Photo by Mike Sner
Last summer I did a long road trip on my 250cc retro-styled motorcycle and if anyone was thinking “that is fine and good but your ride was too powerful” I now have a response for you: A scooters run on the highway through the mountains. This year I participated in the fourth annual Fiddy Run which is an unlikely run for small displacement scooters and bikes. The name is inspired by the 50cc displacement engines but there are some larger (relatively speaking) engines as well. The route is roughly 400kms (250 miles) from David Thompson Resort (campground, not spa type resort) to Jasper and back.
The Google Map time estimate above is very much not accurate for a scooter travel. Top speeds are anywhere from 50-100km/h depending on the model. Generally on the lower side of that.
So I know what you are thinking, “but you don’t own a scooter”. That is correct, in fact I have never even ridden one, but luckily for me my friend Peter (better known as the organizer of the Great Beater Challenge) has a small fleet of them. He completed the event last year with his friend Chris who was unable to make it this year. He put an offer out if anyone wanted to join him and I quickly jumped on it. Who wouldn’t want to ride a scooter on a highway mountain road for hundreds of kilometers?
Peter also has a 1991 Toyota Previa van which he visioned as a scooter/bike hauler. I helped him mounted the wheel chocks inside which involved temporarily dropping the gas tank. A test fit showed promise. As for the bikes themselves the blue is a 1985 Honda Aero and Peter’s ride for the event. I would be on the 1983 Honda Mascot (Mascot in Canada, Aero in the US). They are both 80cc, 2 stroke with a single cylinder engine rated at 6.5hp at 6500 RPM.
While the event was scheduled for Saturday we set off on the Friday as it was an almost 600 km drive to get to the starting line. The Previa is a fine road trip vehicle and this would be its longest trip since Peter obtained it (originally for the Great Beater Challenge but now over budget). For those that are not aware the Previa is a mid engine, rwd minivan which has lots of interesting features such a 75 degree tilted 2.4L engine that was never used elsewhere. Additionally the alternator and A/C are driven off an accessory driveshaft and refreshingly it has acres of glass allowing unobstructed views out.
Unfortunately there was a rather lot of smoke from wild fires raging out of control in northern Alberta. We were worried the mountain views would be spoiled as well as being rather unpleasant to breath.
Our trip was interrupted by the Previa’s automatic transmission which would occasionally hiccup by suddenly dropping into neutral then quickly back into gear. We checked the fluid level via a panel under the driver’s side seat, a task made slightly more awkward by the scooters in the back, but the fluid level and color was fine. Peter had recently done a transmission service so we continued on hoping it would somehow cure itself.
As we entered Calgary the smoke thickened. There is actually a river and big hill just in front of us but not visible.
We had a bit of Japanese theme going as Peter had recently returned from a trip to Japan, the Toyota Previa was the trip hauler and we would be riding Honda scooters. So naturally we stopped for lunch at a Japanese restaurant.
There was also an attached store where we were able to buy new to me unique snacks.
The mighty Previa is an evolving project for Peter. He has slightly lower suspension on order.
Continuing the Japanese theme we bought some Japanese beer for later that night and were surprised to receive a Katana sword bottle opener each. Nice!
In the parking lot I was able to see my first ever Lamborghini Urus. It is … distinctive looking.
Before leaving town we had to fuel the scooters up. It seemed like a lot of work to take them out of the van though … so we filled them in place. The attendants were likely baffled but did not give us any grief.
This mid engined minivan also sports a genuine Nardi wheel sourced in Japan on his trip by Peter.
Another bit of fun bit related to the van is this warning sticker under the passenger side visor. I wonder if it is like U-Haul speed warning that no one ever sticks to.
Happily the smoke cleared west of Calgary but soon rain began to fall. Still lacking in any effective rain gear I hoped this would pass as well.
Luckily the rain was short lived as we passed the Banff area.
The transmission continued to act oddly every once and a while. It occurred at seemly random intervals and did not appear load dependent so we suspected it was electrical rather than mechanical. We tossed out several theories and speculated it might be a wire rubbing where we had mounted the the bike chocks. At Lake Louise we pulled in to see if anything was out of ordinary.
Opening the engine cover a single wire to the throttle looked to have been repaired poorly in the past. Peter had brought tools like sockets and screwdrivers but we did not have any electrical ends or tape.
The store attached to the gas station was pretty small and only really had food and drinks with no electrical tape to be found. The bathroom was a different story with this amusing vending machine which apparently had everything one needs for a good time; male Viagra (clone), female arousal pills, sex position book and condoms. We passed on all those as none would improve the van’s performance.
