My Little Brother's Super Pocket Bike Experience...LONG!
11-01-2004, 11:51 PM
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My Little Brother'* Super Pocket Bike Experience...LONG!
I'm sure you've seen these at like autozone or something like that, but anyways what it is is a minerature crotch rocket with a 49cc 2 stroke engine on it. They go about 30mph. Anyways, I thought I would share my little brothers story.
All summer my little brother had been saving up money that he got from doing random chores (the chores in which my parents never paid me to do), mowing the lawn (in which I also never got paid to do), and his birthday money, and random money that i have no idea where he got it. He saw one of these pocket bikes at autozone and decided thats what he wanted. Well, my dad got to looking online and found some on there that were supposed to be nicer for cheaper. So once my brother got the cash saved up my dad ordered one.
After about a week after he ordered it we still hadn't gotten it. So my dad called up the company and they said it should've arrived by now and gave him a tracking number. The tracking number reported that it had already been delivered. He called up DHL and asked what was going on and they told him he must not have seen the package. He explained to them that it was a very large box, there was no way he, and the other 5 people in the house missed it. They called the driver who delivered it and left a message asking him where he left it and all that stuff. About 45 minutes after they had called him, he called them back and gave them a perfect description of the house and where he had left the box in the driveway (the box in which weighs 99lbs.). He explained how he had left it in between the right & middle bays of the garage, and he said he had left it there at about noon or 12:30. I got home at 2:25 that day, like I do everyday, and it wasn't there. The driver claimed it must've been stolen. My dad and I thought it was pretty odd that someone stole a 2 1/2 foot by 6 foot long 100lb box out of our driveway within 2 hours of it being dropped off, espeically in our neighborhood. So i get home from dropping my brother off at his friends house and there is a DHL truck sitting in front of our house. Its the driver that had dropped the package off the day before, he talked to me for it a minute asking me if I'm sure it wasn't there and we don't have it, etc.... Then he started asking me if we had a lot of theft, in which we don't. Well, evidently after this conversation he called the people handling the problem and told them I said we had the package. Right away my dad calls me up from work and asked what I was talking about, and I told him that i told the guy we didn't have it. So my dad calls up DHL yet again and tells them that I told the driver we did not have the package. My dad asked how the package was even dropped off when nobody was there, and they said that they aren't allowed to require signatures for residential addresses. (which makes no sense to me) So my dad asked the guy over the phone if the DHL driver could tell him what color the car in the driveway was the day before. Since he claimed to have backed his truck into the driveway, and then claimed that he set the package right next to the car, there is no way he could've missed the car that was there. They call him up and he says there was no car in the driveway. The day he supposedly dropped off the package, the 2 door '90 GP was in the driveway (and its not like it blended in, its bright red) because my dad took his GTP to ZZP that day...however the next day it was supposed to rain, so my dad took the '90 to work, leaving no cars in the driveway, because I park mine in the street and my sisters weren't home. So he says there was no car in the driveway. So anyways, although we can't be sure, we pretty much came to the conclusion that the DHL driver stole the package, but we didn't get it either way so it needed to be replaced no matter how it happened. So after fighting with DHL for a week, they said the company he bought the bike from would have to file a claim. So my dad contacted that company, which said they would file a claim, and my dad called them a week later and they said they still hadn't filed the claim. So he calls them everyday and asks them if they have filed the claim. Finally, they stopped returning his messages. So he called the credit card company and had them cancel the payment to the company since he had no bike, and they didn't want to deal with it.
So here it is almost a month later and my little brother wants to know where all his money went, because it was a LOT of money to him. So my dad orders one from another company and gets it shipped UPS next day air so my brother can finally ride it. We get it and the box is a little dinged up. Well, we open the box and take it out and there are no instructions. It requires a fuse to power all the electrical on it (brake lights, headlights, turn signals, electric start, etc...). So we go to radio shack and buy a fuse. We put the fuse in it, and open up the foot pegs, and the footpegs were installed wrong at the factory and don't open all the way, the holes aren't in the right spot and need to be redrilled, well no big deal. So we start to get the handle bars straighted out and notice the handles sit crooked on the fork...oh well no big deal. So we keep going. We notice a few of the screws that hold the body onto the frame have broken the body so they aren't doing any good, still oh well, its been a month, we'll keep going. So we go to test out all the lights, everything works except for the left rear turn signal....again, no big deal. So we go to put gas in it and the gas starts pouring all over the ground, the fuel lines aren't hooked up! Still no big deal, we hooked them up and kept going. So we go to start it after charging the battery like they say, and the electric start doesn't work...yet again, no big deal, afterall it does have a pullstring. So we pull the string and finally get it started and go to ride it and with me on it (122lbs) it won't climb the hill in front of our house. Once I get on flat pavement the speedometer reads 8...and its in kph. Its supposed to go close to 50kph. The thing barely moves, and the engine is running good. There is something wrong with the centrifigul clutch or something....
