BDT goes on a Big Dumb Tour, Scooter rally inside.

A few months ago on the official Bad Decision Triangle messenger conversation (the source of way to many of our issues) it was decided that we should go on an adventure.   I had watched a Fort Nine video where they took a minibike on boat as luggage, and I was inspired.  I said "let's buy scooters and go somewhere".   And as you do we all said..  that sounds like a good idea.  

Apparently if you tell the BDT, "Here is a reason to buy a new vehicle" we all will almost immediately say "sounds great".  The earliest we all were available was this week so we were a little concerned about weather.  

Destination:

We discussed destinations and knew we wanted somewhere with off road and decent things to look at.  We needed it to be within a day drive of the Triangle.   Weather told us to go south instead of north.  We decided to head towards northwestern Arkansas.  There are a substantial amount of Forrest roads and off road trails.  We are going to base out of my RV and do a few day trip loops from the campsite.  

The Steeds:

We laid out some ground rules.

1. Scooter, has to be a scooter.

2. 50cc because fun increases with vehicle inappropriateness.  

3. All rules are more like guidelines

I will allow the participants to discuss their choosen champion.  Here is mine:

2005 Yamaha Zuma, 50cc 2 stroke.  Preparations included..  .  Riding it.  I put about 500 miles on it so far.  It needed front brake pads.   Yes I took the lazy approach. 

So follow along with us as we do sillyness over the next 5 days.  First stop is Bentonville because a few of us couldn't resist doing a few hours of MTBing before the scooter riding and its like right on the way.  

nocones said:

Yes I took the lazy approach. 

Paid money AND did work ≠ the lazy approach. I borrowed the pit bike from work...it's a Honda Ruckus. I don't know what year it is. I had to look up whether or not I needed to mix my fuel, and other basic scooter things.

Here's some pics from Day1: The Gathering

nvm, the forum still fights pics from my phone. 

 

edit for another attempt

We met at NoConesGarage, and then headed for our first stop in MO.

following along intently.  I wish I lived closer to the BDT.

I always thought the Ruckus would be a fun little runabout.

And how about some inspiration:

damnit! I know a guy who would want in on this.

I'm just happy to have been able to witness the convergence of this glorious group of weirdos the night before you set off.  Moberly, MO, will never be the same.

well, I guess I'm no longer a BDT member. 

Had a Honda Gyro in high school. Bought it new as a factory leftover. 

I can’t remember if I sold or gave it to my brother, but then he rode it through high school.

Then he sold it for like $5 more than I paid for it. Well done. 

This looks like a ton of fun. Bentonville is on my list is MTN bike destinations I really want to go to. 
 

Well you certainly have my attention.

Y'all need to throw a kit (NSFW)

Four of five participants acquired a steed before the trip. We planned to have a chase vehicle and rotate riders/driver for the scooter portions.

No plan survives first contact. Discussions were had and FBMP algorithms were ruined:

Seller responded, scooter inspected, offer of $100 accepted. Repairs initiated

And winner winner, we have a fifth scooter!
 

Well. . . 

Are we going to get any more updates?

Looks like a fun time.

I've always wanted a Ruckus. Not sure why but they look so cool!

in preparation for this event, I may have made the worst bad decision: when I called on a marketplace ad with bad pictures and little description of a scooter with a promising amount of chrome accessories, the owner quickly offered to knock $50 off the price, throw in a "parts scooter", and drive around an hour to deliver them to me that night.

"signs that no one else wants to buy that garbage you're interested in..."

anyway, for $450 I held a flashlight while this guy and his buddies unloaded these 2 scoots in my driveway. Neither ran, but the green one did come with a title.
 

The parts scooter turned out to be not the same kind of bike at all. It's a Honda elite vs the green one which is a Chinese 150cc. But that didn't stop the elite from donating some parts.

in the end, the green scoot needed a new cdi box, a starter, new key cylinders, a throttle cable, a carb, and a new front brake master. I also fixed a bunch of wiring horrors and replaced some fuel lines, moved some accessory lights, and just left the high beam that isn't as bright as the regular beam.

the starter and the keys ended up coming straight from the elite, and the balance of the parts totaled out to like 47.65 on Amazon (seriously, Chinese scooter parts are cheap).

the green bike had been "gone through" with a bunch of the finest aftermarket anodized aluminum upgrades that eBay has to offer. It is definitely a stage 3, maybe 4. Junk starter out, Honda quality in.

