https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko5ZOQXWRvo
50 mph max. 300 lb. carry capacity. 50-70 mile range per charge. You may have trouble squeezing two people on it.
Light weight motorcycles
Re: Light weight motorcycles
How about a Lit Kubo. It looks like they are making it foldable.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko5ZOQXWRvo
50 mph max. 300 lb. carry capacity. 50-70 mile range per charge. You may have trouble squeezing two people on it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ko5ZOQXWRvo
50 mph max. 300 lb. carry capacity. 50-70 mile range per charge. You may have trouble squeezing two people on it.
Re: Light weight motorcycles
Jacob,
I refrained from replying earlier because this sounded too hard. But I had an idea a minute ago that may work. How about a Honda Ruckus with a small 12v winch from harbor freight tools bolted to it? You put a heftier battery on the cargo carrier to power the winch. You'd be surprised how you can bulldog a bike up rough terrain while slowly pulled by a cable.
A crew of thieves was caught at my college doing just this. They used a van with a winch in the back. They would lay the locked bike down on a shag carpet and drag it across the garage floor and up a ramp into the van. They did it too much and eventually got caught.
With a little practice riding up stairs is doable, especially on a dual sport. It looks a lot harder than it is if you're on the appropriate machine. But...it has hooliganism factor. Probably not an option.
So I like the winch idea. Wire a button to the handle bar and guide the bike up and down the stairs as the winch winds. You just need to find a spot to secure your hook.
I refrained from replying earlier because this sounded too hard. But I had an idea a minute ago that may work. How about a Honda Ruckus with a small 12v winch from harbor freight tools bolted to it? You put a heftier battery on the cargo carrier to power the winch. You'd be surprised how you can bulldog a bike up rough terrain while slowly pulled by a cable.
A crew of thieves was caught at my college doing just this. They used a van with a winch in the back. They would lay the locked bike down on a shag carpet and drag it across the garage floor and up a ramp into the van. They did it too much and eventually got caught.
With a little practice riding up stairs is doable, especially on a dual sport. It looks a lot harder than it is if you're on the appropriate machine. But...it has hooliganism factor. Probably not an option.
So I like the winch idea. Wire a button to the handle bar and guide the bike up and down the stairs as the winch winds. You just need to find a spot to secure your hook.
Re: Light weight motorcycles
For 2up moto-touring the least I'd recommend a is 650cc. You want to err on the side of more displacement, don't let a little extra storage effort screw with safety. I had a BMW F650GS Dakar that weighed in the neighborhood of 440lbs with gas and panniers loaded. 70mpg but not fun on the open plains in a heavy crosswind. You mentioned 5 stairs in the basement. If your neighbors are cool, buy a 2x12 board, fire up the bike and ride it out. If not, the winch option might be best. Another lightweight option would be if your wife is interested in riding, then you could get two 200-400cc dirt bikes and "farkle" them for touring. See the ride report section and trip planning forums on advrider.com for all kinds of ideas.
Re: Light weight motorcycles
Here's another one. Rent a little space in somebody's garage that is walking distance from your place. People who park cars often have some space next to the car in a garage. Then you can have a more serious bike...that is, there are very fast and powerful models that take up about the same space as a scooter.
I originally proposed this to a SW engineer I worked with. He had a mixed commute with bicycle and train. When we relocated to an office over a busy overpass with no bike lane (you had to be suicidal to ride a bike over this thing, either hit by a car or over the rail into traffic or both) his commute was ruined. So I suggested he post signs in the area of the train station for a tiny corner of garage space to store a scooter. Ride the train, walk to the scooter, ride to work then reverse to go home. He quit instead.
I actually like the ramp idea. You can walk a motorcycle under power through some nasty terrain. It would be very easy to walk a mid sized (500lb) bike up a 2x12 under power while walking up the stairs. Using a little clever carpentry you can make ramps that won't shift around much.
I originally proposed this to a SW engineer I worked with. He had a mixed commute with bicycle and train. When we relocated to an office over a busy overpass with no bike lane (you had to be suicidal to ride a bike over this thing, either hit by a car or over the rail into traffic or both) his commute was ruined. So I suggested he post signs in the area of the train station for a tiny corner of garage space to store a scooter. Ride the train, walk to the scooter, ride to work then reverse to go home. He quit instead.
I actually like the ramp idea. You can walk a motorcycle under power through some nasty terrain. It would be very easy to walk a mid sized (500lb) bike up a 2x12 under power while walking up the stairs. Using a little clever carpentry you can make ramps that won't shift around much.