Honda Ruckus

[kaiserz]

Hey guys, I kinda want to get a Ruckus for around town and to work. anyone had any experience with them? I know it's not practical for me to get one... but I really really really want one D:

[saxnbass]

I didn't like it. Actually, I quite hated it.

["A"]

If your commute is more than 10 mi., you'll be better off with a 250 Big Ruckus.

[leed]

The only scoot I approve of on these streets!

[kaiserz]

my job is like 5 mins away... less than 2mil and then I need to travel to the bank which is 10mins away maybe like 5mil. that's why I want to get one. cause it's such a pain to use the ninja when you know it'll only take you 5 mins to your destination.

+ I want it as a toy XD

[kaiserz]

Originally Posted by saxnbass

I didn't like it. Actually, I quite hated it.

why is that?

[Heed]

get a burgman 400 lmao. its the best looking scooter out there.


why do u want a scooter? i dont see how its any different than the ninja 250

[str8t six]

Originally Posted by kaiserz

cause it's such a pain to use the ninja when you know it'll only take you 5 mins to your destination.

how would it be any different?

[saxnbass]

Originally Posted by kaiserz

why is that?

It didn't ride very nice on the road. I'd really only get it if I were going offroading with it, but that what it was design for I guess.

[CynicalC]

Never been on one but I'm a big fan. They're rather gutless but for tooling around town I say why not. I wouldn't buy one new though.

[sharky nrk]

I had one for several years and loved it. It was great for running around town on but in reality having a motorcycle and a scooter to me doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I have my 6R now and not my Ruckus, so take that for what it is worth.

You have alot of the same safety concerns riding a ruck around town that you would with a ninjette. Once I got that through my head it really made the picture clear.

[kaiserz]

Thanks for the reply guys.

I see that we're kinda getting off topic here, but anyway here's my response.

I have this impression that a lot of post are telling me to "not" get it because it's not "practical" and I respect that. I even stated on my 1st post that "I know it's not practical for me to get one... but I really really really want one D: ". It's not even practical for me to have my ninja. why? cause the last year I payed almost 1k+ for insurance, I payed a lot in property tax. Also last year I've spent 3k+ on my gear alone, + I also spent $ on MSF and advance MSF. The money I've spent on the ninja + gear + other stuff is enough to get me a nice used G35.

Originally Posted by str8t six

how would it be any different?

I said '"cause it's such a pain to use the ninja when you know it'll only take you 5 mins to your destination." Yes it's a pain. not to me but to my ninja's engine. I believe that warming it up and then riding it for 4- 5 mins will hurt my ninja, and that's gonna be a pain.

Originally Posted by saxnbass

It didn't ride very nice on the road. I'd really only get it if I were going offroading with it, but that what it was design for I guess.

I read about this, one of the 1st mods they do is they get street tires for it. but then again I want to just strap it to the back of the van and take it out for a nice offroad ride.

Originally Posted by CynicalC

Never been on one but I'm a big fan. They're rather gutless but for tooling around town I say why not. I wouldn't buy one new though.

That's the plan I saw one for 1k and I'm very tempted to get it

Originally Posted by sharky nrk

I had one for several years and loved it. It was great for running around town on but in reality having a motorcycle and a scooter to me doesn't make a whole lot of sense. I have my 6R now and not my Ruckus, so take that for what it is worth.

You have alot of the same safety concerns riding a ruck around town that you would with a ninjette. Once I got that through my head it really made the picture clear.

Good to hear that you loved it I'm a gear and safety nazi. and I know that they have the same safety concerns and personally I think more on the ruckus because it's slow and won't be able to avoid or get out of certain situations. Also it makes me giggle knowing that my gear is worth more than the ruck. hehehe Riding around town with a $800 onepiece commuter, $300 boots $ 400 helmet and $250 gloves

[Liist]

50cc scooters are all too common in this college town and Florida allowing license plates on them and no motorcycle endorsement needed to drive one. It makes more sense to get one for going less than a mile for class.

That being said, the Ruckus would be the only 50cc I would consider buying.

[Bosgarage57]

If you want one, get one. What else are motorcycles for besides "I Want?!" Get it, try it, if you dont like it, resale it. For me though a 250 is as small as I'm gonna go.

