In September 2012, the City of Greensboro was awarded a $1 million grant from the Economic Development Administration to administer an 'Economic Visioning Challenge,' as part of the Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) Initiative. This post describes SC2, the 'Challenge,' and Greensboro's focus areas for economic development.
Creative cloud update not working. The SC2 Initiative, is a four-component program designed to change the way the Federal Government engages and supports local governments in their economic development efforts. The initiative operates from an 'elicitive' rather than prescriptive approach, with each element of SC2 designed to support selected cities to serve as 'community.
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The Obama Administration's Strong Cities, Strong Communities (SC2) Initiative was launched in 2011 to strengthen neighborhoods, towns, cities, and regions around the country by enhancing the capacity of local governments to develop and execute their economic vision and strategies, providing necessary technical assistance and access to federal agency expertise, and creating new public and private sector partnerships.
The SC2 Initiative, is a four-component program designed to change the way the Federal Government engages and supports local governments in their economic development efforts. The initiative operates from an 'elicitive' rather than prescriptive approach, with each element of SC2 designed to support selected cities to serve as 'community economic development engines' locally, regionally, and nationwide. In recognition of the economic contribution cities like Greensboro provide to these different economic geographies, the initiative 'challenges' multidisciplinary teams to develop ideas that utilize the City's assets in a sustainable way to yield business expansion and job creation. Managed by the White House Council on Strong Cities, Strong Communities, the four elements of the initiative are:
- Economic Visioning Challenge: This challenge is an innovative competition that uses a prize model to spur the creation of a comprehensive economic development strategy in selected communities.
- Community Solution Teams: Teams support the communities' visions for economic development, help communities more effectively invest existing resources, align federal programs, and facilitate new partnerships and peer learning opportunities wherever possible.
- National Resource Network: the National Resource Network (the Network) partners with American cities that are rounding the corner from major economic challenges to help them identify and implement new and practical solutions to facilitate their path to economic recovery and growth.
- SC2 Fellowship Program: the SC2 Fellowship Program provides distressed cities with highly-skilled professionals who work directly with local governments and community nonprofits.
In September 2012, the City of Greensboro was selected as one of three cities to receive a competitive $1 million grant from the Economic Development Administration (EDA) to administer an 'Economic Visioning Challenge'. Along with Las Vegas, Nevada and Hartford, Connecticut, Greensboro will utilize a prize competition to 'spur' economic development by eliciting locally-oriented, innovative, and feasible ideas to unleash the City's positive economic potential. Greensboro will be awarding $1 million over the two phases of the prize competition and has sought participation from multidisciplinary teams locally, state-wide, regionally, nationally, and globally. While teams can offer any idea (s) in the form of an implementable plan of their choosing, Greensboro currently has identified six (6) areas of focus for economic development:
- Capitalizing on local universities and colleges and developing high-impact collaborations between them and the private sector
- Attracting people, businesses and investments in the downtown area
- Enhancing the arts and other quality of life features
- Improving the impact of the Piedmont Triad International Airport and area infrastructure
- Workforce development
- Advanced manufacturing
For more information about these building blocks for Greensboro, visit the Greensboro Partnership for Economic Development.
To learn more about the City of Greensboro's SC2 Challenge, visit its SC2 Catalyst Website as well as EDA's website and the White House Council on Strong Cities, Strong Communities.
Prince John Gaither-Eli is the Economic Development Project Manager for the City of Greensboro's SC2 Challenge.
Technology Elevated SmartCarb SC2 Review
Can the SmartCarb SC2 really increase the power and fuel economy as well as compensate for altitude and atmospheric conditions? We put it to the test to find out.
Photography by Handsome Rabbit
They say two-strokes are dead. But who's they? With major OEMs like KTM, Husqvarna, Yamaha, Beta and Sherco still actively making some of our favorite premix-burning machines, it's hard to say that two strokes are a dying breed. Technology Elevated (TE) is a company that is not listening to any of that noise and their SmartCarb is a carburetor-designed to breathe new life into any carburetor-equipped ride.
