Had an Intervention with shop-teacher...

"Mercedes Streeter" (smart) 05/20/2018 at 14:51 • Filed to: Two Wheels Good, Rally

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He’s broken the chains that forever bound me...

...To collecting just smarts by taking me out on my first actual motorcycle riding experience! It was raining and we dominated the local area with scooters of fury. Oh my gosh, this is definitely one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. Two wheels good is hilariously fun!

Perhaps conceived out of tiredness, we both came up with an idea for this year’s late summer/fall Gambler 500: A scooter gang!

This is bad.

I’m slowly beginning to realize that my smart’s offroad build is sort of indefinitely on hold. I *could* have finished it three times this year, but instead I got a fourth smart, a motorcycle, and now a condo. So I’ll let my goal to have a non-offroading thing into an offroader transfer into two wheels!

My idea is to take a cheap 150cc Chinese scooter, strip off all of its body panels, then “Mad Max” it with ridiculous mods using random junk from my failed smart car mods over the years.

*Goes to Craigslist, searches for “Tao Tao”; refines search to less than $500.*

It’ll have LED spotlights, I’ll probably try to get some sort of saddle on there, then for Gambler 500 flair I’ll paint something a silly colour (wheels?) and slap on some RGB lights. Because why not? If Razer has taught me anything, you have to RGB ALL THE THINGS! I’ll then try to source knobby scooter tyres because you know, offroad and all that.

Side note: Next month I’m upgrading my storage unit from a 10x20 to a 15x30. The larger unit is equidistant from my condo (15 miles), however it’s significantly cheaper and the form factor will allow indoor parking for (all at the same time):

- Six smarts
And...
- However many motorcycles I can line 30 feet of wall with.

Decay buys too many beaters > Mercedes Streeter 05/20/2018 at 15:01

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Two wheels good! A warning though from one hoarder of like things to another hoarder of like things. You can fit many many motorcycles in a very small space. People also start to look at you real funny once the number of motorcycles approaches 8 :p

LOREM IPSUM > Mercedes Streeter 05/20/2018 at 15:03

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Entered for your consideration:

Smart Trike.

vicali > Mercedes Streeter 05/20/2018 at 15:13

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You need a ct90 stat!

farscythe - makin da cawfee! > Mercedes Streeter 05/20/2018 at 15:16

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ill pop in with a one time only tip (coz my opinionated ass never tells people what to do)

get a bandit

best bike that didnt kill me i ever had

Mercedes Streeter > Decay buys too many beaters 05/20/2018 at 15:17

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Two wheels are awesomely good! Right, so I’ll have my first bike, Mad Max scooter, and hopefully a Grom one day!

shop-teacher > Mercedes Streeter 05/20/2018 at 15:19

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I’m glad you enjoyed it :)

A couple search tips: don’t confine yourself to Tao Tao. There are several similar genaric Chinese scooters. Many people simply list them as “scooter”

Which is why I just search “scooter”

Also, for some reason FB Marketplace has WAY more cheap Chinese scootersthan CL.

Decay buys too many beaters > Mercedes Streeter 05/20/2018 at 15:25

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Yes on the Grom! I probably ride mine more often than anything else in my collection, especially into the city (where I used to dread going). As for scooter gangs... I might know a little about that also (just not of the off road variety)

WilliamsSW > Mercedes Streeter 05/20/2018 at 15:41

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Sounds like you had a blast, that’s awesome!

But if you start towing Uhaul trailers with a 150 cc Chinese scooter, we’re gonna have to reintervene, ok?

Have fun!

Kiltedpadre > Mercedes Streeter 05/20/2018 at 17:10

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While I love the idea of an off-road scooter (and have every intention of looking into it myself). I feel like we both also need something I saw at a local C&C.

Mercedes Streeter > Kiltedpadre 05/20/2018 at 17:29

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Why buy a Ruckus when you can build your own with fun sketchy parts? :D

Mercedes Streeter > WilliamsSW 05/20/2018 at 17:31

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*Takes note*

“Tow trailers with a Japanese scooter. They’ll do a for real intervention if I do it in a Chinese one.”

WilliamsSW > Mercedes Streeter 05/20/2018 at 17:36

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LOL I think any 150 cc scooter would qualify- - using the cheapest possible scooter just adds more justification. :) :) :)

shop-teacher > Mercedes Streeter 05/20/2018 at 20:08

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There’s a YouTube video of someone towing a small boat with a scooter. The Gambler 500-Illinois organizer guaranteed a trophy to anyone who did that ... Sooooooo .....

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > Mercedes Streeter 05/20/2018 at 21:50

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Did he take you out on his own two scoots? :)

AdverseMartyr > Mercedes Streeter 05/21/2018 at 00:53

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How tall is the wall?

Mercedes Streeter > AdverseMartyr 05/21/2018 at 01:04

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I’m not really sure lol. Certainly tall enough to fit a SUV, probably tall enough to fit a RV.

AdverseMartyr > Mercedes Streeter 05/21/2018 at 03:58

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So at least 2-3 levels of bikes. If you line the wall with the bikes perpendicular to the wall, I bet you could fit at least 15 per level if you alternate front, back front back, Maybe even 20 if you don’t leave much space in between. My guess is you could store 50 bikes on that wall.