Ridin' on the Wasp

deacon

deacon

minor bike philosopher
I have decided that the class of bike I have is not really a WW since, the next motor I have ready for it when the Ryobi WW fails is from a craftsman leaf blower. So in fairness to the 'Breed" I have decided to call all my small (under 40cc) bikes Wasp.

I posted this picture in DIY so I hope Im not in trouble for posting it again, but it gives you some idea of what I am riding around on at the moment.


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Today I rode it to the hardware store about four miles round trip. I came home with a bag tied to the handle bars since I haven't bothered with a basket on this one. About half way home I began to worry. I had twenty bucks worth of small parts in that bag and it wasn't even double bagged. They would have gladly done that I had asked. I made it home but it was a lesson well learned. Those high hanglebars will hold a pretty good size bag, but it needs to be double and tired on well.

I should probably get one of those 'green' (reusable shopping bags ...actually they are usually blue) to tie onto those bars when I need to carry things home. Actually that is a pretty good idea.
 
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I wanted to check on my unpowered bike riding trail, so I hopped on the little wasp and took off. It performed just as it was supposed to. This seems to be a great little stripped down bike. It doesn't even have a kickstand. There is almost always a signpost to lean it against, so I might not even bother to put one on it.

I figure a guy can build on of these using thrift store bikes and craig's list engines, that run, for about 75 bucks. I built mine for fun, but it would be a nifty little commuter bike when paired with public transportation. If they would let you put it on the front of the city bus, you could probably get within three of four miles of your job. Even at 12 miles an hour, with minimal pedaling for the hills, you could get to work, ready to go to work, in good time and in good shape.

The wasp type bike will never catch on with the spandex crowd, or the guys who need to run with the traffic, but there is probably a niche for it.

I had a chick, wearing spandex, on a fifty speed bike, give me a big thumbs up at a stop light. I thought that was kinda cool, too bad it was just for the bike not me.

Oh yeah one more cool thing I saw on line today is the cost of owning an automobile now averages 9k a year. I can build and run a heck of a lot of these for that. And have enough left for a whole bunch of biscuits at Hardee's.
 
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I often have these really cool ideas, then i go out and buy stuff to do it, then i lose interest and the stuff just lays around. I had this same idea about carrying things before, so I found the French style fishnet string bag I had bought to use with a bike that had no basket. So I will look pretty sissy but I don't need to buy anything else just yet.
 
I took off to the hardware store on the Wasp a little while ago. I had to go to two stores before I had what I needed but the bike performed flawlessly. Now I'm no fitness nut so when I say the bike did well trust me there was just enough pedaling to let me know I was on a bike, not enough to wind me. So I consider it a good ride. I figure it uses less well under 2oz per mile. Actually in my unscientific test it got 75 to 80 mph.

Of course I have no idea how many miles per engine I'm going to get. One thing I noticed is that I'm paying far less attention to every noise and vibration than I did a week ago. I have no idea if that is good or bad, but I ran it home wot on the last mile and it did really well.

I still get a lot of waves and stares from kids so the bike is a novelty. Oh yeah I also had a policeman stop at a stop sign across from me. He didn't give me a second look even with the bicycle helmet.
 
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So I'm looking for a bike with a good 20" rear wheel. I want it for a bike i'm going to rebuild. So I see this sign on the way to buy groceries this morning, while riding in the car with my wife. I'm not sure if the yard sale is today or tomorrow or last week even.

When we get home from the store, I start up the wasp and off I go to the yard sale sign. it was about a mile away so no big deal. I found the sign and it says, Yard sale and gives an address. It wasn't far and I was already almost half way there. I rode the bike on over to the yard sale.

They didn't have any bikes, but along with the yard sale, under a funeral home tent top,sat two ladies with another sign. That sign read collard sandwiches $2... lol only in the south....
 
From Wikipedia:

In 2011, The South Carolina General Assembly voted on a bill sponsored by Sen. Jake Knotts (R), Lexington County, to make Collard Greens the State Leafy Green. The legislation was opposed by Rep Thad Viers (R), Myrtle Beach, and led to a Constitutional crisis effectively halting all governmental operations in the Palmetto State until a compromise was reached. South Carolina is the number two producer of Collard Greens in the United States.

Only in the south indeed. Heh.
 
deacon said:
I have decided that the class of bike I have is not really a WW since, the next motor I have ready for it when the Ryobi WW fails is from a craftsman leaf blower. So in fairness to the 'Breed" I have decided to call all my small (under 40cc) bikes Wasp.

