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Post by SylvreKat on May 21, 2015 21:46:23 GMT -5
Just have to share what the guy at the HawgShack suggested for modding out a scooter. He said if he had a scooter, he'd put on a 33" rim up front and 20--no, wait, 23"! ape hangers. Yeah! Another fellow said first bump and he'd bend the forks. Guy said it wouldn't matter, he wouldn't be driving that bike around the streets anyways. So I asked him what size his rims were. He got real busy with his smart phone. So the lady sitting across from him swatted him and said "Hey! She asked how big your rims are on your bike." He mumbled "Regular size." I asked "And how big are your ape hangers?" Mumbled I think doesn't have any. Everyone laughed. I said I'd forward his suggestion to you guys. Is it even remotely possible to mod a scooter to 33" rims?  What would that even look like? Egads!  (Btb, I'm really sorry they won't work on my scooter. Seemed like real good folks there, genuine and not after your buck. Sigh.) So who's first for the scooter-hangers? Leo, you should be used to those from the good old days, Minnie might look snorting with a pair of apers.... >'Kat |
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Post by cyborg on May 21, 2015 22:02:14 GMT -5
I would run from those idiots like my hair was on fire,,,,
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Post by lain on May 22, 2015 8:18:30 GMT -5
Maybe if you redesigned the forks, and suspension sure. It would be a LOT of work, actually just recently was looking into somethign similar, but 16 inch wheels are more than big enough for scoots, 33 inch? What was he smoking?
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Post by wheelbender6 on May 22, 2015 19:27:37 GMT -5
The big front wheel can be done with a motorcycle fork. A bigger back wheel requires a longer CVT. You might be able to use a CVT from a CF Moto V5 or something similar.  |
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Post by SylvreKat on May 23, 2015 7:23:18 GMT -5
He was just totally messing with me. Probably was picturing the small-wheeled scoot and was trying to think WAY "out of the box" for a radical mod.
Looking at Peej's handles, is it even possible to switch out to ape hangers on a scoot?
>'Kat
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Post by cyborg on May 23, 2015 15:03:37 GMT -5
RUN AWAY
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Post by oldchopperguy on May 27, 2015 10:48:42 GMT -5
Just have to share what the guy at the HawgShack suggested for modding out a scooter. He said if he had a scooter, he'd put on a 33" rim up front and 20--no, wait, 23"! ape hangers. Yeah! Another fellow said first bump and he'd bend the forks. Guy said it wouldn't matter, he wouldn't be driving that bike around the streets anyways. So I asked him what size his rims were. He got real busy with his smart phone. So the lady sitting across from him swatted him and said "Hey! She asked how big your rims are on your bike." He mumbled "Regular size." I asked "And how big are your ape hangers?" Mumbled I think doesn't have any. Everyone laughed. I said I'd forward his suggestion to you guys. Is it even remotely possible to mod a scooter to 33" rims? What would that even look like? Egads! (Btb, I'm really sorry they won't work on my scooter. Seemed like real good folks there, genuine and not after your buck. Sigh.) So who's first for the scooter-hangers? Leo, you should be used to those from the good old days, Minnie might look snorting with a pair of apers.... >'Kat Kat,
Hmmm... I do indeed love choppers... Actually by today's style it's the old-school bobbers that I like best. And I'm a firm believer that scooters should remain "scooters" even if in way-cool skelly or "nekkid" bare-bones form... While one COULD make a fork to accommodate a 33" rim, it would look AWFUL... They look bad enough on Harleys... LOL!
I do NOT go for the current trend of HUGE front wheels on custom bikes. To my eye, they just look grotesque, but that's just me. Seems like modern custom bikes are floundering around, mixing chopper, bobber and bagger styling ideas along with some fifties' custom car touches. Some are INCREDIBLY well-done, but the "look" is still not what I'd like in my own ride. Like 4-wheel hot-rods have morphed from classic 20's to 50's coupes, today, to Asian 4-door sedans, times just change. I'm too old to change... LOL!
As for ape-hangers... Yeah, I guess I'm sort of an "expert" having ridden around a half-million miles with them. For the most part, they're not comfortable, don't offer great control, and if you have a short waist, they can literally numb your hands and forearms during a long ride. Hours of having your hands reaching ABOVE your head is not exactly "anatomically-correct"... LOL! But we thought we looked SO cool...