[kaiserz]

"That being said, the Ruckus would be the only 50cc I would consider buying. " Same here

"If you want one, get one. " I am, that's why I wanna hear if anyone on this forum had any experience with them.

[Bosgarage57]

Have you seen all the custom Ruck's out there? For 50cc's they look pretty darn awesome. I had a 50cc scooter when I was little and rode it around the house, loved the thing. If I lived in a 35 mph speed zone and thats all I traveled in, I'd prob have one too.

[str8t six]

be sure to take it on some sweet jumps!

[Heed]

Originally Posted by kaiserz

I said '"cause it's such a pain to use the ninja when you know it'll only take you 5 mins to your destination." Yes it's a pain. not to me but to my ninja's engine. I believe that warming it up and then riding it for 4- 5 mins will hurt my ninja, and that's gonna be a pain.

:

soo...u solve that problem by spending $2500 on a scooter? doesn't really make sense to me. and i could be wrong, but i don't see why warming up the Ninja, and riding for 5 minutes then shutting it off is going to be a pain or do any damage.

[kaiserz]

Originally Posted by Bosgarage57

Have you seen all the custom Ruck's out there? For 50cc's they look pretty darn awesome. I had a 50cc scooter when I was little and rode it around the house, loved the thing. If I lived in a 35 mph speed zone and thats all I traveled in, I'd prob have one too.

Yeah I've seen them (: And there's something about the ruck that appeals to me. when I first saw one on the road I was like "I want one". And I can't wait to ride it on the snow. That'll be fun.

[kaiserz]

Originally Posted by Heed

soo...u solve that problem by spending $2500 on a scooter? doesn't really make sense to me. and i could be wrong, but i don't see why warming up the Ninja, and riding for 5 minutes then shutting it off is going to be a pain or do any damage.

I'm gonna spend 1k for it. probably put a 300 down payment and pay 20 bucks a month. I'm not a mechanic so I won't be able to explain it in detail. But If anyone know's why it's bad please feel free to explain.

And No I'm not solving that problem by spending 2500 on a scooter, I solve that problem by using my car.

[kcaja1]

check this out... electric scooter that will get to 32mph... for $999

http://superscootersales.com/product...-1000-lithium/

[Numbersix]

Originally Posted by Bosgarage57

If you want one, get one. What else are motorcycles for besides "I Want?!"

They're also for "Do not want":

- I don't want to pay $3.50+/gal and get only 20-40mpg;
- I don't want to pay $50/month to park far away for work or $90+ to park even somewhat close;
- Most importantly, I don't want to have commuting and other driving be just more wasted time in my life.

I didn't go with the 50cc scoot last year 'cause I was living where the only road to work was a posted 55mph divided road and I didn't feel like getting run off into a ditch or worse. The Ruckus and Aprilia SR50 were on my short list of 50cc machines, though.

Personally I'd say skip the 50cc and look at the 100-150cc class (Elite, Zuma, Rattler, Madass, etc.) 'cause you then get to ride comfortably in *all* traffic outside the freeways.

[blink]

It won't hurt your ninja.
But then it'll hurt your scooter just as much so why put the money down if you will "hurt it"?

[kaiserz]

@Numbersix I really like the madass (:
@blink the "will hurt my ninja" spill is just an excuse to justify me spending 1k on the ruckus.

[KawiKid860]

We have a honda metropolitan, basically a girly non offroady ruckus. It's gutless as heck and riding something so small and cramped feeling compared to a motorcycle isn't confidence inspiring, around town requires WOT and it'll do ~40mph or less if its uphill or you have a headwind lol. The extra 40ish mpg it gets over a ninja 250 at the cost of performance wouldn't justify buying one for me, but it will probably make your ninjette seem like a l1terbike when you get back on it.

[Liist]

I know what you feel as I've tried a 50cc scooter, and this was a crappy Chinese-made one.

Let's just say that a scooter is only good if the speed limit of your whole commute is under 45 or if traffic is jammed on all 45 speed zones.

Just the other week a woman was almost killed as she got rear ended by another car while going on the left lane of a 45 zone. Granted it's the Civic behind her that was at fault, but she's the one who got hurt.

