"Quicksilver" Retro-Future Scooter from appliances and scrap metal

Step 9 Finished!

Whew! I had no intention of spending two and a half months on this project, but such are the labors of love. Despite all the hours and frustration it is a real pleasure to have accomplished something that had been lurking in the back of my mind for so many years. Now it is time to get back to making art, and perhaps tackle another bike in the future, maybe electric next time who knows?
These final photos were taken by my friend Cameron Platt.
And many thanks again to Rich Humphrey for his his technical help, Wendell Jones for his mechanical help, and Nancy Leung for her patience more than anything.

Comments

[richie_114]

Epic. That is all I have to say.

[wobbler]

"Now it is time to get back to making art"? I don't think you stopped making art. It looks to me like this IS art. Great Instructible.

[towers]

Fantastic! When is the instructable for the ARM coming out?

[Hubiewan]

Hubiewan says:
Love it!   Where did you find so much aluminum that had yet to be recycled?

[nemomatic]

 I can't seem to get away from the stuff.  Got literally tons of it piling up.

[Hubiewan]

  I live north of Boston and, find it difficult to beat the other scroungers to the prize.  Lots of folks rely on scraps for extra dough.  Where are you located?

[nemomatic]

 I'm in Oakland CA.  I've had to form relationships with the scrap yards out here.  They are all afraid of liability claims so it helps to show up with a hard hat and steel toe boots.

[Soehave]

Amazing. really great work even down to the smallest detail. I like the way you did the dashboard. did you get the Nixie tubes to work?

[nemomatic]

Yeah, thanks for reminding me. I just posted a photo of the finished panel on step 6.

[Mtalus]

You guys are making me feel really lazy. All that I managed with my aero 80 was a headlight and instrument nacel from my old BMW. Now I feel that I have to swap it back and rework both bikes!

[sharkbite1]

Great Project

[BrandcoIndustries]

Incredible! That thing is awesome. I did something very similar to my Honda Elite 80, although my is less curvy. Check it out. http://flickr.com/photos/22380580@N02/2182615845/

[leebryuk]

That is wild! It makes me want to track down a bum scooter and trick it out. I thought the rivets were a nice touch. Very utilitarian. There is an Eastern Block Scooter that actually looked a lot like this. What did you use as the donor scooter. I wish that I was this cool with a MIG welder.

[BrandcoIndustries]

Thanks. It's a 1985 Honda Elite 80.

[nemomatic]

Whoa! That is awesome. I love it. I looked all over while I was doing this project to see what else was out there. I wish I found you then. Where are you located? We should dork up the streets!

[BrandcoIndustries]

Thanks. I only need a few more things to finish it. Yours has inspired me to complete mine. I'm in south Texas. If you're ever down this way, let me know. The Streets will be thoroughly dorked.

[FireBAT]

THAT is the most beautiful Elite scooter ever! Amazing!

[DewJunkie]

Wow, that is a really awesome project. Awesome work.