So now my dad is really really pissed off. He decides to go to autozone to see when they were supposed to get their next shipment in because they were out last time he was there. Well, they had 5 of them sitting there that they just got in, so we bought it. It had instructions and a fuse with it, which the other one didn't. We put the fuse in it, all the electrical worked, all the lights everything. The electric starter turned the motor over. The fork was straight with the handles. The foot pegs came out and worked properly. We put gas in it and it didn't pour all over the ground, because the fuel lines were hooked up. The body wasn't broken where it bolted on. It was a much nicer bike. so we start it up and it seems to run good. I get on it and it can barely pull me up the hill, but its a lot better than the other one. I get on flat road and it pulled me along at 18mph or so. (and this one had a MPH speedo as well) So we were satisfied.
The next morning (yesterday) my brother is getting all pissed off. I ask him what the problem is and he said the stupid thing would only go 7mph...well my brother is a lot smaller than me, so thats obviously a problem. I took it for a ride down the street and verified a whopping 13mph downhill with me on it. My dad takes a look at it is so pissed that he really didn't want to work on it, so he decided he couldn't fix it. Well after sitting there for a minute I realized that when you pull the throttle it doesn't do anything until its almost all the way pulled, then it just barely pulled the throttle open. The cable wasn't adjusted right and it was barely opening the throttle. Well, I look at the adjustment and its all the way out, so it can't be adjusted to open it further. Well I take it for a ride and hold the cable with one hand while pulling on the throttle with the other and it moved pretty good, the problem being I wasn't holdling on very well. I got it up to about 20 like this before going home. So we ended up using a nut as a spacer and now the throttle opens about 80% of the way or so. It goes 24mph on flat road with me on it, and it starts to get a little unstable at that speed, so my dad decided he didn't want it going faster than that with my little brother on it.
So, after a lot of trouble my little brother finally got his pocket bike, and it was running good. He rode the thing around all day and really enjoyed it. My dad and I took the GTP to the carwash and on the way home we are driving through the neighborhood and see my brothers friend riding it, and my little brother was specifically told not to let anyone ride it, so my dad grounded my little brother from it for a week. So now he is really mad. Its kind of ironic I guess.
Anyways, we got it running really well IMO and its a lot of fun, unfortunately my brother can't ride it for a week. I just thought it was kind of an interesting story, thats why I posted it here. I haven't even ridden on the thing much and I really want one now, those things are fun.
Shawn
All summer my little brother had been saving up money that he got from doing random chores (the chores in which my parents never paid me to do), mowing the lawn (in which I also never got paid to do), and his birthday money, and random money that i have no idea where he got it. He saw one of these pocket bikes at autozone and decided thats what he wanted. Well, my dad got to looking online and found some on there that were supposed to be nicer for cheaper. So once my brother got the cash saved up my dad ordered one.
