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Post by bluegoatwoods on Feb 24, 2020 17:38:34 GMT -5
Yes...we'd heard that you'd gotten some rain over there. But I didn't pay much attention since I'd always been told that it rains 24/7/365 in the British Isles.
Really.....I had thought that that was just exaggeration.
But your pics make me wonder if my skepticism was justified. Maybe I ought to be more gullible?
Oh! Nice scooter, by the way. I wish they'd market those over here.
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Post by bluegoatwoods on Feb 24, 2020 14:05:47 GMT -5
It's a cool idea. How will you re-pack after using them? Carry a vacuum pump with you? I guess that makes sense.
It's too bad there were defects and less than promised delivery. But you're right: when packing light every little bit helps.
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Post by bluegoatwoods on Feb 24, 2020 13:53:52 GMT -5
I'll praise both the Metropolitan and the Chinese scooters. But I don't need to be too wordy about that since our administrator......90GTVert........said pretty much anything I might say a few answers back. So did others.
We have bot a Met and a few Chinese scooters. The Met is actually my wife's bike. But I've ridden it and worked on it quite a bit. It's a great machine. It has Quality. But I do think the price is a bit high.
I also have two Honda dealers within a reasonable distance. I've found that neither are very interested in really working on them. I tried the second one just before Christmas. I took two scoots........the other one being a Kymco......into there and asked for a pretty thorough 'evaluation' and maintenance. I said things like, "Imagine you were fixing up an old scooter for your teenage daughter. That's how thorough I want you to be". And, "I understand I'm not going to get out of this for the price of an oil change". The guy even acknowledged that last one. Nodding his head up and down.
Yet they still did a slap-dash job. I'm done with those guys. I'll only go back when I absolutely must. Or I'll give up on the bike.
The Honda is a beautiful machine. But I'd vote "Thumbs Down" on actually buying one.
From the sound of your riding style, I'd say you probably don't want a cheap Chinese scooter either. Though I love them, they need a master who's willing to work on them. You can count on component failures.
Maybe you ought to consider a Genuine Buddy or the equivalent Lance, Kymco and so on. They have a reputation that's just about as strong as Honda or Yamaha. And I think the Buddy lists at about $1600. I don't think it'll be far from that.
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Post by bluegoatwoods on Feb 18, 2020 20:40:43 GMT -5
It's such a bummer. I feel your pain. I was lucky enough to be given a back which actually doesn't trouble me all that often. But when it does......oooo...it hurts.
About 30 years ago now I had one episode while getting ready for work. I had a morning routine when just about to go out the door. I'd have my daughter........about a year or so old at that time.........lying by the foot of the bed. All dressed up and ready to go. With my car keys in my left hand I'd bend down and pick her up lying in my arms and we'd walk out the door and load up.
This time as I bent over to pick her up a pain that I'd never known before or since wrenched me very, very badly. It was so bad that I fell face forward right over my daughter. I did manage to catch myself with my elbows so that I didn't crush her. I don't recall her being bothered by this at all.
I do remember that I was not able to move at all without terrible pain. And the words that were going through my mind were, "Whatever you do.....don't lose the car keys!!!" Silly. I could have dropped those. They'd have been right in the middle of the bed. Easy enough to find.
I don't know what purpose this story has. But maybe it's worth a small laugh. I hope laughing doesn't hurt.
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Post by bluegoatwoods on Feb 6, 2020 20:25:06 GMT -5
I just stumbled upon this interesting webpage.
A brief rundown of some scooters from the old Soviet Union. This page itself seems to some sort of potpourri of odd stuff. But if you scroll down just a bit you'll find the Soviet scooters on the left side of the page.
Like the classic Lada automobile was really a copy of a Fiat sedan, these scoots are copies of other western scooters.
www.trussty.com/2013/11/the-classic-scooters-made-by-soviet.html#axzz6DE6W77Be
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Post by bluegoatwoods on Feb 3, 2020 19:01:20 GMT -5
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Post by bluegoatwoods on Feb 3, 2020 7:22:00 GMT -5
Acetone will remove super glue. Thanks. If a good, sharp tap doesn't do it, I'll try acetone.
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Post by bluegoatwoods on Feb 2, 2020 20:20:39 GMT -5
I can't claim to be any expert on some of the less known battery chemistries out there. I think I've heard of calcium batteries and that's the best I can do there.
But it's hard to see how a standard lead/acid battery wouldn't work if the alternator is putting out 13.5 to 14.5 Volts. That would seem to be enough to charge a lead/acid batt.
