New Scoot

[opelgt73]

I haven't been active on my CRX HF project as I've been in Shanghai China for the last year for my job. Most likely will be here quite a bit longer. Anyhow I thought some of you back in the US would find this interesting. As owning a car in China is extremely expensive and public transit is so cheep I have decided not to buy a car. But to get out and explore the city and for short little trips around town I picked up this scooter. There are some people that import these to the states for around ~$1800-2500, however living in China they are quite a bit cheaper. I picked this one up with lead acid batteries and a charger for $450 brand new. It will go aprox 50km on one charge which is more than enough for the short trips I take.

It is a blast to drive around town and very convenient. The only downside I've found so far is that it just doesn't have the off the line torque that I would like. While the top speed is more than adequate for traffic in Shanghai (30km/hr), and it's not all that noticeably slower with a passenger it is anemically slow off the line. Which to me is kind of dangerous because you cannot dart out of trouble as easily as you could on a gas scooter.

I have already planned some modifications to it. First is Li-Polly batteries, should have bought these to begin with but they are about 4x the price of the led acid batteries. In addition to switching to Li-Polly I will add another cell to up the voltage. The second modification will be a better controller that can handle higher wattage/voltage batteries and also has regenerative braking. Third will be an electric drive motor that produces more torque so I can take advantage of the better battery and controller. The last modification will be to change the headlight and tail lights to LED to save the battery at night. Other than that I have a few cosmetic changes I want to make i.e. painting the swing arm cover flat black, replacing the seat with real leather that is beige in color and several other small things.

Unfortunately it just got really cold here so I wont get much riding in until spring, so it's a good time to do the modifications.

[Jay2TheRescue]

Looks kinda cool for a cheap ride.

[cat0020]

No need to mod if it only cost $450, just get a 250cc scoot that gets better performance, what is that going to cost in China, another $500?

My 250cc Chinese scoot has been sitting since I ride other motos more, but it still does well for runs to the grocery stores at 40-50 mph. Now wit nearly 11,000 mi. on it, still performs as the first day I got it.

[opelgt73]

Originally Posted by cat0020

No need to mod if it only cost $450, just get a 250cc scoot that gets better performance, what is that going to cost in China, another $500?

My 250cc Chinese scoot has been sitting since I ride other motos more, but it still does well for runs to the grocery stores at 40-50 mph. Now wit nearly 11,000 mi. on it, still performs as the first day I got it.

Why modify? Because I like to tinker.........

Seriously though Gas scooters aren't an option for me anymore. I actually used to have a 125cc scooter that got me around quite nicely but it was stolen a few months ago, it was actually cheaper brand new btw (around $250). However the government is combatting pollution problems and has been enacting legislation to force everyone to switch to electric scooters. They stopped issuing "A" license plates a few years ago for downtown Shanghai, so the only plates you could get were from outer provinces, however most of those were fake and having one is sort of cosmetic only as you're technically not allowed to drive on downtown roads with plates from other areas. You can still legally transfer an existing Shanghai "A" plate from someone else but those will run you about $2k USD on the open market. You also must have a license to legally drive a gas scooter and in the past two years they have made the test exceedingly difficult to pass, especially for foreigners. For a while I was just riding my gas scooter without a plate and without a license (along with 90% of the other scooter drivers) but even more recently they made it illegal for gas stations (all state run) to sell gas to people who don't have license plates. Soooooooooo, that leaves me with electric scooters. No license required, no license plate required and they're cheep. Actually all the mods I want to do are available off the shelf and are fairly inexpensive anyway.

[theholycow]

It seems odd to buy a whole scooter and then replace everything that matters to efficiency; it would seem to make more sense to just buy one designed more efficiently in the first place. However, it sounds like a fun project.

[cat0020]

I'd say man up the $2k and get your proper license, then you can tinker to your heart's desire. Sucks to be in a totalitarian country...

[opelgt73]

Originally Posted by theholycow

It seems odd to buy a whole scooter and then replace everything that matters to efficiency; it would seem to make more sense to just buy one designed more efficiently in the first place. However, it sounds like a fun project.

There is no market for that.......now. There is only a small percentage of Expats like myself that gets scooters like these. And only a fraction of a percentage of those that would actually care about modifying them. Maybe in the future there will be a market for it.....who knows. But the whole culture of modifying and hopping up your ride hasn't really taken hold here yet.

Most locals get smaller cheaper scooters and don't care that they are slow. The scooters that most locals buy are in the $150-200 range.

[opelgt73]

Originally Posted by cat0020

I'd say man up the $2k and get your proper license, then you can tinker to your heart's desire. Sucks to be in a totalitarian country...

I just don't think it is worth it for a scooter. Plus the government is trying to phase out all gas scooters by 2012 in the inner ring area of Shanghai where I live.

Now I have thought about going through the licensing to ride one of these bad boys:

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=8420069247

[cat0020]

Originally Posted by opelgt73

I just don't think it is worth it for a scooter. Plus the government is trying to phase out all gas scooters by 2012 in the inner ring area of Shanghai where I live.

Now I have thought about going through the licensing to ride one of these bad boys:

http://item.taobao.com/item.htm?id=8420069247

Underpowered, overweight and oversized.. not well suited for busy congested traffic pattern in big Chinese cities at all..

[Jay2TheRescue]

I can't read Chinese, but it sure looks cool.