Genius struck Peter as he remembered that he had done numbering with electrical tape on the scooter so we able to rob from there. So 76 became 6 and he was able to make the electrical connection better at least. We decided on a course of optimism and hoped that would fix it.
A Chevrolet Malibu G-body driving by which made for a nice spot.
On the road again and finally getting close to the starting line. The transmission was no better but at least no worse.
When we arrived after unloading our scooters we helped unload this very cool custom Honda Ruckus. It was so low it got hung up on the ramp. Luckily scooters are light.
Our campsite was quickly set up. Peter was sleeping in the van, I was in the tent.
We had neglected to bring any fire making supplies so we joined another group for the night. “Scooter people” are a fun and friendly bunch. We drank our entire weekend’s supply of beer.
Unfortunately the campsite had a very noisy diesel generator running all night long so I did not get a great sleep.
We had heard that there was a Volkswagen group also in the campground. I took a quick walk in the morning before they were awake but never did go back to talk to them.
There was a nice view from the campground. Some of the group had taken their scooters down to the lake bed the previous afternoon. We had planned a practice run but I had still had not ridden it. The run would begin shortly at 10am so stay tuned in for the next installment tomorrow.
The whole series:
Interesting stuff. I learned about the scooter thing years ago via a client who traveled all over with his wife on a Honda Helix which towed a scooter.
Yes, the downside of electronic transmission controls. That was what killed my Club Wagon. A broken-off gear tooth in the differential damaged a reluctor for the differential-mounted vehicle speed sensor. That sensor gave a different reading that the CPU was getting from the front VSS, causing the transmission to periodically throw up its hands in confusion, shifting into neutral at purely random times. Which was not good at 75 mph on the highway with a semi looming in the rear view.
A perfectly functional van with a perfectly (mechanically) functional transmission done in by a stupid electronic sensor that could not be accessed but by total disassembly of the diff. I hope the Toyota’s story had a better ending.
I’m looking forward to Part 2. As a fan of small displacement motorcycles (I have fond memories of my 1978 Honda XL-75) I can relive my past vicariously and can appreciate the fun of chugging uphill at 35mph and then screaming down the other side at a redline exceeding 55mph. At least the people who encountered me on my back road adventures were tolerant of my single digit horsepower ‘prowess’. Drivers nowdays aren’t so polite.
What’s the maximum official CC displacement allowed? 99? Cause I know of a kit where the trail 90 can be bored out to 120
Not sure what the displacement limit was exactly. Probably just keeping in the spirit of moped/scooter/very small displacement bike. There were a couple of bigger bikes that helped run a sweep/helper role.
Fiddy runs max allowed cc is 400.
Vast majority of riders were on groms and other 125cc bikes.
The original race was more focused on 50’s but as its aged the terrain and distance have grown slightly. Next year will be dtr to radium which is something like 500km.
The Previa was a really well built van, in my opinion much better than the Sienna that replaced it. The interior had high quality plastics. The mechanicals were sturdy, it had a solid live drive axle. The main problem was access to the drivetrain was difficult.
Though Previas are becoming thin on the ground, the ones that are still around seem to be in much better shape than the 1st and 2nd gen Siennas, which are also becoming rare.
When they (rarely) come up for sale it is always with huge mileage so they do seem to be very robust.
Mine has 406 000 kms on it and it still keeps running, just put its 3rd muffler on it though. Thing seems to go through the back one every 3 years or so. Other than normal wear items for it’s age and year it has been very inexpensive to keep running.
Neat tour on the scooter looking forward to the next instalment. I picked up a 1984 Yamaha Ruva 180 cc about this time last year. Sure helps beat the high gas prices out here on Vancouver Island for my shot commute. If I had been closer I would have been sorely tempted to join you.
Thanks for the post.
Oh ho, looks like fun is coming!
Nice to see Castle/Eisenhower Mountain there. Our family climbed it on our 1980 trip out west. We hiked as high as we could but only barely got out of the trees. The next morning my Mom said “Ok everyone, lets get up” slid out of bed and fell to the floor, none of our legs were working anymore 🙂
Looks like fun! Being the Canadian Rockies, I’m sure rain will be involved. And I like the “gratutious” shot of the Calpico (formerly Calpis) in keeping with the Japanese theme. Though I’m not really a scooter fan (I’ve only ridden one, a 50cc Yamaha 2 stroke) I do remember being surprised when Honda launches these 2 stroke scooters in the US market. Aside from the short lived MB5 and of course the CR/Elsinore offroad bikes, Honda still seemed like the 4 stroke company, at least for basic practical bikes.