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Post by bluegoatwoods on Feb 2, 2020 20:15:10 GMT -5
The Peugeot is a good looking bike, isn't it? I think I'm getting a 'Lambretta vibe' from it.
I recall sometime about 1966 or 67 the older sister of a neighborhood kid rode around on a moped that looked a good deal like an early Honda Super Cub, with the exception that this one did have a set of pedals. I asked her what brand it was. Her first answer sounded to me like Poochie. I thought she was calling it 'a cute little dog'. And I figured she was blowing smoke in my face. Maybe we argued a bit, cause I think I remember her almost yelling at me "Poo-Joe!" And I guess I was convinced that she was serious since for many years I thought of that bike as a PUJO.
Eventually I came to recognize the French cycle/auto maker Peugeot and it all became clear. And ever since I've wondered how her Dad.......or whoever......got his hands on that bike since I feel pretty certain that Peugeot never marketed their two-wheel vehicles over here. But I lost track of that family about forty five years ago. Guess I'll never know the answer.
I have a cousin-by-marriage who's only a few years younger than I am and lives here locally. But he grew up in Wales. He came here when he married my wife's cousin after hitting adulthood. I ought to show him this thread. He might even recognize some of the localities you're showing us. There's no telling just how close he was to you geographically. But Wales isn't all that big.
I'll see if he recognizes your village, at least. Cellen, right?
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Post by bluegoatwoods on Feb 2, 2020 17:52:06 GMT -5
I'm another one who came up in the 1960s. So my nostalgia goes back just a bit further into the past. My real passion is pinball.
For that matter, I strongly prefer old electro-mechanical over the later solid-state machines. The bells, thumps and clicks are music to my ears. I kinda dislike a pinball machine that plays music or has recorded voice speaking. Though I'll admit that many solid-state machines are still fun to play. And many electro-mechanicals are actually turkeys as far as play is concerned. But the good ones? Heaven on earth!
I recall spotting Space Invaders in bars among the pinball machines perhaps as early as 1978. 79 is more likely. I think it wasn't until about the time that Pac Man came around before I'd even try a video game. And I had to admit that Space Invaders was pretty cool. But I had looked down my nose at them for the simple reason that I felt ripped off over the fact that there was no chance at all to win a free game. I figured if they didn't need me any more than that, then I didn't need them at all.
In the 1982-83 range I was playing Galaga and Galaxian a bit. But that about finished the coin operated games for me. At about that time I played a bit on friend's Atari systems. But those graphics were so primitive and the joystick was so uncomfortable that I never went far with that.
Since then I just haven't been much of a gamer. Though I'd gladly play pinball over and over if I could only find a machine.
I do have, though, a working Game Cube in order to play Mario Kart Double Dash. I was a bit less impressed with Mario fo Wii and I really didn't like Mario Kart 8 very much at all. So I bought a re-conditioned Game Cube and a Double Dash disk. I also bought a Gottlied Pinball collection for Game Cube. But I found that the Game Cube controls simply don't play pinball very well at all.
Then it occurred to me that I should have bought a Wii and then I could play both Double Dash and MK Wii. Plus the Wii controls might play pinball better. What a dummy!!!
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Post by bluegoatwoods on Feb 2, 2020 17:30:01 GMT -5
Among other things I've been working on e-biking my grand-daughter's manual bicycle. I can do that in the basement, at least.
A few of these photos contain captions that state things that are very obvious. It's not that I'm talking down to this community. It's just that I first shared this 'build thread' with my Mother, siblings, a few cousins and such. And they're even more 'noob' than I am at this. They won't be familiar with these components at all. I'll bet you folks are more likely to have some familiarity with them.
Unfortunately I forgot to get pics of the process of installing the PAS (pedal assist) components. This involves removing the left side crank arm, attaching a ring with some sort of sensor to the bottom bracket and adding another ring with magnets to the spindle. Then re-attach the crank arm. I ended up making an error on that, too. I'll get back to that later.
I bought this battery three or four years ago for an e-bike that I was going to build for myself. But I never did manage to make that bike work properly and gave up on it.
The battery was made for a DIY'er. It had no case of any kind. It was a batch of LiPO4 cells with a bit of electronics for balancing charge and discharge wrapped in shrink-wrap. I found that an ammo can was just right for this job. Using some 1x2 lumber as shims in the corners, the battery fits right in. It's surrounded by good, tough steel with an air gap of about 3/4 inch. It's not quite air-tight since I had to drill a hole for cable to pass through. But it's secure.