They claim a 10-percent increase in horsepower and 30-percent increase in fuel mileage versus standard carburetors. Perhaps more interesting, it compensates for ambient air density—altitude, temperature and humidity similar to electronic fuel injection (EFI). And like EFI systems, it is a closed loop with no vent hoses so it will not leak fuel. Also similar to EFI, there are no jets to change but it does include an external adjuster for fine tuning with no tools. We wanted to put this to the test in the real world, so we installed one on our 2020 Beta 300RR long-term test bike and used it at multiple locations over several months.
- Capitalizing on local universities and colleges and developing high-impact collaborations between them and the private sector
- Attracting people, businesses and investments in the downtown area
- Enhancing the arts and other quality of life features
- Improving the impact of the Piedmont Triad International Airport and area infrastructure
- Workforce development
- Advanced manufacturing
For more information about these building blocks for Greensboro, visit the Greensboro Partnership for Economic Development.
To learn more about the City of Greensboro's SC2 Challenge, visit its SC2 Catalyst Website as well as EDA's website and the White House Council on Strong Cities, Strong Communities.
Prince John Gaither-Eli is the Economic Development Project Manager for the City of Greensboro's SC2 Challenge.
Technology Elevated SmartCarb SC2 Review
Can the SmartCarb SC2 really increase the power and fuel economy as well as compensate for altitude and atmospheric conditions? We put it to the test to find out.
Photography by Handsome Rabbit
They say two-strokes are dead. But who's they? With major OEMs like KTM, Husqvarna, Yamaha, Beta and Sherco still actively making some of our favorite premix-burning machines, it's hard to say that two strokes are a dying breed. Technology Elevated (TE) is a company that is not listening to any of that noise and their SmartCarb is a carburetor-designed to breathe new life into any carburetor-equipped ride.
They claim a 10-percent increase in horsepower and 30-percent increase in fuel mileage versus standard carburetors. Perhaps more interesting, it compensates for ambient air density—altitude, temperature and humidity similar to electronic fuel injection (EFI). And like EFI systems, it is a closed loop with no vent hoses so it will not leak fuel. Also similar to EFI, there are no jets to change but it does include an external adjuster for fine tuning with no tools. We wanted to put this to the test in the real world, so we installed one on our 2020 Beta 300RR long-term test bike and used it at multiple locations over several months.
The Beta 300 RR is a very capable bike, which edged out the Husqvarna TE 300i fuel-injected two-stroke in our comparison test earlier this year. (You can read the 2020 Husqvarna TE 300i vs. 2020 Beta 300 RR Comparisonhere. The Beta comes standard with a 36mm Keihin PXK carburetor. And as we noted in that story, the engine performance is what helped it come out on top with most of our test riders. The Keihin does not really do anything wrong and runs great, so this gave us a great bike to test the claims for the SmartCarb.
For our initial test, we met the TE engineers at the MotoVentures rider training facility in Anza, California. The property sits about 3000 feet above sea level and features a variety of technical singletrack, moto jumps, rock sections and some wide-open sand washes. We eagerly jumped on the Beta in stock trim to get a good base setting for our back-to-back comparison before installing the SmartCarb.
After getting a good baseline, the TE crew helped us install the 36mm option for our carbureted Beta. The SmartCarb quickly replaces the OEM carb and accepts the stock throttle cable along with an optional connector for the throttle-position sensor, which is needed on the Beta due to the standard oil-injection system. We were feeling much smarter after some further education on the SmartCarb history during a quick 30-minute install. We were back out on the bike and ready to see if the SmartCarb could really outsmart these technical trails.
Each bike will have a recommended needle and you use the external adjuster that moves the needle up (richer) or down (leaner) for fine-tuning. From the first blip of the throttle, all our senses lit up with the improved responsiveness from the SmartCarb. We saw less smoke out the back, heard a crispier tone, and felt a stronger pull from down low. Like we said, the bike ran great with the standard Keihin but there was a noticeable improvement with the SmartCarb. The Beta felt torquier in the tight single track and was able to hop, jump, and skip over rocks with a quick twist of our right hand. Overall, this made it a lot easier to attack the tight stuff and gave us added confidence in the resilient power plant that could tow us around as we linked sections together. We did not have the opportunity to put the SmartCarb-equipped bike on the dyno to test the '10-percent increase in power' claim, but we were happy with the more important real-world performance we felt after multiple back-to-back comparisons over the next few months.
