Honda Ruckus Scooter Touring in the Utah Desert; Sun Tunnels, Devil's Playground, Ghost Towns

[@ProtectKids-v1j]

Very cool. Both of you are blessed to have each other's friendship. I do crazy trips like this also, but it's always solo because I've never found someone else who's interested in adventure. I rode my 2003 Yamaha zuma 50cc from Minnesota to South Carolina last winter, all back roads and camping (sometimes in the snow) it was pretty amazing. America is empty except for the cities.

[@billkohler4489]

isit1984yet

[@jocelinpaul6571]

canada is even more empty do a road trip across there amazing stuff you might not find in the us :P

[@justinvanderweg204]

I wanne buy a zumba but there ar oploste no zomba's in Europa

[@HenauderTitzauf]

Well, did you stop at South of the Border? Just one of the local jokes and places to stop! Great video, thanks for sharing!

[@hghtdclbns6267]

Daaaaamn gotta check that emotions

[@lowcountrydawg2525]

Great scoots. Bought my '07 Ruckus new, have 14,700+ miles on it and still going strong. I'll never sell this scoot.

[@UncleBman]

Thanks for the inspiring video. I will be soon be able to commute to work on my Ruckus. Fourty minutes on tree lined back roads in the woods, and neighborhoods. Way better trip than 20mph average on major highway for a half-hour. Gets my mind right 😊.

[@tiredowalkin]

Your efforts and successful journey has demonstrated the rugged durability of the mighty NPS50 and you have EARNED my stamp of approval and respect!

[@kirkearl]

+tiredowalkin Thanks!

[@tiredowalkin]

kirk earl LOL....biker wave/

[@RayRand]

Awesome vid, thank you. I am about to buy a suped up moped and want to go on road trips and go camping etc. That's how I found this channel and this has been very inspirational. Sometimes you have a dream but you don't know how realistic it is .. and people often laugh at you when you tell them what you want to do. Channels like this tell me I'm not crazy.

[@scotticus80]

I just finish day 4 of a 6 month ruckus tour. In St. George Utah right now. I started in Park City, Utah. I am carrying a packraft with me for whitewater paddling.

[@kirkearl]

Lazarus next time invite me

[@scotticus80]

@@kirkearl you can join me at any time. I will be down in Dixie for the next two weeks.

[@fctryoffetsh39]

shows how good Honda is

[@MrGreenelight]

Not really, I have had two Chinese scooters, both 1/3 of the price of a Honda. I rode them to death, unfortunately both eventually were stolen, I put a chain on the second when my first was stolen while in a hotel trip. The second was stolen when two guys picked it up and loaded it onto a pickup truck. I now have a electronic alarm, it goes off when tampered with. kzbin.info/www/bejne/hYqqgZuPlpudr9k

[@fctryoffetsh39]

@@MrGreenelight guess its the rider love my Honda 11000,miles still strong

[@CyclingJunkieUSA]

Really enjoyed that. Thanks for taking the time to share your adventures. Makes me wanna buy a Ruckus.

[@MexiChriS]

Wow. I found this to be very light and lifting. Like inspirational. Plus the info you gave out in the description to your responses in comments. Nice share! Might just pick one up for the hell of it since I'm in a very desert area to explore and use to save gas around my city for random activities.

[@larsvandriel2875]

Buy one m8

[@manchiektong]

See this video so many times in my other account but still amazed till now...

[@doenjangstew4438]

Thank you for sharing. Good scenery! I love American mountain, woods, dessert and wild animals. My dream is like this to travel in America nature by a small motorcycle. Thank again.

[@THEWILDLIFEOV]

I just found out that my ATV is broken down, AGAIN, and there's not time enough to fix it before I leave on a 6 week Idaho hunting trip. I'm on my way into our Honda dealer in the morning to see if they have a black Ruckus in stock. Thank you SO much for the video, which has instilled in me the fact that a Ruckus is, indeed, a tough little Overlander vehicle!

[@kirkearl]

Nice! You may want to test ride one up some steep hills before buying so you have clear expectations of what these are capable of. They look really rugged and are really fun in the mountains and desert, but they are much less capable than even a 50cc dirt bike on steep hills. I still take mine in the mountains and go up some fairly steep stuff, but the scooter transmission limits the performance quite a bit. If the hill is a steep mountain road, I'll routinely be stuck at 5 mph. They really lack torque also, if you stop in the middle of a steep hill you may need to push with your feet to get enough momentum for the belt variable transmission to engage. I think you'll be happy as long as you know the limitations. Oh yeah, and way low clearance. All that said, I've been up some nasty stuff. Good luck!

