I Raced a Ruckus, the Rematch

The first incident was 2 years ago. I didn't even know what they were then. I rode past 2 Rucki pulling out from a side street behind me. I was riding a china girl. They turned after me and I could hear one of them catching up to me, and it had a loud pipe on it. Funny thing, it took it forever to catch me. I don't think he caught me till the light. No he passed me right before, and I pulled up next to him at the light. I pulled up close, and looked down at his bike, because Rucki are very low, and china girls are kind of high up. I couldn't help myself. I started laughing, and ask WTF is that? and he looked back at my china girl like he'd never seen one, and said the same thing at exactly the same time. lol it was one of life's funny moments.

All my china girls will struggle up to about 40 mph.

So then I started becoming aware of the Ruckus phenomenon. What I learned is, Rucki have a cult like following. They're made by Honda. 50cc water cooled, and have a Variator transmission. Someone makes an air cooled 150cc conversion, but most of the Ruckus I see are 50cc. The 50s all seem to run about the same, and top out about 40 mph. That doesn't tell the whole story though.

So last summer. I was riding my 50cc Tomos Sprint down Greenville ave.. It has a fancy pipe, air filter, big carb, racing clutch springs, bla bla bla, and a 2 speed automatic transmission.

On 2 different occasions Rucki motored away from me at a light, leaving my Tomos for dead, and trying to play catch up with it's slightly better top end. The problem is the Variator transmission Rucki have is way superior to the Tomos 2 speed tranny. Ruckus do about 40 mph, but they zoom off the line, and through the mid range, that's their secret.

That's what happened those times.

Tonight I was out riding Electronaut. Electronaut basically raced off from the little Rucki. I made sure to pedal so he'd know he was racing a motor bicycle.

66sub said:

hey ruckus is watercooled? so is the derbi gp1. i brought home a derbi atlantis bullet yesterday and the cvt is only fast in the first half then the total drag starts setting in. wind/ tires. the pipe quits at half rpm and throttle too so mostly just that. it does 50mph all day long stock.
your tomos is what i really wanted. cvt is fuel efficient i think?

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It would be hard to get a Tomos to do 50 mph without a kit. Sounds like your Derbi would be faster than a Ruckus too. They're not that fast on the top end. I've yet to see one that would do over 40 mph.

The cvt transmission, commonly referred to as a variator is pretty efficient. I'm surprised no one has tried to use one on a china girl.

maniac57 said:

I been looking at the quad bike chain final drive versions of the gy6 scooter engines for a chopper build. That way you would get the variator and aftermarket support with a chain final drive adaptable to a bike without swapping the rear end.
Every imaginable hop-up part is made for the gy6 so you could do it mild to wild as you like.
I have been sweet talking a scooterstore owner real hard, doing small welding repairs free and helping out with the stumpers all last summer, hoping it bears fruit this year while I still have the Jesse James laying around rusting....
Stay tuned.

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If you make it out of a Jesse James that could be a great looking show bike, but probably not a very safe riding bike. The gy6 engine has about 13 hp in top form, and most bikes with that much power weigh at least 200 lbs for a reason. Just try and keep that in mind when you're riding it. Even the little 50cc Ruckus is 200 lbs.

My Tomos comes from the factory with 2 hp, and weighs 106 lbs, but I think
Tomos is expecting everyone to uncork them with exhaust and air cleaner mods to get 4 hp.

I was out riding earlier tonight, and a guy on a Vespa rode up behind me at a light. He said it was a Primavera 50. He wanted to ask about my bike, so I told him I was going to blast away for the light so he can see what it will do. We got to race away from two lights. Both times the Stealth left him for dead off the line, and continued pulling farther away the faster I went.

It looks like a Vespa 50 is slower off the line than a Ruckus, with it's superior variator transmission. I think they both top out about the same at 40 mph.

He ask me how dependable it is? I told him in 3000 miles I haven't had any problems at all and the only maintenance was lubing the pedal chain. He said he had about 2300 miles on his bike, and it has already been in the shop several times, and he's paid something like $450 in maintenance costs.

Primavera list price is $3600 plus ttl, and insurance.

scotto- said:

Put either one up against a souped up Yamaha "Riva" and let me know how it goes

I know the china girl won't have a prayer

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I'd probably be competitive up to the 80cc model. The 125, and up forget about it. Rucki are the most fun, but they're hard to run across on the street. Anyone that happens upon my Stealth instantly thinks it will be easy pray.

Bikeguy Joe said:

Just don't go up against the 250cc Big Ruckus!

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Big Rucks are easy to spot, they're so big. I've only seen one on the road.

I don't think any 50 is going to have a chance against that bike.