A great way to instill confidence in scooter safety
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A great way to instill confidence in scooter safety
My Aero 50 had this problem with the throttle being stuck wide open. I tried to fix it and didn't have any luck, and then it wouldn't start anymore. I can home this weekend and took it out of my Father in Law's garage and put the parts back on that he took off and it started right up.
My parents are not big fans of motorcycles, so I thought they'd be kind of irritated that I got a scoot. I had been hiding it for about 3 weeks at my Father in Law's. (Point of clarification: I'm 21, but my parents pay my tuition, so I do have to care what they think at least a little)
I got excited and told them to come check it out in the garage. They were pretty excited, actually. Not mad at all.
"Does it work?" My mom asked.
"Heck yeah it does."
"Well show us."
I pulled it onto our hilly driveway, between my dad's new Jeep and my mom's new Van and kicked it over.
"Are these things even safe?"
I started to say: "The cool thing about these is that they're way safer..."
and kicked the engine over.
In my excitement to show off my new toy I forgot to put the stand down. I also forgot that the thing was stuck in WOT. Needless to say it lurched, so I slammed on the brake. Unfortunately it was the front brake, not the back, and she took off. In a sad attempt to stop the scooter I * back on the handle bars, thinking I could hold it steady. I popped a wheely at WOT. We both took off right toward my mom's car, me being drug behind.
I had no choice but to wrestle it to the ground because my hand had slipped to the end of the throttle grip and I couldn't reach the kill switch. The Aero turned and I tried my best to pull it away from the car and we both ate the pavement.
My leg hit first, giving me a big, long bump and some minor scrapes. But what really hurt was when my face hit the driveway, chin first. I lost some skin on my chinny chin chin and when I woke up this morning it was oozing yellow liquid. Luckily the injuries were minor and I had the side panels off the scoot so they didn't smash into a million pieces. My chin hit on the front, below my lip, not on the ridge. When I think about it, I'm really lucky I didn't roll my head forward and hit teeth first. That definitely would have torn the bottom teeth from my mouth.
I got on this site and read some more and went back and fixed the throttle problem and have been riding all day. This is the funnest thing I've ever owned in my life. Best 150 I've ever spent.
Today I remembered reading on the internet that if you aren't at least a little afraid of what your bike can do to you; if you get over confident to the extreme: that's when trouble happens. They were certainly right. Lesson learned.
Luckily my parents didn't demand that I sell the thing. In fact, they even rode it around the neighborhood after I got it fixed.
When I finally killed the engine and stood up after I hit the driveway, my dad stepped back and nodded. "Maybe we should get you a helmet," he said.
My parents are not big fans of motorcycles, so I thought they'd be kind of irritated that I got a scoot. I had been hiding it for about 3 weeks at my Father in Law's. (Point of clarification: I'm 21, but my parents pay my tuition, so I do have to care what they think at least a little)
I got excited and told them to come check it out in the garage. They were pretty excited, actually. Not mad at all.
"Does it work?" My mom asked.
"Heck yeah it does."
"Well show us."
I pulled it onto our hilly driveway, between my dad's new Jeep and my mom's new Van and kicked it over.
"Are these things even safe?"
I started to say: "The cool thing about these is that they're way safer..."
and kicked the engine over.
In my excitement to show off my new toy I forgot to put the stand down. I also forgot that the thing was stuck in WOT. Needless to say it lurched, so I slammed on the brake. Unfortunately it was the front brake, not the back, and she took off. In a sad attempt to stop the scooter I * back on the handle bars, thinking I could hold it steady. I popped a wheely at WOT. We both took off right toward my mom's car, me being drug behind.
I had no choice but to wrestle it to the ground because my hand had slipped to the end of the throttle grip and I couldn't reach the kill switch. The Aero turned and I tried my best to pull it away from the car and we both ate the pavement.
My leg hit first, giving me a big, long bump and some minor scrapes. But what really hurt was when my face hit the driveway, chin first. I lost some skin on my chinny chin chin and when I woke up this morning it was oozing yellow liquid. Luckily the injuries were minor and I had the side panels off the scoot so they didn't smash into a million pieces. My chin hit on the front, below my lip, not on the ridge. When I think about it, I'm really lucky I didn't roll my head forward and hit teeth first. That definitely would have torn the bottom teeth from my mouth.
I got on this site and read some more and went back and fixed the throttle problem and have been riding all day. This is the funnest thing I've ever owned in my life. Best 150 I've ever spent.
Today I remembered reading on the internet that if you aren't at least a little afraid of what your bike can do to you; if you get over confident to the extreme: that's when trouble happens. They were certainly right. Lesson learned.
Luckily my parents didn't demand that I sell the thing. In fact, they even rode it around the neighborhood after I got it fixed.
When I finally killed the engine and stood up after I hit the driveway, my dad stepped back and nodded. "Maybe we should get you a helmet," he said.
1984 Honda Aero 50
1986 Honda Spree
1986 Honda Spree
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Re: A great way to instill confidence in scooter safety
Maybe Dad is right. I won't do down my driveway without one on. Just hate the thought of having to eat my meals through a straw for the rest of, what's left of, my life.adark248 wrote: When I finally killed the engine and stood up after I hit the driveway, my dad stepped back and nodded. "Maybe we should get you a helmet," he said.
But that's just me.
- burnt_toast
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Re: A great way to instill confidence in scooter safety
Dad is most definitely right. I have a helmet now. My in laws had an old motorcycle helmet in their garage, so they are letting me use that one. My dad said he would buy a helmet as an early birthday present, so I'm headed out to the store shortly to pick one out.Maybe Dad is right. I won't do down my driveway without one on. Just hate the thought of having to eat my meals through a straw for the rest of, what's left of, my life.
But that's just me.
Once I get a properly fit helmet with a visor, I'm going to always wear it, especially in traffic.
1984 Honda Aero 50
1986 Honda Spree
1986 Honda Spree
- burnt_toast
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I took the throttle valve assembly off the carb and made sure it was working and was careful to make sure it seated properly. After that it still did it so I had ruled out that as the cause so I turned the idle adjustment screws to factory settings and then tweaked them until the thing ran like a dream.Karman wrote:Great story. What did you do to fix the throttle?
I need to do a plug chop to make sure I've got everything set up right.
1984 Honda Aero 50
1986 Honda Spree
1986 Honda Spree