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Post by oldchopperguy on Apr 1, 2015 0:08:34 GMT -5
Well boyz and girlz... Squirrel season is OPEN and the squirrels are driving and texting.
Thank God for disk brakes! Spring has sprung around here, and "squirrel-fever" is running rampant. Forget the drunks, idiots and those without thumbs masquerading as humans... LOL... It's the "texting while driving" crowd that seems to be my worst nemesis.
Being an old, Old-school biker, used to cable-pull mechanical drum-brakes on 900-pound hogs, I am MOST appreciative of the hydraulic disks on our scooters. But never more so than today.
On a 45 mph surface street (just before I'd turn into Wally World, of course) I came to a green-light at a cross-street with one of those flashing-yellow left-turn signals. I could SEE the fellow facing me, left signal on, and texting away, so I slowed down to 35 "just in case". Sure enough, as I got within about 80 feet of the intersection, he turned right in front of me, still texting.
This is the first time since I got old "Minnie Mouse" that I had to do an all-out, MAXIMUM-EFFORT panic-stop. The road was dry and warm with great traction, and I did the white-knuckle "gorilla-squeeze" on both brakes. The Kymco Honda-style, proportioned front/rear-wheel brake-application on the rear lever is GREAT, and the independent front brake is plenty strong.
The scoot slowed like I dropped an anchor, and finally the rear tire locked up, I didn't let up, and a second later the front locked and the mouse slid pretty straight, with the rear end eventually wandering out to the right. Of course, the driver NOW sees me and STOPS, blocking my path. Oh, THANKS a pant-load...
I let the rear end slide out completely sideways clamped down on the levers to completely lock the wheels and slide sideways, now wanting the mouse between me and the new Lexus... 340 pounds of impact-absorbing scooter between me and the car is more appealing than me launching through my own windshield and eating steel roof... LOL.
End of story, the mouse DID stop a foot short of the shiny new car, which took off like a shot.
Had I been riding ANY big bike of my youth, even though I slowed in "anticipation of stupid" I'd have still T-boned the car HARD.
Just a cautionary message to one and all. Look out for stupid. Now, WHERE did I put my SQUIRREL GUN last winter?... Only kidding, ONLY KIDDING! LOL!
So... Thank God and our Asian friends for hydraulic disks... Ride safe, and watch yer' six!
Leo in Texas |
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Post by JerryScript on Apr 1, 2015 13:07:40 GMT -5
Wow! Thank God you are safe! I've had similar, though less dramatic incidents, really glad to know you made it through this one!
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Post by scooter on Apr 1, 2015 15:57:35 GMT -5
Well boyz and girlz... Squirrel season is OPEN and the squirrels are driving and texting.
Thank God for disk brakes! Spring has sprung around here, and "squirrel-fever" is running rampant. Forget the drunks, idiots and those without thumbs masquerading as humans... LOL... It's the "texting while driving" crowd that seems to be my worst nemesis.
Being an old, Old-school biker, used to cable-pull mechanical drum-brakes on 900-pound hogs, I am MOST appreciative of the hydraulic disks on our scooters. But never more so than today.
On a 45 mph surface street (just before I'd turn into Wally World, of course) I came to a green-light at a cross-street with one of those flashing-yellow left-turn signals. I could SEE the fellow facing me, left signal on, and texting away, so I slowed down to 35 "just in case". Sure enough, as I got within about 80 feet of the intersection, he turned right in front of me, still texting.
This is the first time since I got old "Minnie Mouse" that I had to do an all-out, MAXIMUM-EFFORT panic-stop. The road was dry and warm with great traction, and I did the white-knuckle "gorilla-squeeze" on both brakes. The Kymco Honda-style, proportioned front/rear-wheel brake-application on the rear lever is GREAT, and the independent front brake is plenty strong.
The scoot slowed like I dropped an anchor, and finally the rear tire locked up, I didn't let up, and a second later the front locked and the mouse slid pretty straight, with the rear end eventually wandering out to the right. Of course, the driver NOW sees me and STOPS, blocking my path. Oh, THANKS a pant-load...
I let the rear end slide out completely sideways clamped down on the levers to completely lock the wheels and slide sideways, now wanting the mouse between me and the new Lexus... 340 pounds of impact-absorbing scooter between me and the car is more appealing than me launching through my own windshield and eating steel roof... LOL.
End of story, the mouse DID stop a foot short of the shiny new car, which took off like a shot.
Had I been riding ANY big bike of my youth, even though I slowed in "anticipation of stupid" I'd have still T-boned the car HARD.