Shortly after all of this I bought my grand-daughter one of these:
I'll bet most of you have seen these before. They're really just toys meant to allow a six or seven year old to ride up and down their own block a little bit. They are just hard-tailed, hard-forked children's bicycles lacking a crank and pedal chain drive. The body panels make them look like a scooter. But they're not.
Where the bottom bracket and crank would be, there is mounted a small electric motor that drives the rear wheel via a teeny-tiny chain. Quite a pain to replace, I might add. And I've done it because those chains ain't much. Anyway........just above that is three small sealed lead-acid batteries. And above that is a small seat bucket with seat, scooter style.
Those three SLA batteries were weakening before one season was over. And they never had enough range anyway. We often take rides of 12 to 15 miles including some hills and carrying groceries. So that little scoot needed something more and this battery was just the ticket.
The ammo can battery fit in the space but it took up all the space of the original batteries plus the seat bucket. The top of the can sat just about where the seat fit originally. So I beefed up the battery tray just a bit and lined it with springs. I cut them to about 1 1/2 inches. The springs were rated at one inch compression under 50 lbs of load. I don't remember just how many springs I put in there. But it was as many as I could fit. Probably 12 to 15. Then I mounted a bicycle seat onto the top of the ammo can.
Particularly from the side it looked like some European scoot with a solo seat. It actually turned out looking good. And my grand-daughter even got some seat suspension out of the deal. The travel wasn't much. But a little is better than none. And I watched the performance. The seat would compress a bit when she sat down. But I didn't hear much......if any......bottoming out when riding. Maybe there was some. But not enough to be obvious. Being a kid, of course, she might not even notice the difference. She didn't seem to. But I sure would notice.
It really did work just fine. And she's been able to go cross-country with us. But now she's nine years old and outgrowing that tiny scooter. I managed to take it on test runs of about 50 feet or so a few times. Imagine a circus bear on a tiny little bicycle. Those are just about the right proportions. So I never got to really experience that bike. But it served her well for a few years. She has two little brothers who are not yet ready to ride themselves. But this sort of 'scoot' might just be the way we train them. For now they ride in their mother's trailer. It's getting to be a tight fit. And they raise Hell, too. But that's another story.
So the mounted bicycle seat can come off now. I just haven't bothered with that yet. And I've decided that the battery must ride in a cargo trailer. I don't want that much weight high up above her rear tire. She can be a bit reckless. No sense in degrading the handling of the bike. It'll mean that she almost can't do without the trailer. My children and she........wife, too........simply will not ride without some assistance. But that's okay. She'll have plenty of cargo to carry anyway.
When I captioned these pics the bike was still in the basement just finishing up. Today the weather was really pretty nice. I even managed to get short rides in on two scooters. I also brought this new e-bike up out of the basement and tried it out.
It's not as powerful as the bigger bikes that we grown-ups are riding. But that's fine. I don't want to give a nine year old child too much power anyway. You can picture the things that might happen.
But when my daughter and I tried the bike out in the basement under no load we found that the PAS didn't seem to work at all. A little while ago I had her lift the motor wheel up off the ground while I pedaled the bike backwards. And the PAS fired right up. So I clearly mounted the receiving ring backwards.
Now I fastened it on using about a dozen drops of super glue. So I hope I can get it off without destroying it. On the other hand, my grand-daughter is not likely to pay any attention to the PAS anyway. So I guess I could just neutralize it if I can't actually fix it.
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Post by bluegoatwoods on Feb 1, 2020 21:39:20 GMT -5
Welcome aboard. It's a good forum.
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Post by bluegoatwoods on Feb 1, 2020 21:37:21 GMT -5
It's a pity so many people are in such a darned hurry and such a mental fog at the same time, isn't it?[
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Post by bluegoatwoods on Feb 1, 2020 21:22:54 GMT -5
My Icebear Bullet 150 seems to go through throttle cables quickly. They'll rust, fray, stick and then snap just downstream from the wide 90 deg turn at the grip. Lubing it....even fairly frequently.....doesn't seem to help.
Last time around I didn't even bother running the new cable under the body panels. I just looped it down the front of th leg shields and under the scooter.
I'll probably replace them once a year for the life of the bike.
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Post by bluegoatwoods on Feb 1, 2020 21:09:16 GMT -5
You're commuting on it in Michigan in January? You've got guts.
Nice looking scoot, too.
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