I sold the Suzuki TS50 my son used to ride and got a Yamaha LB50 Chappy. The one I got used to be an automatic but the previous owner mounted a 3 speed automatic clutch motor so it has the rear brake lever on the handle bar. I had to be real concsious about not grasping on that rear brake lever when shifting gears! Even if your brain knows it, your hand still grasp the lever like it was a clutch lever when you intend to shift. Scary.
I think this is late 70's early 80's vintage. Trying to get my wife on it as you don't need a motorcycle license for 50cc scoots like this, just a normal car license will do. And then my high school daughter may want to ride as well during vacations when she comes back from the dormitory. She used to ride a PW80 when she was much younger so she is no stranger to this motor.
My Tokyo neighborhood is a maze of small streets and parking lot prices are NYC caliber anywhere you go. Nice to have a little scoot like this and also in nice 70's style
I had a Suzuki 50 in 1971 that I took road racing. Suzuki offered a hop up kit of cylinder, head, piston, rotary valve, rotary valve cover, carburetor, and expansion chamber. It wasn't very fast, I could squeeze only about 80MPH but it was enough to get a few trophys with since there wasn't much competition in that class in California. I THINK it was a TS but it had a pressed steel frame, not tubes. The tube frame came out the next year or so. The Grand Prix 50s were getting about 120MPH at that time, but they were factory racers, not hopped up street "legal" scramblers.
I think for urban streets that the scooter is more practical.
Nice, looks pretty clean too. ;) Love the basket on the front where Toto can ride. ;D Looks like a nice little rack on the back too - can a small trunk fit there? I like the heel and toe shifter too.
I worked on Chappys in the mid 70's. In 1965 I had a 50 cc Suzuki to ride to and from work.
A bit later I raced 50 cc production class on a Testi Telstar. It would pull me to 65 mph and it was stock . We made up a slogan for the Testi. ) Testi its a ball!"
During a race of combined 50 production and GP Ron Grant (sponsored Suzuki rider) passed me 3 times in one lap . He was on the 50 cc Suzuki twin with the 12 speed gear box. I was asking my self , how many of those things are there., every time he came by.