American Scooter I've Never Even Heard Of

[stepthrutuner]

I'm 60 y.o. and have never even heard of these much less seen one. They remind me of present day delivery scooters. Look at the bottom row of pictures (scroll to bottom of picture group) and see if you can figure out what the red hand lever bolted to the floor back by the engine is for.

cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=280730731534+&viewitem=

Here's a bit more on 'em.

bikeengines.org/motoscoot/gallery/

Edit:

I guess that's the brake lever. LOL The throttle is a thumb unit which is the lever on the right handle bar.

Reedit:

That sucker has a disc brake on the back (probably retrofitted).

[90GTVert]

Looks like a minibike basically with just a little different setup. My guess is the lever is a choke.

[brandonscoot]

lol awesome! its all classic style. the lever looks like a bicycle brake lever... notice there are no brakes on the bars, i bet thats what it does? foot brake? cuz they didnt have a long enough cable to make it to the h bars. lol

[brandonscoot]

haha notice the mini springer style front suspension it has too. and i see a small lever under the seat directly and one on the floor, maybe ones brake and the seat one is choke... or fuel?

[reveeen]

These, Cushman scooters ( www.hobbytech.com/ ) , projects out of Popular Mechanics..... it's really hard to actually picture folks driving (or wanting to drive?) these things.

[stepthrutuner]

Yeah it's pretty clear that is a jury rigged braking system. :scared: In the sixth picture from the bottom the path of the cable can pretty well be traced to the back disc brake. Wow, a 70 year old scooter from the States. :jaw:

[jmkjr72]

thats riged beyond belife it should have had a band style brake operated by a foot lever
scooter.lst1090.org/index.htm

there were tons of scooters made in the usa before the 70s

scooter.lst1090.org/index.htm

[stepthrutuner]

From that site I've found that a lot of scooters were made here in the late 30s into the fifties. Some were really cool as here:

[Reign]

Wow, an Indian scooter in that great of condition. That thing's gotta be worth some serious :2cents: I know Indian motorcycles from the 1920's are worth a TON.

[jmkjr72]

i love that site
and to think at one time the us was the top dog for makeing scoots
now we have a couple of odd shops that make retro scoots
cushmans mustangs and doddls bugs but that about all i can think of that actualy make the scoots and not import them

[stepthrutuner]

If times get really bad here you never know what might come back....

[2strokd]

I know the scooter population keeps growing around here. Just the season i know of 3 brand new scoots bought by friends.


That link is sweet, thanks for sharing jmk !