Equally as impressive, the SmartCarb ran exceptionally well at several different locations and altitudes. Once we used the external adjuster to get the setting set that first day, we did not feel the need to change it regardless of the changing altitude, temperature or weather conditions. The only complaint we had was that the Beta has a check-engine light that would come on sometimes and it took us a little while to realize it was not really causing any problems and the bike was running fine.
To test the claimed 30-percent increase in mileage, we did another back-to-back test and started with the SmartCarb back at the MotoVentures property. We set up a loop and with one gallon of fuel, rode laps until the bike came to a stop at 31.5 miles. We installed the Keihin, put a gallon in the tank and proceeded to do laps on the same loop. We had plenty of riding time to do some math in our head and figured that if the claim was correct, we would run out at around 22 miles. While the bike did keep running past 22 miles, we could see that the tank was about dry and it stopped at 24.7 miles, about 28-percent less distance. Not quite the claimed 30-percent increase but still significant. Extrapolating that to the 2.55-gallon tank, the SmartCarb will go about 80 miles while the stock Keihin will run dry at around 63 miles. That is a long walk if it leaves you that far from your truck or a big difference in pit-stop strategy for racing.
The Keihin line of carburetors have been refined for several years and, in our experience, superior to the Mikuni carburetors. So it is impressive that the SmartCarb can provide a lot of benefits over that proven product. To achieve better performance on the trail, (nearly) 30-percent increase in mileage, virtually eliminate the need for tuning for atmospheric conditions and provide a tool-free method for any necessary fine tuning makes this a great product. We only tested the SmartCarb on a 2020 Beta 300 RR but based on this experience, we feel that it would have similar results on any carbureted two-stroke, especially the last couple of years of KTMs that came with a Mikuni carburetor. We know that Cody Webb has chosen to use a SmartCarb on his factory-backed Sherco after testing it against the Keihin and Lectron. The suggested retail for the SmartCarb SC2 is $699 to $774 depending on your application.
Check out our video review here:
SmartCarb vs. Lectron: What's The Difference?
For this report, we tested the SmartCarb against the stock Keihin so we cannot say how it compares to the Lectron in action. If you do some research, you will find that the Lectron carburetor uses some similar technology, so people often ask how they compare. Both carbs use metering rods in lieu of jets and needles, and both manufacturers make similar claims in terms of performance, air density compensation, and ease of use. Interestingly, they were both designed by the same person. SmartCarb has an article on their website that explains the history of both carburetors and the differences in design, so we pulled highlights from that. You can read the complete article HERE.
The late William 'Red' Edmonston invented the Lectron carburetor after he first pioneered the metering rod carburetor concept with the Posa-Fuel and Lake Injector in 1967 and 1971, respectively. The Lectron came to market in 1974. Red sold Lectron to General Motors in 1978, and he continued to work on an evolution of that original design, and the SmartCarb came out in the early 2000s. Technology Elevated's Chief Technology Officer and Founder Corey Dyess had the privilege of working with Red during his final years and has led advanced development of the SmartCarb, winning multiple patents for feature improvements over time.
While the Lectron and SmartCarb share some design elements, there are several differences. Below are some of those differences:
- The Lectron uses a traditional round bore, while the SmartCarb uses a patented 'inverted egg' venturi shape to improve the velocity and fuel pickup.
- The SmartCarb uses no float-bowl venting. It instead uses a 'scoop/port' inside the venture to vent the carburetor, and this is how it compensates for atmospheric conditions. More air means more fuel pickup and vice versa. The Lectron still requires tuning of the power jet to compensate for elevation and large changes in temperature. The SmartCarb has just one external adjuster for fine tuning and an idle screw.
- The SmartCarb is a little easier to interchange with the stock Keihin and Mikuni carburetors. It uses the stock throttle cable and is the same end-to-end length, while the Lectron is 6mm longer and requires a different cable. The Lectron also does not offer a throttle position sensor (TPS), which is necessary for many bikes, including the Beta we used for testing.
- Because it has no external venting, the SmartCarb releases less evaporative emissions and will not leak fuel if the bike tips at an odd angle (this partially contributes to the improved fuel mileage).CN
Click here to read the Technology Elevated's SmartCarb SC2 article in the Cycle News Digital Edition Magazine.
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