Motocompos in their natural habitat

Mon, Oct 5, 2009

Oddities

For an eye-full of compo-pr0n (like you see above) go to Honda’s fan site HERE.

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7 Responses to “Motocompos in their natural habitat”

  1. GenWaylaid Says:
    6. October 2009 at 1:13 am

    I just picked up my new Motocompo last week. Seems I was the only one willing to meet the $1500 reserve on the auction. Until you actually ride one, it's hard to believe how tiny they are. It's like sitting on a briefcase.

    What's a amazing is how much thought went into the design. The folding process works perfectly. There are cut-outs so the bike won't start unless it's completely unfolded. The bike is designed to be laid on its left side without leaking, and there are four handy grab handles / tie down points for strapping it into the back of a car. Oh, and it starts on the first kick every time, which I can't even say for my CT-110.

    The seller imports old (pre-1958) Japanese motorcycles for a living, so on the last shipment he slid two compos into the empty space in the middle of the crate. He figures that if he could get four people to order up front, he could do a crate of just Motocompos and bring the cost down a bit.

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  2. ScooterScoop Says:
    6. October 2009 at 3:49 am

    OMG! I'm all welled up with emotion! I'm not sure if it's happiness or jealousy, but congrats either way. Do you have a video camera or a still that shoots video? I'd love to see a little run down on her.

    I've got a motocompo on my bucketlist, so someday before I "cash in my chips", I'll have to ask you to get me in touch with him to place my order… hopefully WAY before then.

    I've got so many questions. What's the top speed you've managed? How heavy would it be to pop in and out of your trunk? After it's unfolded, does it feel pretty solid or a little loose? Do you premix the oil? Is it a 2% mixture? What kind of reactions do you get from people? Could you carry it onto a bus?

    ENJOY your new toy!
    steve

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  3. Tim Says:
    6. October 2009 at 12:17 pm

    Gen, that is wicked cool. I agree with Steve, we need a super-duper-scooper on this little treasure of yours.

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  4. GenWaylaid Says:
    6. October 2009 at 9:12 pm

    I'll…see what I can do. I don't exactly have a lot of free time. Maybe this winter.

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  5. ScooterScoop Says:
    6. October 2009 at 10:26 pm

    Sure! I understand completely… and in the meantime, if you need a warm place to store it, I know an open garage in sunny Austin Texas. ;)

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  6. Tim Says:
    7. October 2009 at 3:24 am

    Yeah, send it down here to us for the winter. We'll keep it in shape instead of you having to store it.

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  7. GenWaylaid Says:
    8. October 2009 at 6:39 am

    I can answer some of your questions, at least.

    I've managed to get it up to 50 kph (metric speedometer), but it wasn't too happy. The extremely short suspension travel combined with California roads shook the boot off the spark plug in only two blocks. The compo can putt around at 30 kph comfortably. I think the strength of these bikes is more in tricks. Standing on the pegs, it feels like I could pull some BMX-style stunts with a little practice.

    Once the scooter is unfolded, it's very solid. The seat latches in place and the handlebars have tabs on the bottom. Once you tighten the screw knob on the top of each handlebar, the bottom is locked in place on those tabs. All the rotating joints are ball joints, so they don't bind. The weak point of the design is probably the plastic lid, which warps a bit too easily and doesn't always fit in the slots properly. Apparently the lids were originally metal.

    The scooter is easy for me to lift, and I'm not that strong. It only weighs about 80 pounds and it has convenient handles built in, so it's no harder to carry than a box of books. I wouldn't bring it on transit, though. I had it strapped in the back of my car for a trip to the DMV, and the gas fumes started making me sick. It doesn't leak, but like anything else with a gas tank it shouldn't be kept in confined spaces.

    The oil injector works great. The mixture seems to be a normal 2% to 2.5%. I think the engine was lifted from one of Honda's other scooters and all the other parts were designed to fit around it.

    The motocompo doesn't have an odometer or a D.O.T. compliance sticker, but the main reason I wasn't able to get it registered was the lack of an engine number. I need to borrow an engraving tool and carve the frame number into the engine casing. If California allowed mopeds without pedals, I could have saved myself all the hassle. In every other respect, the Motocompo is in the same class as a stock moped.

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