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208 comments on DrumBeat: October 5, 2007

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SacredCowTipper on October 5, 2007 - 11:04am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I can do $2,300 for a scooter, but an offroad will cost double that :-(

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Substrate on October 5, 2007 - 12:03pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

The Yamaha XT225 Serrow is a good motorcyle and will probably cost you less than that Vino if you can find one a little used. Especially over its lifetime as scooters tend to be a little shoddily built. You should also consider a Yamaha Virago 250, Virago 535, Honda rebel 250, Suzuki GS500, and Suzuki Savage LS650. All of those are well built and fairly light bikes, the GS500 is considered one of the best commuter motorcycles and all of them should be available for <$2,500 lightly used.

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boby on October 5, 2007 - 12:26pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I've been thinking about a scooter or a light motorcycle for a
while and I was wondering about a sidecar attachment for carrying packages, people etc. Do they make the bike more or less stable? I rode a lot in my teenage years both on and off road but I don't relish the thought of the possibility of road
rash at my age (57)and am looking for a more stable ride. Actually I have been looking at those 3 wheel scooters on the net a lot. (the ones with the single drive wheel in back)

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SacredCowTipper on October 5, 2007 - 12:55pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

Yeah, baby, you want to buy one of my scootercarts!

I have been looking at two wheel rides and wondering how I'm going to use them to pull my kayak.

My kayak is a much abused Otter XT 9'6" (3m) recreational model. I like the Otter because its short, easy for one person to handle, and cheap ...

So I was envisioning a trailer with a 9' (3m) aluminum tube, a 36" (1M) crossbar, and large bicycle style wheels. There'd be one additional crossbar to stabilize the boat and it would ride low to the ground behind the scooter.

Now peak oil crazies who like to kayak is not a large demographic and this would obviously be a custom job, but I can't be the only one about to transition to two inexpensive wheels as transport.

I think there is probably a market for a shopping cart shaped contraption with two large, bicycle type wheels, the cart handle at the back having LED brake & turn signals embedded, and the hitch to the scooter in front being a fold down. Hook the cart to the scooter, off to the market, detach the cart from the scooter and use it for shopping, then reattach the cart and drive home. There'd have to be a plastic liner /w lid option for rainy/snowy weather and I could see all sorts of delivery businesses doing this.

The are legal, physics, and electrical interfacing concerns but I'm sure this already exists in other countries ... I just want to see a small shop in Iowa cranking them out ... more of that relocalization in action.

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Durandal on October 5, 2007 - 1:11pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

I've seen Harley's pulling trailers before, and they were not even trikes. You might have a harder time with the scooter, given the low displacement of them, but it would likely work if you're patient on the zero to fourty.

~Durandal (http://www.wtdwtshtf.com/)

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SacredCowTipper on October 5, 2007 - 1:21pm Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

The Harley carts are *big* and meant for long distance pulling. I want twenty five pounds of cart and fifty pounds of payload - no more than a good sized child worth of load. I worry about the aerodynamic issues - a semi going by when you've got one of these lightly loaded in the slow lane might be a little bit dicey.

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john milton on October 6, 2007 - 9:29am Permalink | Subthread | Parent | Comments top

My vehicle is a 250CC Honda "Big Ruckus"

I lash a 90 Liter plastic storage box (Rubbermaid "Action Packer")

which I have modified with some eye bolts for easier tie down, to the passanger seat when I need to move lots of stuff and it works fine

The bike gets about 68 miles to the US Gallon, and is fine on the highway in the slow lane (top speed is about 120 km/hr) though I usually stick to secondary highways rather than expressways

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