Fossil Free Friday: Electric Scooter Jones

  

Lots of years and smiles traveled on this scoot

 

I rode the old scooter to work this morning. I really enjoyed the ride to work this morning - sort of.

Part of it was simply the joy of a beautiful morning at 40mph. And part of it was the mirth of a vintage scooter.

Life is more fun on a scooter! (Find it here.)

People embrace vintage scooters in a way that they seldom embrace other forms of transportation that get noticed. People wave, smile, and ask friendly questions. The old bike doesn't carry connotations of entitled wealth, hooliganism (or wanting to be viewed as a hooligan), or an attempt at compensating for undersized appendages. Young men (not on a Harley) often yell, "Get a Harley," but that's about the biggest form of negativity we face. And it's not like a bicycle where drivers often resent your intrusion into their domain.

Find it here

 

[There is one weird little thing with driving a scooter - people in cars and trucks race you everywhere you go - there's some stigma about being seen going slower than a scooter, no matter how fast a scooter may be.]

Riding an old scooter around can be extremely enjoyable! But if you are like me, there's a big elephant in the room (or on the scooter). It's that gasoline and emissions thing. Old scooters may get great mileage, but they are very messy in the way they go about it. It's definitely not the vehicle for a Mesquite Hugger who wants to save the world. I ride mine very little and do not feel good about it when I do.

But I sure miss all of the good stuff that comes with riding one. Most of middle-aged life feels like obligation, busy-ness, and fixing things that break. It would sure be nice to scoot and smile guilt-free from one obligation to another. (Sigh)

I will get there one day. Until then, I keep my eyes open and do a lot of dreaming. I dream of building my own. (The Silver Pigeon twins). I dream of buying a new retro-vintage scooter.

(Fido. Bolt. Scooterson. Schwalbe.)

Or picking something up that's cheap and readily available.

 

Do you think this electric scooter would make my butt look fat?

Do you think I could pull off this look?

 

And then there's this guy who really did build a green Vespa. Hmm...

 

How about you? What green transportation are you jonesing for?

 

May you find it, and may the having be better (for all of us) than the jonesing.

More Mesquite Hugger Greatest Hits: Electric Scooter Posts

In case you are dreaming of green scooting this spring, here are some posts to keep you dreaming:

Making some noise:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2013/10/solving-one-electric-vehicle-problem.html

 

A visit to an electric scooter shop:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-quick-trip-to-austin-part-1the.html

Somebody's old Vespa on Evalbum:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-few-local-lubbock-evs-for-your.html

Just wow:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/02/the-biggest-dang-electric-moped-i-have.html

Some available options out there:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/03/petroleum-free-transport-how-willing.html

Hempenscoot:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/04/a-new-twist-in-green-scootering-hemp.html

(Very popular) collected conversions:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/04/some-of-mhs-favorite-scooter-moped.html

The Mahindra Genze:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/05/an-american-built-e-scooter.html

Fido news:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/05/electric-scooter-news-fido-i-am-excited.html

Daymak Beast:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/07/kickstarter-your-commute-off-grid-off.html

EVT 168 Custom Conversion:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/07/a-little-evalbum-inspiration-cure-for.html

A couple of new old Euro scooters:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/09/another-modern-vintage-electric-scooter.html

Vintage Conversion Candidates:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/10/electric-pigeons-vintage-scooters-that.html

Fido Update:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/11/electric-scooter-news-fido-grows-up-and.html

Gas 2 Articles:
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/11/two-wheeler-articles-from-one-of-my.html

Mini's mini-scooter (Yawn):
http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/11/disappointment-mini-debuts-another.html

May your spring be green scootastic!

Electric Pigeons! (Vintage Scooters that is)

Electric pigeon - further proof that you can find anything on the internet!

And another electric Pigeon (link)

Yep, I have been holding out on you.

The rundown:

It's no secret to those of you who hang out around here that I love vintage scooters, that I have built a vintage electric scooter, that I was a little disappointed in that first draft project, and that I have wanted to build another vintage electric scooter that's a little more practical in the real world. And I have been looking at viable candidates for a successful EV conversion. The two top contenders have been the Allstate Jetsweep (thanks to Bo Diddley on that one), and the Mitsubishi Silver Pigeon (thanks to Mitsubishi on that one).