Just a cautionary message to one and all. Look out for stupid. Now, WHERE did I put my SQUIRREL GUN last winter?... Only kidding, ONLY KIDDING! LOL!
So... Thank God and our Asian friends for hydraulic disks... Ride safe, and watch yer' six!
Leo in Texas Have a bone for living to ride another day, Leo! |
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Post by ramblinman on Apr 1, 2015 19:12:33 GMT -5
did you park it for few minutes to get the heart back in rhythm?  |
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Post by SylvreKat on Apr 1, 2015 22:34:38 GMT -5
Gosh Leo, I'm so glad you're a defensive driver and anticipated major stupidhead's stupidness, and was already slowing! And that Minnie has good brakes and got you stopped in time!
And here I thought you were telling a story about a suicidal squirrel-vermin. I wish that's what this could've been, instead.
>'Kat
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Post by rockynv on Apr 1, 2015 22:49:03 GMT -5
Brakes were a big part of the consideration when I settled upon the Aprilia 250 since it was a 326 lb bike with the same brakes with twin discs up front as the 416 lb 500 cc Scarabeo. With a good tire up front you can do wheel stands.
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Post by ricardoguitars on Apr 2, 2015 0:01:08 GMT -5
I wish for the day EMP devices are available to the public, so I can install one on my scoot to disable car drivers cellphones  |
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Post by oldchopperguy on Apr 2, 2015 0:47:14 GMT -5
I wish for the day EMP devices are available to the public, so I can install one on my scoot to disable car drivers cellphones HeHeHe... Yeah, THAT would be mighty handy! |
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Post by oldchopperguy on Apr 2, 2015 0:49:07 GMT -5
Brakes were a big part of the consideration when I settled upon the Aprilia 250 since it was a 326 lb bike with the same brakes with twin discs up front as the 416 lb 500 cc Scarabeo. With a good tire up front you can do wheel stands. That is GREAT! Back in the day, brakes weren't much of a consideration because they ALL sucked... We just accepted it. I'm glad these new bikes have REAL brakes! |
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Post by oldchopperguy on Apr 2, 2015 0:53:58 GMT -5
Gosh Leo, I'm so glad you're a defensive driver and anticipated major stupidhead's stupidness, and was already slowing! And that Minnie has good brakes and got you stopped in time! And here I thought you were telling a story about a suicidal squirrel-vermin. I wish that's what this could've been, instead. >'Kat Kat, last suicidal vermin I ran into (literally...) was a SKUNK... About fifty years ago. NOT long enough... LOL! Yeah, all came out OK, though it was a tad too close for comfort. I'm glad I wasn't doing 65 on a sixties' chopper with only a sorry rear drum-brake, and no front brake at all!
Ride safe!
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Post by oldchopperguy on Apr 2, 2015 0:57:13 GMT -5
did you park it for few minutes to get the heart back in rhythm? I couldn't... The light had already turned green for cross-traffic, and I was sideways in traffic... And taking all sorts of honking and obscene gestures... I was only a hundred yards from my destination at Wally World, so I parked the mouse and sat down talking with a greeter there. Such "adventures" will test your patience, and your deodorant... LOL! |
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Post by oldchopperguy on Apr 2, 2015 1:05:04 GMT -5
So... Thank God and our Asian friends for hydraulic disks... Ride safe, and watch yer' six!
