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lordkaosu
  
| #1 posted January 27, 2009 at 6:53pm (EST)
edited January 27, 2009 at 6:53pm (EST) |
I signed up for the ScootDawg forums since I recently got a scooter and they have some good help it seems.
Of course I put up my avatar, sig, and link to the hentai podcast. Within an hour I had an email from a mod saying they deleted my sig w/link. Nice guy about it, just said they want a family place.
I guess not everyone is for hentai, so how about some Cafe Tacuba instead?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cEEHVNqKnF4
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Captain
  
 
| #2 posted January 27, 2009 at 10:35pm (EST)
edited January 27, 2009 at 10:37pm (EST) |
Hey, that was interesting. Never heard of those guys before... looks like they've been around for a while. I like the bass line.
It looks like there's some family action going on in your signature...
What kind of scooter is it?
The Happy House |
lordkaosu
| | #3 posted January 27, 2009 at 10:45pm (EST) |
I hadn't heard of them before Little Big Planet, they had a song (actually the above song) in it. They've been getting pretty big in the Latin Music scene looking at some info though.
My signature is the right kind of action!
It's a 50cc Chinese scooter. Brand is Baja but I don't really think that matters, all of the Chinese scooters seem to be pretty much the same. It's the one Pep Boys sells though. The Chinese ones aren't bad, but they're bottom of the line and you pay for it (I paid $900 vs. $1500+ for a name brand). You just have to do a little maintenance to get them up to par. It's small enough to park anywhere at school too (where they claim you need a motorcycle parking permit for a 125cc+, 50cc craps can go at the bike rack).
I haven't had a car for almost 2 years now. My little truck broke down and I never fixed it because it wasn't worth it. Started biking instead. This is a nice alternative when I don't want to pedal. Although we have a car still, my wife primarily uses it as she couldn't get to work without it. She takes care of da bidness.
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Captain
| #4 posted January 27, 2009 at 11:08pm (EST)
edited January 27, 2009 at 11:12pm (EST) |
I see scooters at a local auctioneers once in a while, but I never knew Pep Boys sold them... either that's a west coast thing, or I just haven't been in a Pep Boys for a while. I've been considering getting one if I can sell my old car.
Seeing as you live in New Mexico... I really liked Albuquerque when I was there last year. The city isn't that large, and it was fairly easy to get around. I biked everywhere. I mean, everything's there. The roads aren't really made for biking around here though.
The Happy House |
Captain
| | #5 posted January 27, 2009 at 11:10pm (EST) |
BTW, when I was there, I think I found this video store on the north side of town with some of the weirdest anime / niche titles I've ever seen. It was pretty awesome.
The Happy House |
lordkaosu
| | #6 posted January 27, 2009 at 11:48pm (EST) |
Pep Boys just sells those cheap chinese ones. Their website has a 150cc model as well but in the store they only had the 50 (unless that changed recently, I rarely go in there). Usually actual scooter dealers (or some atv dealers) have the name brand ones. Japanese and Italian seem to offer better quality.
Most of the roads work out ok for biking, I haven't had any real issues. There's sidewalks everywhere at least so if it comes down to it and I don't like the road, I'll bike on the sidewalk.
I'm not sure what that video store might be, I'll have to look into it. I know there's some video store around downtown that seems to offer foreign stuff but I've never been in. The real question is, why the hell didn't you call me when you were here. We could've grabbed some dinner!
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Captain
| | #7 posted January 28, 2009 at 12:15pm (EST) |
Do small engined vehicles like that have to go up for inspection in NM?
I didn't know you lived in Albuquerque. I would have brought some PBR if I knew!
The Happy House |
lordkaosu
| | #8 posted January 28, 2009 at 4:52pm (EST) |
Nope, no inspection needed. I'm not sure where they start. I know cars need inspecting, I imagine motorcycles too. That might mean 50+cc would need the emissions. I believe only Albuquerque (maybe Santa Fe) in NM require emissions. Although all engines 50+cc need registration. These small models they usually keep right under for that (actual cc rating on this one is 49.7).