[@edwardpetersen4309]

Well made video! Love my Ruckus

[@t3-tofinototuk.333]

Nice. I just returned from a 8000km roundtrip ride (stock DR 650) to the Arctic Ocean - Tuktoyuktuk, NWT and those units would be a riot to ride the 1600km of the notorious Dempster Hwy on. The big 1250 GSA's and African Twins are very common there but they are also the ones' that when they bite the dust you need two to pick them up or they are damaged too badly to continue. In addition, I found many of the bigger bikes decide to only go to the Arctic Circle and then return south. That road makes a lot of riders rethink their skills and bike durability.

[@NeverMind-bm5nm]

One of those videos I keep coming back to 🙏

[@dazpwc926]

great little video. well done.

[@burnindaylighthikers98]

not sure how we found your video, but we throughly enjoyed it. Looks like some good times. thx. for sharing.

[@normaperez7906]

This was so relaxing to watch

[@nicknick9081]

Beautiful video!

[@mikehoward8201]

Gonna pick my 2017 up this afternoon and ride it home! Enjoyed your video. I don't live near any deserts, but am close to the National Forests...plan doing some rides and camping outta my truck!

[@RandomButtonPusher]

Great little film of a great little adventure. Nice music to set the tone.

[@fastfranz4217]

WOW!!! That's been a ride!!! Greetings from Hanoi (Vietnam) ... ;)

[@vkhiev]

That's alot of packing into a ruckus very cool 😆

[@supermotogreg]

Nicely composed video. You captured the mood of the desert.

[@stevenmitchell9250]

Wonderful little video. Looks like you guys had a great time.

[@metaspencer]

awesome adventure and a great film. well done!

[@kirkearl]

Thanks! Glad you liked it.

[@ludmillaroman]

thanks for sharing that. well done.

[@bubot17]

Now that is an adventure bike

[@ep2353]

Beautiful video. Thanks!

[@ferway6295]

Excellent video, looks fun.

[@stephenpomeroy1214]

loved this,great vista,s and music.....cheers

[@blueschild61]

I need a lot more than six minutes of this.

[@12TBJ34]

Simply AWESOME! So cool!!!

[@caitnu3863]

3:38 is this where The Book of Eli was filmed? Looks a lot like it.

[@jtysondavis4092]

Great vid. Thanks for posting. Jealous!

[@mcschneiveoutdoors3681]

That was kinda relaxing...thanks for posting.

[@MarioLeBon1]

Great adventure. Merci beaucoup !

[@MOTOZILIANS]

absolutaly awesome adventure✌

[@hmat7472]

super, good music and video

[@Natty44fitness44]

A true rider

[@johnbellamy6449]

got a 2006, japanese import here in the u k .its only got 5200 miles on it. love it.

[@RandomButtonPusher]

Nice little adventure film!

[@connexionInternet]

Great video! Why does one bike have a skateboard deck on the back with no trucks or wheels?

[@sundancekidd1550]

I would totally dig this

[@ko_medic]

This looks like heaven man

[@micharlflynn4404]

Love your video. Where was this filmed. I love the ruckus.

[@darkstreamfish2729]

I have a Ruckus... but alas, I live in Fl. and therefore cannot visit these majestic rocks.

[@187_Hannibal]

Good for you guys, looks so beautiful out there!

[@RogerKomula-kl9lb]

Just put in loan paperwork for one and started collecting social security to finance my travels. Hardest part was finding one to buy. Luckily I started looking before the snow melted.

[@yohank1195]

wonderful movie, what's in the Red tank? extra Gasoline? or Water?

[@kirkearl]

Yohan TV an extra gallon of gas. One gallon is good for 110 miles on the Honda ruckus.

[@milesoroads]

We was just out at the transcontinental railway to scout doing this. How did I not find this video till now. Do you think something like a monkey run would be possible there? If I recall it was 90 miles on that pass.

[@empty5953]

Amazing adventure

[@__BERSERKER__]

Ive always wondered what rig like this would be like. This is the ultimate bug out rig. You could scavenge enough gas to get you 500 miles down the road. I'd consider a bicycle trailer for gear.

[@justinwells6795]

This looks awesome! :D

[@GreyRideMotoVlog]

Nice scooter. Im watching bro

[@SkyeRocket]

Meanwhile people are out here saying you can't tour on a 250...

