Good Morning Larry,

I seem to vaguely recall a far distant posting from you making
reference to some sort of motorised scooter that you use for zooming
down the dock

I recently bought my 16 year old son a 24 volt stand on, fold up one
that seems ok but is heavier than the petrol versions and has of
course, less range.

I am considering picking a petrol one up as an adjunct to my 20 inch
folding bikes. Besides, I think they are a rather nifty way of getting
about.

A search on the web revealed a plethora of the damned things in the US
Can you suggest one please.

Have you experienced any difficulties with the authorities regarding
riding such about?

I would still like to drop into Folbot in Charleston on my way back if
I can arrange it.

Thanks and regards
Peter

Herodotus wrote in
:

Have you experienced any difficulties with the authorities regarding
riding such about?



About the first time you rode a GoPed down the dock, you'd probably find
your boat adrift up in the marsh the next day. The engined peds are
very noisy and THAT will make them raise hell on the docks at any marina
I know of.

My ped is:

http://store.monstermotorscooter.com/pb-sm816s.html

and it works just fine for riding around the neighborhood, up to the
bank or a nearby diner for breakfast (much to their dismay...(c. It
has two 12V 12AH AGM batteries in series (24V) with an automatic quick
charger that will recover it in 4-8 hours quite nicely. The batteries
are in a little carrier case with handle and you can add more units if
you want to quick change them and keep riding. It's not really
necessary. It runs about 8 miles at 16 mph on a charge. About as far
as I ride it is to the garage that takes care of my truck. I take the
truck up in the morning, ride the scooter about 6 miles home to its
charger, ride it back up when they call and load it back into the truck
for the trip home.

If you run low on power, you can always let it sit for an hour and
probably make it back as the AGMs recover from being loaded. If you
have a long ways to go, you can ALWAYS BACK OFF ON THE THROTTLE. At
double walking speed, around 1/2 throttle, I've never run it dead. At
WOT, 8 miles.

The chain drive 450W motor will pull my 260# carcass up a fairly steep
grade from my house on the river up the hill to the main part of the
neighborhood....but not at 16 mph...(c;

Coming out of the neighborhood, there is a sidewalk made for electric
scooters sold to old people with restrictive walking. This keeps the
cops off me as I point out all the money we spent making the sidewalks
ELECTRIC SCOOTER FRIENDLY, when stopped. The kids have a T-shirt that
says, "Skateboarding is NOT a CRIME!" I agree.

I rarely put the seat or basket on it. It rides better if you're
standing up on it, which is really easy, with your knees slightly bent
to absorb the shocks of the heaved up sidewalks and speed bump
jumping...(c; I can get some air off the speed bumps...(c;

Take the seat off, push back on that big release handle and the front
folds over the rear tire and locks in place so the steering post becomes
the lifting handle. A grownup can carry it for a few feet, but two 12AH
AGM batteries and the nice steel construction isn't light...

One tire got a bulge in it, so I replaced the original tires with lots
nicer tires from a local scooter store ($25 ea installed) and they
increased my range and speed because they run higher pressure and have
lots lower resistance (steel belted radials!).

When you got it on the dock, don't use the kickstand. Fold the handle
down so the front of the scoot is sitting on the dock and cannot fall
over if some wiseass rides by waking the floating dock. The XLR
microphone jack the charger plugs into has a nice cover to protect it.

There's lots of nice electric scooters from GoPed, Xtreme, Ego to choose
from. Buy one that has LOCAL SERVICE where you live.....

They never hassle me riding the very quiet electric down the dock.
Forget the gas scooters as they'd never allow them....too fast...TOO
LOUD!!

On Wed, 09 Jul 2008 23:16:06 +0000, Larry wrote:

http://store.monstermotorscooter.com/pb-sm816s.html

Thanks Larry,

The one you have is the one I bought for my son. I just thought that
it would be a bit too heavy to lug onto the boat but I shall have to
have a rethink.

I like it. Neither he nor I use the seat. They are about US $650 new
here in Australia but I was fortunate enough to be in the shop when a
girl came in and asked the resale value of her 6 month's old one. He
quoted her $300 so I quietly got her mobile number and phoned her
later.

love it.

I suppose that I could do some calculations and research to see how to
charge it off the boat's 12 volt supply. Have you any thoughts on this
please.

cheers
Peter

Herodotus wrote in
:

I like it. Neither he nor I use the seat. They are about US $650 new
here in Australia but I was fortunate enough to be in the shop when a
girl came in and asked the resale value of her 6 month's old one. He
quoted her $300 so I quietly got her mobile number and phoned her
later.



A new sporting goods store opened at one of our malls on its perimeter
ring. I'm not much of a sportsman, but these places collect some of the
most beautiful young women you ever saw!

There was a display of electric scooters back by the men's room and I had
to pee.....which proved quite expensive....

On sale, it was $US199 but that was a few years ago, maybe 2002 or 3. I've
just come in to check to make sure my car boot is locked where it's stored!
I had no idea prices had exploded like fuel....(c;

Too bad BladeZ is DISCONTINUED. I think the company went belly up. The
parts that fail are pretty standard so can be replaced easily.

There are many newer, much lighter ALUMINIUM (as opposed to American
Aluminum) chassis scooters, now. You might look for one made of lighter
materials than the BladeZ made from armour plates off the Bismarck....(c;

If I had to do it over again, I'd buy one with BELT drive, not chain.
Belts are more tolerant of drift in the drive system. Getting the drive
chain to TRACK on the pulleys correctly is VERY important on these BladeZ
machines. They run VERY smooth when the cogs line up with the chain
bearings properly and have lots more power....run very quiet! Check that
on yours.

On 2008-07-09 19:33:07 -0400, Herodotus said:

I suppose that I could do some calculations and research to see how to
charge it off the boat's 12 volt supply. Have you any thoughts on this
please.

Suspect you'll have to go to 120 vac and their charger. The newer ones
are 36v, 3 12v in series

Rethinking, it might be possible to charge them directly.

They're looking pretty good; much improved over the old ones I'd seen.

--
Jere Lull
Xan-à-Deux -- Tanzer 28 #4 out of Tolchester, MD
Xan's pages: http://web.mac.com/jerelull/iWeb/Xan/
Our BVI trips & tips: http://homepage.mac.com/jerelull/BVI/