That New and Nekkid Electric Scooter from Austin

Become the hippest, coolest, most eco-friendly big kid on the block. Because the road to the future is electric, let's ride it together! 

Christian Okonsky                                       

 

I miss scooting to Jo's Coffee (ATX 8080 Scooter website here)

 

(Okay, they announced pricing, so it's time for a real post.)

CleanTechnica has now posted two articles about this very promising electric scooter out of Austin, Texas. Be sure to watch the Kickstarter video to see the bike in action around Austin. I can't think of a better vehicle for getting around our capitol. For years now I have watched for a non-running Honda scooter like this one for a candidate for conversion. Thanks to Austin Electric Powersports, I can quit looking!

ATX 8080 from Austin Electric Powersports - All-Electric American-Made Motorcycle Going On Sale Later this Month

 

Austin Electric ATX 8080 All-Electric Moto-Scooter - Earlybird Special for $5250

This scooter appeals to me for four reasons:

• the range (50 miles)
• the speed (50 miles per hour)
• the functional style (borrowing heavily from the wildly popular Honda Ruckus)
• and it's from the Lone Star State. (They really hooked me when they took off from Home Slice and took a pic at Jo's Coffee on South Congress - lots of good memories of scooting in South Austin!)

 From the Kickstarter video (Hopefully, the check-engine light, low-oil light, and neutral indicator won't make it to the production version.)

 

May all of us eco-friendly big kids ride together on machines like this.
 

 

[Shameless blogger self-promotion time: If you like this machine, be sure to check out the Fido, the Daymak Beast, the Boxx scooter, and the Bolt M-1.  You can find most of them on our Electric Scooters and Mopeds page. You can find the Beast on our Electric Bikes and Conversion Kits page.]

[More shameless blogger self-promotion: If any of you big-time blogs out there need a guest writer to run down to Austin to do an in-depth article on the ATX 8080, you know where to find me!]

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, and REPAIR, Snagit!

Snagit! Pure carelessness on my part.

Let me tell you about Jo's Coffee on South Congress in Austin. One of my favorite places and times to be is Sunday morning at Jo's. It's a walk-up coffee house in view of the state capitol. They have outdoor seating under something that eventually became known as a pergola. On the back wall of the pergola thingy is a wall of live music and cultural event flyers. (I was phenomenally happy the day I found Sarah Hickman next to the Old 97's.) And everybody comes to Jo's on Sunday morning.

Find this image here.

There is usually a trio or so of musicians playing - it is the live music capitol, you know. The dog walkers are there in force. The vintage motorcyclists, scooterists, and bicyclists show up. The wealthy show up, as do the homeless. The photography students show up to take photos of ironically placed biscotti. Foreign tourists show up to take photos of the photo students. The granolas sneer at the hipsters, The hipsters sneer at the obviously wealthy.

My two favorite groups there are the dogs and the birds. The dogs are always overwhelmedly bored, and the birds are thrilled with the messy humans and their crumbs. Mostly, there are English sparrows and grackles. And I know that it is an unpopular thing to say, but I love grackles. We tend to love things until they become successful, and grackles are hated for thriving. These mean, beautiful, and graceful creatures offer me endless enjoyment in watching their antics, and they represent Jo's in my memories.

So, I was thrilled a while back when my beautiful wife went by Jo's and bought me a coffee mug with their grackle logo.

And snagit, I almost cried this morning when a wall carelessly jumped out and knocked the mug from my hand.

This one is going into the repair stack. I am not ready to part with it. So, what adhesive do you recommend for putting a porcelain cup back together?

May you enjoy the antics of a grackle this week. And may your favorite cup be immortal.