"Thomas Wentworth" wrote in
news:ODnTf.212$kB1.154@trndny07:

I think a bicyle and a sailboat are about the two best things in the
whole wide world; period.


A rideable bike is pretty bulky to store on a boat. Besides, if you've
been to sea, you've gotten plenty of exercise in muscles you didn't know
you had, so you deserve a little RnR in port. So, I got this one because
it was better'n Cap'n Geoffrey's scooter and its wider tires don't drop
in the gaps his do on the crappy docks.

http://www.largoscooters.com/bladezxtrse.html
I got mine for $299 on sale at Dick's Sporting Goods last year.

It'll run 16mph for 8 miles, lots further if you drive slower at bike
speed. The only noise is the tires on the road and a little from the
chain drive. BladeZ' are very nicely made units.

To store it, you pull the pin holding the seat on and pull the seat post
out of the scooter. (It's fun to ride around standing up without the
seat, too.) Then, you pull back on that release handle under the
steering and the whole front end pivots to horizontal with the front
wheel going up and the steering coming flat against the motor housing
making it as flat as it can get. The steering locks in the down position
so you can use the steering stick as a carrying handle. Now flat, it
fits in a locker or alongside the engine. If you set heavy stuff on top
of it, unlike the bike, it won't crush it. Just be careful of the
exposed control cables.

The batteries are in a little bag with carrying handle under the deck
with a plug so you can swap a dead one for a hot one, but the charger
only works plugged into the XLR microphone jack under the steering.
Battery status is a 3-color LED next to the main power
switch...green=good, yellow=goin' down, red=I'm gonna shut it off in 5
more minutes. The computer won't let you deep cycle and ruin the battery
pack. Throttle power is very smooth as it uses pulse-width-modulation
technology. When you squeeze the disk brake handle, there's a switch
that closes to turn the PM motor into a dynamic brake, recharging the
batteries going downhill.

Great fun to ride, especially when the boat is a mile down a big marina's
dockage from the parking lot! Get a chain lock to secure it to something
as it is easily picked up and stolen.