took the spree to school for the first time!

GoodJuan · Post by **GoodJuan** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 4:02 am

well after a week of waiting for parts, refreshing the scooter, and finding out you don't need to register a spree(i called the local pd)-

I finally took it to school and back. I'm so excited now that i know i can reliably ride this thing to school and back!

I want to thank the forum for all the info i've used to get it running.

1985 model 2852 miles on the odometer

-8 miles in 25 minutes(one way downhill)
-average speed 30mph
-I was afriad going uphill would be a problem, but to my surprise, i never dropped below 25mph
-Downhill was straight scary, i pegged out (i think) at 40. After that i started using the brakes to keep it at 33-35.
-As for straights, i can easily keep it at 30. a slight uphill will drop it to 25 and a slight downhill will bump it to 35
-i rode 30 miles today total
-used about 1/2 a gallon of gas

As for the refreshing after 10 years of storage-

-cleaned the gas and oil tank
-cleaned our the carb
-changed the gas, 2 stroke oil, and final drive oil
-lubed the speedo, throttle, and brake cables
-filled the tires up with air
-changed battery

That's it! ran like a champ after that

I tell ya, i've gained a lot of respect for these little machines. They're pretty d*** solid.

I got it to save money from driving my project 240sx around all the time. From the looks of it though, i enjoy riding and workin on the spree more than my 240!

I think i'm gonna keep scootin' for a long time to come.

Jim · Post by **Jim** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 9:49 am

Ahh you enjoy it now, but when you have to go to and from school everyday. Deal with the * that dont bother switching lanes to pass you, middle fingers, people shouting, people throwing s*** out of their car trying to hit you. Plus the random laughing at you by pedestrians, grr just makes me want to get in my car and run them over.

My guess, in 6 weeks youll be, wishing you had a bigger bike/go back to your 240

GoodJuan · Post by **GoodJuan** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 6:54 pm

Actually, the route to school isn't so bad...There's a seperate bike trail for 90 percent of the route-and the rest have pretty good bike lanes. So far any gesticulation i get is usually a thumbs up from a superbike dude.

A suggestion for you Jim,

Try fitting a thrift shop baby seat to the back of your spree....people will be a lot more cautious around you! And they'll have a harder time getting upset.

I noticed this when i would ride my dad's bike instead of mine (he used it to ride around with my baby sister so it was fixed with a baby seat-people suddenly became so nice compared to when i was on my bmx)

You can use it to put your books in too.

Post by **noiseguy** » Wed Oct 13, 2004 8:18 pm

Glad to hear the site helped you out. Good idea on the baby seat... but I'm not sure I'm going to try it.

Jim · Post by **Jim** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 9:44 am

hahaha that sounds like a good idea about the baby. ill keep it in mind

thanbks

EDIT: donno if anyone cares but im gonna be learning how to drive a clutch bike from this dood i met at a gas station last night that was amused by my spree. Long story short i might be able to buy his 250 ninja for <$500 YAY!

GoodJuan · Post by **GoodJuan** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 11:06 am

whoa sweet. Good luck with the ninja. Is that a good price for one? Spree's go for that much 8O

Post by **noiseguy** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 12:08 pm

$500's not a bad price IF the bike is in good cosmetic shape. I think Jim's been studying these for awhile now. If you can drive a stick shift car you should be fine. Do you know how to countersteer a bike?

Jim · Post by **Jim** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 4:02 pm

theres a tear in the seat and it looks like it was laid down (minor scratches) but as i said, i will be driving it so ill see whats good and bad on it. he says the chain needs to be retensioned but thats about it. I do know how to drive a stick, its not the clutch that scares me, its the whole foot gear changes(up up up down up down etc.). But i do not know anything that hasnt been taught to me via my spree. so im not sure what you mean by countersteering (wind? yes i do)

edit: yes that is a very good price for a good working one, the reason hes gonna let me have it that cheap is that if he gets the chain tensioning done by the shop they will charge 700 bucks, it needs new tires i could tell. about 1000 + in total to fix all, but i just happen to be in an auto tech class with a teacher that loves to work with bikes

, so ill just have to buy the tool and the 2 wheels. and he will either teach me how to do it, or he will do it in order to teach me

either way im set

Post by **noiseguy** » Thu Oct 14, 2004 4:12 pm

No, countersteering means that you push away from you on the right side grip to turn right (as opposed to pulling it towards you, like you do on a bicycle at low speed.) This takes effect at about 15-20 MPH, and is a bigger deal on larger bikes than smaller. I've never "countersteered" a Spree consciously, it responds more to leaning.

Best place to learn countersteering is in a big parking lot. If you can't countersteer you won't be able to ride on the street well and take corners. Without countersteering you'll need to slow to 10 MPH to take a corner, and you risk dropping the bike as you wobble around.

If you can ride a dirt bike it's not a big deal. Otherwise just take it easy. The shifting is pretty easy.

$500 for a dropped 250 doesn't look bad based on comparables. Have you thought about having a shop inspect it? You should at least check the compression.

This is getting off-topic. Good luck with the ride, post the results in the non-Spree forum.

Jim · Post by **Jim** » Fri Oct 15, 2004 1:10 am

ahhh that makes sense, yes i do. and also yes this is getting very off topic. Wanna lock this thread up Jason? just so noone is tempted to reply

darat · Post by **darat** » Tue Mar 21, 2006 9:51 am

wow old stuff here

MySpree · Post by **MySpree** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 10:33 am

i rode my aero to school today... its cool... i park it in th eauto shop.

darat · Post by **darat** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 1:56 pm

Right..

MySpree · Post by **MySpree** » Wed Mar 22, 2006 4:14 pm

i did

burnt_toast · Post by **burnt_toast** » Thu Mar 23, 2006 12:25 am

Sounds awesome man, spree's are great lil project scoots!

but after some investing, a newer scoot will net you much higher speeds and possibly keep up w/ the 240sx once fully modded..

but for overall riding and as a first scoot, the spree is awesome!