Post by dachurchpcguy on Jul 7, 2016 4:14:08 GMT -5
I've been riding motorcycles since the early 1970s, so when my daughter decided to buy a scooter I took her to all the local dealers. Long story short, she ended up with a new pink Taotao ATM-50. It fit her budget and her size. Oh, that's the end of the story ...
When she was young we used to ride bikes together, so I decided to buy one as well. I'm cheap, er frugal, so I checked out the ads on craigslist. I figured I'd buy one for myself and maybe one for my wife and son to share. The first scooter I picked up was a blue Linhai 49cc scooter with only 85 miles on it for $300. The second was a 2015 black Taotao ATM-50 with an 80cc upgrade for $240. Neither bike was in running condition, but I figured I could fix them.
After talking to the dealer where my daughter bought her scooter we came to an agreement: I would create a website for them and they would fix my bikes! Yeah, a scooter without a website, weird. I started work on the website and dropped off my bikes. While they were working on them I decided to paint the body panels to make them more visible. I'll post a thread on this later.
The Taotao is running, but I managed to crack the right crankcase frame mount by dropping it off the center stand while sitting on it. I didn't notice it and took it down the road. The cracked mount caused the tire to contact the frame, damage the sidewall, and blow out the tire. I did a controlled dump of the bike and rolled onto the grass, not a scratch on me, but my custom paint doesn't look as nice on the right side.
The Linhai still isn't running, something about pinging and lack of spark. I may run out of patience and fix it myself.
But wait, there's more
During my initial search I found a guy selling hybrid mopeds, gas/electric. Low miles, but they had been sitting for years. He wanted around $500 each, I offered $325 for one, he stopped replying to my texts. Eventually his price started to come down, until it was lower than what I offered. I popped up to see them and ended up buying four bikes in varying states of disassembly, two parts bikes, and boxes of body panels. Another thread on this will be coming, these bikes are interesting.
Eventually my garage will contain my daughter's bike, my 80cc Taotao, and two of the hybrids. I'm going to sell the rest through the dealer.
So, that's my weird intro post.
When she was young we used to ride bikes together, so I decided to buy one as well. I'm cheap, er frugal, so I checked out the ads on craigslist. I figured I'd buy one for myself and maybe one for my wife and son to share. The first scooter I picked up was a blue Linhai 49cc scooter with only 85 miles on it for $300. The second was a 2015 black Taotao ATM-50 with an 80cc upgrade for $240. Neither bike was in running condition, but I figured I could fix them.
After talking to the dealer where my daughter bought her scooter we came to an agreement: I would create a website for them and they would fix my bikes! Yeah, a scooter without a website, weird. I started work on the website and dropped off my bikes. While they were working on them I decided to paint the body panels to make them more visible. I'll post a thread on this later.
The Taotao is running, but I managed to crack the right crankcase frame mount by dropping it off the center stand while sitting on it. I didn't notice it and took it down the road. The cracked mount caused the tire to contact the frame, damage the sidewall, and blow out the tire. I did a controlled dump of the bike and rolled onto the grass, not a scratch on me, but my custom paint doesn't look as nice on the right side.
The Linhai still isn't running, something about pinging and lack of spark. I may run out of patience and fix it myself.
But wait, there's more
During my initial search I found a guy selling hybrid mopeds, gas/electric. Low miles, but they had been sitting for years. He wanted around $500 each, I offered $325 for one, he stopped replying to my texts. Eventually his price started to come down, until it was lower than what I offered. I popped up to see them and ended up buying four bikes in varying states of disassembly, two parts bikes, and boxes of body panels. Another thread on this will be coming, these bikes are interesting.
Eventually my garage will contain my daughter's bike, my 80cc Taotao, and two of the hybrids. I'm going to sell the rest through the dealer.
So, that's my weird intro post.
That was one heck of an intro!
