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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 07/05/2008 : 07:45:38 [Permalink]
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I'd prefer to have a '55 Cushman Eagle, but that's impractical as well as almost impossible to find in any sort of decent shape (I've been looking for this classic for some years). So the scoot I'm looking at and trying to figure how long it might be before it pays for itself is this:
It's a Kymco People S 200. It's a 163cc, fourstroke engine with a cyntrifical clutch & belt drive. It gets some 70 MPG, combined, and is capable of interstate speeds. Or so I'm told.
I live quite a way from town and need something capable of crusing 55 -- 60 MPH so as not to get run over on the road by idiot cagers running their mouths on cell phones.
Obviously, I'm betting on oil prices to continue to soar like shithawks over an open landfill.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist! 
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| Edited by - filthy on 07/05/2008 13:09:50 |
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Chippewa
SFN Regular
USA
1496 Posts |
Posted - 07/05/2008 : 09:40:15 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dave W.
Originally posted by HalfMooner
The worst thing about my bike is its speed. 20 mph...So, within a couple of weeks, I plan to buy a somewhat faster electric scooter... |
You're going to go from this to this to this, aren't you? |
The Ultimate! |
Diversity, independence, innovation and imagination are progressive concepts ultimately alien to the conservative mind.
"TAX AND SPEND" IS GOOD! (TAX: Wealthy corporations who won't go poor even after taxes. SPEND: On public works programs, education, the environment, improvements.) |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2008 : 11:56:41 [Permalink]
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Ultimatly, they will have cut their own throats.
VW started developing this gem some 6 years ago -- where the hell were you, GM, Chystler, Dorf & the rest of the Detroit super-genius-engineer-idiots? The heap weighs less than 700#, dry, and gets some 235 MPG with a 1 liter engine! It will, at the moment (2010), sell for a pretty prohibitive price, but that will gradually change as production becomes more refined and costs drop.
And if a 2 seater can get 230+, it is reasonable to consider that a modest sedan might get at least better than 100.
Not to knock the Europeans, nor the Japanese, but I find it shameful, even disgusting, that we are not at the forefront of this sort of technology. Detroit failed to learn the lesson of the '70s, when Honda, Toyota and the rest screwed them good and proper during & shortly after that era's oil crisis, and it continues today. Very soon now, the short-sighted bastards are gonna get raped & pillaged again, only worse. Or better, depending upon how you look at it. There are some indications that it's already started, as the SUV population is beginning to thin out; eventually to become as exinct as any dinosaur.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26022 Posts |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2008 : 12:55:53 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by Dave W.
Took some looking, but the one-cylinder 8.5 horsepower version has a top speed of 75, which is good enough.
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Indeed. The muscle car will, one day, be only found on the race track, the dragstrip, and as a curiosity at the antique car show.
But it's amazing to me that, with gasoline above four dollars & rising like the Mississippi in MO, people still run the interstate with the hammer down, scarfing fuel like a salvage pump. They've either got more money than brains, or less sense than cash. I dunno...
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2008 : 16:26:54 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by filthy
I'd prefer to have a '55 Cushman Eagle, but that's impractical as well as almost impossible to find in any sort of decent shape (I've been looking for this classic for some years). So the scoot I'm looking at and trying to figure how long it might be before it pays for itself is this:
It's a Kymco People S 200. It's a 163cc, fourstroke engine with a cyntrifical clutch & belt drive. It gets some 70 MPG, combined, and is capable of interstate speeds. Or so I'm told.
I live quite a way from town and need something capable of crusing 55 -- 60 MPH so as not to get run over on the road by idiot cagers running their mouths on cell phones.
Obviously, I'm betting on oil prices to continue to soar like shithawks over an open landfill.
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Nice looking bike, Fil, even though it's not shovel-head Harley, an Indian, A Vespa (my own favorite for classic scooter-style design), or a Cushman Eagle. That Kymco is made in Taiwan and not on the Chinese mainland is a good sign. Much better quality control on Taiwan.
It looks like electric scooters capable of the range and highway speeds you require are coming soon, but, for now, will cost a bit more than than that Kymco. This is one such that's coming up, maybe (though Xtreme has no reputation as a trustworthy company). I'd get it myself, if I both trusted that company, and had a few thou more than I do to throw around.
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
| Edited by - HalfMooner on 07/06/2008 16:27:56 |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 07/06/2008 : 17:12:59 [Permalink]
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The old Vespas, 50s vintage, were great ones in their time. But like the Cushman, way underpowered by today's standards and greedy for that 2-stroke fuel (the Cushman Eagle was a 4-stroke with a 6 HP, Huskey engine). If/when I do this, I intend to reduce my carbon footprint considerably as well as beat pump extortion, but the suitable, new Italian scooters are way beyond my price range, as are the Japanese. We'll see. I'm still lookin'.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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Simon
SFN Regular
USA
1992 Posts |
Posted - 07/09/2008 : 08:14:36 [Permalink]
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On a related note .