Several things:
1) An actual Nardi wheel. In a Previa. Peter is officially a god to me. I had one in my ’78 CVCC Civic and in my Miata. Steering wheel nirvana.
2) Scooters are the most fun! My ’09 2 stroke Yammie BWS ( Canadian Zuma) and the wife’s ’12 4 stroke BWS are endless fun. Its too bad in some ways that the 2 strokes have become relics, as my ’09 wails ( ok, there is limits to wailing!) downhill and have had it to 80KmH while her governed 4 stroke will never exceed 67 KmH as the ignition starts to cut out. In fact it would likely still be 67 KmH if you tossed it out of an airplane.
3) I had a ’67 Honda Trail 90. Not sure of any further relevance, but it was cool in its own way, and inducted me into the cult of “small cubes, big fun”
1. Why thank you! *Blush*
2. Just before the Fiddy Run this year I also picked up an 05 Yamaha BWs, non-running, that had sat in a barn and had the seat half eaten off by horses. Will be another addition to the rideable fleet soon.
3. I also have a 1970 Honda CT90 (Trail), haha. It’s turned into a bit of a stalled, long term project though, as I was doing a bit of a restomod on it.
I see the campground you stayed at still haven’t thought to put a quieter generator in or some kind of housing to muffle the noise. I worked there years ago and that was usually the most common complaint was the noise.
Yes, the noise was awful and as a result I did not get much sleep. During the first night I was wondering which jerk with an RV was running their generator all night only to discover it was a big generator for the whole place. Not very tent friendly at all. Being in a trailer or motor-home would like muffle quite a bit of the noise.
I started out riding a 50cc Honda C110 Scrambler my Dad had bought for my Brother and I when I got my learners permit. I got a lot of practice shifting, trying to get my little bike up to speed and trying to maintain it. I did learn how to keep a motor in it’s powerband. The combination of a small bike, not so small rider and some pretty steep hills around my neighborhood soon killed the fun after the initial thrill had passed. I started looking for a larger machine and found another Honda, this time a ’65 CB160 Super Sport. The 160 was freeway legal, could hit 75 mph. and could climb the hills surrounding my Oakland neighborhood. I explored most of the East Bay on that bike.
The desire for more speed led to many different bikes, each bigger than the last. Today I would need at least a 250 cc. bike, even to just ride around town. Traffic is heavier ( myself also!) and driver’s even more surly than they were in my youth. I remember smaller displacement bikes as a lot of fun, but I might be an old guy looking through rose colored glasses. Here’s a pic of the same type 50cc. Honda.
Suzuki even sells a fuel injected 250 (The TU-250 I believe) so the order of the day for me would be to get a front sprocket one tooth bigger and a smaller one on the back. It wouldn’t pull quite as strong but the top end would be more.
Or just get an old Ninja 250 from the 90s. Those will go 100mph and have a 12 or 13,000 rpm redline. It’s fun running 8,500 rpm on the interstate 🙂
Looks like a good way to really see the scenery, by being forced to slow down and of course the unlimited visibility. Or does riding one of these on a highway require too much attention to do that?
There was plenty time to admire the scenery. The road was not overly busy so one just had to keep an eye on their mirrors ever minute or so to monitor behind. And special watch for those sometimes erratically driven rental RVs when they were nearby.
This sounds like quite the adventure, although personally I’d prefer an actual motorcycle like a Honda MB5 or similar over scooter.
I love this! Even though I’ve never ridden a scooter and never plan to… I absolutely love this story and the trip. And the Previa.
Are Nardi steering wheels very popular in Japan? The JDM Delica that I saw recently had a Nardi wheel, which I thought was peculiar, and then seeing this one sourced in Japan, it really has me wondering about that.
Looking forward to the next installments.
Yes, Nardi and Momo wheels are very popular in Japan, and can be found all over the place for much more reasonable prices than in North America. Mine was bought from an UpGarage (chain of used aftermarket parts stores in Japan) in Hiroshima.
What a blast! You do find the most interesting “contests” to take part in. I remember when the Aero was introduced, it was huge in SoCal, half my high school (but not me) seemed to have one, until eventually overshadowed by the Elite complete with Lou Reed as the spokesman. And the Honda “Gyro” was intro’d at around the same time which also looked like loads of fun but seemed to have died off rather quickly (it was really a tiny trike scooter).