Milwaukee Goes Green – Harley Topper Scooter Redux

If you’re considering a switch to a two-wheeler – even if to augment your vehicle inventory – apparently you are not alone.

The Motorcycle Industry Council recently reported that sales of scooters and economical motorcycles are at their highest levels in 20 years.  Name-brand scooters in the first quarter of 2008 were up 24 percent over a year earlier, and sales of small and medium-size motorcycles rose 7.5 percent. Sales of “heavy-weights” or large cruiser bikes were down 11 percent.

A couple days ago I received a scooter flyer in the mail evangelizing the “greenness” and fuel efficiency of the 2009 Yamaha C3 (available in October).  It look all too familiar and then I realized….hey, Harley did one of these back in the early ‘60s.  The “Coker” (period-correct) tires even finished off the copy design.

And speaking of green that flyer would have done Al Gore proud with planet friendly subtle shades of green color background intermixed with black ink displayed on 80% post-processed recycle paper…if they’d have made it smell like kiwi fruit I would have just ate the advertisement to save the land fill!

Before you bust me about my recycled paper eating habits, let’s review this Yamaha bad boy (Cubed 3) features.

Harley-Davidson retro “box” design scooter appeals to the “Boomer” generation.

C3 name accentuates “chunky” cubic space

High-function features include big bob tires on cast aluminum wheels, a motorcycle-type fork and handlebar.

Side-hinged, locking storage compartment swallows up to nine gallons of gear.

The C3 achieves fuel economy up to an estimated 115 mpg with a fuel tank that holds 1.2 gallons of gas.

Liquid-cooled three-valve, four-stroke engine is powerful, quiet and low-maintenance.

Electronic fuel injection: a 19mm Mikuni throttle body provides optimal mixture in all conditions.

Fully automatic, V-belt transmission provides easy, twist-the-throttle-and-go operation.

Pushbutton electric starting (with backup kick-starter) for ease of operation.

The air-induction system and exhaust catalyst technology reduce air pollution.

Clearly, the overall economic hardship and senseless fuel-inefficient cruiser monsters as gas prices spike would warrant a discussion in Wisconsin about bringing back the Harley Topper to stake a claim in the scooter space, right?

You might recall that the Topper was the only scooter that the Harley-Davidson ever produced and they were manufactured between 1960 and 1965.  They produced less than 3000.  It utilized a CVT transmission called “Scootaway Drive”, like most scooters produced today and the engine was a 165cc single-cylinder (9HP) two-stroke that required premixed gas/oil. The starter was a rope-recoil type similar to a Honda lawnmower.  The front body, fender and floorboards were made of stamped steel, and the engine cover and body were made of chopper gun-sprayed fiberglass.  Harley even rolled out the two-tone Hi-Fi Red and Desert Sand colors which looks very similar to the copy-cat Yamaha C3!

Shouldn’t Wisconsin have a Harley Scooter on the R&D drawing board?  Couldn’t Harley become as prominent in the scooter space as it is in motorcycles?

 

Topper photo courtesy of Motorcycle Museum.