New To Mopeds - Any advice for my '85 Spree?
Posted: Mon Nov 14, 2022 3:46 pm
I'm a broke recent college graduate who's currently living in the same town I graduated from. I managed to get a 1985 Honda Spree off of Facebook Marketplace with about 4,100 miles on it, as it was the only thing I could afford with my very limited budget. I already love it quite a lot (I've named it 'Red', guess what color it is), but it has a few glaring flaws that I need some help remedying.
Firstly, I am not very mechanically minded to begin with, but am trying to learn. Please explain things as if I know nothing, because I don't. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Red came to me with the rear brake nonfunctional, the speedometer needle hanging limply and not moving even when maxing out the speed, cracks in some of the plastic body, a restricted Iowa muffler, and no rearview mirrors. Additionally, this bike, according to the person I bought it from, has a new battery that needs to be charged every two days with a battery tender. I managed to haul the scooter up my apartment stairs and charged it overnight, but I can't pull that off in the long run. Do you guys have any suggestions on how to go about fixing these issues? Red can still run and get me from place to place, but I feel it will be a lot safer to get to those places if I can fix these issues ASAP.
The mirrors will be easiest to fix, as it appears I can find new ones off of Amazon, I just need to double check the size to make sure they'll fit when they get here. The cracks to the body seem largely superficial at this point, and I can let them be as long as I don't run into anything to cause more. The rest of the issues, the rear brake, speedometer, muffler, and new-but-still-constantly-needing-charge battery are things I want to try to fix, especially since Red is my only form of transportation. Does anyone with any more experience than me have any suggestions on how I might get this done, or know any resources that might be able to help me?
Thank you!
Firstly, I am not very mechanically minded to begin with, but am trying to learn. Please explain things as if I know nothing, because I don't. Any help is greatly appreciated.
Red came to me with the rear brake nonfunctional, the speedometer needle hanging limply and not moving even when maxing out the speed, cracks in some of the plastic body, a restricted Iowa muffler, and no rearview mirrors. Additionally, this bike, according to the person I bought it from, has a new battery that needs to be charged every two days with a battery tender. I managed to haul the scooter up my apartment stairs and charged it overnight, but I can't pull that off in the long run. Do you guys have any suggestions on how to go about fixing these issues? Red can still run and get me from place to place, but I feel it will be a lot safer to get to those places if I can fix these issues ASAP.
The mirrors will be easiest to fix, as it appears I can find new ones off of Amazon, I just need to double check the size to make sure they'll fit when they get here. The cracks to the body seem largely superficial at this point, and I can let them be as long as I don't run into anything to cause more. The rest of the issues, the rear brake, speedometer, muffler, and new-but-still-constantly-needing-charge battery are things I want to try to fix, especially since Red is my only form of transportation. Does anyone with any more experience than me have any suggestions on how I might get this done, or know any resources that might be able to help me?
Thank you!