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Post by eclark5483 on May 21, 2017 19:51:35 GMT -5
So traded a kid for my blue TaoTao ATM50-A1 for his 87 Iowa Edition Spree and $500. Now I own 3 Sprees!! This one I plan on using for my ISU Cyclones version of the Iowa Spree. It's getting a swap to a variated AF05E engine with all the goodies. Hoping for 60mph+ out of it by the time I finish. Lots of work needs to be done to the body and plastics. The guys at SS Collision & Cycleworks will have their work cut out for them when I bring this beauty up to them. These are the official "BEFORE" images before I dismantle it into a zillion pieces and start the restore process.       And this is an image of the paint scheme I will tentatively be using on it for the ISU Cyclones theme.  |
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Post by culcune on May 21, 2017 23:43:42 GMT -5
Back in '86, I obtained my car driver's license. I could borrow my parents' car to drive. My friend was allowed to get his permit; his parents didn't want him in a car because he was rebellious. However since both of us were in high school, we needed to get to our respective high schools, and his parents gave him a black '86 Spree California edition (just kidding about the edition--it was a Spree and it was in California) to get around on. Even though I could drive, when I rode his Spree, I could totally see how a scooter was pretty much the most basic form of transportation freedom; for a few years prior, both of us were on bicycles, and he (and the rest of our mutual friends) were way uphill from where I lived. BIG hills. In the San Fernando Valley (outskirts of L.A.) it got up to or over 100 F for most of the summer, and bikes got old, quick! Fast forward a couple years, and like I said, his Spree could get him anywhere on the street, and the times he would come over, or I drove up to his house, and I got to ride his bike, it was two-wheeled heaven (partly because no one else had a motorcycle with a bigger engine, so 50cc of two-stroke fury was where I got to experience my first taste of a two-wheeler. Fast forward to a couple years ago, 2015; another friend (I haven't been in contact with my friend with the Spree for over 25 years or so) becomes the distributor for TGB scooters. I got to try out both the Key West and the X Race (I posted a crappy video of me riding the Key West in the video/photo section), and all those fond Spree memories came back to me. Sorry to drag you down memory lane, but it is partly your fault for posting a photo of what looks like a stock Spree (my friend's was black)  |
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Post by eclark5483 on May 22, 2017 1:17:35 GMT -5
His more then likely looked like this one, minus the "IOWA" emblems, and was probably 5-7mph faster then what an Iowa Edition can do. Notice the turn signals are different, and also the lack of glovebox. 84-86' Sprees looked like the one below, 87's had a change in turn signals, glovebox, and a different speedometer cluster. The 87' Iowa Edition is the rarest of the Spree's. The way I saw it, by me trading that kid for a brand new TaoTao, I am inevitably saving this vintage scooter from a typical fate by a young teen with a scoot who will go out and rod the piss out of it and beat the hell out of it and send it to the boneyard. That to me, would be nothing but a god damn shame for one of these scooters which, yes... does bring back all kinds of nostalgia. This one is too damn rare to beat up, I'm a collector of scooters, not a scooter rider. I'd rather ride my Indian. After the restoration of this one, I plan on getting 87' vintage plates issued, and putting it under a tarp for the next generation.  |
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Post by aeroxbud on May 22, 2017 2:22:12 GMT -5
You keep finding these beauties. Another nice find.
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Post by pinkscoot on May 22, 2017 15:38:35 GMT -5
I understand your need to restore old scoots and keep them around for another generation.
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Post by culcune on May 23, 2017 11:43:38 GMT -5
My friend's Spree, from what I remember, looked EXACTLY like the photo (yes, minus the 'Iowa' sticker  ). I don't remember the turn signals and whatnot. I do remember riding his scooter around his parents' and my parents' pool in the backyard (yes, when our respective parents weren't home ) and if you saw the yards, would understand my saying that it was almost surreal being able to run a street registered vehicle in either yard (big yards, but not THAT big). He rode his in his parents' house on the first floor just for the heck of it, but he couldn't quite make the turn into the kitchen  . The only reason he got caught wasn't because he was reckless and broke anything, but because his dad noticed the two-stroke smell in the air--it was a little too strong, LOL. He eventually got it taken away for good because he was kind of rebellious and the new-fangled 'tough-love' techniques emerging in the 80s' weren't working for him. He did remember seeing the scooter at his grandmother's home in her garage, but never got it back  |
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Post by jbjhillbilly on May 24, 2017 0:53:34 GMT -5
I just finished stripping a newly "saved" Spree. Have of all these front plastics, front signals, etc. Don't know about the engine yet, but if there's anything you're looking for, let me know (trying to fund two Elite 150 builds). |
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Post by eclark5483 on May 24, 2017 2:49:23 GMT -5
Nope, I have EVERYTHING I need, including a spare engine (actually I have an entire spare Spree, but I'm doing an engine swap so I don't even need that, in fact, it's looking like after I am done, I will have 2 spare engines that I'll probably sell plus many other rare parts like a glovebox for the 84-86' Spree.
This new one is up at the bike shop right now having the plastics restored. The 87' has different side panels then 84-86 Sprees so it is imperative that I restore the plastics I have now rather then try and hunt down parts.
Figured I'd tackle the plastic restoration and painting now, and then work on the engine swap later this year. Gonna be pretty bad ass by the time I'm done.
Not that I am bragging, but I am probably the only person who has been successful in making a stock Spree engine capable of running 52mph wide open throttle until it runs out of gas.
This took me an entire summer of dyno testing with different setup configurations, lots of note taking and about $3,000 to perfect it.
Here is a video of the finished product:
And here is a video showing what I had achieved with the engine on the dyno... almost 4HP, Max RPM is a bit over 11,000!!
My Yellow and Black "Iowa Hawkeyes" Spree is a complete bad ass, no question about it. I plan on pushing this new "Iowa State Cyclones" one even further then the last one.
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Post by jbjhillbilly on May 24, 2017 15:11:27 GMT -5
That's awesome!
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Post by eclark5483 on Jun 3, 2017 2:44:57 GMT -5
Just bought these for the ISU Cyclones transformation.  |
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). I don't remember the turn signals and whatnot. I do remember riding his scooter around his parents' and my parents' pool in the backyard (yes, when our respective parents weren't home 
. The only reason he got caught wasn't because he was reckless and broke anything, but because his dad noticed the two-stroke smell in the air--it was a little too strong, LOL. He eventually got it taken away for good because he was kind of rebellious and the new-fangled 'tough-love' techniques emerging in the 80s' weren't working for him. He did remember seeing the scooter at his grandmother's home in her garage, but never got it back 
