San Pedro Nightshot

San Pedro Nightshot
Originally uploaded by numbersix

A couple of weeks ago the LB and SGV guys from the Total Ruckus site met up (and a couple of OC guys made the scene. As our numbers thinned only a few of us made the whole ride. Much adventures were had and a couple of not so great photos were taken. By the way, it was cold, it was COLD.

Key Mod: Mr. Horsepower Antenna Ball

I decided to do a key mod for my Honda Met. I bought a Mr. Horsepower antenna ball from Amazon for about $10 after shipping.

I removed the plastic flames from the back and was able to split the plastic at it's seams on the rear feathers. There were two pegs in the back holding it together. I removed the plastic from the original key and cut two grooves in the key metal. I lined up those grooves the the pegs in the antenna ball and siliconed it in.

I found a ball link keychain that was the perfect size to shove in the hole where the antenna usually goes. The chain holds pretty tight but can be removed if needed. My other keys (house, bike lock, mailbox) can hang from the antenna ball or I can shove the keys in my pocket and the scooter key can hang out.

I like the Snap-On / Craftsman key mods but I wanted to do something different that was more in theme with my scooter. A little more old school rat rod.

A Big Ruckus in Iron City

As seen on a ciy street in Pittsburgh.

Scooters are hugely practical in cities, even cities where it gets cold, and Honda's Big Ruckus scooter is a personal favorite of mine. The fact that there are scooters there makes me think that Pittsburgh is probably an OK city after all.

Not wild about that seat cover tho' ;)

thePrisoner (covets the Big Ruckus)

More mods...

Last weekend I did some more work on the Met. After fumbling with the Kitaco CDI I bought for a week with no luck, I took the CDI and my met down to the scooter shop in Orange where I bought it. I left it there a couple days and it looks like they created a new wire harness for it. I will get some pictures of the CDI wiring up shortly.

Besides the CDI we fabricated a new cover for the radiator. I found an old piece of punched metal grating laying around rounded off the corners and made a box out of it.

I also wanted to do something different with the rear blinkers. I like the look of the standard Met "bullet" lights but I wanted to move them in closer to the body. I was looking into modding the standard lights and removing the black rubber spacer but my dad came home with a little present from the Long Beach car swap meet.

For $10 he picked up a set of what turned out to be Harley Davidson lights. They are the same bullet shape but a little less deep so they can sit closer to the body without having to shave anything down. They are also chrome metal as opposed to plastic. We fabricated some longer mounting brackets and I cannibalized the wiring from the original lights. I'm pretty happy with how they came out. It makes the rear look more narrow and the light cluster reminds me of a retro future rocket.



I have all the parts on order to replace the airbox and do a rejet. So, I guess that's the next project.

The Ratropolitan

Most of you may have heard that I had a little fender bender on my scooter. I was side swiped in a hit a run riding to work on October 4th, 2008. My scooter took a little damage and was covered by my insurance. After I got the scooter back from the shop I decided to repaint all the old pieces and swap them back out for the new ones. I also did a ruckus swing arm conversion, installed the front basket, replaced the stock mirrors with bar end mirrors, rebuilt and moved the gps mount and some other little things. Here are the picture of the new scoot. It still needs some fine tuning but it's getting close. Eventually, I am going to have it pinstripped as well.

The next projects are to redo the cover for the radiator, fix the rear brake line, modify the air box, and rejet.

For now I am dubbing it "The Ratropolitan". Over time I would like to make it look more and more like an old school rat rod.

Man Down

Jason in hospital.  Jason is now at his parents house and in good spirits, and by good spirits I mean Morphine.

Side Swiped in the OC.

Thursday morning i was scooting to work down Irvine Center Drive / Edinger Avenue nearing the underpass for Jamoboree in Irvine, CA. Traffic was slowing and the last thing I remember was checking my mirrors and looking over my shoulder to change lanes...

The next thing I remember is waking up in an ambulance heading to Western Medical Center in Santa Ana. In the emergency room I had a quick flash of being bumped by a silver car but that's it. I think maybe I tried to change lanes from the right to middle lanes while a car tried to change lanes from the left to center lane. Basically, from what I can remember I was side swiped and the driver of the car got away. According to the police he took off so fast none of the witnesses could get the plate number.

Lucky for me the damages to myelf and the scooter should easy to heal. I broke my left shoulder and probably fractured a couple of ribs. I have a couple spots of road rash on my left ankle and knee. Everything on the scooter inlcuding my black mac book was recovered by the police, towing company, or EMTs. I haven't seen the scooter yet, but reports say there are only a few scratches and the rear left panel was cracked.

The part that annoys me most is that I just finished painting, chopping, and reupholstering the Met. It was starting to look pretty cool. You can see the changes I had made here:
http://totalruckus.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=22820

I will post some pictures of the damage to the Met tomorrow when I can take them in the light. In the mean time I just want to warn everyone out there to be careful. No matter how much attention you might be paying to the road, other people aren't watching out for you.

On a side note, if anyone has the left rear panel for a met they are looking to let go for cheap, please let me know. Doesn't matter what color, I'm going to paint it black anyway.