I might've been in Socorro at the time, it's only about 60 miles south though. You snooze, you lose.
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Captain
| | #9 posted January 29, 2009 at 11:17pm (EST) |
Hmm, just found out that under Pennsylvania law, scooters fall under the motorcycle category. That's weird.
The Happy House |
Sid_Ceaser
(frozen)
| #10 posted January 31, 2009 at 10:51am (EST)
edited January 31, 2009 at 10:54am (EST) |
I've had a Honda Metropolitan for about a year. I picked it up right after my birthday last year.
Ran into major issues when registering it. Under most of NH law, anything 50cc or under is a scooter/moped, and doesn't require a motorcycle license. But recently only a few line items were moderately changed, so now it seems its totally dependent on what receptionist you get at what DMV as to whether or not they feel like classifying it as a "moped" (scooter) or a motorcycle. After about a week of going to DMV's all over the state, I finally found one that let me register it as a moped. Its very odd, because is basically a lawnmower engine, and although some DMV's say its a motorcycle, they laughed and said to me: "You are going to look awfully funny and be laughed at when you have to bring this in every year for state inspection" which is absurd. But like I said, I finally found a DMV that considers it a moped, so I don't have to worry about that. Just the three bucks a year for registration.
Anything that is above 50cc is considered a motorcycle and requires a motorcycle class license. So most Vespas and the nice two-up scooters require a license.
Mine is in storage at my folks right now, because up here in NH we are buried with snow. I love getting 100mpg and only paying $1.45 every two weeks for gas.
Sucks in the rain though 
I researched a ton before purchasing mine, and narrowed it down to Honda, Yamaha and Genuine (and of course Vespa but those are very expensive). I picked Honda because of the retro look, and for very low upkeep for it. I'm very leary of the chinese brands. A friend of mine picked one up, and we've been on two rides since last summer. His keeps breaking or has engine issues.
Got an pics of your scoot?
I formed a scooter club last year, but I hope this year I'll be able to give it more attention. http://www.gatecityscoots.com
edit - really good scooter community website at http://www.urbanscootin.com
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lordkaosu
| #11 posted January 31, 2009 at 2:29pm (EST)
edited January 31, 2009 at 2:32pm (EST) |
Man Sid, never new all that. Nice scooter. I've heard nothing but good things about Honda's. The Japanese and Italian scooters seem to be the best, Kymco (Korean) seems to be a pretty good brand too. There is a girl with a Honda that parks next to me at school, that thing is 21 years old and still runs fine.
The Chinese ones are hit and miss. Some are good, some aren't. The one I have isn't and I knew it. It's bottom of the line. The engines are ok but there can be sporadic problems with other components. As long as you're willing to deal with that, the cheap Chinese ones aren't bad for the price. I had to take mine into a shop this morning, Thursday it started starting poorly and not running well until warmed up. Shop says most likely a bad choke but they're going to look at it. I'm having them swap out the crappy fuel lines/filter included for some good ones as well as just take a look at other things (idle, mixture, etc.) to make any needed adjustments. Hopefully that should nix any problems. I have no idea how long I'll get out of this though, only time will tell.
I don't currently have any pictures, once I get it back I will take some and post them up though. I don't think New Mexico requires any sort of registration, I haven't even bothered going to the MVD. At least according to the state's web site, it makes it sound like I don't need to bother. It's never been a problem with police either so I'm guessing it's all good.
Luckily the weather is pretty dry and mild here so it makes for a good year-round transportation device. I will take a look at those sites though. It looks like there are a couple of local scooter clubs here (one call Duke City Scooter Club, Albuquerque is also called the "Duke City", another is a division of Pharaohs, who seem to be national). I was planning on checking one out at some point here. Hopefully there are other 50cc's so I'm not the only slow one..lol.
