My Baby

[Ghastly]

She arrived this afternoon and I took her on her maiden voyage to my friend (and SNB10 guitarist) Pete's place and then to my other friend (and SNB10 bassist) Monica's place. It did not like the very steep hills near where Pete lived. It loved coasting down them, but not going up and I actually had to pedal it to help it up the hills (they're very steep). I don't think the battery was fully charged either. All in all I really love this little beastie.

Another scooter-bike driver pulled up beside me at a stop light and it was like an instant comaradarie and we talked about each other's scooters. Soon we'll form little gangs and terrorize the elderly.

There are some annoying things about it.

1) The turn signals make this god awful din.
2) The horn sounds embarassingly similar to the "beep beep" in Tainted Love.
3) Too silent. I don't mind it being quiet when running, but a little sampled engine growl would be swell when starting it up or idling at corners.
4) Chinese to english manual. Bleech.
5) Charger is not weather proof.

There are some great things about it.

It has two batteries in it and only one is used at a time. The ignition switch determines which battery is used. Great feature to have when you're booting around town and notice the power is low.

Unlike the moped I used to own (a '74 Honda PT-70 4-stroke) this thing is actually able to be moved by the pedals. In fact I needed a little pedal power to help the engine make it up the steep hills at Pete's place. Unfortunately due to the wide nature of the scooter (it is about the same size as a Honda Elite, this I know because one pulled up next to me on my ride) you look like a total dork pedaling it. Everyone will know you went and burned your batteries out.

All storage compartments (under the seat, rear basket and front glove box) are locked, one key works all locks.

It has an alarm. If you open a compartment, or move the bike it screams bloody murder. Really really loud so I'll be able to hear it inside the house if someone is up to something naughty with it.

It has seating for two, but can only carry a combined weight of about 270lbs.

The batteries don't need to be removed to be recharged. although I'd imagine in the winter I'd want to keep them inside and as mentioned, the charger is not weather proofed.

All in all I am absolutely thrilled with the bike. Still haven't read the manual, but what's to know?

[ManaUser]

Congratulations! That looks like it will be lots of fun. How much does that weigh? Just curious because it looks pretty good sized, but also like it's made out of mostly light materials.

[Fnyunj]

To quote Adrian Belew;
". . it's very. . . yellow."

[Aeridus]

Great to hear you like your new bike!

Oh, and you really should read the manual. I think it said something like "will make your penis grow in 30 days or your money back".

[Xero]

its a litte funny looking
but put some kwerki on it and it'll fit right in with the gang

[Lulujayne]

2) The horn sounds embarassingly similar to the "beep beep" in Tainted Love.

Now that's the only song that is now attached to my mental image of you putting around the neighborhood... Also I see you dressed like a mod, god only knows why I see that

[Fnyunj]

. . .It has two batteries in it and only one is used at a time. The ignition switch determines which battery is used. Great feature to have when you're booting around town and notice the power is low....

The original VW Beetle until '57, I think, had two gas tanks, and no gas gauge. When you run out of the first one, you switch over to the reserve tank, and you know you have 5 gallons left, and it's time to go to a service station.

As a real VW trivia note, Volkswagen used the letter "R" for "Reserve" (same in English and im Deutsch) on the gas gauges, instead of "L" for "Leer" (empty), until sometime in the mid 1970's when they started manufacturing the front-engine water cooled cars.

</geek>

(actually, a *real* VW geek would know the exact dates to the serial number, for each type, when they changed over to gas gauges).

This wasn't so bad, because the first year, the Beetle's turn signals weren't lights, they were little cable-operated mechanical flag "semaphores" that would stick out on the side of the car when the driver wanted to signal. Not a popular feature, but it was a budget car.

The windshield washer fluid squirter was operated by a hose connected to the spare tire valve, (with an emergency shut off at 15 lbs.) - no pump! This was true at least until the Super-Beetle, in '73.

The exhaust pipes are specially designed to chirp like a beetle - they have perforated tubes inside the tailpipes - thus making the car's distinctive sound.
I'm sure it didn't sound like the "beep beep" from Tainted Love.

Oh yeah, and in 1955, these cars could get 36 miles per gallon on the highway. By today's standards, at least US cars - that's pretty damn good.

[Kittyboymuffin]

Spiffy ride-thingy there, Unca G. :3

[Ghastly]

Went to the Value Village today and for the very first time ever I found a leather jacket that was my size that didn't make me look like an extra in a 1980s Michael Jackson video.

Now I look extra cool on my scooter bike.

[Awkwardschoolgirl]

Awesome scooter... It's a sexy piece of ass.

PS Get a haircut, ya hippy! Damn kids with their rock n roll music...