[@kirkearl]

Skye Rocket it’s a great experience touring at full throttle max speed 100% of the time.

[@SkyeRocket]

It is! I love it lol

[@Terrapin2871]

Niice…great video!

[@hikermonkey6183]

Awesome video looked like great fun!

[@rc2634]

incredible

[@akkev907]

Thanks for posting. Do you have any more cool Ruckus videos?

[@CrustyBiker]

Yes look up "Honda Ruckus the road is life" and also "Honda Ruckus Bob goldfinger Edition" and also read comments on goldfinger one !

[@danhold1]

nice trip, and video

[@I_Am_Michael]

awesome video dude.

[@jaywinters2483]

Love this. 👍

[@benjamindavis5762]

I see spare gas cans on the video but also where do you fill up in the middld of fhe desert?

[@kirkearl]

Even in rough terrain and hills we got a little more than 100 MPG, so the 1 gallon Ruckus tank, plus one extra can was enough for our 170 miles in the desert.

[@TaskSwitcherify]

Question: you guys did the disk brake conversion? Was it necessary for the trails you chose?

[@harvestmaster5968]

I haven't done the conversion. The 50cc Ruckus is so slow and so light that I have never needed any stronger stopping power than it has with the stock brakes. I'd spend a lot more time and money trying to make it faster before I spent any thing on the braking system. Without swapping out to a 150cc and altering the look of the bike, there isn't a ton that can be done to make them very much faster. I've got a new polini variator and belt and when I put a simpler exhaust on I can get over 40 pretty regularly. Lightweights can supposedly hit 50 with a few similar mods. The 150cc conversion looks too much like a lowrider look to me. I prefer to keep it offroad looking, even if slower. Plus, I'd rather be on a Honda engine than a 150cc chinese scooter engine when I am 80 miles deep in the desert.

[@TaskSwitcherify]

Awesome, thanks! You'd enjoy Asia very, very much. Rent a 150cc there (like a PCX150) for $7/day and go anywhere! Bali or Northern Thailand are awesome for that. I did approx. 1500 miles there.

[@TheChertoff]

What is your body height in centimeters? I want to understand how I will look on this moped.

[@rucrac7315]

Hi there Our RucRac would be a Great Addition for your Ruckus.

[@faunaflage]

So...were the boards to skate the Sun Tunnels? Transitions looked crazy tight.

[@kirkearl]

faunaflage nah. They were just decks with no trucks. We were going to tow them on the salt flats, but it turned out to be way too much friction to slide. I bet a good skater could rip the tunnels though.

[@tonicninja2870]

Im planning on doing this soon solo probably but I’m ready never minded being by myself

[@wmc9722]

Very nice! Really enjoyed 'going along with you' both on this trip. Would you buy a 250cc model if you saw one in perfect condition?

[@saeidmomtahan]

Amazing, inspiring

[@kcdiazWTV]

Do Aspen, California next. 😂

[@AZdirtdog]

What kind of mpg did you average, how heavy were the riders and gear

[@CampervanKevin]

wow you have editing talent!

[@dingleberry657]

Campervan Kevin Pig Boy!

[@KingofStreet3]

MPG hype is real

[@YoureNowOnTV]

Very cool

[@fctryoffetsh39]

thanks I might get one like the tires is it around 40mph

[@kirkearl]

Derek Boseley it will do 35 really easily. 40 takes some tuning. When I had a more open exhaust on it I could hit 40 pretty easily. They are pretty slow, but it is fun riding full throttle all the time. Some people mod them with a 150cc Chinese scooter engine, but it changes them quite a bit. They are really best for cruising around the city and leisurely cruising dirt roads.

[@BobLinton]

Would love to see more Ruckus adventures from you. Maybe take your oil can guitar and play a bit by campfire. :)

[@emilypowers2576]

Been three years are the Honda's still in good running shape

[@Hi-lb8cq]

what type of motors are in the ruckus's???

[@kirkearl]

+Chris Torrez It is a Honda 50cc 4 stroke

[@ABetterLifeInc]

It is a 49cc GET motor. Extremely cheap to maintain but durable.

[@derekweinerttv4163]

Honda

[@caseycarbone3499]

I wanna do something like this on my ruckus so bad

[@jinsungpark6410]

I WANT A RUCKUS SO BAD. Im 13 gotta convince my parents somehow next year

[@caseycarbone3499]

Do it there so much fun

[@fctryoffetsh39]

I got a tattoo awhile ago it does 38 but vibrates after 30 might sell it or work on it or get the metropolitan

[@MrBighogman]

Awesome video. What is the name of the song or musician?