I've mostly been using Scootdawg for now: http://www.scootdawg.com/
Although there's also this UK based Chinese Scooter Site  : http://chinesescoots.forumwise.com/
edit: this is a picture from the Baja site, it's the one I have. I'll put a real pic up later
.jpg)
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lordkaosu
| | #12 posted January 31, 2009 at 4:52pm (EST) |
I got word back from the shop: They say the electric choke is bad and that's why it's not starting up easily. They are going to replace that, then I'm just having them do some other stuff while it's there; they're replacing the fuel lines/filter and taking out the air filter and putting in an external box (I'm at 5500 ft., could use a less restrictive system). Once it's all fixed, I asked them to just make the minor adjustments (idle, mixture) since they'll have it apart anyway and can get to the stuff easily.
It's going to be in the shop for about a week while the parts get ordered. Guess it's back to the old bicycle for now. That will make my 40mi. (round trip) commute on Thursdays fun..lol
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lordkaosu
| | #13 posted February 14, 2009 at 9:19pm (EST) |
Went on a scooter ride today. Good times. Started with a ride, stopped by a local pizza shop on the way back, hit up a local brewery for a few cold ones, then went back to a house where the guy brews beer himself for some more. This turned into drinking beers and watching sci-fi trailers for upcoming movies via the PC on the tv.
Not a bad turnout, there were 16 people on 13 bikes; 10 scooters and 3 motorcycles. About half left after the pizza stop. Another half left after the brewery. It was basically the 4 main people that put together the club (2 couples) and me by the time they went back to the house.
I also had the slowest scooter. There was one other 50cc but went faster.
Here's a few of the pictures I took: http://www.flickr.com/photos/27603320@N03/32795780...
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Sid_Ceaser
(frozen)
| | #14 posted February 15, 2009 at 7:48am (EST) |
NICE!
Is that a vintage blue Vespa that one guy is riding?
I'm getting jittery to get mine back on the road - when I head to my folks tonight for laundry I need to hook the battery up to a trickle charger.
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lordkaosu
| | #15 posted February 15, 2009 at 10:11am (EST) |
That blue one is actually a Bajaj.
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Captain
| | #16 posted February 15, 2009 at 11:09pm (EST) |
Nice pictures! 
The Happy House |
lordkaosu
| | #17 posted February 24, 2009 at 4:55pm (EST) |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F5gOfiU2jr4
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Captain
| | #18 posted February 24, 2009 at 11:31pm (EST) |
LOL, what was that?
The Happy House |
Captain
| | #19 posted February 24, 2009 at 11:32pm (EST) |
That reminds me of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W31ue-9u4z4&feature...
The Happy House |
lordkaosu
| | #20 posted February 25, 2009 at 1:29am (EST) |
Captain wrote:
>
>
> LOL, what was that?
>
>
That is cookie monster on a scooter, hardcore.
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lordkaosu
| | #21 posted March 1, 2009 at 1:11am (EST) |
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Sid_Ceaser
(frozen)
| | #22 posted March 1, 2009 at 8:55am (EST) |
BAha hahahahahahahahaha
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lordkaosu
| | #23 posted March 1, 2009 at 10:17am (EST) |
Sid, what's going on with your club anyway? You haven't updated the page in a while now.
Although you have other awesome stuff like Dan Akroyd going on so it's probably just down low on the list.
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Sid_Ceaser
(frozen)
| | #24 posted March 1, 2009 at 11:18am (EST) |
Yeah.
I tried to start the club after picking up my scooter and by the time we started building other interested scooterists, it was already cold weather here.
I'm going to try to get more active with it once it gets back into season.
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lordkaosu
| | #25 posted March 1, 2009 at 11:34am (EST) |
I was kind of hoping for pictures of you guys sliding around in the snow, possibly into each other.
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Sid_Ceaser
(frozen)
| | #26 posted March 1, 2009 at 4:21pm (EST) |
ha ha.
No. Sadly mine is in my parents storage shed, all wrapped up for the winter.
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lordkaosu
| | #27 posted March 2, 2009 at 12:27am (EST) |
We had another ride today. Nicer weather so it had an even better turnout of 24 scoots and 4 motorcycles.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27603320@N03/33210274...
There were some other 50's this time although I'm still the slowest. Mine just has bad takeoff but good top end (I went faster then a couple of them I was near on a flat once I had time to get up there). Ah well, hopefully by the 20th my scoot will be all upgraded. I'm anxiously awaiting the day I'm not a target for cars leaving a stoplight.
