Honda Ruckus Update, Summer 2013

This is for the Ruckus clan out there... a chronicle of Honda Ruckus experience so far.

So Ruckus exhibit A (2009 model-- Red) is my original Ruck, which lasted from Jan. 2010 to May 2012/18 000 km before it needed an engine rebuild (...bearings...for whom that means something). It also needed the brakes replaced at the same time.

Prior to that, I had replaced the worn knobby stock tires with faster 'German' tires (note the smoother tires on Red) and also (somewhat catastrophically) replaced the clutch after shredding it carrying too much weight (we won't talk about that). Note that I'd followed the recommended Honda maintenance schedule/had taken it in for all its checkups/changed oil etc. When the bearings went, it started making a high-pitched whine. When it 'died' everyone involved decided that I rode it hard, up and down these crazy North Van hills in torrential rain, almost year-round, loaded to almost-the-max on a regular basis. Therefore, I should change the oil every 1000 km.

So Red became the property of homie Dryden (exhibit A-1), who went on to have the engine rebuilt and brakes replaced with a local mechanic. I got Ruckus exhibit B (2012 model--White with awesome red seat). A year + 3months has gone by, and my odometer is in the low 8000 km. I'm feeding this baby premium gasoline and changing oil...roughly every 1000...and the only trouble I've had is with the battery, which I've had to replace twice--my fault again, because I let it run down even when I had it on a drip charger over the winter (and put it back in the bike too early, thinking I would start riding regularly...but left it for two weeks).

Meanwhile, this spring Red failed again. This is apparently very unusual--so Dryden took it back to the same local mechanic, who (I think) felt bad and gave him a super deal on putting yet another engine in it. However he did say there was a whole lot of water in the engine and Dryden did figure out why, which he chalks up in the same category as my 'we won't talk about that'. Basically, in the future I won't haul lumber on my Ruck and Dryden won't park his under a waterfall. It's all rather elementary in retrospect :P

Then, at about the beginning of July, Red choked n' died again...and D was ready to kick it into the ditch. He has this (annoying) habit of talking about the Honda Jazz he rode trouble-free for five years (same engine!!)/carried his girlfriend around on (did she weigh 40 lbs??) etc. etc. I can't explain this, other than the fact that a Ruckus may look way tougher than it is, so people (like me) tend to use it harder than it can handle... There was that trip to Cortez island...and the back road to Grouse...and that load of lumber...

That's when one of my Ruckus connections offered to 'tinker' with Red and discovered one disconnected wire. He then plexi-glassed the under-seat compartment just for the satisfaction of it, and returned it to Dryden in shiny working order. This was a grace-full deed indeed. And I'd be jealous about the plexi, except for the fact that I need my under-seat compartment clear for hauling tools, and my network of bicycle-tubes woven into the frame actually works very well, to quickly loop over and secure the heads of different-sized pruners/tools stored under the seat so they don't slide forward into the foot pad.

So ya, for people who tend to just hop on and go, we ARE learning a few things...by trial and error. (Rid

ing in flipflops is also not recommended.)
Kidding. I would never ride in flipflops. Dryden...?
(We also look tougher than we actually are.)