My $0 Electric Dirt Bike is back on the road! (Update: busted my ass trying to do a wheelie.)

"AC2 - The Now 15 Year Old Jalop" (ac-2-shoes)
08/18/2019 at 15:14 • Filed to: None

I turned 15 3 days ago. To celebrate, I spent the day fixing my Razor MX500 electric dirt bike. As some of you may know, I picked this thing up free from a friend who was going to throw it away after moving to Florida. Well, a couple of months ago, the motor blew up and the batteries burnt out, and I thought that was the end of that bike. I decided instead to fix it, so I bought some bigger batteries and a used motor from an MX650., and now the damn thing is back on the road! Now it’s time to paint

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*Update*: just when I thought everything was fine in the world of motorcycles, today I tried to pull off a wheelie, and I managed to do it. Then I tried to do another one, that didn’t end so well. I ended up flat on my ass. So now I managed to break a piece of the plastic body on the bike

DISCUSSION (14)

E90M3 > AC2 - The Now 15 Year Old Jalop
08/17/2019 at 21:10

Definitely better than what I was doing vehicle wise at 15.

AC2 - The Now 15 Year Old Jalop > E90M3
08/17/2019 at 21:13

Alright, you’ve got my interest, what were you doing?

E90M3 > AC2 - The Now 15 Year Old Jalop
08/17/2019 at 21:23

Well, my parents had a 2002 Buick Regal and a 2001 Oldsmobile Silhouette. They were both shit. That’s all I could drive, this is why I said you’re doing better vehicle wise when I was 15. It took me until I was 24 to get an interesting vehicle.

AC2 - The Now 15 Year Old Jalop > E90M3
08/17/2019 at 21:42

Kinja'd!!!

I’m currently holding my funds together so that I can go buy the cheapest pre-1998 911 as a first car.

E90M3 > AC2 - The Now 15 Year Old Jalop
08/17/2019 at 21:59

That’s a pretty big ambition .

RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars > AC2 - The Now 15 Year Old Jalop
08/17/2019 at 22:18

The first car I drove was a 1993 Dodge Caravan SE

Kinja'd!!!

which was the family van. I learned to drive on it in the subdivision before I got my license...I still miss that van a lot. Since I got my license, we had a 1993 Chevy Cavalier V6 (that I don’t even have any photos of) and a 2000 Honda Civic sedan.

Kinja'd!!!

The Cavalier was decent when it was working, but it liked to cause trouble a lot. The Civic was dead reliable until the Nova Scotian salt air and salty winter roads rusted it to death.

My first personal car I bought with my own money was my 2002 Subaru Impreza 2.5TS wagon nicknamed ‘Beastie’...

Kinja'd!!!

I really miss that car as nothing could stop it in the winter. It was in pretty good shape although SLIGHTLY on the sketch side when I bought it. Had it for 5 years before I bought my current 2009 Accent hatch. :)

Kinja'd!!!

A word of friendly advice! As awesome as that 911 would be, keep in mind that the maintenance costs will not be cheap for a first car (unless you somehow get a really good paying job at 16, which is unlikely)...sure, Porsches are surprisingly reliable, but you’re still talking about a minimum (if 1998) 21-year-old rear-engined foreign sports car, and, if you get the CHEAPEST one out there, it’s probably going to have been ragged within an inch of its life and put away wet. If you plan on doing the maintenance/repairs on it yourself, keep in mind it won’t be as near as easy to work on as a ‘regular’ car and if you are paying a shop to work on it for you, keep in mind most local ‘mom and pop’ shops will PROBABLY have barely worked on anything as unique, so can you be sure they won’t make mistakes/cut corners due to that inexperience? Porsche dealership maintenance would cost an arm and a leg...

My apologies, as I am not trying to be a Debbie Downer and am not saying don’t chase your dreams, just trying to put things in perspective using the wisdom of older age. :)

I’m very much of the proponent of ‘get anything reliable to gain experience with’ for a first car. All cars have character and personality if we let them and whatever you buy, it is YOUR car...YOURS that you worked hard to earn, that you toiled to save for. Learn to love whatever that car is for what it is. I’m not saying go buy a Nissan Versa with an automatic or something that mundane, but a small cheap reliable Korean or Japanese sedan or hatchback...maybe with a Manual if you can find it, or (depending what it is) a decently reliable American domestic or some such would make far more sense to gain driving skills for a year or two. You can learn to wrench on it, mod it if you’d like, and save up money from the fact it won’t be as costly/less expensive to maintain as the 911 would be. Performance cars are awesome, but slow-car-fast can be fun too! ;) By the time you are older, wiser, more experienced and have the funds to have a second ‘fun’ car, you’ll be set. :)

I’ve only managed to save up enough money to import a FIAT 126p from Poland in the last year...scrimping and saving for the last 7 years here and there. I have the money I need for the whole process now, but I am still holding off, as much as I might WANT TO GET IT RIGHT TEH F*** NOW!!!111oneoneone because my life, living and job situation wouldn’t be the best match for having a second project car yet.

Cars are awesome and are likely the second most expensive thing most of us will own in our lifetimes after a house, but patience and thinking things through will help you achieve your automotive dreams as opposed to diving in head-first into a decision you might regret, as awesome as it would be. Please don’t take the above as any affront to your thoughts, I’m just passing along my $0.02! :)

AC2 - The Now 15 Year Old Jalop > RallyDarkstrike - Fan of 2-cyl FIATs, Eastern Bloc & Kei cars
08/18/2019 at 00:07

I actually learned to (illegally) drive on a 2008 Civic that me and my dad rebuilt. I also appreciate your 2 cents, and Id like to offer an explanation: I already have a “ good” paying job. I have my own “business” where I sell, restore, and customize shoes. You’d be surprised how much value is in that

AC2 - The Now 15 Year Old Jalop > E90M3
08/18/2019 at 00:09

Tbh it’s probably not going to happen. Im hoping that I can at least buy an STi

pip bip - choose Corrour > AC2 - The Now 15 Year Old Jalop
08/18/2019 at 03:28

happy birthday

AC2 - The Now 15 Year Old Jalop > pip bip - choose Corrour
08/18/2019 at 04:30

Thnx

jimz > AC2 - The Now 15 Year Old Jalop
08/18/2019 at 15:20

at least you didn’t fracture your tailbone.

I slipped getting out of a Durango ~15 years ago and landed the same way. now I have recurring lower back pain which occasionally shoots down through my hips.

AC2 - The Now 15 Year Old Jalop > jimz
08/18/2019 at 18:17

Jesus. Was the Durango lifted?

TheRealBicycleBuck > E90M3
08/18/2019 at 21:43

I was working a job to pay for the repairs to a motorcycle I crashed. It didn’t even belong to me.

StndIbnz, Drives a MSRT8 > AC2 - The Now 15 Year Old Jalop
08/19/2019 at 09:07

Not bad! When I was 14 I got a Go-Ped, was doing wheelies on that thing with my friends. Kind of hard on a scooter, but still fun!