My "Old Blue" had the standard-issue "middle of the road" apers of the sixties; If I recall they were around 20". But I was fortunate to be long-waisted so they only put my hands slightly above a "cruiser" position, so long trips on the old girl were only hindered by her 1 1/2 gallon tank, and her 15-18 mpg gas-consumption... Sunoco "Blue" 260 the preferred choice, or high-test AV-GAS if an airport appeared on the horizon... (honestly, on a hard-tail Hog, you're READY for a leg-stretching break every 15-20 miles...) Cruising  mph with the posse (most of us on similar bikes) on a sunny weekend, we'd stop at EVERY freeway oasis to top-off our tanks. And I mean EVERY chance. Every 15-20 miles, our bikes would be running on the LAST inch of gas sloshing around the bottoms of our peanut-tanks.
In this only surving picture you can see the height of the bars as my left arm is on the throttle, and the top triple-tree is down by my right hand... the bars are actually low enough for me to lean on without reaching way up... The front wheel is a 19" Sportster rim laced to a big-twin cast-iron spool-hub, but 21" was the preferred "look".
During the gas-crunch of the seventies with the "gasless Sundays" we built a 3-wheel chopper with a 100 gallon tank with a fuel-pump over the rear axle. Then, we could gas up "on the fly" passing the hose from one bike to another, similar to "in-air" refueling of jets. We also funded our weekend fun by selling gas to freeway car-drivers for $15 a gallon... Get the money through the driver's window and gas 'em up going down the road without even having to slow down.
Now, $15 then, is $150 today... Gas (IF you could even FIND any) was around $1.50 a gallon. THAT was over $10 a gallon in today's pathetic "Obamadollars"... But well-off vacationers back then, were more than willing to pay up, since we were the ONLY source of gas on a Sunday, and even ONE extra gallon MIGHT ensure getting back home. Supply and demand!
Old Blue would pass ANYTHING but a gas station...
If it was 1962 once again, and I was building "Old Blue" for the first time, I'd probably go with drag-bars on short risers... "Broomsticks on dog-bones" we called 'em. The ONLY acceptable alternative to ape-hangers among the outlaw culture... LOL! I do like the look they had, and even look good on scooters!
I'm afraid old "Minnie Mouse" will retain her square-angled, "Darth Vaderesque" plastic covered oh-so-Asian bars for the duration... Her only homage to the fifties' Harley will probably remain the wide-whites, saddlebags and fishtail exhaust... Oh, and of course the ILLUMINATED SWAN ornament, when I finally get to it... LOL! Cheesh, I really AM getting old...
Ride safe!
Leo (tired of 4-months of solid RAIN, RAIN and more rain) in Texas
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Post by SylvreKat on May 27, 2015 22:00:54 GMT -5
I don't think you've told before about Old Blue's tank and miserable mpg. Surely she didn't leave the factory with that shoddy of mileage. Yet also surely you wouldn't mod her down to 15 mpg.
Egads!
Something I never noticed in that photo before--how many pants had scorch marks on the right rear?
*****
I have seen a guy in town with a hugely long front fork and ape-hangers above his head. And wondered just how hard it is to control that thing. Then again, I also wonder about the guys adding handlebar pompoms. Were they jealous of their little sister's bicycle?
>'Kat
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Post by oldchopperguy on May 29, 2015 0:46:32 GMT -5
I don't think you've told before about Old Blue's tank and miserable mpg. Surely she didn't leave the factory with that shoddy of mileage. Yet also surely you wouldn't mod her down to 15 mpg. Egads! Something I never noticed in that photo before--how many pants had scorch marks on the right rear? ***** I have seen a guy in town with a hugely long front fork and ape-hangers above his head. And wondered just how hard it is to control that thing. Then again, I also wonder about the guys adding handlebar pompoms. Were they jealous of their little sister's bicycle? >'Kat
Kat,
Ah... "Old Blue" began life as a 1957 FLH 74 (1208 cc) Duo-Glide. Stock, she had about an anemic 30 hp, and gave about 35 mpg gas consumption... Pretty poor for a 1200 cc OHV hemi motor, even by 1950's standards. She DID have a pair of 2 1/2 gal. tanks from the factory though... But they covered most of those beautiful pan-heads.