Leo in Texas Have a bone for living to ride another day, Leo! I'm getting TOO OLD for these shenanigans... Yeah, the good thing here is that my old reflexes aren't as slow as I feared they might be. Maybe I'm not in need of a trike YET... Maybe? But I'll admit I almost dropped the mouse twice trying to get her back facing the right direction again. The old knees just didn't function like they used to. |
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Post by rockynv on Apr 2, 2015 3:57:06 GMT -5
Brakes were a big part of the consideration when I settled upon the Aprilia 250 since it was a 326 lb bike with the same brakes with twin discs up front as the 416 lb 500 cc Scarabeo. With a good tire up front you can do wheel stands. That is GREAT! Back in the day, brakes weren't much of a consideration because they ALL sucked... We just accepted it. I'm glad these new bikes have REAL brakes! I find it ironic that some of the more popular cruiser bikes don't seem to do as well. I use to ride with a chap on a 2011 Boulevard 850 and that thing would miss stops that the scooter would handle with ease. That is one of the bikes that I have mentioned in the past as constantly sliding off the road or overshooting during slow panic stops. |
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Post by nulldevice on Apr 2, 2015 10:07:11 GMT -5
Brakes were a big part of the consideration when I settled upon the Aprilia 250 since it was a 326 lb bike with the same brakes with twin discs up front as the 416 lb 500 cc Scarabeo. With a good tire up front you can do wheel stands. That is GREAT! Back in the day, brakes weren't much of a consideration because they ALL sucked... We just accepted it. I'm glad these new bikes have REAL brakes! Your day is farther back than mine. At least I had dual leading shoe drum brakes that would haul me down from 60 to 0 in about 150 feet or so. Of course I needed forearms like Popeye to be able to do it. You are right though, compared to mechanical brakes the hydraulic disc brake was a revolution in braking performance and ease of use in motorcycles. |
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Post by oldchopperguy on Apr 2, 2015 14:49:15 GMT -5
I guess MY "back in the day" probably IS a wee bit farther "back" than most of today's riders... LOL!My earliest bikes were 1950's Harleys... Around a half-ton, with the venerable "74" cubic-inch V-twin. Pumping out a whopping 37 hp from their 1208 cc's, the old Hogs could still manage over  mph by virtue of their stump-pulling monster-torque. Now as for BRAKES... Well, I suppose the factory DID figure they needed SOME kind of brakes...? But BRAKES were mostly an "afterthought"... So they slapped on a skinny drum at each end, with single-shoes, operated by a little flat steel cam. This was actuated by some rods and bell-cranks from the foot-pedal to the rear, and, from a lever on the right handlebar through a cable to the front. Not far removed from a 1940's Schwinn fat-tire bicycle.
At highway speeds, you might as well drag your feet, Fred Flintstone-style..."Old Blue" my most treasured 2-wheel memory began life as a 1957 Harley 74. When the old girl was finished, the 74 cid engine had been about doubled in displacement, put out over 250 hp, and her nearly 900 pounds had been chopped to about 350 pounds (nearly identical to my 19 hp 250 Kymco).With more than 250 hp and the torque of a John Deere tractor, she could cover the quarter-mile in less than 11 seconds, at near 140 mph (on a really GOOD day, with my 76-pound gal-friend at the controls... LOL!). With MY then 375 pounds on board, Old Blue would still turn under 12 seconds at 120+... But the BRAKES were still cable and rod mechanical drums from the era of WWI... That's around 1915 technology, for you younger jockeys.
But I was still ahead of the curve: At least I HAD a front brake. Most choppers scrapped the front binders in deference to cosmetics. I rode a few choppers with only a rear brake... It was near "suicidal". To be fair, sometime around the mid 1960's, bike manufacturers began to put large, and fairly effective mechanical drum-brakes at both ends of their toys. Like Nulldevice notes "you needed arms like Popeye to make 'em work..." but they WOULD work. In their never-ending wisdom, Harley-Davidson "improved" their Electra-Glide with an honest-to-goodness HYDRAULIC drum REAR brake around 1970... But kept the pathetic cable-pull drum up front, where a hydraulic unit would have been a REAL improvement... Go figger... The last drum-brake bike I had was in 1968... A lovely little Honda 305 "Super Hawk". To this day, I give it an "A+" in ALL categories. I grudgingly bought it new for $600 at Fort Bragg, while in the Army. I just HAD to have SOMETHING on two wheels, even if it was made in Japan. Well, that little bike was one to love. Small, light, drop-dead reliable and gave incredible gas mileage. And the drum-brakes were adequate. The little rice-burner had snappy acceleration, stable handling, and would do an honest 102 mph wide open, allowing easy highway cruise, with a passenger aboard, of  mph... EXACTLY the performance we'd like from our scooters today. Times never really change.Anyway, now that the Japanese builders, and tuner kids are stuffing 400, 500+ hp motors into motorcycles, it's nice to see brakes fit for a 747 on them!For you young scooter-jockeys who haven't seen "Old Blue" from my misspent youth, in other posts, here's the only picture ever taken of the old gal... 1962, me, at sixteen and 6' 2" and 375 pounds... and you shoulda heard them straight-pipes... But her "Model-T Ford" style brakes, you would likely pass on... LOL!
 And "The Old Chopper Guy" now barely over six-feet, and a more manageable 235 pounds... and the missus today...  Remember: No matter HOW good your brakes are, they're NEVER good enough to make up for stupid... LOL!Ride safe,Leo (and Betty) in Texas
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mph by virtue of their stump-pulling monster-torque.
mph... EXACTLY the performance we'd like from our scooters today. Times never really change.