Good evening gents. As the title suggests, I am interested in a motor scooter. My wife has flatly stated she'd rather me ride a Harley than buy one of those. I was stunned. I figured the whole thing would go; "NO MOTORCYCLES!" She was just worried about me looking ridiculous which I do quite often. I am not exactly a college kid. She couldn't bear the thought of a six foot, 200+ lb. cowboy toodling about on one of those sissy boy multi hued puddle jumpers. So of course, lights go off in my head. Hmmm, maybe swing a used Harley sportster, possibly a Kawasaki Vulcan. Who knows? Then I thought about it and you know what? I just won't ride the damned thing that much.
This whole idea started with the notion of finding an early 80's Honda Express(hey, it has spoked wheels) and use it for the summer to save gas. Work is only 2-3 miles away. I need it for gas mileage. Insuring and dealing with a big cruiser isn't really high on my list. So, back to a scooter. Being as I am a certified curmudgeon, my thoughts immediately went to a Cushman. That idea was dropped like a hot rock when I checked prices. Wow. $4000-8000 depending on year and how well it has been restored. That certainly won't do for somewhat budget minded use. So I started fiddling around looking for scooters that look like old school Cushman's and Mustangs. I found this site. That guy makes some nice looking scooters with modern components and engines. Of course if you look closely, you will notice they are not street legal. This of course stirred my tinkerers brain and I started thinking. If people are re-powering old Cushman's with new Briggs engines, why couldn't you grab an old, non working motorcycle like a Benelli(also sold under the Ward's name) from the late 60's or early 70's, make up a frame like this gent did, insert engine and torque converter of choice,and sort of fudge the titling to get it tagged. Now, I am not talking about beautiful custom work. Yeoman functionality is the object. The point of the old bike is that no one working at a DMV station has any clue what a Benelli or any of the other old bikes looked like from that era. There were tons of them imported from all over the world and most have fallen into disrepair and non use. The key is getting one with a good title. Then when you hack your frame together, you incorporate the serial number section of xyz brand of bike into your frame work. Some of the old bikes had VIN stickers on the frame, some did not. It depends. Now I know what you are thinking. Why do this when there are tons of scoots out there? I am not against the idea. I just hate the look of most of the newer ones. The Honda Ruckus is a nice departure from then norm. They are a couple of thousand dollars as well. Just try buying one. They are a hot ticket right now and most times there is a waiting list. I was just thinking in terms of a fun project. Of course, there is usually a lot of PITA things that come with a job like this as well. I would try to use as much off the shelf components as possible. Forks, brakes, DOT approved lighting and turn signals. You get the drift. The main thing is making SURE you can tag the thing. There are provisions for titling a "home built vehicle". They come with about 1000 hurdles too. Notarised receipts for ALL parts, including the metal you make the frame from etc. So you see why I want an old bike and either make a frame or hack it's own for use with smaller wheels, smaller tank, platform for a Briggs or Robin air cooled. Yeah, I know, a regular cycle engine would be better. I want that old school look. I may even do mine a bit steam punk with some brass/chrome/gloss black paint. Another MAJOR issue is a working, accurate speedometer/odometer. I don't know how it is elsewhere but when you go in for an inspection(title, paper work, etc)the Kansas Highway Patrol has ZERO tolerance for anything they think is suspicious. They will boot you out fast if they think you are fudging an odometer. Anyroad, sorry for the long winded post but if there are some bike or scooter junkies out there who either tinker with them or can direct me to a more old school looking scoot, please do so. BTW, I have checked Vespa and they are quite expensive. They also have most of the newer look to them. Thanks guys.
Regards, Todd
P.S. For those who have dealt with this; what is the advantages/disadvantages of titling as a mootrised bicycle or motorcycle? I know the latter requires a cycle license whilst the former only requires a regular drivers license. I am thinking more toward the insurance/tagging/titling issue.
This whole idea started with the notion of finding an early 80's Honda Express(hey, it has spoked wheels) and use it for the summer to save gas. Work is only 2-3 miles away. I need it for gas mileage. Insuring and dealing with a big cruiser isn't really high on my list. So, back to a scooter. Being as I am a certified curmudgeon, my thoughts immediately went to a Cushman. That idea was dropped like a hot rock when I checked prices. Wow. $4000-8000 depending on year and how well it has been restored. That certainly won't do for somewhat budget minded use. So I started fiddling around looking for scooters that look like old school Cushman's and Mustangs. I found this site. That guy makes some nice looking scooters with modern components and engines. Of course if you look closely, you will notice they are not street legal. This of course stirred my tinkerers brain and I started thinking. If people are re-powering old Cushman's with new Briggs engines, why couldn't you grab an old, non working motorcycle like a Benelli(also sold under the Ward's name) from the late 60's or early 70's, make up a frame like this gent did, insert engine and torque converter of choice,and sort of fudge the titling to get it tagged. Now, I am not talking about beautiful custom work. Yeoman functionality is the object. The point of the old bike is that no one working at a DMV station has any clue what a Benelli or any of the other old bikes looked like from that era. There were tons of them imported from all over the world and most have fallen into disrepair and non use. The key is getting one with a good title. Then when you hack your frame together, you incorporate the serial number section of xyz brand of bike into your frame work. Some of the old bikes had VIN stickers on the frame, some did not. It depends. Now I know what you are thinking. Why do this when there are tons of scoots out there? I am not against the idea. I just hate the look of most of the newer ones. The Honda Ruckus is a nice departure from then norm. They are a couple of thousand dollars as well. Just try buying one. They are a hot ticket right now and most times there is a waiting list. I was just thinking in terms of a fun project. Of course, there is usually a lot of PITA things that come with a job like this as well. I would try to use as much off the shelf components as possible. Forks, brakes, DOT approved lighting and turn signals. You get the drift. The main thing is making SURE you can tag the thing. There are provisions for titling a "home built vehicle". They come with about 1000 hurdles too. Notarised receipts for ALL parts, including the metal you make the frame from etc. So you see why I want an old bike and either make a frame or hack it's own for use with smaller wheels, smaller tank, platform for a Briggs or Robin air cooled. Yeah, I know, a regular cycle engine would be better. I want that old school look. I may even do mine a bit steam punk with some brass/chrome/gloss black paint. Another MAJOR issue is a working, accurate speedometer/odometer. I don't know how it is elsewhere but when you go in for an inspection(title, paper work, etc)the Kansas Highway Patrol has ZERO tolerance for anything they think is suspicious. They will boot you out fast if they think you are fudging an odometer. Anyroad, sorry for the long winded post but if there are some bike or scooter junkies out there who either tinker with them or can direct me to a more old school looking scoot, please do so. BTW, I have checked Vespa and they are quite expensive. They also have most of the newer look to them. Thanks guys.
Regards, Todd
P.S. For those who have dealt with this; what is the advantages/disadvantages of titling as a mootrised bicycle or motorcycle? I know the latter requires a cycle license whilst the former only requires a regular drivers license. I am thinking more toward the insurance/tagging/titling issue.