2012 is going to come fast, and the car's performances seem to make it viable (100 miles autonomy; 90 mph); at least in Europe where the electricity is pretty cheap (thanks to France many nuclear power-plants). |
Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
Carl Sagan - 1996 |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 07/09/2008 : 08:42:00 [Permalink]
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Well, it didn't kill my savings, but it made them very sick. This morning, after a long test ride, I bought the scooter. It has quite a bit more power than I'd expected, although nowhere near as much as I'm used to in a two-wheeler -- but it will run with the traffic. The suspention, however, is horrible. It'll tell you where every ripple in the pavement is, but that can be fixed. I'm hauling a trailer over to pick it up tomorrow morning.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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HalfMooner
Dingaling
Philippines
15831 Posts |
Posted - 07/09/2008 : 13:48:13 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by filthy
Well, it didn't kill my savings, but it made them very sick. This morning, after a long test ride, I bought the scooter. It has quite a bit more power than I'd expected, although nowhere near as much as I'm used to in a two-wheeler -- but it will run with the traffic. The suspention, however, is horrible. It'll tell you where every ripple in the pavement is, but that can be fixed. I'm hauling a trailer over to pick it up tomorrow morning.
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Great, Fil!
I was going to suggest you try one of these, greener, more fuel-efficient, Igorot scooters:
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“Biology is just physics that has begun to smell bad.” —HalfMooner
Here's a link to Moonscape News, and one to its Archive. |
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chaloobi
SFN Regular
1620 Posts |
Posted - 07/10/2008 : 05:22:28 [Permalink]
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| I tried driving 55mph on the daily commute a couple weeks ago. I lasted probably five minutes. I just can't do it. |
-Chaloobi
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perrodetokio
Skeptic Friend
275 Posts |
Posted - 07/10/2008 : 05:37:54 [Permalink]
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I walk to work. My wife walks to work. We only take a taxi to go someplace too far to walk and their always fitted with natural compressed gas kits. Donīt know if itīs better or worse for the environment but at least is not petrol.
Cheers! |
"Yes I have a belief in a creator/God but do not know that he exists." Bill Scott
"They are still mosquitoes! They did not turn into whales or lizards or anything else. They are still mosquitoes!..." Bill Scott
"We should have millions of missing links or transition fossils showing a fish turning into a philosopher..." Bill Scott |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
 Posted - 07/10/2008 : 07:31:16 [Permalink]
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Originally posted by HalfMooner
Originally posted by filthy
Well, it didn't kill my savings, but it made them very sick. This morning, after a long test ride, I bought the scooter. It has quite a bit more power than I'd expected, although nowhere near as much as I'm used to in a two-wheeler -- but it will run with the traffic. The suspention, however, is horrible. It'll tell you where every ripple in the pavement is, but that can be fixed. I'm hauling a trailer over to pick it up tomorrow morning.
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Great, Fil!
I was going to suggest you try one of these, greener, more fuel-efficient, Igorot scooters:
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What a neat ride! But I'm afraid that it would be far & away beyond my meager price range; it looks to have cost the gentleman on it not only his shirt, but his britches as well.
I've discovered where my Kymco gets it's power from such a small mill. I read in the owner's manual, to my shock, that it's running 10:1 compression. It exhausts into a huge muffler, nicely fooling the engine into thinking that it is exhausting into a tuned straight pipe. Clever people, those Taiwanarians!
The down side of this is that I have to run high-test gas, but at some 70+ MPG, I can live with that.
I think I'm going to order a shop manual. I'd love to know the cam lift & angles, and maybe I can find a way to tweak it just a bit more. Old habits die hard... 
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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Simon
SFN Regular
USA
1992 Posts |
Posted - 07/10/2008 : 07:34:37 [Permalink]
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Where are you guys at? I must be a relatively big city...
Natural gases are pretty good from what I heard.
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Look again at that dot. That's here. That's home. That's us. On it everyone you love, everyone you know, everyone you ever heard of, every human being who ever was, lived out their lives. The aggregate of our joy and suffering, thousands of confident religions, ideologies, and economic doctrines, every hunter and forager, every hero and coward, every creator and destroyer of civilization, every king and peasant, every young couple in love, every mother and father, hopeful child, inventor and explorer, every teacher of morals, every corrupt politician, every "superstar," every "supreme leader," every saint and sinner in the history of our species lived there on a mote of dust suspended in a sunbeam.
Carl Sagan - 1996 |
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filthy
SFN Die Hard
USA
14408 Posts |
Posted - 07/13/2008 : 15:28:24 [Permalink]
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Here is the scoot at home. As can be seen, it has been ruthlessly commendeered by the Empress of the Whole Freakin' World.  I have about 5 hours on the engine now and am just beginning to run it at normal speeds. The stick bungeed across the handlebars is one of my walking canes.
The Empress of the Whole Freakin' World will die soon, so she gets cut a lot more slack than she used to. She's almost 18 years old.
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"What luck for rulers that men do not think." -- Adolf Hitler (1889 - 1945)
"If only we could impeach on the basis of criminal stupidity, 90% of the Rethuglicans and half of the Democrats would be thrown out of office." ~~ P.Z. Myres
"The default position of human nature is to punch the other guy in the face and take his stuff." ~~ Dude
Brother Boot Knife of Warm Humanitarianism,
and Crypto-Communist!
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| Edited by - filthy on 07/13/2008 15:33:09 |
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Happy dependence day
