I took on my first project as a sophomore in high school, buying a total junk aero 50 from a local urban moped shop here in town.  At the time, I worked at a honda sportsbike shop so I  got great deals on parts .  I replaced EVERYTHING, from the panels to the graphics (stickers), muffler, seat, turn signal lenses, piston, cyl, crank bearings, oil pump, tires, floorboard....you get the point.  I had many of the steel engine parts chromed, so when the panels would come off, it was beautiful. I worked on the scooter for a good year and  a half, finally completing it and riding it like it was worth 50,000$, and babying it like it was a harley.  Finally I put it to "rest" in my parent's basement, covered up in a sheet. Everyone knew about my aero--and a collector wanted to check it out.  I was in need of cash, and didnt think it through.  I let it go for like 1900$, and have missed it ever since.

    I've been into mororcycles since I was a child, so i have always had other toys to ride.  I started on scooters, and even with my 2002 GSXR telefonica superbike, basically with everything  that can be done to it completed, I still have the need for a 50cc scooter (?). I have had so many scooters in the past right (off the top of my head:  probably 3 sprees, 88 jog (fast!), 88 elite LX , yamaha razz, yamaha QT50, suzuki FA50, honda 83 aero 50, black gyro s , red 84 gyro, (wished i never sold that one too...), honda elite e, tomos sprint with bi-turbo ex. and a few others. so as you can see, I have goofed around with some really slow scooters.  So far I have yet to find something that runs faster than an Aero.  I basically have an aero in a box too, its beautiful, a huge box of brand new factory stuff. As well I have the metrakit 65cc kit, kevlar belt, high speed variator, rear perf. clutch, bigger fan, ignition kit with coil, all brand new.  The suzuki shop that  does all the work on my gsxr has also got me many new factory parts for the next aero project   too -- I've spent about $300 on small stuff over the last year.  (I get cracked on all the time from  my sportsbike buddies for still being kinda stuck in 5th grade with the scooter thing). I like to start with a bike that looks like it fell off a cliff, and fully restore it.    

I plan to zinc plate the wheels, cylinder shroud, possibly fork......honda uses zinc plating on many of their parts for their cars and bikes.  zinc plated metal is the gold/silvery/rainbow/almost titanuim colored parts such as their new o.e.m. bolts, tranny brackets...etc.   it looks cool, is different from chrome, weighs less, BUT it doesnt last once faced with salt and rain from snowy conditions. I have replaced all the underhood engine bay bolts which are zinc on my project 96 honda civic which now is never my daily driver.  zinc wheels would look awesome on a scooter.

The project started today.  In totally breaking down the bike, its not looking good @ all.  Needless to say, i was totally dissapointed. no big  deal - just more time and $ heres whats up: -as i disassembled, NONE of the bolts/screws were in the correct places or some even honda bolts / i even found some "wood" screws. -EVERYTHING will need sandblasting / coating -rear belt cover is cracked in 2 places. -no fuel petcock valve. -whole rear fender assembly plastic / taillights will need replacement. -no plastic, interior / exterior salvageable everything has cracks / stains.

*now the really bad*

The guy (shop) I got the Aero from claimed the bottom end of the engine was strong / crank bearings perfect.
-both crank bearings are totally gritty and worn.
-both crank seals are toast... literally.
-connecting rod needlebearings are froze.
-magneto side crank nut? -- it was hit with a sharp point and ground down, because it was stripped beyond
tightening.

I'll hit up Steve,  a stroker crank might be in the future if its compatible with the metrakit top end. Again.....this is getting expensive!   Tomorrow I'm dropping everything off to be sandblasted, and I will email you the pics.  

The pics of everything after bead blasting. Next, I will be having them sent to be zinc plated, then clearcoated. as for now, I want to make sure that the zinc plating will be what I want, if not, I will hit up powdercoating, I guess.  I love the way the bare metal looks too!! What would you think about a bare frame, with about 5 coats of clearcoat?  Just an idea...I dont know....I still could chrome, but man, I like the whole "industrial" theme of metal.

 
 

Got the frame back from being powdercoated -- man, if you could see it in reallife, you would be impressed!!  The thick clearcoat over the metallic silver is awesome.it looks like glass over the color.  It looks wet, and is so smooth.  I was so impressed with the frame, I am going to have the wheels and fork coated too. The fork will be silver, and the wheels gloss black.  as well, I am going to get the rear rack coated texture black.  I am going back down to where the coating is being done to try to talk the guys into doing my wheels in 2 tone color.  I want the 3 spokes to be silver, and the rim gloss black.  I asked them once, and they said they could do it, but it was so much work to do the masking, then re-masking to shoot the next color, they dont mess with it.  I still am going to get (hopefully) the centerstand, engine shroud, and some other small parts zinc'ed, if possible.

Dougnote: The colour in the picture isn't quite correct but what a nice glistening frame!

 

May 2003-
Its pretty much done, all that is left is the carb, and my body panels are in the shop now.  I had the stock carb on, and it ran great, but i think it definitely needs a bigger breathing carb.  The new gearing and all the mods got it up to about 45-50 mph. Ii ended up using a new 86-87 cable operated oil pump, because the 85 was discontinued.  by using the 86-87 oil pump bracket, and an extra nut and bolt, it worked fine.  I as well did a new fuel tank and sending unit, again the 86-87 sending unit (three wire) because the 85 was discontinued.  all I needed to do to make this work was use the 86-87 fuel gauge, which has an extra resistor.  I switched from the koso to the showa "Daytona" just because of quality / and it rides higher.

June 2003-
My kitaco/mikuni 18mm "race use only" carb came in a couple days ago, and although the complete kit was
250$ (with adapter-filter-jets-manifold-gaskets) it was totally worth it.  once it was bolted on, i gave it a few
goes around the block to see what was up, and then to check the plug.  It turns out that I swapped the jet from
102.5 to 105 and dropped the slide needle clip all the way down to richen it up.  At about almost 1 turn out on the
air screw, its perfect.  running rich and effortlessly (aka low rpm's with the variator and 7:1 gearing)  it will do
about 50-55.  Its pretty cool to say the least.  It's very quiet with the stock muffler, it's as smooth as silk. 
Thumbs way up on the showa daytona suspension.  It handles much better than stock.  I do have an expansion
chamber proma pipe on order, so before I put it to rest at my parent's house, I am going to put the pipe on, take it
to the motorcycle shop, and get it dynoed.  can't wait to see the horsepower/torque/actual top speed it is
producing.  if I do get pulled over by a cop for speeding any time soon, i will send you the speeding ticket to say I
was the first aero to be doing ?? in a neighborhood.  still waiting on the bod panels, when I get it all together, I will
email you to get your address again to send you real pics.  I have a buddy in California looking for a mint 86 white
and blue aero so I can have one for me and my girlfriend to ride.  She's not touching my project,
although it was supposed to be for her to begin with.   :)