And, yeah, I'm afraid I did mod her up (or down) to 15 mpg by doubling her displacement, and bumping her horsepower up by 800%. Cutting her weight from 700 pounds to 350 didn't hurt... Going from 700 pounds with 30 hp to 350 pounds with 250 hp is like going from a Piper Cub in need of a tune up to an F-18 on full afterburner... Woo-HOO!!! Hang on Toto, we're ridin' a twister, and DEFINITELY not in Kansas anymore...
YYYEEESSSS! Wanna piece of Old Blue, Pilgrim? Put yer dead Benjamins on the table and eat my burning rubber... THOSE were GREAT days, sadly, never to be again! But I think the crotch-rocket boyz are keeping up the tradition pretty well!
Those were just different times. Stopping at every gas station gave us a chance to "strut our stuff" and maybe sucker somebody with a 'Vette or street-rod into a big-buck drag race... The peanut gas tank was a "given" to complete the look, even if you had to gas up every 15 miles... It's a "guy thing"...
With those shotgun pipes, all my "apparel" had burns... Part of the image... LOL!
That old picture always brings back great memories though!
Stay safe!
Leo
PS: Those over-the-top 6-foot+ lengthened forks are a nightmare in city traffic. Great cruising along, but ONLY if PROPERLY made and the frame rock-solid. Otherwise they can induce a fatal wobble. And those 3-foot ape-hangars are truly miserable... UNLESS you are an orangutan... If you're 6-feet tall, with 20-inch legs and 4-foot arms, well, then they would be perfect! Yup!
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Post by ricardoguitars on May 29, 2015 9:41:45 GMT -5
Hey Leo, what happened to Old Blue, did you sell it? I hope you didn't wrecked it I bet it would still turn heads nowadays  |
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Post by rockynv on May 29, 2015 12:06:36 GMT -5
Kat - Largest standard rim for a full sized motorcycle is 21" so 33" would be really out there. He was just bilovating at you and probably would have tried to sell you a headlight fluid refill service next.
Your Piaggio is a very well balance bike made by a respectable Aircraft manufacturer so there is no real need to do anything but maintain it with factory parts and potentially better stock sized tires when the time comes. I am trying out the Micheline Pilot Power Pure up front or at least will be when the left knee heals up a bit better. Its still a bit swollen from the accident so I have not done any riding yet. Still have to get the turn signal lens and paint taken care of too.
The tuners still would like to see what a small turbo would do for the Sport City but I have been resisting that temptation.
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Post by oldchopperguy on May 29, 2015 14:16:58 GMT -5
Hey Leo, what happened to Old Blue, did you sell it? I hope you didn't wrecked it I bet it would still turn heads nowadays Ricardoguitars,
Old Blue had quite a life... My favorite pastime was street drag-racing for money to pay for the build, which back then cost me over $20K... EEEWWW! A really NICE house (8,000 s/f, custom built) cost around $15K. That house today would be around a million in my old Chicago area... I had good job which paid around $9K per year. So... Old Blue cost me more than 2 years gross pay. Smart? NO... fun? Oh, YEAH!
Fortunately, I was able to more than pay off the obscene cost with a perfect record of big-buck drags against all comers... Including some purpose-built drag cars. Things were SO different back then. Today, I would NOT encourage illegal street racing, but every guy with a wrench was into it in the sixties.
OK, I forgot about the 9-second, 200 mph crotch-rocket jockeys carrying on the tradition... Yup!
After several years of heavy use, Old Blue was getting a little loose... The motor was a FRANTIC, all-out drag engine, and was finally starting to self-destruct. I just couldn't reconcile a multi-thousand buck rebuild of the handmade parts... Reluctantly, I traded her off for a new BSA Hornet and a whole lot of cash. The guy I traded her to had bugged me for years to sell, and, as luck would have it, he lost his life weeks later when he T-boned a train... Police figured he was doing over 130 when he rode straight through closed gates and flashing lights, into a passing freight-train.
It made me sad to see the bike and my pal meet such a grisly demise. I knew the fellow and I cannot figure out HOW he could do anything THAT crazy. He wasn't a drinker or druggie and was not suicidal. I guess he was just "lost in the ride". With a great bike, it can happen... Even pilots do it occasionally in a "pet" plane... A good lesson on keeping alert at ALL times.
That's the story of Old Blue... Live fast, die young as they say.
Ride safe!