Here are some other pics of the gloriousness of the green scoot.

here is the final project before leaving for the trip. The seller kindly included some matching faux ostrich leather which I used to cover the top of the very custom "armor".

and I happened to find this jaguar center cap in the underseat area. And it happened to be exactly the right size to snap onto this decorative spring. So I did it.

it is probably worth mentioning that as delivered to me, this bike had 6 springs attached. Only one was removed before the trip!

Also, the green scoot had a name. I did not name it. 

El Scootero. Love it 😍 

Indy - Guy said:

El Scootero. Love it 😍 

The tale of El Scootero will long be told.  El Scootero was here for a good time, not a long time...  .   Foreshadowing intensifies.

Years ago two friends of mine did a stupid trip not entirely unlike this. They had 150cc scooters and rode from Phoenix, AZ to Banff, AB, and back. 

On scooters.

Seriously. On scooters. 

They're both great people and great friends but that trip was absolutely daft!

nocones said:

Indy - Guy said:

El Scootero. Love it 😍 

The tale of El Scootero will long be told.  El Scootero was here for a good time, not a long time...  .   Foreshadowing intensifies.

Well, from this perspective, it certainly appears as though El Scootero is winning the pre-party by a long shot. 😜

Sunday 10/20 - The quiet before the storm. 240 is loaded and ready for some miles. I raised the car 1/2" as I knew she'd be burdened. This was not even close to enough, but I'm a firm believer in close clearances and with nothing sharp, YOLO. 

​​​​​​

10/21 - Rolled out at 5am and upon arrival at nocones we immediately started messing with things as shown above. The 360 van is hilarious. Loaded the scoots and rolled out to MO. 

We arrived at Singleslammer's and immediately thought it best to acquire a non-running project scooter. Because, you know, BDT. So 7 of us rolled up to this guy's house to acquire Selena. She was as described. Robbie is the GY6 whisperer though and got that bitch running in under 2 hours flat. Gumby and myself drank and made merry while holding the flashlights for the real heros. 

​​

10/22 - we rolled out to AR by way of Bentonville to shred the gnar. Bentonville was amazing and I'm going back. As an avid MTB rider it's the best place I've ever visited. Sorry gumby. Your lurking in the photo wasn't fair, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make. 

10/23 - shredded the gnar a bit more in the first half of the day and had to pack up to roll out. Heads up, if you're ever going anywhere in AR, check to see if it's a dry county or not...

Arrived at our place near Nimrod lake and set up camp. 

10/24 - Rode Selena hard and put her away wet. Just how she likes it. Selena won't idle so I rev her and ride the brakes at stops. It's mayhem. She has no battery and needs to be started with two wires touching a 12V source. So dumb. But exactly on brand.

El Scootero seized up after gazing upon my savagery. Much fun was had. But berkeley riding a scooter off-road again. Lesson learned. 

A wild cat pisses on my tent. I am mad. 

10/25 - Robbie gets his turn with Selena while I go off and train for my upcoming bike race. I'm glad I wasn't present as debauchery overflowed as Singleslammer broke his steed and gumby took a digger. 

10/26 - we pack up and head to MO to bring Singleslammer home and head home ourselves. I pack up for early journey. 

10/27 - I drive to Grand Rapids to check out a GX470 akylekoz is selling. I like it. I drive back to Detroit, get another butt (KonaBoss) and we drive back to Grand Rapids acquire the thing, then drive back to Detroit. 

10/28 - sadly I now owe KonaBoss, so we leave around 5am to go to Ohio to buy a Suburban he won at auction. I'm spent. 

Fun fact. I got "Spotted" in my journey's by the drift folks of MI. 

Their comments were funny.