[Aeridus]

Whoa! I'm liking the long hair! I didn't notice it as much in the pics of the recent gig you did.

[LeftTentacleGreen]

If only it was white..

Anyone else getting a Midnight Madness vibe?

Nice bike.

[RavenxDrake]

Nice scooter. Though the hair makes me want to borrow some Doobie Brother's 8-tracks and a lava lamp.

[Fnyunj]

I'd hit it.

Mainly because I'm not a very attentive driver, and sometimes I space out. . . which is why I (and most of my countrymen, I suspect) drive a big honkin' truck.

(um, no, just kidding - I *do* love the Batman helmet!)


. . . now that I think of it, you'll probably want to get yourself one of those handy plastic milk-crates or something big enough to carry both batteries, since you'll be bringing them both inside with you in the winter time; that's actually an excellent anti-theft device right there - bring the batteries in with you ALL the time. Well, I guess that would probably disable the alarm though (unless it's got an independent battery).

And if the batteries are of the Nickel-Metal-Hydride variety, don't drain them all the way down, they'll last a lot longer if you recharge them after half-discharge. There's a lot of information about rechargable batteries on the internet, and there's also some pretty cool projects on http://www.hackaday.com - where people have upgraded scooters and other assorted electric vehicles with Lithium Ion cells, which are a lot lighter, and hold about twice the charge, and are capable of putting out current faster, and charge faster. (thus - some of the control electronics have to be modified; one must ever suffer for one's art.) The only company using Lithium Ion cells in commercial production vehicles right now is Tesla, and they're actually using arrays of laptop batteries, because that's the only way to get mass availability. Nobody's mass-producing these things in any other form factor (other than like AA or power-drills). But that is changing.

[Kittyboymuffin]

That ... is Badasstly. :3

[Ghastly]

And if the batteries are of the Nickel-Metal-Hydride variety, don't drain them all the way down, they'll last a lot longer if you recharge them after half-discharge. There's a lot of information about rechargable batteries on the internet, and there's also some pretty cool projects on http://www.hackaday.com - where people have upgraded scooters and other assorted electric vehicles with Lithium Ion cells, which are a lot lighter, and hold about twice the charge, and are capable of putting out current faster, and charge faster. (thus - some of the control electronics have to be modified; one must ever suffer for one's art.) The only company using Lithium Ion cells in commercial production vehicles right now is Tesla, and they're actually using arrays of laptop batteries, because that's the only way to get mass availability. Nobody's mass-producing these things in any other form factor (other than like AA or power-drills). But that is changing.

The batteries are maintainable lead acid. Very long life, and easy to look after. The alarm unfortunately needs to the batteries to work. I have a lock I put through the spokes if I'm leaving it somewhere and when it's out overnight so people can't just roll it away.

I've seen mods on the internet for boosting the speed and what-not. Two problems with that would be 1) illegal to go past 35km/h in Ontario on one of these and 2) voids the warrentee.

If I were to pick one mod I'd like to make it would be an acceleration mod to give it a faster acceleration. The battery's effectiveness is diminished quit a bit once the temperature gets under 15c and I'd imagine it's even worse under 0c. I've put about 60km on it. About 20km were put on it today with a full charge. I've only used the one battery and she's running in the yellow tonight (it's cold out tonight). Acceleration drains the battery but once she hits cruising speed you see the charge go up a bit.

I'm really enjoying the freedom this beastie is giving me to travel about town quickly.

[Sonofzeal]

And if the batteries are of the Nickel-Metal-Hydride variety, don't drain them all the way down, they'll last a lot longer if you recharge them after half-discharge.

Really? Don't they loose their zero-point if you don't drain them all the way down once in a while? I could be out of date on that though.

[WangyJohn]

I want to see what unca G would look like with a ponytail.

[Prettydragoon]

That's one sweet ride, Unka G!

[Leeloo]

And if the batteries are of the Nickel-Metal-Hydride variety, don't drain them all the way down, they'll last a lot longer if you recharge them after half-discharge.

Really? Don't they loose their zero-point if you don't drain them all the way down once in a while? I could be out of date on that though.

My NiMH batteries for my digicam did that, one set only lasted about half a memory card. After I used them in my scanner (police scanner, not flatbed), which uses much less power, and is thus able to run several hours more after the camera has declared the batteries empty, they were suddenly able to last long enough to fill up the entire memory card. So yes, even though NiMH are not nearly as bad as NiCd, they should still be run all the way down once in a while.

These are AAA-batteries I'm talking about, though, but I don't think size matters in how metals react.

Lead-Acid on the other hand should be kept at max charge all the time, and especially in the winter.