by "Decay buys too many beaters" (decay)
Published 09/06/2017 at 16:24
by "Decay buys too many beaters" (decay)
Published 09/06/2017 at 16:24
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STARS: 6
Ever have one of those days where you wake up and decide to do something you know is stupid? I had one of those days on Saturday when I called a few of my riding buddies with “Hey, I’ve got nothing going on. Let’s take the 50cc bikes to the coast” After assuring them multiple times that I was serious, we met up, set our GPS to “bicycle mode” and “avoid freeways” and set out.
This was the route we ended up taking, lots of snakey tarmac well off the normal routes to the coast (especially good considering the holiday weekend)
Right off the bat the other guy on a ruckus was having CVT issues. It didn’t seem to want to downshift, so on uphills he was outside the massive 3.5hp powerband, and limited to under 30mph. Mine did ok, averaging about 35 uphill, but with waiting we ended up taking just shy of 4 hours to get to the coast. It did not help that the ride out mas more uphill than down.
We hung around in the town for a few hours, grabbed some food, explored a bit, and then headed back along the same route for home. This way went much faster, averaging about 40 or so MPH. On the long twisty downhill sections we were actually able to lose cars most of the time (don’t worry, we were very cognizant of traffic and pulled over whenever we saw a car approaching quickly). We ended up getting back tpo the city in about 3.5 hours. Overall, really glad I did it, the bike handles the abuse extremely well (7 hours of WOT rev limiter, did not burn a drop of oil), though that much seat time is a bit much on a machine with questionable ergonomics and about an inch of suspension travel.
Took a shitty vertical video of the last stretch of road heading back in to town.
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"Manny05x" (Manny05x)
09/06/2017 at 16:46, STARS: 1
This is nuts hahaha looks fun brother.
"TheHondaBro" (wwaveform)
09/06/2017 at 16:50, STARS: 1
Astoria is a really cool place. I stopped there on a roadtrip to the Oregon dunes one time.
"Decay buys too many beaters" (decay)
09/06/2017 at 16:56, STARS: 1
It is usually the coast town that everyone forgets about in favor of the shiny ones down south. However this weekend, with all the wildfires it was more crowded than I’d ever seen it!
"Decay buys too many beaters" (decay)
09/06/2017 at 16:57, STARS: 1
It was a blast! Not sure I’d do it again on a 50, but definitely not regretting it
"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
09/06/2017 at 18:00, STARS: 2
Hahahaha! You guys are nuts!
I’m also jealous :)
"Decay buys too many beaters" (decay)
09/06/2017 at 18:15, STARS: 2
A big part of the fun is certainly bragging about doing it to some of my motorcycle friends ;)
"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
09/06/2017 at 22:25, STARS: 1
That makes sense. I sent a link to this to a buddy of mine who lurks here occasionally. I got him to impulse buy an old Zuma from a race mechanic while we were at the IndyCar race at Road America this year. Now he’s completely hooked. He wants to ride the scooters up there next year, about the same distance you guys rode on this trip.
"Decay buys too many beaters" (decay)
09/06/2017 at 22:35, STARS: 0
Do it! As long as you pick the right roads it’s a blast. We only had a few miles where we were on a major road and heavily underpowered, but it was two lanes so didn’t really cause a problem.
I love the old Zumas, there is a local shop here that specializes in them and ruckuses. Total hooligans, all of them. They ride 12 o clock wheelies for miles and miles on their shop 2 stroke Zumas.
"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
09/07/2017 at 06:51, STARS: 1
I’m sure he’ll talk me into it. I’m too big to go anywhere on a 50, but my Kymco Super 8 150 does me quite nicely.
The Zuma he got is an ‘03 that had under 900 miles on it. It spent its whole life as a pit scooter and had once come loose in the transporter. It’s beat up, and the battery was dead, but the engine kicked over instantly. One quick test ride, and my buddy was sold.
He’s been fixing it up bit by bit, tightening up the loose panels and such, fixing the wiring, etc. He’s already got the mileage over 1200 too.
I’d like to build a GY6 swapped Ruckus that looks stock.
"pip bip - choose Corrour" (hhgttg69)
09/07/2017 at 07:46, STARS: 0
great idea
"Decay buys too many beaters" (decay)
09/07/2017 at 12:22, STARS: 0
I’m really torn on the GY6 swap. On one hand I can see how more power in the ruck would be fun, and the aftermarket support for the GY6 is fantastic. On the other, I see reliability for most people who swap to a GY6 drop significantly from that of the GET. I mean, my stock GET motor has done 7000 miles with what appears to me minimal/no maintenance and it still hit 43 on a flat.
If anything I’d probably do a Zuma 125 swap if it was my money.
"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
09/07/2017 at 12:47, STARS: 0
Oh man, that would be expensive, but really cool!