I posted this picture in DIY so I hope Im not in trouble for posting it again, but it gives you some idea of what I am riding around on at the moment.


Uploaded with ImageShack.us

Today I rode it to the hardware store about four miles round trip. I came home with a bag tied to the handle bars since I haven't bothered with a basket on this one. About half way home I began to worry. I had twenty bucks worth of small parts in that bag and it wasn't even double bagged. They would have gladly done that I had asked. I made it home but it was a lesson well learned. Those high hanglebars will hold a pretty good size bag, but it needs to be double and tired on well.

I should probably get one of those 'green' (reusable shopping bags ...actually they are usually blue) to tie onto those bars when I need to carry things home. Actually that is a pretty good idea.
Click to expand...

Nice bike ! :) Milk crate on the front maybe ? :)
 
deacon said:
So I'm looking for a bike with a good 20" rear wheel. I want it for a bike i'm going to rebuild. So I see this sign on the way to buy groceries this morning, while riding in the car with my wife. I'm not sure if the yard sale is today or tomorrow or last week even.

When we get home from the store, I start up the wasp and off I go to the yard sale sign. it was about a mile away so no big deal. I found the sign and it says, Yard sale and gives an address. It wasn't far and I was already almost half way there. I rode the bike on over to the yard sale.

They didn't have any bikes, but along with the yard sale, under a funeral home tent top,sat two ladies with another sign. That sign read collard sandwiches $2... lol only in the south....
Click to expand...

Southern ladies cook it up right ! ! ! :) :) :)
 
Yes they do. corn bread with butter, collards, and fried pork belly. mmmm mmmm best eaten in the er to save the ambulance fee.
 
It was a rainy day and I was building on the big bike, so I didn't get to ride on anything today. Tomorrow if the weather is nice, I will take them both out for a spin.
 
first thing this morning I did a patch on my house but then I went out to test the big blue bike, I am building with the 2.5 hp lifan engine. The test went pretty well except it blue out a piece I had added to the muffler to divert the exhaust.

So I hopped on my Wasp and headed to the advance auto. On the way home from Advance I have to climb a pretty steep hill in some moderate traffic. So up i go engine buzzing and I pedaled a few times just to keep the speed up.

So when I pulled into the drive a van stopped at the end of the road. A lady and her son about ten were in the van. She just had to tell me how wonderful my bike was. The little boy's eye were shining. It was a fun ride.

I rode it again on my 'so called' exercise run to the mall and around it. There are some hills so I have to pedal it now and then.
 
I rode the wasp over to the mall and around their loop road again today. I got caught in the morning rush hour traffic. I am going to have to be more careful of my timing. Cars tend to just do what they want without any thought to bikes or even the rules of the road to be honest.

"But it was a fun ride. I need to go make premix now.

The poster:

A Picture of me on the wasp, (yes bear on a bike) Then these words words. If you want to stay young, get a WASP. No the wasp is not a 'white Anglo Saxon Protestant' chick. At our age the motor bike is more fun..

No sense opening a new reply so i'm going to add this trip to the gas station to here. I bought 8'5 gallons of regular gas for my two bikes and the lawn mower. I got about two gallons. I can remember when I could get 20 gallons for 8 bucks. Ah modern life grand. of course I probably didn't have eight bucks back then.

I rode the wasp with trailer attached to the gas station and the new kids in the neighborhood loved it. I'm now known as the mad bike builder of Lexington Avenue. It could be worse.
 
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I have a 31cc wasp bike and a 99cc hornet bike. I rode the wasp this morning to do my around the mall loop. I realized that I got some pretty good exercise in spurts. Up hill, make a right turn, pull away from a stop light or sign. Not only that the bike is just plain fun.

The bigger hornet is probably going to be my bike of choice for riding to the lake and i might even tempt fate when I get more comfortable with it and try a road trip. I enjoy both bikes That is for sure. I even enjoy my ebike and would ride it more if they get the trail open. It just doesn't have the range of either of my gasoline bikes, but I think it is more dependable.
 
I really do miss riding bikes. I especially miss riding this bike since it seems to fit my life style so well. Just as soon as I can convince the kid's Mama that I'm not going to make widow on it, I'm going to start taking it out to breakfast. Let the bike be seen morel,
 
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