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People 50 / Thoughts on my People 50-2 after 1st year
« on: April 22, 2014, 03:45:13 PM »
I bought a new leftover 2009 People 50 - 2 stoke last summer for a 3 mile commute to the beach. The local officials let us park "mopeds" in the beach bike racks. I've had a variety of motorcycles over the last 40+ years, conventional street bikes, dirt race bikes, Harley Davidson V Rod, dual sports, etc. I picked the People 50 because of the 16" tires, perceived power and weight advantage of a 2 cycle engine, and the Delaware "moped" classification. We put on 300 km over the first season. We had the dealer add a buddy seat and rack mounted storage box. I wired in a battery tender and added a Ram mount system for my I-phone, off the left mirror mount, mostly for using the Waze GPS feature. How fast am I really going, and are there traffic issues ahead.
The initial speed restricting power was a traffic threat on the 35 mph highway leading to the beach. I made a lot of new "friends" stuck behind us. I changed the drive boss and can now almost keep up with traffic, and will change the main jet when I find where the carb is hid under all that plastic. Might cut & weld closed the exhaust pipe tubes sometime too, for a little more safety margin. I like the ride and handling, other than the weak suspension dampening when we are both on board, lots of rear pogo-ing. Not unsafe, but annoying. There is an under seat helmet hook on the left side, and a molded spot for one on the right side, but the dealer cannot source the actual right side hook. It would be nice to lock both helmet straps under the seat. The horn has a surprising bark, better than some of my motorcycles. The headlight has the worst beam pattern I have ever seen, blotchy with poor range, especially on low beam. It's good this scooter is slow. It might be worth while seeing if I can cut out the back of the headlight assembly and fit a mini bi-axial (hi and shuttered low beam) HID projector lamp assembly, assuming the stock lens optics doesn't scatter the light. (No I don't mean a glarey halfast HID bulb swap into the existing headlight fixture). Current draw should be similar at 35 watts. I don't really need the clock, but I think I will change the now dead clock battery, since the blank spot looks dumb, and maybe add a power cord for the phone while I have things apart. Might put low draw running light bulbs behind the empty front amber lenses.
I am surprised at the relatively high Delaware scooter insurance cost. My Pennsylvania V Rod cost more than 10 times as much to buy and goes over 100 mph faster, yet its insurance was only a little more. My 250 dual sport costs half as much to insure. Yes, I shopped around too.
All in all, I am happy with the People 50-2. The 16" tall skinny tires fit great in the bike rack, and should be a bit smoother over the pot holes than the smaller ones. Fuel use is insignificant, I used 93 octane gasohol last season, I found a station selling 89 octane ethanol free real gas. I filled it with that over the winter, and start it up every few weeks. Sometimes it fires right up, sometimes it takes a lot of cranking. If I can find an airport to buy aviation gas conveniently, I will get some of that, high octane and no ethanol. I noticed the top speed is down a good 7 mph when the temperature dropped below 50 last fall, hopefully it will come back up as spring finally shows up. I thought the front brake was dragging, I took it to the dealer, they check it, said it was normal, so it must just be the added friction of stiff bearing grease, etc. When it is on the center stand, if you spin the front tire it would stop in a single turn or so. Since I sold my ice boats and stopped playing in a hockey league, I hate cold weather.
Strange, but the Harley posers don't wave when I am on this scooter!! Last season I had three air head Harleys (non V Rods) behind me on the beach highway. We stopped at a red light, the one guy asked if I minded if they all passed me when the light changed. I looked him in the eye and said "When that light turns green, I'm gonna pop a wheelie and blow you guys off!" You should have seen their faces! Then I laughed and said go ahead.
This is a fun ride!!
The initial speed restricting power was a traffic threat on the 35 mph highway leading to the beach. I made a lot of new "friends" stuck behind us. I changed the drive boss and can now almost keep up with traffic, and will change the main jet when I find where the carb is hid under all that plastic. Might cut & weld closed the exhaust pipe tubes sometime too, for a little more safety margin. I like the ride and handling, other than the weak suspension dampening when we are both on board, lots of rear pogo-ing. Not unsafe, but annoying. There is an under seat helmet hook on the left side, and a molded spot for one on the right side, but the dealer cannot source the actual right side hook. It would be nice to lock both helmet straps under the seat. The horn has a surprising bark, better than some of my motorcycles. The headlight has the worst beam pattern I have ever seen, blotchy with poor range, especially on low beam. It's good this scooter is slow. It might be worth while seeing if I can cut out the back of the headlight assembly and fit a mini bi-axial (hi and shuttered low beam) HID projector lamp assembly, assuming the stock lens optics doesn't scatter the light. (No I don't mean a glarey halfast HID bulb swap into the existing headlight fixture). Current draw should be similar at 35 watts. I don't really need the clock, but I think I will change the now dead clock battery, since the blank spot looks dumb, and maybe add a power cord for the phone while I have things apart. Might put low draw running light bulbs behind the empty front amber lenses.
I am surprised at the relatively high Delaware scooter insurance cost. My Pennsylvania V Rod cost more than 10 times as much to buy and goes over 100 mph faster, yet its insurance was only a little more. My 250 dual sport costs half as much to insure. Yes, I shopped around too.
All in all, I am happy with the People 50-2. The 16" tall skinny tires fit great in the bike rack, and should be a bit smoother over the pot holes than the smaller ones. Fuel use is insignificant, I used 93 octane gasohol last season, I found a station selling 89 octane ethanol free real gas. I filled it with that over the winter, and start it up every few weeks. Sometimes it fires right up, sometimes it takes a lot of cranking. If I can find an airport to buy aviation gas conveniently, I will get some of that, high octane and no ethanol. I noticed the top speed is down a good 7 mph when the temperature dropped below 50 last fall, hopefully it will come back up as spring finally shows up. I thought the front brake was dragging, I took it to the dealer, they check it, said it was normal, so it must just be the added friction of stiff bearing grease, etc. When it is on the center stand, if you spin the front tire it would stop in a single turn or so. Since I sold my ice boats and stopped playing in a hockey league, I hate cold weather.
Strange, but the Harley posers don't wave when I am on this scooter!! Last season I had three air head Harleys (non V Rods) behind me on the beach highway. We stopped at a red light, the one guy asked if I minded if they all passed me when the light changed. I looked him in the eye and said "When that light turns green, I'm gonna pop a wheelie and blow you guys off!" You should have seen their faces! Then I laughed and said go ahead.
This is a fun ride!!