NAPLES FLORIDA: I took a my first "highway" ride on the 2004 NE5 Red Whizzer today and saw first hand the local destruction from Hurricane Ian.. I did not want to photograph the endless destruction you have all seen too often on the local news.. it is as bad as the pictures tell.
Risky Red has been on the "assembly" bench for quite some time anticipating more than a neighborhood jaunt which it has experienced a few times the past month. I bought "Risky Red" back in March this year, but only rode it "as is" few times since acquisition. You might have seen a few of those early posts. Since March, I had been busy finishing up my original 2 stroke "Risky"S Ride" and then I built a cruiser bike to sell before diving into this repop Whizzer and the yet to come vintage 48 Schwinn "j" engine I acquired about the same time. After selling the cruiser finally in September, started working on the NE5. With much help from the forum "whizzer" expert Wrench, I made several of his important mods. From his CAOS ( crankcase Air Oil Separator) to the best way to secure your exhaust system, I made some great improvements before firing it up again. Of course, I advanced the cam 1 tooth, and machined a custom phoeonolic carb insulator (like the aluminum one that every one uses but insulated to the max).
Today's ride was to say the least, an eye opener and a milestone with Risky Red. I negotiated traffic with ease thanks to the addition of an auto Clutch. without a doubt, the Auto clutch makes riding the repop Whizzer a pleasure. Especially for me as I can not stop the bike with both feet on the ground.
Now that I know how well the bike performs, I am ready to send the engine off to Quenton with my Ralph Westman Jug to take it to the final level of reliability for riding it to 40,000 miles as Wrench as done.
The ride pictures from today show that there is more sand than asphalt one block to the beach. We will rebuild.