For more than twenty years now, my friend Spencer and I have swapped bad habits, mostly in the form of motorcycles and scooters, sometimes in the form of music and books. And I am thankful to have him as a friend and bad-habit supporter. He showed up at Scooter Workshop Night a few weeks ago and casually mentioned that he just went to look at a BSA motorcycle for sale (pause for dramatic effect) and the seller just happened to have a pair of Silver Pigeons.

You can imagine the rest, and here are photos to help the imagination: 

Silver Pigeon #1, Forklift, Lucy

Silver Pigeon #2, Forklift, Lucy, Spencer, and the passerby who tried to buy both Pigeons

Silver Pigeons #1&2, No Forklift, and Lucy

Silver Pigeons in the coop with EVT168 donor bike

I will leave details sketchy at this point, and I promise that these two will be slow projects, but #1 will have a hubmotor from the EVT scooter, #2 will have the running gear from an early Zero motorcycle, and I need to sell some other toys to finance the building of these two.

And snagit, I am excited!!!

May the Pigeons soar cleanly and greenly, and may you be excited about your own green projects!

Thanks again, Spencer, for a great deal on these Pigeons in the rough!

If you liked this post, here are a few more that may interest you:

http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2013/10/solving-one-electric-vehicle-problem.html

http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/01/a-few-local-lubbock-evs-for-your.html

http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2013/11/just-couple-of-cool-electric-motorcycles.html

http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/04/some-of-mhs-favorite-scooter-moped.html

http://mesquitehugger.blogspot.com/2014/03/petroleum-free-transport-how-willing.html

Another Modern Vintage Electric Scooter Is Born - Cezeta!!!

My favorite way to get around, bar none, is to ride a vintage scooter. For me, a scooter combines the joy of riding a motorcycle with the aesthetics of cruising in an old car. And there is a dash of humor that brings it all together.

My favorite album cover of all time!

The obsession: If you want the opportunity to hear me talk for hours with hardly a breath taken, ask me about some old scooter or other - consider yourself warned. I purchased my first Vespa about twenty-five years ago, and it has been an obsession since. One my first conversations with my wife happened when she asked about my Vespa t-shirt. Our wedding invitation featured us on a Vespa, and some of our best times together are still spent riding a scooter...

The conflict: I ran into an ethical problem a while back. I started realizing just how badly we fans of internal combustion engines have been damaging our chances (as a planet) of continuing to live and breathe. And most vintage scooters are surprisingly heavy polluters. Since most of them get great gas mileage, you would think they would have a light footprint, but the old two-stroke motor design creates vastly worse emissions than most modern vehicles. For example, my 1980 Vespa emits much more greenhouse gas per mile than a modern Cadillac Escalade or even the old Plymouth Road Runner I drove to high school. Old scooters are extremely bad for the environment.

A solution: Several years back, I came up with the (ahem) perfect solution. I put an electric motor into a vintage Vespa. And it came out great. Reliable, quick, reasonable range, and a blast to ride. But I did miscalculate a bit. It will run 28mph. And 28mph is not a realistic speed for getting around town where I live. It's too fast on a bicycle and way too slow for something that mixes with SUVs and such. (Also, my design work on the scooter left me without a place to park my size 12 feet while riding.)

So, I have two great Vespas in the garage, neither of which gets ridden much.

A dream solution: I mentioned Vespas, but I love most vintage scooters. For years I have kept my eye out for a good deal on a motorless Silver Pigeon or an Allstate Jetsweep/Cushman Road King because they both look like great electric conversion candidates - and so I could be cool like Bo Diddley. (See photo above.) Both of these scooters would provide more room for batteries and for access. And your second draft is usually a little better than your first, right?

A Silver Pigeon - so cool!

A Euro Turn-key Solution: Why am I telling you all of this? Because there was a thread on Endless-Sphere.com this morning that got me all excited. Yet another oddball Vintage Euro Scooter has been re-born as an electric. And, of course, I want one. I present to you the Cezeta 506 Electric! (Follow all of the links - cool stuff!)

Check out the Cezeta!

Another Euro Turn-key Solution: And, in case you want to see another modern electric vintage scooter that has been around a few years now, here is the e-Schwalbe: (You may want to translate this page.)

May the electric wind scooterize your hair!