[Johnnyscoots]

Both me and my brother Joe (he what owns a V65 Magna) wanted a Big Ruckus for leisurely puttering around town...then Honda stopped making it...or importing it to the US. Crestfallen we were, but we are both happy with our bikes.

I took my driving test on a Little Ruck and let me tell you, that thing weighs like...about as much as...air. As you can imagine, passing the test was a breeze (pun intended). I rented it from DHY in Deptford, NJ (whilst I still lived in the Garden State) for a few days and got to practice on it. Very fun little bike, if a bit pokey in the power department. No body panels to think of but with the exposed frame...imagine all of the bungee attachments ya got LOLZ.

Saw a few Rucki (is that plural for Ruckus???) and a few Metropolitans scattered in amongst the Ducati Monsters and older Japanese bikes while in Seattle (Belltown section). My commute is only 10 miles but goes on some heavily traveled 45-55 mph roads out here. Would love to rock a Ruckus but owners of the 250 don't seem too keen to part with them.

Johnny

[kaiserz]

Originally Posted by Liist

I know what you feel as I've tried a 50cc scooter, and this was a crappy Chinese-made one.

Let's just say that a scooter is only good if the speed limit of your whole commute is under 45 or if traffic is jammed on all 45 speed zones.

Just the other week a woman was almost killed as she got rear ended by another car while going on the left lane of a 45 zone. Granted it's the Civic behind her that was at fault, but she's the one who got hurt.

Wow that sucks for the girl. anyway here in VA(specially in the small town of leesburg) mopeds/scooters that are <50cc are not allowed to travel on 45 zones, only <35 zones, and it makes a lot of sense, since you have a slow moving vehicle. also around town the average speed zones are 25 - 35. if ever I want to go to the next town I have to use the back road which is a 35zone. there are also some offroad here that I would like to run which is a 25zone.

[kaiserz]

Originally Posted by Johnnyscoots

Both me and my brother Joe (he what owns a V65 Magna) wanted a Big Ruckus for leisurely puttering around town...then Honda stopped making it...or importing it to the US. Crestfallen we were, but we are both happy with our bikes.

I took my driving test on a Little Ruck and let me tell you, that thing weighs like...about as much as...air. As you can imagine, passing the test was a breeze (pun intended). I rented it from DHY in Deptford, NJ (whilst I still lived in the Garden State) for a few days and got to practice on it. Very fun little bike, if a bit pokey in the power department. No body panels to think of but with the exposed frame...imagine all of the bungee attachments ya got LOLZ.

Saw a few Rucki (is that plural for Ruckus???) and a few Metropolitans scattered in amongst the Ducati Monsters and older Japanese bikes while in Seattle (Belltown section). My commute is only 10 miles but goes on some heavily traveled 45-55 mph roads out here. Would love to rock a Ruckus but owners of the 250 don't seem too keen to part with them.

Johnny

Yeah, I don't understand why people are hating on the lil ruck. it's like the 600cc guys hating on the 250cc guys. anyway to me the ruck is just gonna be a toy. a toy that i don't really need to take care of. And I'm glad you had fun with the lil ruck

[rusninja]

WTF the 250 is a slow piece of #^$%# jk :] if you want a ruckus and dont have to go over 45 go for it looks like a kick ass little scooter.

[akima]

They're sweet little scooters. It's the first scooter that ever caught my eye. I thought about getting one too, but couldn't justify it - for the kind of distances that I would be covering on one, I'd be much better off riding my bicycle. It's important to keep your body moving.

["A"]

I bought a Chinese 250cc schoolter back in March of 2008, when the gas prices when skyrocketed.

It cost me $1499 delivered in a crate to my driveway.
$35 to insure for the whole year, 1.7 ga. to fill up,
gets about 140-180 mi. per tank,
it accelerate faster than 85% of the 4-wheel vehicles in traffic from a stop,
gets up to 60-65 mph and cruises nicely between 45-50 mph.
Gettin up to highway speed is not the problem, the suspensions are crap on these things, sustaining highway speed on a poor quality road surace is just uncomfortable and unsafe.
It's got enough underseat storage for my backpack.
Longest single day distance I've covered on it is about 240 miles.
I've put over 11k mi. on it since, still the original tires.

