Glad you guys like the bike. You know, just yesterday I was thinking about a turkey baster with an extension tube... kind of elegant. And a good idea for the oil fill using a small funnel with extension. Keep it a clean machine.
Back to first impressions. I had a two stroke a year ago with a centrifugal clutch and was prepared for this automatic to be slow at the start, which it is. So was the 2 stroke. So it does not have that quick low end torque a manual clutch has which is good and also not good. The slow pick up is gradual, where the manual can be jerky at low speed. One thing a person needs to realize is that a motor and drive can't be all things at once any more than bikes can be all things. The comfort of a heavy cruiser frame is a trade off to a nimble skinny tire bike. You have to make choices. I was prepared for this setup to be appropriate for a heavy cruiser and for this bike it is what I wanted. So it is slow and smooth getting up to speed. Midway the power kicks in, but it remains smooth so you don't get the same kind of kick as from a 2 stroke. The Q matic is a really smooth transmission of power to the real wheel. I keep saying "smooth", but that's what it is, like the difference between driving a compact car with a stick shift and your old man's Cadillac or Olds 98... smmooooth. And just like those automotive cruisers, speed can be deceptive. Several times I caught myself going faster than I realized... noticing the passing forest by the road as a kind of "speedometer". With my China girls they would be wound up tight and complaining about all the hard work they do, vibrating the frame as they push me and the dog down the road at 30 mph. This four stroke is quieter and without the vibration you can find yourself going faster than you really should. I'm tuning myself in to the difference and staying off the throttle a bit. So which is better? It depends I guess on what you're looking for. In a way the 2 stroke is more "thrilling" and is a fun thing to ride. But for a long ride, say to town (12 miles each way) I want the smoothy that starts with one easy pull and is dependable. I rebuilt the original 50 Schwinn seat that was on it and gave it some extra padding of carpet foam. A gel seat cover under the leather upholstery would be even better, but it is a comfortable seat. I have a suspension front fork I got from forum member Patrick which comes from a newish Whizzer and it is both very heavy duty and a dream come true for taking the bumps out of the road. A down side to using it was that I had intended to employ a center stand I had which worked great before adding the front suspension fork. With the new fork the stand no longer reached the ground, so I made up a rear drop stand out of copper pipe. So as I said, I'm experiencing the motor and drive system through my build and I'm sure the EZM could feel quite different on another bike. This one has a heavy frame, heavy wheels, heavy front fork, stainless steel tank, pulls a trailer and eventually will have a sidecar, so all together it is a tank, a heavy cruiser and a kind of modern day "Whizzer" which is exactly what I wanted. So I think you have to ask yourself what your bike is for; an occasional outing around the neighborhood and the China girl is great. If you need serious transportation to get to and from work and your bike is a fair weather replacement to your car or truck, then a four stroke with a sound transmission system is a good choice. As much fun as a compact car can be on a twisting mountain road, what would you rather drive 3000 miles from coast to coast... the compact or the old man's heavy Thunderbird?
Me, too.
SB