1.45. Same with gas. Right now a litre of 94 octane [the highest available octane in Canada] is going for cdn $1.00 . That's $4.54 a gallon for me. Soooooo, that's 1.89 UK pound, or U.S.$3.42. Seems like quite alot to me for a country that takes 3.5 days non stop 24hrs to drive across.

I can say that it is an absolute pleasure to work on a bike like the Guzzi, which is fully metric. Even the allen head [socket head] screws and bolts are metric. My 74 Norton was made during the British bike industry entry into the 20th century. As a result, the engine, gearbox, and primary system are genuine Whitworth standard, with the rest of the bike UNC and UNF [national corse and national fine]. I have MANY wrenches! Whitworth is different in more ways than just bolt head size, and thread stock width. The thread pitch and even the angle were different. Sometimes you are able to thread an imperial nut onto a Whitworth bolt, but not the other way around. I've found it brain wrenching to understand why they used this standard, just to deal with it, not to fight it, for it lurks still in many garages.

Ciao, Steve G.

[V11UK]

Or for a Harley you can choose between tons and tonnes.

Again, Harley owners may prefer yards.

"I'll have 3 stones of the Empire's best paraffin for my trusty Guzzi, please. Thank you."

Wicked sense of humour

 

BTW my V11 has a KM speedometer so I'm totally confused

[emry]

I had to use Whitworth tools on it. Were they metric or standard? What the hell were they?

 

Just that, Whitworth. Back during the industrial revolution Joseph Whitworth developed his own system. Most manufacturers made their own fasteners and thus fasteners were as unique as the vehicle they came on. Whitworth pushes the idea of universal specs for bolts and threads. This was back in the mid 1800's it wasn't until the early 1900's that US standards and metrics were beginning to be adopted.

 

The main difference is the angle of the threads. Whitworths use a 55 deg while US and metric use 60 deg.