Other than couple of flats, which I plugged roadside and they held ever since, and some blown fuses.
The Chinese scooter does not disappoint, never have any mechanical issues.
The engine is a JMStar made Honda Helix clone,
Oil changes (496 ml) takes less than 15 mintues, valve adjusments takes 5 minutes and performed while the engine is running.

I even made a bicycle rack to carry my road bike with the scooter:



Nowadays little things start to fall apart, like horn button/turn signal switches and mirrors started to shake loose and I lost one mirror.
Plastics are flimsy and somewhat fragile, but have not cracked.

13" Smaller wheels do tend to slide out more than Ninja 250 and no topend power output, but for daily transportation in urban/suburban areas, my 250cc Chinese scooter works for me.

[little fish]

there's someone around here in middle Ga. that has a Rukus. they have it modded out with a saddle seat and ape hangers ...it looks pretty cool .. a little mini harley. ... get what you want... don't worry about what others say .. it's your money.

[Gorilla25]

@rz3r0 has one. msg him about the ruckus

["A"]

[MistahT]

I've actually owned a Ruckus. I commuted for about a year on a bone stock 50cc Honda Ruckus, then did a motor swap and rode it another 6 months. I still do motor swaps, paint, and just about anything you can think of to these scooters for friends. I'd bet a taco I know more about them than anyone else here. Now that's out of the way.......

Realistically, do you want one? My answer is no. Here's why. You're going to get somewhere in the neighborhood of 80-110 mpg, but in stock form it's REALLY slow. If the littlest thing goes wrong, you're whopping top speed of 40 will drop to 35 or less. These little engines and carbs are very particular and things will go wrong. Worse than lack of top speed, the acceleration is gutless. Oh, and they get stolen all the time around here.
-- Well Mistah T, why did you have one? I loved to ride but was afraid of moving up to a motorcycle. At the time I was only commuting 10 minutes daily, but I've taken the bike three hours away. Traffic can make for some uncomfortable situations though.

I motor swapped. Should you do this? NO. Right now you can use craigslist and some part suppliers and get everything you need for a motor swap for under a grand. The extra power is awesome and people freak out when a low, stretched, brightly colored (I went greeeeeeeen ) scooter flies by them at almost 70mph. However, even though the gy6 motors are fairly reliable, the carbs are not and electrical systems sometimes blow stators and regulators. If you want it to be somewhat reliable, you gotta pay more for a carb than you did for your motor and tune the hell out of it. Even then, it might not be real reliable. Everyone I know with the gy6 motor swap has had reliability issues at some point.

With all that behind us, I really loved my Ruckus and still miss it sometimes. There's something about the way it rides and the looks you get. Even when bone stock I've had people hanging out car windows screaming compliments, and had cops pull me over to check it out, give me a high five, and ride on. I also had a group of about 8 Rucks and we all rode together.

At least in the MD/DC area, prices have come way down on craigslist. If you search and you're patient, you should be able to get a clean titled Ruckus for a little over a grand.

A motorcycle is better in every way. Having them both is not realistic... but if you want one, GO GET ONE. If I bought another, I'd probably rarely ride it. And yet, I'm trying to make a deal on a frame cause my friends have enough spare parts and motors to almost build a Ruckus from scratch..........


This was my Green Machine
Day I brought it home (good deal on a theft recovery)


About a year later


And the day I sold it

[Dano]

I love the looks of those things, and have seen some wild ones online. I say if you want it and can afford it buy one...its your time and money.

[JustRidin]

2 miles...ride a bicycle...waay cheaper than a ruckus

[80MPHdownhill]

My neighbor has one. The purpose was to use it to commute to work, 5 miles each way.

I've ridden it a few times. It is exceedingly lame. It's so homely and so slow. It's so slow as to be unuseable on most public roads, even for most 5 miles commutes.

I can't imagine anyone wanting to own one of these for road use. Horrible.

(My neighbor helped prove the point - after 4 months of commuting on it every day, he quit and it has been sitting in the garage gathering dust for years).