After about a week after he ordered it we still hadn't gotten it. So my dad called up the company and they said it should've arrived by now and gave him a tracking number. The tracking number reported that it had already been delivered. He called up DHL and asked what was going on and they told him he must not have seen the package. He explained to them that it was a very large box, there was no way he, and the other 5 people in the house missed it. They called the driver who delivered it and left a message asking him where he left it and all that stuff. About 45 minutes after they had called him, he called them back and gave them a perfect description of the house and where he had left the box in the driveway (the box in which weighs 99lbs.). He explained how he had left it in between the right & middle bays of the garage, and he said he had left it there at about noon or 12:30. I got home at 2:25 that day, like I do everyday, and it wasn't there. The driver claimed it must've been stolen. My dad and I thought it was pretty odd that someone stole a 2 1/2 foot by 6 foot long 100lb box out of our driveway within 2 hours of it being dropped off, espeically in our neighborhood. So i get home from dropping my brother off at his friends house and there is a DHL truck sitting in front of our house. Its the driver that had dropped the package off the day before, he talked to me for it a minute asking me if I'm sure it wasn't there and we don't have it, etc.... Then he started asking me if we had a lot of theft, in which we don't. Well, evidently after this conversation he called the people handling the problem and told them I said we had the package. Right away my dad calls me up from work and asked what I was talking about, and I told him that i told the guy we didn't have it. So my dad calls up DHL yet again and tells them that I told the driver we did not have the package. My dad asked how the package was even dropped off when nobody was there, and they said that they aren't allowed to require signatures for residential addresses. (which makes no sense to me) So my dad asked the guy over the phone if the DHL driver could tell him what color the car in the driveway was the day before. Since he claimed to have backed his truck into the driveway, and then claimed that he set the package right next to the car, there is no way he could've missed the car that was there. They call him up and he says there was no car in the driveway. The day he supposedly dropped off the package, the 2 door '90 GP was in the driveway (and its not like it blended in, its bright red) because my dad took his GTP to ZZP that day...however the next day it was supposed to rain, so my dad took the '90 to work, leaving no cars in the driveway, because I park mine in the street and my sisters weren't home. So he says there was no car in the driveway. So anyways, although we can't be sure, we pretty much came to the conclusion that the DHL driver stole the package, but we didn't get it either way so it needed to be replaced no matter how it happened. So after fighting with DHL for a week, they said the company he bought the bike from would have to file a claim. So my dad contacted that company, which said they would file a claim, and my dad called them a week later and they said they still hadn't filed the claim. So he calls them everyday and asks them if they have filed the claim. Finally, they stopped returning his messages. So he called the credit card company and had them cancel the payment to the company since he had no bike, and they didn't want to deal with it.
So here it is almost a month later and my little brother wants to know where all his money went, because it was a LOT of money to him. So my dad orders one from another company and gets it shipped UPS next day air so my brother can finally ride it. We get it and the box is a little dinged up. Well, we open the box and take it out and there are no instructions. It requires a fuse to power all the electrical on it (brake lights, headlights, turn signals, electric start, etc...). So we go to radio shack and buy a fuse. We put the fuse in it, and open up the foot pegs, and the footpegs were installed wrong at the factory and don't open all the way, the holes aren't in the right spot and need to be redrilled, well no big deal. So we start to get the handle bars straighted out and notice the handles sit crooked on the fork...oh well no big deal. So we keep going. We notice a few of the screws that hold the body onto the frame have broken the body so they aren't doing any good, still oh well, its been a month, we'll keep going. So we go to test out all the lights, everything works except for the left rear turn signal....again, no big deal. So we go to put gas in it and the gas starts pouring all over the ground, the fuel lines aren't hooked up! Still no big deal, we hooked them up and kept going. So we go to start it after charging the battery like they say, and the electric start doesn't work...yet again, no big deal, afterall it does have a pullstring. So we pull the string and finally get it started and go to ride it and with me on it (122lbs) it won't climb the hill in front of our house. Once I get on flat pavement the speedometer reads 8...and its in kph. Its supposed to go close to 50kph. The thing barely moves, and the engine is running good. There is something wrong with the centrifigul clutch or something....
So now my dad is really really pissed off. He decides to go to autozone to see when they were supposed to get their next shipment in because they were out last time he was there. Well, they had 5 of them sitting there that they just got in, so we bought it. It had instructions and a fuse with it, which the other one didn't. We put the fuse in it, all the electrical worked, all the lights everything. The electric starter turned the motor over. The fork was straight with the handles. The foot pegs came out and worked properly. We put gas in it and it didn't pour all over the ground, because the fuel lines were hooked up. The body wasn't broken where it bolted on. It was a much nicer bike. so we start it up and it seems to run good. I get on it and it can barely pull me up the hill, but its a lot better than the other one. I get on flat road and it pulled me along at 18mph or so. (and this one had a MPH speedo as well) So we were satisfied.
