Interesting scooters I saw today

[jerrykr]

My photography buddy and I were prowling around the Deep Ellum part of Dallas today.

We ran across these "scooters" for lack of a better term.

The fellow in the cap had just bought this one off CL.
He said it is a 4.5 HP Honda horizontal shaft.
He was trying to install a carb to make it run.

He was also the owner of this one, a 50CC (something - I'm not familiar with these engines).
The guy throwing the Peace Sign owns the scooter in the middle.
They were really nice guys. We chatted with them, and enjoyed the sunshine.

Thought you might like to take a look at them.
.

 

[yoothgeye]

OK, the one with the Honda, scooter, the other one would have to be a motorcycle around here since it is more than 1 gear.

Yamaha made a bike in the late 80s and early 90s called the YSR50, it was a little 50cc sport bike, street legal, did about 50-55 top speed stock, but had to be registered as a motorcycle because it had a real gear box, was 4-5 gears.

There are lots of companies that made those mini choppers, but most were not street legal, though every once in a while I'll see one on the road, it just takes the right officer to impound it... permanently.

I just don't really get it, I can put a 50cc engine on a bicycle (I have) and ride it around legally, but I can't ride my 50cc pocket bike legally on the road.

The law here in NC is that to be a scooter/moped and not a motorcycle it must be 50cc or less, not reach a certain speed (35 tops maybe), and only be single speed.

Of course, some of the "scooters" now have an interally geared automatic 2 speed, like an overdrive, no shifting or selection so it's overlooked.

Around here people buy 150cc Chinese scoots and peel off the "1." Lots of illegal scooters around here, but when the state has a loophole for DUI and DWI offenders with suspended licenses to still use the roads (scooters) then we've got TONS of the things around and nobody really policing them.

Man... that was a ramble.

 

[jerrykr]

the guy in the cap said that he bought the Honda one because he wanted a wider wheel/tire for the Yamaha one, and he found the whole bike for about the same price. I didn't measure anything but I really didn't see how it would fit in the Yamaha frame.

He said that he just rides them around that area of town unregistered and hasn't been bothered. BTW: thanks for the ramble info.