Whizzer quality and suitability for the mountains

D

DanKearney

New Member
Greetings All,

I'm a long time motorcycle and bicycle tourist. I live in the mountains of Colorado above 9,000'. I work down near Denver at about 6,000'.

I am considering buying a genuine, new Whizzer with the intent of doing overnight or three day putts in the mountains and/or the occasional putt down to town where I work and back.

I've got zero Whizzer knowledge and a few hours of googling under my belt before I discovered this forum. So here are my questions for any late model, genuine Whizzer owner.

1. Is it possible to install standard bicycle style front and rear panniers on a Whizzer?

2. Does the motor provide enough power for long grades at higher altitude?

3. Are the Whizzers reliable? Both the motor and the rolling chassis?

4. Anyone familiar with any dealers in Colorado or Wyoming?

Thanks for any ideas.

Cheers,

Dan K.
Black Hawk, Colorado
 
Good Morning! As the owner for about 6 months of a 2008 NE5 Whizzer that has had the engine modified by a Whizzer expert for more power and longer life, my personal opinion is that the Whizzer is more of a novelty item and not suitable for long trips in mountainous terrain. I live in a hilly area of North Georgia, and even with the modified engine on mine, it struggles up small hills unless I have a running start from a flat area, or better yet downhill. Top speed on mine is about 45MPH on flat ground. There is no doubt that the cool factor of a Whizzer is off the charts and will draw a crowd, but they are finicky little buggers and prone to many problems due to less than stellar parts quality and design. I have found that any small adjustments to components cause big problems. As you probably know, Whizzer has been out of business for a year or so, so you would probably be buying a used one from someone that got tired of messing with it. The person I bought mine from had 5 of them for his family, then bought 5 Yamaha 250's, and put the Whizzers up for sale on ebay. I plan to keep mine just for the cool factor and possible increase in value, but not ride it that much.
 
I live in Seattle (The whole area around here is hilly to mountainous) and the stock 2006 era WHizzer we have is fun, goesabout 35 flat out, and can't climb hills to save its life. I think with some ingenuity a person may be able to slightly improve hill climbing performance, but these bikes, IMHO will only ever do so well on hills (Slippy belt drive, so-so power for the size, etc). I think you either need a) an Chinabike kit w a shifter kit (mine slays hills all day long) or b) an actual "moped" (not a scooter, moped- think Honda Hobbit) with a few basics like a carb, pipe, etc to give it a boost. EIther of those machines will probably do a lot better in your proposed application. I would LOVE to be contradicted by one or two of the Whizzer Pros around here though, as I am interested in improving clutch performance, and experimenting with any alternate belts etc that may be available for these newer NE5 powered Whizzers. I'd like to do a few things to get ours to cruise at 40 and be able to achieve 45 on a full throttle run..
 
Thanks guys for the replies. I guess my expectations are greater than the bike's abilities. I appreciate the input.

Cheers,

Dan K.
 
Dan,
A slightly modified 2 stroke HT engine with a sick bike shifter kit does quite well in the mountains and my most current ride has 4 years of hard mountain use with zero engine problems and only the occasional stretched drive chain.

You are welcome to join me for a mountain ride to see if this route is something you are interested in. Let me know.
Take care,
Drew
 
a tomos 2 speed moped [get on and go] stick to motorcycle's in the mtn's. all the other's are hobbie's to cruze around on IMHO. dennis
 
Yea, Dennis is right, you would have to have the over head valves to make more power. bumps you up to about 10 hp. 24" wheels would also help.

Ray
 
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