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CoSy/MotorBoarding
Background ,
Specs |
Proposed Regulations ,
California Go-Peds & other Links ,
Towards Regulation
Libertarian
scoots
for
Congress
Toward
Rational
Regulation
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NY Daily New Sunday May 28
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Future - Present Individual Urban TranSport
010117| Last fall my Viza MotorBoard was stolen
by a gang of kids , caught on video , outside a new gentryfied apartment on
7th east of Tomkins Sq . All I have left is my Kryptonite chain , a nut and
a spring . I will flesh out this story as I shop for a replacement . 
CoSy / MotorBoard
: Information and news on a new class of folding scooters
providing a new option for individual urban transportation . We believe
these vehicles will provide a significant component of personal transport
in hi-density urban centers from now on .
Particular Potential Markets are :
- Individual - including those for whom walking distances is difficult
.
- Courier / Messenger - Complementary to bicycles and other modes .
- Police Departments - Get around and between and thru traffic jams and
crowd control situation . Carry in the trunk of a squad car .
- Journalists - to get around the same events .
- Campus commuting , Industrial , Academic , Office .
CoSy will provide
comparisons between available models and equipment as we learn of them ,
and will participate in marketing the Best . Please feel welcome to send us
news , products , anecdotes , etc , you feel of interest to this market .
I had planned to upload a page comparing the riding of MotorBoards in
Manhattan to riding a rental ( Yamaha 50 ) Scooter at APL98 in Rome
( Bottom Line : MotorBoards are not yet up to cobblestone slopes of Rome .
Scooters are as tekno as Cars )
However , Friday , September 18 , New York City Police Seized my MotorBoard . So that`s the News
I`ve GOT to Link .
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9905201335|
I traded in my old Phantom XL to
Anthony Pepe for a new MotorBoard , a
Viza Venture
First Impressions :
- To answer one of Anthony ?s : The smooth cast head set Is nicer when
walking with the scooter than his more angular multi part one .
- The reduction gear has
the obvious advantages described , but I felt it did not coast down the
Brooklyn Bridge as freely as the old Phantom .
- The Seat , as I have long
hypothisized , is superfluous . You have much more control and stability
without it .
Over all , the ride and stearing geometry is significantly more stable
and forgiving . The wider board , as I have also long advocated , provides
a much more stable stance - my feet no longer have to hang half of the
sides of the board as they did with Anthony`s sexy but wide in the wrong
places fiberglass .
The machine is enough quieter that swarms of (NYC) pigeons no longer
take flight when you approach .
The design is soo much more sedate than the Phantom , that when I got
to the Red Hook Pier Art Fest Sunday ( See CoSy/Current for SUN.MAY,990516
) , a woman who`s kid was entranced by the Motorboard explained :
' He has a bad leg ' .
No way she knew .
No way anyone jumped to such conclusions on the old machine .
Two downsides , which I commented on to Anthony immediately upon test
riding the machine :
- The recoil starter housing
sticks out annoyingly far . 'Foot scooting' with my right leg , it
bumped the casing . Hiking up the Brooklyn Bridge , following my self
imposed rule to "walk up , coast down"
the bridge during "tourist hours" , I caught the casing on the vertical
bridge cables . The same can happen in doorways , etc .
- The Folding Steering Column
is too short . I virtually have to hunch forward to reach down to it
- not a stable position . A couple of inches would make all the difference
.
The folddown latch hook is
clumsier than Anthony`s design . I will be interested in its durability .
Anthony Pepe`s older Phantoms ( with all but the smallest engine ) are
still faster and sexier . Whether their steering is 'sportier' or just less
stable would take racing competion to sort out . Apparently U.S.Engines is
negotiating to sell its whole Phantom business to a Canadian who will give
it more hands on direction , so maybe we will get that competition .
Bob Armstrong . Reply to CoSy/Motorboarding
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