[@kirkearl]

Thanks a bunch! It is just a cool band I found on a creative commons music site. Credit from the video description: You Um, I'll Ah by Doctor Turtle

[@latenightcereal2390]

To be honest I haven't been paying attention, I literally thought this was the longest intro of my life... I'm gonna go find an actually video now.

[@kenpstok151]

Did you do any modifications to the Ruckus? I have a stock 2014 and am trying to keep it 50cc but get some more umph out of it

[@kirkearl]

There are things you can do, but most of them get you tiny gains without changing engines. I had a Polini variator pully in the transmission that got me maybe 1-2 MPH more than my friends stock one. That amount actually added up a bit when riding full throttle for hours on end. the site Total Ruckus has lots of tips to get closer to 40-45 mph on a stock. Some people are claiming 50 at times.

[@kenpstok151]

thank you so much. You guys are an inspiration to this ruckus owner.

[@israeljacob26]

Are your Ruckus stock or modified?

[@kirkearl]

Israel Jacob pretty much stock. Bought a polini variator, but it isn’t very noticeable. Other than that just a few cosmetic mods.

[@万世大路]

ズーマーか。どこの国か知らないけど、50ccで売られてるのかね？

[@fctryoffetsh39]

subbed thanks man

[@attackandsnack]

did you guys modify your ruckus' at all? increased suspension or different tires or just all stock with stuff strapped to them?

[@kirkearl]

Mine was stock for the trip with the exception of a Polini variator/pully upgrade in the transmission. It gave me about a 1 MPH advantage over my friend stock Ruckus. That amount was actually noticeable when riding wide open throttle for 8 hours in a row. I'd stop and let him catch up every half hour or so. I had a noisy Briggs and Stratton exhaust on before the trip, but decided I wanted the quiet stock exhaust in the serene desert. Glad I did. The stock suspension was fine even with the extra weight. If I had after market suspension for the trip I am not even sure if I'd go stiffer or softer... it was a non-issue. We had zero breakdowns even with one significant full speed crash. Looking back, next time I will bring an extra transmission belt, a tire repair kit, and a bunch of better tools just in case. We were 90 miles from anything for most of the trip.

[@rcdemon22]

kirk earl

[@daisyadventures2385]

Hye but doesnt it only go 45mpm

[@Doppelganger444]

if you can do this on a ruckus I think i can do on my 2016 bws right?

[@eric_hates_the_poor]

Wow. Super cool. I’m getting one for a rec/shtf project.

[@GreyRideMotoVlog]

80cc or 100cc?

[@kirkearl]

Grey Ride MotoVlog 50cc

[@quick6091]

August I leave for ruckus adventure

[@booytoyy69]

how did you map this out

[@kirkearl]

I planned out the whole thing on Google Earth. Mainly just looked around in the middle of the desert for places where people had posted images in odd places. If the images looked cool I'd work that into the route. Utah is mostly public land so I wasn't worried about hitting gated roads so much, which could be a concern in other areas.

[@booytoyy69]

+kirk earl cool so I'm on the right track then, I'm planing a camping trip a weekend ride on mine before I send it in to get that 150cc upgrade. how'd you load everything. and how bad did it slow you down

[@kirkearl]

I put a huge backpacking backpack on the main floor boards and then mounted pegs on the side for my feet. I shoved a big tent under the seat. Then a duffel bag on behind the tail light. One extra gallon of gas on the headlight basket area. Surprisingly my top speed barely changed due to the weight. I was hitting 35+ pretty easy. Tackled some huge hills at slow speeds, but never failed. Acceleration is probably the only thing that suffered.

[@gomezfamilyteam]

THIS IS SO RAD!!

[@wywybulldog3785]

These guys look like a pair of circus bears on those things.

[@MinimalistMotoLife]

now I understand why someone would buy a ruckus then put pegs on it, look how much crap you can haul that low!!!

[@kazumi78]

Is RUCKUS scooter name?

[@xStr8UPDoPex]

+kazumi7878 Yea its a Honda Ruckus

[@kazumi78]

+xStr8UPDoPex Thank you for nice movie.We call the Zoomer in my country.www.honda.co.jp/ZOOMER/

[@fctryoffetsh39]

Love mine I might get a metropolitan also