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Post by JerryScript on Sept 30, 2016 2:11:48 GMT -5
BMW has announced they are bringing the updated version of it's C electric scooter to the US. It uses the i3 battery technology, promising a 99 mile range, plenty for urban use, but still not good enough for touring. With a top speed of 80mph, and acceleration comparable to a 600cc engine, it could be a very interesting option for city riding! cdn1.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_image/image/51100651/P90229559_highRes.0.0.jpg |
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Post by wheelbender6 on Sept 30, 2016 10:19:17 GMT -5
Wow. I could do my 62 mile round trip commute on it - on the freeway!
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Post by ungabunga on Oct 1, 2016 9:33:56 GMT -5
Considering the price of a C650, it will probably cost half again as much. 15 grand or more is a lot more than I want to spend on a scooter
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Post by oldchopperguy on Oct 1, 2016 11:21:39 GMT -5
Considering the price of a C650, it will probably cost half again as much. 15 grand or more is a lot more than I want to spend on a scooter
The electric Beemer IS sweet, but I have to agree about cost. No matter what, part of a scooter's "DNA" is AFFORDABLE transportation... Just two years ago, while shopping for my current scoot, I was AMAZED at what MARVELOUS full-sized MOTORCYCLES could be had used, in good shape for UNDER $3,000. One recent post also links to a dealer offering NEW Kymco scoots (2015 models) for about HALF-PRICE! The fuel-injected 300 for a tad over 3-grand, and... that incredible "My Road" 700 for just over 4-grand! Those did not sell well and are out of production, but for anybody wanting the speed and cruising comfort of a Harley bagger or Honda road-bike, Silver-Wing scoot, etc. it would be hard to resist!
In this "new economy" of working 70 hour weeks for 39 hour pay, PRICE is a biggie!Ride safe, whatever your ride cost... Leo in Texas |
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Post by wheelbender6 on Oct 1, 2016 18:41:28 GMT -5
"The electric Beemer IS sweet, but I have to agree about cost."
I am impressed with the performance of the electric Beemer, but it will be considerably beyond my budget.
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Post by oldchopperguy on Oct 1, 2016 20:16:42 GMT -5
Hey, my 1962 mini-bike would beat it!
It was the same frame as the one from this vintage ad, but with racing kart wheels and a McCulloch mill... 5" wheels, 40 pounds wet, 40+hp McCulloch kart motor... 0 to 60 in under 3 seconds, top-speed of just over 100-mph...
I used to ride it to the train station, carry it aboard and then ride it through downtown Chicago while going to college... Yes, it WAS street-licensed!!! A fluke in the 1962 Illinois vehicle code allowed that. A few years later, a "minimum wheel-size" was introduced, making my little friend no longer licensable. Those 5" wheels had tires with an outside diameter of less than 11"... At 100-mph, they must have been turning a MONUMENTAL rpm... (I remember them being marked "not for highway use; 25-mph max. speed) "Doin' the dime", the motor was running about 19-20Krpm. NO suspension but a pair of car valve-springs in the front fork... NO CVT, NO gears... just a centrifugal clutch, chain and one speed. Aside from top-fuel dragsters, there will probably NEVER again be engines to equal the gut-wrenching all-out NASTY, explosive power-per-cubic-inch screaming performance of the 1960's 2-stroke kart motors. If you missed out on that short window of gas-powered insanity, you just cannot comprehend the pure-animal personality of the kart motors.
And, no, I never did hit a pothole on the mini... THANK GOD!!! Those corrugated, see-through BRIDGES over the river were a booger on teensy tires, though... LOL
Us old geezers from the sixties had THE most WONDERFUL toys on the planet! Ride safe,Leo in Texas
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Post by wheelbender6 on Oct 2, 2016 14:14:54 GMT -5
I am amazed that the 2T Mini bike was street legal, Leo. If it was only 48cc, I would still be amazed that it was street legal.
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Post by oldchopperguy on Oct 2, 2016 21:47:38 GMT -5
I am amazed that the 2T Mini bike was street legal, Leo. If it was only 48cc, I would still be amazed that it was street legal.
Well, it really should NOT have been... LOL! Have a bone!However, this was 1962, and there were no emissions laws, no insurance laws, no helmet laws and all one had to do in Illinois then, was to have a title (mine read "homemade") and was penciled on notebook paper.
2-strokes were EVERYWHERE! Remember the infamous Kawasaki "Widomaker" 3-cylinder rockets" Bikes, scooters, mopeds (REAL mopeds) with pedals... Whizzer, Solex, etc. The Yamaha and Bridgestone, and who could forget the immortal Hokaka Wombat? And the dirt-bike variant, the "Combat Wombat"... LOL!
All I needed was a headlight, tail-light and brake-light. Those were Lucas 6V bicycle items pirated from my Schwinn fat-tire cruiser. I simply added a medium-sized 6V motorcycle battery (LOTS of vehicles were still 6-volt) and charged it each night. In truth, nobody at the motor vehicle department EVER thought anyone would license a 100-mph mini-bike. But I did... HeHeHe... I suppose nobody figured anyone would be nuts enough to BUILD a 100-mph mini-bike... But I was a kart nut with a spare killer Mac motor on hand... Yup...
Talk about "handy"! That little beastie could be used as a stool to sit on at ballgame... I kept it in my bedroom. I'd ride it to the train station, take it aboard and ride it through downtown Chicago to school and hang it on my locker-handle. It had a huge, square, megaphone kart open header, and on a dare I once fired it up inside the school hall and spun donuts until those in authority voiced their disapproval at the 140-db sound level and the choking blue haze of pungent castor-oil and burning rubber smoke... Talk about "sour grapes"... The admin made me clean the tire-marks off, and polish the floor to keep from being suspended... Cheesh!
Sadly, a couple years later, Illinois instituted a "wheel-size" requirement to license a bike. It was based on the outside-diameter of the tire on the smallest Vespa 10" wheel, which was probably around 15" or 16". My 5" racing kart wheels had 11" outside-diameter tires... I had to surrender my treasured plate...:  I still get a goofy smile on my face remembering street-racing a local hot-rod Corvette at the local outlaw drag hangout. That old 'Vette ran in the high 13's but my little 2-smoker would run in the 12's all day. When I took the "Thermo-Nuclear Suppository" as she was nicknamed from the trunk of my '50 Chevy and carried the little bomb to the starting line, it was supposed to be all in fun. But the 'Vette driver got nasty, insulting the "Lil' Nuke" so I growled at him to put $500 on the line if he had the cajones. (That's about $5,000 in today's Obama-dollars...)
He did... laughing like a hyena... Until I blew his 'Vette away by two car-lengths.
Thankfully, I had my pal "Tiny" hold the money... Tiny was around 6' 10" and 600 pounds, and looked like he'd EAT your carcass after he killed you. He was actually very friendly, but we kept that a secret... LOLOLOL! 
Below is a pic of Tiny... I painted it for an article in a long-forgotten cycle rag doing an article on my chopper, because I had no camera to take his picture...
 We were a fun-loving bunch, and we could do things back then in fun that would put us in jail today... LOL!Ride safe, for sure!Leo |
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