Bumper Ornament

[Ob1]

2008 Honda Metropolitan

49.5 ccs of raw, watercooled power.

Destined to ride the back bumper of the HOSrv on trips that dont involve dirt bikes, for those little trips to where ever when all the hoses and cords and awnings are hooked up.

[madpsalmer]

Maybe it is to offset the poorer mileage we all get with our buses. Oh, I get it, its an irony statement made by implication.
Seriously that is a great idea. If only they had a family size bumper ornament for my skoolie. Oh yeah, they do have those now, they're called Smart cars....

[Eric von Kleist]

I think you've hit the nail on the head. Then question is not how many mpg do you get with X vehicle, it's how much hydrocarbon fuel do you use in all your vehicles. 8mpg bus + 50 mpg scooter = 29 mpg average fuel economy (unless you drive the bus 500 miles to get to a gathering where you drive the scooter 6 miles -- then the math gets into rocket science AFAIK)

SWEET scooter!

[Redbear]

Originally Posted by madpsalmer

If only they had a family size bumper ornament for my skoolie. Oh yeah, they do have those now, they're called Smart cars....

I don't know if you were joking or serious, but some HDT full-timers do in fact carry Smart Cars aboard sideways.
http://rides.webshots.com/photo/2578...60848624qpNIdK

HDT = Heavy Duty Truck, modified semi-tractor pulling a 5th wheel camping trailer

[Sojakai]

I had an idea after looking at the back porch of the GatorBus... put a ramp on both sides and make it a parking space for one of those Smart cars or those other little ones. Put the ramp on hinges and add a winch, lower the ramp when you come home, drive up, raise it again...

Or you could just do like Milicent and go Knight Rider Style.

[thesaltydog24]

When I lived in Germany those smart cars were all over the place. I even seen a smart car vending machine at a dealer. there good on fuel and light enough if you wanted to haul them around. I believe they weigh a little over a 1000 lbs. Which brings me to my next point. I would hate to get into an accident in one.
The IIHS did an offset crash test with a Smart Fortwo and Mercedes-Benz C-Class, which is 40% of one car's driver's side head on with 40% of another car's driver's side, and the Smart received a "Poor" rating due to the occupants heads slamming into the steering wheel. Also, there was too much intrusion into the footwell of the Smart Fortwo. Dummy movement was not well controlled. The Smart Fortwo circled 540 degrees and landed approximately 45 feet (14 m) away from the initial crash. This test showed the Smart Fortwo's incompatibility with cars that outweigh it.
I'll stick with a scooter. besides chicks dig a guy on a bike. I hope that also includes scooters

[swhite832]

The smart car's problem is....energy transfer. The driver compartment is surprisingly protected in a minimal intrusion sort of way, but that is not what kills you.

The smart car has no crumple zone....read energy absorbing area, therefore, the energy gets transferred to the driver killing said driver. 50 mph to a 0 mph on the body does bad things.

That being said, drive a smart car smartly, uh, I mean as if you were on a scooter and your chances of living increase.

That vehicle has it's place but my kids get shuttled in a gas guzzling suburban that has the same tank characteristics as the skoolies we have chosen to make rv's out of.