Bikers aren’t known for their eco-friendly image, but Honda reckons there’s a huge un-tapped market for greener, hybrid bikes.

The motor giant plans to start selling hybrid petrol / electric bikes by 2010, following them with smaller, electric-only bikes by 2011.

It’s an amazing achievement, since previous hybrid engines had been thought to pose too much of an engineering challenge, and be too bulky, for use in motorbikes.

However, Honda’s bikes will use small hybrid engines between 200 and 1,000cc, offering fuel efficiency 50% higher than petrol-only models. Their commercial availability follows plenty of R&D by Honda, including development of its prototype Numo hybrid scooter, shown above.

Its new electric scooters will have engine sizes between 50 and 125cc, running for up to 30Km on a single charge.

Out 2010 | £TBC | Honda (via Mainichi Daily News)