NROC: New Rider on Campus!

[TarunHKG]

Hey all,

My name is Tarun and I took the plunge this afternoon to purchase a motorized bike off of a complete whim. I posted a craigslist ad looking for a moped/scooter and a man called me up and said that "this was the new thing" and is just picking up but seems to be really economical and easy and cheap for a student rider.

I don't know much of anything about what I ride, but I do have the manual for the motor and I ride it a lot and am pretty descriptive, so you may find me trolling on random parts of this forum looking for new information.

I do have some questions about etiquetteand safety and stuff if someone wouldn't mind responding:

1: Do you turn on your motor on a sidewalk? Is this taboo?
2: Do you ride in the middle of a lane or on the far side?
3: I'm on a college campus, and things are privy to be stolen. i can't park my bike in the dorm room because the gasoline smell is awful, so I park it outside the building. Is this bad? I have a really nice lock but I'm afraid of someone dismantling the motor. Advice? Some part I can temporarily remove each night?
4: When someone wants to know what kind of motor do I have, what kinds of things do people want to know? I wanna be able to talk the talk here, so what is the lingo I need to associate with my new bike?
5: I've been told by a lot of people that this "*******izes" the idea of a bike...what do you guys say in response?

Thanks so much for any help here. I look forward to meeting some cool people!

Tarun

 

[bluegoatwoods]

Hi Tarun and welcome aboard.

Running your engine on a sidewalk is an almost certain way to get in trouble with the cops.
I actually do it on one short stretch (maybe 100 ft) of one of my rides. But that's in a place where being in the roadway is a bit too dangerous (over a small bridge) and hardly anyone walks there anyway. And I'm very courteous to the occasional pedestrian that I do come across. A college campus is a very different matter and I don't think you should try it at all.

I almost never ride in the middle of a lane. I'm toward the right, but not right on the edge. That's dangerous. I give myself a small margin of error and the cars be darned. They need to just behave themselves. For defense you want to be very visible (don't worry about style. Your life is more important. And you can always get together a "sporty" riding outfit anyway. Combine safety with a sort of style) and I'd recommend two good, big mirrors. You want to know what those cars behind you are doing.

I worried about vandals and thieves messing with the motor, too. But it doesn't seem to be a problem. Again, a college campus might be risky. Maybe you could cover the motor when parked overnight. You could consider removing the spark plug. But that wouldn't really be of help against vandalism. Maybe you should use 2 or 3 good locks for overnight parking. And maybe you should keep a couple hundred bucks in reserve. That way if they ever do trash your bike you can just get another one and be on the road again in a couple of weeks. That is one huge advantage to this form of transportation; it's just not that expensive. So you might as well make use of this advantage.

For those who are curious; 2 stroke (or 4 stroke) engine and chain drive will be enough of an answer for most. And once you've tinkered with your bike a bit, you'll know the answers to any other questions that might come up.

Anyone who says that this "adulterates" (to use a censor-acceptable term) the bicycling experience is just being a cranky snob. Just smile, say "see ya" and be on your way. Then spend a few minutes reflecting on what idiots people can be. It'll only take a couple of minutes of riding one of these beautiful machines to put the real smile back on your face.

You'll have fun. See you around.

 

[TarunHKG]

So this morning I brought it out and it worked like a charm. The thing climbs hills like nothing and I find it really enjoyable to not have to pedal the things. Going down hill I keep it rolling without the motor on the sidewalk, to avoid traffic and using the motor.

When you ride a bike, do you use the motor or just cruise going downhill? On my bike, it is hard to pedal unless the clutch is pulled in (I don't know why)...but is this bad for the bike? The motor only engages when the clutch is released (it is like a brake handle) but if the motor goes off it is hard to pedal...

But so far, fantastic first morning!

 

[bluegoatwoods]

What you described is perfectly normal. With the clutch handle out, you are trying to push your piston up and down with your feet. Nothing to be gained there.

I often have my idle adjusted so low that the engine will stall if I pull in the clutch without giving it a bit of throttle. What this does is allow the engine to die when I pull in the clutch at the top of a hill. Then I coast down it in silence, pop the clutch at the bottom and motor away.

 

[TarunHKG]

Stolen

Nearly half a month and the bike has been stolen...please refer to here for more: http://motoredbikes.com/showthread.php?t=20048