Leo in Texas
PS: While a collectible classic today, that BSA 650 was the WORST bike I ever owned... LOL! My punishment for letting Old Blue go I guess.
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Post by ricardoguitars on May 29, 2015 14:33:13 GMT -5
Hey Leo, what happened to Old Blue, did you sell it? I hope you didn't wrecked it I bet it would still turn heads nowadays Ricardoguitars,
Old Blue had quite a life... My favorite pastime was street drag-racing for money to pay for the build, which back then cost me over $20K... EEEWWW! A really NICE house (8,000 s/f, custom built) cost around $15K. That house today would be around a million in my old Chicago area... I had good job which paid around $9K per year. So... Old Blue cost me more than 2 years gross pay. Smart? NO... fun? Oh, YEAH!
Fortunately, I was able to more than pay off the obscene cost with a perfect record of big-buck drags against all comers... Including some purpose-built drag cars. Things were SO different back then. Today, I would NOT encourage illegal street racing, but every guy with a wrench was into it in the sixties.
After several years of heavy use, Old Blue was getting a little loose... The motor was a FRANTIC, all-out drag engine, and was finally starting to self-destruct. I just couldn't reconcile a multi-thousand buck rebuild of the handmade parts... Reluctantly, I traded her off for a new BSA Hornet and a whole lot of cash. The guy I traded her to had bugged me for years to sell, and, as luck would have it, he lost his life weeks later when he T-boned a train... Police figured he was doing over 130 when he rode straight through closed gates and flashing lights, into a passing freight-train.
It made me sad to see the bike and my pal meet such a grisly demise. I knew the fellow and I cannot figure out HOW he could do anything THAT crazy. He wasn't a drinker or druggie and was not suicidal. I guess he was just "lost in the ride". With a great bike, it can happen... Even pilots do it occasionally in a "pet" plane... A good lesson on keeping alert at ALL times.
That's the story of Old Blue... Live fast, die young as they say.
Ride safe!
Leo in Texas
PS: While a collectible classic today, that BSA 650 was the WORST bike I ever owned... LOL! My punishment for letting Old Blue go I guess.
T-bone a train? ouch! I guess that's better than T-boning a kid driving a hatchback and texting on his phone instead of paying attention to the road, both your friend and Old Blue went out of this world with style , hope no one else was injured. As sad as that can be, to die doing what you love is better than to die in pain slowly at a hospital, or to die because some moron didn't pay attention to the road and crashed you, or something like that. When my time comes, I hope I can put up a show on my way out as well, without hurting anyone else, of course.  |
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Post by SylvreKat on May 29, 2015 22:42:35 GMT -5
Kat - Largest standard rim for a full sized motorcycle is 21" so 33" would be really out there. He was just bilovating at you and probably would have tried to sell you a headlight fluid refill service next. Your Piaggio is a very well balance bike made by a respectable Aircraft manufacturer so there is no real need to do anything but maintain it with factory parts and potentially better stock sized tires when the time comes. I am trying out the Micheline Pilot Power Pure up front or at least will be when the left knee heals up a bit better. Its still a bit swollen from the accident so I have not done any riding yet. Still have to get the turn signal lens and paint taken care of too. The tuners still would like to see what a small turbo would do for the Sport City but I have been resisting that temptation. Oh, he wasn't trying to sell me anything. He really was just talking the big talk. Esp when I flipped it right back at him! I think he's seen too many of those chop-shop tv shows. "Mostly harmless" is how I'd describe him. As for modding Peej, I've no interest in that. He's got a seat bag, that's it. And maybe some day some saddlebags. Or not. Haven't quite decided. The tires--he already has Michelins on. I assumed those were stock? Oh wait--I would like to someday switch out his floorboard for the newer version with the cutaway. But is that considered modding, when it's still coming from Piaggio Itself? >'Kat |
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Mod suggestion
by: murkyapricot - May 29, 2015 23:28:27 GMT -5
via mobile
Post by murkyapricot on May 29, 2015 23:28:27 GMT -5
Im thinking 33 is too big
you should just settle on 24s with spinners
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mph with the posse (most of us on similar bikes) on a sunny weekend, we'd stop at EVERY freeway oasis to top-off our tanks. And I mean EVERY chance. Every 15-20 miles, our bikes would be running on the LAST inch of gas sloshing around the bottoms of our peanut-tanks.
