It's here!

[errantember]

My R-20 has arrived!

I've spent most of the afternoon figuring out how to put the handle bars, mirrors, and cargo container on. I took a spin on it over to kitty_smack's house, but she wasn't home.

So far the impressions are mostly good. I've had it up to 42 MPH on a straightaway with me on it. Considering I'm 30 lbs heavier than their test pilot, that's pretty damn close to the claimed 45 MPH speed. It's faster than I thought it would go. They claimed it would come "ready to ride", which wasn't strictly true. Evidently I was supposed to have gotten an e-mail pointing me toward a video on how to re-attach the handlebars (6 screws.) There were no instructions on how to use the charger, attach the mirrors, or attach the optional cargo box. Once those were on, though, it was fairly easy to fire it up and get it moving.

So far the only majorly confusing part is that if you really goose the engine, it shuts off. You then have to throttle back down and up again to re-gain power. I'm assuming this is a "feature" to prevent the engine from getting over-torqued or something, and not some kind of technical problem. It was little disconcerting to discover in the middle of a crowded intersection right after the light turned green.

Although it read 100% when I got it, and I only rode it about (not even) 4 miles, the meter now says only slightly more than half full. It's supposed to go a minimum of 30 miles on one charge, so I'm not sure what to think. When I plug the charger in, the charge/not charged light says "charged", and the fan doesn't come on. Not sure exactly what that means, either.

More as I get experience riding it. Possibly legally.

Comments

[spottedvasa.livejournal.com]

Yey! Hopefully the power meter is just being wonky or something.

[kitty-smack.livejournal.com]

Sorry I missed seeing your new ride.

[breasystorm.livejournal.com]

DUDE! that's awesome! and within the last of the year deadline too.

[kitty-smack.livejournal.com]

People love the story about the engineer who couldn't charge a battery and then decided to take a new, driven only once before, uncharged scooter on trip too long for even a fully charged battery and then when the battery starts to go dead, turns off the headlight (at night) to save energy and when a car nearly runs him over because scooters without lights at night aren't very visible and the scooter starts to go down, this 6' tall dude didn't think to put his foot out to try and keep from spilling and got all road rashy and had to leave the scooter there and spent close to 100 bucks on a cab to go check on it next day and still didn't get it running or home.

Some people think the funniest thing about this is "a 6' tall dude on a scooter".

Personally, I nearly lost it when you said "I don't feel at all negatively about the incident".

So, anyway, thanks for the new material.

PS. 50 bucks says your first reaction is to correct me about your height.