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Sid_Ceaser
(frozen)
| | #28 posted March 2, 2009 at 7:35am (EST) |
LOL at cinderblock kickstand.
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lordkaosu
| | #29 posted March 2, 2009 at 9:50am (EST) |
Here's a video of some snow riders. What seems really nuts is the scooter that is filming is riding 2-up with the back guy doing the filming.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_0AcgOvA5j4
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lordkaosu
| | #30 posted March 17, 2009 at 9:41am (EST) |
Grocery shopping. This is about as much as I can fit on the scoot without some more racks/compartments. The crap on the floorboard is barely hanging on, there's a sack of fruit under the seat, and that's bread tied to the beer.
PBR must be a scooter thing. I went riding with another local scooter club today and after the ride, there was plenty of PBR in the fridge. The club I'm with usually has some PBR as well. It is good to know people who ride scooters drink America's best.
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lordkaosu
| | #31 posted March 21, 2009 at 10:53pm (EST) |
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_kIUSr7-is
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Captain
| | #32 posted March 26, 2009 at 11:23pm (EST) |
...
I think it's pretty cool you can load up the bike like that though.
The Happy House |
Sid_Ceaser
(frozen)
| | #33 posted May 24, 2009 at 8:32am (EST) |
Scooooooooooooooooooooooooter!
:: Ceaser Photography :: |
lordkaosu
| | #34 posted May 24, 2009 at 12:03pm (EST) |
Woah, Sid is back. Are you personal escapades coming to a break for now? You've certainly been busy with photography!
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Sid_Ceaser
(frozen)
| | #35 posted May 24, 2009 at 8:23pm (EST) |
Still busy with photography, but couldn't stay away too long. Wanted to see how long I could survive without GTZ.
:: Ceaser Photography :: |
lordkaosu
| | #36 posted May 24, 2009 at 10:19pm (EST) |
Did you get back on your scooter anytime recently?
Mine is currently sitting half-way dead. I was having tuning issues, I tried to fix it myself but I obviously suck at tuning and now it's now worse then it was before. I can install parts fine, but fine tuning how it's running is just beyond me.
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Sid_Ceaser
(frozen)
| | #37 posted May 25, 2009 at 8:42am (EST) |
I've been riding mine back and forth to the studio just about every nice day there is.
I'm still trying to find a time to work with other area scooterists to schedule a meetup and stuff. I just can't squeeze out any extra time.
I've been watching you post all those excellent images on your flickr stream. Nice!!
:: Ceaser Photography :: |
lordkaosu
| #38 posted July 9, 2009 at 3:35pm (EST)
edited July 9, 2009 at 3:52pm (EST) |
I don't remember where I said I was having scooter problems so I'll just update here!
I got a new scooter. A local dealer offered me a very fair deal on trade for my scooter and I'm now the owner of a new Lance Venice (150cc). Sure, it's still Chinese, but Lance is one of the few Chinese companies with fair quality control (I think, I've read both here). This time it's also from a dealer and not Pep Boys where I have to do everything on my own. I guess we'll see how it really holds up in the long run. I don't plan on doing any upgrades this time. That's where most of my problems stemmed from on my little 50, it handled the upgrades very poorly (even for what it was when you compare it to the happenings of the Scootdawg forums, a mostly Chinese scoot community). The dealer also knew my history with it as I've seen him multiple times for repairs (I've delt with 3 shops in town that work on Chinese scoots, not only was he the cheapest, he did the best job).
I would've liked a Japanese, or even Korean scoot, but the price was right on this one. This scooter fit our budget better for now. Maybe once I'm done with school I can look at something nicer, this hopefully should be just fine until then (and more, hopefully).
I'll get some pics up later.
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kevolones
| | #39 posted September 15, 2009 at 3:35am (EST) |
CAFE TACUBA!!! |
lordkaosu
| | #40 posted September 15, 2009 at 9:48am (EST) |
word!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDKBIgy3njs
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