The next morning (yesterday) my brother is getting all pissed off. I ask him what the problem is and he said the stupid thing would only go 7mph...well my brother is a lot smaller than me, so thats obviously a problem. I took it for a ride down the street and verified a whopping 13mph downhill with me on it. My dad takes a look at it is so pissed that he really didn't want to work on it, so he decided he couldn't fix it. Well after sitting there for a minute I realized that when you pull the throttle it doesn't do anything until its almost all the way pulled, then it just barely pulled the throttle open. The cable wasn't adjusted right and it was barely opening the throttle. Well, I look at the adjustment and its all the way out, so it can't be adjusted to open it further. Well I take it for a ride and hold the cable with one hand while pulling on the throttle with the other and it moved pretty good, the problem being I wasn't holdling on very well. I got it up to about 20 like this before going home. So we ended up using a nut as a spacer and now the throttle opens about 80% of the way or so. It goes 24mph on flat road with me on it, and it starts to get a little unstable at that speed, so my dad decided he didn't want it going faster than that with my little brother on it.
So, after a lot of trouble my little brother finally got his pocket bike, and it was running good. He rode the thing around all day and really enjoyed it. My dad and I took the GTP to the carwash and on the way home we are driving through the neighborhood and see my brothers friend riding it, and my little brother was specifically told not to let anyone ride it, so my dad grounded my little brother from it for a week. So now he is really mad. Its kind of ironic I guess.
Anyways, we got it running really well IMO and its a lot of fun, unfortunately my brother can't ride it for a week. I just thought it was kind of an interesting story, thats why I posted it here. I haven't even ridden on the thing much and I really want one now, those things are fun.
Shawn
11-02-2004, 01:56 AM
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Dude, you're probably one of the LAST people on here that I would ever speak negatively about, but can we get some damn cliffs notes???!?!?!?!?
11-02-2004, 08:08 AM
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Originally Posted by SSsuperchargedEi
Dude, you're probably one of the LAST people on here that I would ever speak negatively about, but can we get some damn cliffs notes???!?!?!?!?
I am far too lazy to read all of that.
11-02-2004, 08:16 AM
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Originally Posted by SSsuperchargedEi
Dude, you're probably one of the LAST people on here that I would ever speak negatively about, but can we get some damn cliffs notes???!?!?!?!?
11-02-2004, 09:12 AM
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Good story. Im glad your brother got the bike he wanted but
you shouldn't blame the DHL driver. they make some good money
and it would be stupid of him to put his job on the line.
(no Im not a driver) you guys should have asked to have it delivered
with a conformation signiture reqired. its the only way
to make sure you get what is to be shipped.
Tell your little brother a week goes by fast
and he will be having fun driving it soon
you shouldn't blame the DHL driver. they make some good money
and it would be stupid of him to put his job on the line.
(no Im not a driver) you guys should have asked to have it delivered
with a conformation signiture reqired. its the only way
to make sure you get what is to be shipped.
Tell your little brother a week goes by fast
and he will be having fun driving it soon
11-02-2004, 11:26 AM
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Originally Posted by Gumball
Good story. Im glad your brother got the bike he wanted but
you shouldn't blame the DHL driver. they make some good money
and it would be stupid of him to put his job on the line.
(no Im not a driver) you guys should have asked to have it delivered
with a conformation signiture reqired. its the only way
to make sure you get what is to be shipped.
Tell your little brother a week goes by fast
and he will be having fun driving it soon
you shouldn't blame the DHL driver. they make some good money
and it would be stupid of him to put his job on the line.
(no Im not a driver) you guys should have asked to have it delivered
with a conformation signiture reqired. its the only way
to make sure you get what is to be shipped.
Tell your little brother a week goes by fast
and he will be having fun driving it soon
Shawn
11-02-2004, 11:46 AM
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i also read it during class...
yeah brings back memories of the minibike days...my dad had me on one of those in like 5th grade. that thing topped out at 45, it was wicked.
thats hilarious he is grounded from it now
yeah brings back memories of the minibike days...my dad had me on one of those in like 5th grade. that thing topped out at 45, it was wicked.
thats hilarious he is grounded from it now
11-02-2004, 02:29 PM
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Great story Shawn, I doubt he dropped it off too. In fact what if there was a typo in the address and a package got sent to the wrong place by mistake? Not signing for it seems suspious to me?
11-03-2004, 04:38 PM
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Originally Posted by Gumball
you shouldn't blame the DHL driver. they make some good money
and it would be stupid of him to put his job on the line.
and it would be stupid of him to put his job on the line.
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