Honda Ruckus

Garbinator

SeekTheMoneyTree
I owned a Ruckus for many years. Being Honda, they are durable and reliable machines. But? And heres the big kicker! Maximum carry weight is 225, at my tops, I weighed almost 284 at time of sell. The lil thing hauled my carcus around my hood, to my favorite greasy spoon coffee shop, even my night job patrolling a university campus. Fuel milage was crazy to insane high! Even motoring up multiple story parking garages the lil 49cc mule would not hesitate a bit. The dual Dakar lights always seem to grab alot of peoples attention, the only thing better would install LED warning flashers, red and blue for car stops.

Issues;

*Riding comfort~Seriously lacking if 5'11" or more. Knees and hips mainly. Without getting off the thing and stretching, lower back. The Japanese designed the lil machine for small people. Not Fat-ziods such as I was...

*Low performance, even a slight incline on a lengthy roadway caused loss of speed/momentum. As low as 22mph. On downhill watch out because 40 even 50 can creep up then it becomes a serious concern trying to stop the Ruckus without causing your boot soles to turn into a flameout of burnt sole loss minus $178 tactical patrol boot! HINT! Upgrade BRAKES!!!! Attempting to make sudden stops can be perilous to much worse if conditions above 20mph or so exist.

*Heavy to Medium traffic operations~Scary to "I might wet my pants" scenario! This machines does exactly what it was created to do, only here in California peddle to the metal, Prius to the largest 18 wheeler, flat scares the excrete out of ah guy! As most do NOT even notice you gliding along minding your own to the far righthand side of the roadway. Daring to claim your place in the right lane in vain attempt at moving with traffic soon develops into a Texting/cellphone/make-up/cheese burger/screaming at the kids/loading the DVD/lighting a cig/ yadda yadda yadda chrome bumper situation danger close as if Mobby-1 lifted Excursion is attempting to gobble Jonah and his wee Ruckus into his belly! This grand experiment via my experience points went heavily into the negative zone regards to SAVING FUEL... Rider, heads-up cause I told you so. Oh! And by the way, I got me ah talkin to about riding in the bike zone. Even though no bikes existed in the area. Strange vehicle codes, a state that pushes hard for conservation, yet punishes those whom try alternate means. Anyway?

Off-Highway use+=+ Man? As I stated above, combined with my being an overburdensome hunk of humaniod for this little scooter had me sorely wishing I had not even bothered hauling the thing to my camp site. Tires and suspension my friends, NOT even close. Very hard to control in uneven rutted pot-holed forest service style roads. Now! If your a skinny mini light-weight you might win the Scooter Baja with the thang! I will never know... Power almost disappears above 8000ft elevation. Again, my weight and the type of terrain. Suspension travel almost non-existent to none felt at all.

In hindsight I do miss the little thing, overtime I installed a motorcycle connection to the battery post to maintain properly. Getting to the battery is a complete pain, but once accomplished it was worth the effort. I miss riding it around in my neighborhood visiting and such, riding it to the Vons, my favorite greasy spoon heart attack station. And all those waves I got from folks/teens enjoying a walk. The campus safety aspect, the public relations coupled with my ability to quickly squeeze through heavy traffic situations in the parking lots honestly brought an entire new dynamic to my job, not to mention the relief my lower back and knees felt. In short my evening J.O.B. was fun that even allowed me to bust a few badguys here and there.

I suppose thats my story. Memories of an ugly little scooter called a Ruckus.
I'm sorry, I had one photo of me on Campus patrol, a student took it and I cannot locate it. This is a photo I took after its bath, three days later I sold it to the first guy that showed up. I wished I held out for more $$$ now.
Ruckus-3.JPG
 

Scott Brady

Founder
I suppose thats my story. Memories of an ugly little scooter called a Ruckus.
I'm sorry, I had one photo of me on Campus patrol, a student took it and I cannot locate it. This is a photo I took after its bath, three days later I sold it to the first guy that showed up. I wished I held out for more $$$ now.
View attachment 168203

Cool little ride man. Simple and cheap to operate - nothing wrong with that!
 

BlackdogGS

Observer
I had a Ruckus for a year, I sold it 4 months ago. If your ok with a top speed of 40 mph it might work. The low speed and power limits the scooter greatly. If you live in town and ride to work 5 miles away it might work. They are $2,500 new. There might be a better option, Honda just came out with a slick little 125 with 12" wheels I think it's called the Grom. They are $500 more. I would rock that!
 
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vwhammer

Adventurer
I have a close relative of the Ruckus.
The Honda Metropolitan.
It is not quite as rugged looking but it shares a lot of frame, suspension and engine parts with the Ruckus and is just as capable.
I have modified mine a bit using some Ruckus parts as well as aftermarket stuff.
it has some street tires on it now but I have been looking at a couple more aggressive tires to make it a little more back road friendly.




Here is a link to my build thread if anyone wants to see what I have done.
http://totalruckus.com/phpBB3/viewtopic.php?f=93&t=67296
 

Ozarker

Pontoon Admiral
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KlausVanWinkle

Explorer
I just sold my Ruckus for the second time. Missed it so much the first time I bought it back from the guy.

The Ruckus is great but your time on one is limited. I'd had mine for 2 years and just couldn't take getting passed trying to maintain 29mph up a slight grade. There is something great about riding around town with the throttle wide open 100% of the time. But after awhile you realize you "need" a BMW F650GS or a CBR250R to have that same fun.
 

vicali

Adventurer
Yess please..
honda-ruckus-bagged-air-ride-stance-scooter-011.jpg


My Dad has started a retirement hobby of collecting and restoring Honda CT90s;
honda-trail-90_brown_5.jpg


He's got 2 done and three more inline.. They are super fun camp bikes, plus with a hi-lo transfer case they can crawl offroad..
 

oldNbold

New member
I need one. This one looks great.
Yess please..
honda-ruckus-bagged-air-ride-stance-scooter-011.jpg


My Dad has started a retirement hobby of collecting and restoring Honda CT90s;
honda-trail-90_brown_5.jpg


He's got 2 done and three more inline.. They are super fun camp bikes, plus with a hi-lo transfer case they can crawl offroad..
 

Garbinator

SeekTheMoneyTree
Believe it or not, I have been spied a time or two mulling over the Vespa GT300... I once rode these small I believe 125s all over hill and dale for about $18 a day whenever we got Temporary Duty Travel. Being young, overly stupid, we rode them like we stole those scoots! Flooped them, dropped them, left them laying on the sandy beaches, rode them along the shore. We'd beat them... but everytime, they'd startup and dare us to try more. No helmets, only rubber thongs on our feet, twist and go, never ah peep.
 

imperiaus

New member
я бы не рискнул путешествовать на нем ...
 

takethetruck

Active member
Super random thread resurrection! But since this came up on google when searching for Wan's adventure, just wanted to add a good link for people to read it since total ruckus has LONG been defunct:

Wan's Ruckus Adventure (via the Wayback Machine)

I stumbled across Wan's adventure at work one day (back in 2009) and it was hugely inspiring - one of countless stories that motivated our own departure from the traditional 9-to-5 and early adventures back in the day. Anyway, just didn't want it lost in the ether of the internet 🙃
 

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