My scooter crapped out, but there's a happy ending

Quote from: Stacy Without An E on August 13, 2008, 03:10:29 PM

It's rare that we get to experience a story that restores a little faith in humanity, so thank you for sharing.

As a scooter rider (Aprilia Scarabeo 100) I'm curious about the brand and model. I can get mine up to 60mph and so far I've been getting 85mpg. The more my truck can sit, the more money I know I'm saving.

It's also strange riding two wheels. When it's parked, people are always coming up, asking questions and telling me about their bike.

When I'm in traffic, people speed around me, hurl angry cursing and generally can't stand me on the road.

Yeah, I don't get it either.

I can somewhat relate to having people asking me all kinds of questions about the scooter. The first time I rode my new one to the dialysis centre to pick up some supplies, at the first mention of having a new scooter, my nurses were all flying out the door to see it. I haven't really gotten any bad "run-ins" with other drivers, just an occasional driver cutting me off so they could be the first one to stop at the red light.

As for the brand, mine is a Tank Urban 50. This bike is sold as a "clone" under a few different names (it's identical to the popular Roketa Maui. For the most part, I can't get enough of it. The gas mileage is not that great because the engine is not fully "broken in". It's getting maybe 40 or 50 mpg. The acceleration is also really slow, however I end up trading high acceleration for good top-end speed. The other day I pegged 50mph which is as high as my speedometer will go, and I was still gaining speed. I know I hit at least 60, maybe higher (have to start making sure I don't go too fast and get a speeding ticket). I'm already approaching the 300km service period where the oil will be changed for the first time, and the shop will give the whole thing a nice inspection. (eventually I'll be working on it myself, but for now I'll let the shop do the first few services). Related to this, I was at the Indiana state fair today, and there was a booth for electric scooters made by X-treme Scooters, the company that made my old turd of a scooter. I was telling the representative about the problems I was having with my "X-treme XG-499" He agreed with me that the problem appears to be with the carburetor. To my surprise, he whips out his cell phone, calls the tech service, and orders me a whole new carb completely free of charge! It wasn't even under warranty. He said I should have the new carb by the end of this week. I'm planning on getting my old scooter back in operation, and just use it as a "stand up" scooter until I can find someone who can re-weld the crack in the seat post mount. The turd can be my backup, or "travel scooter". I'll continue with the updates on how things are going in "scooter land".

Adam