Beth and I have taken on rebuilding a Palmer Twosome scooter. We found it on craigslist accidentally while searching for a tricycle for Burning Man.
I’m just gonna launch right into parts, pieces and what we’re doing.
We disassembled everything, sandblasted every part, and have been powder coating everything, piece-by-piece. I just tried pulling the power cables off the motor and the rusted nut broke something on the inside. Now I’ve pulled the motor apart and discovered a broken piece on the inside. There is a small square washer that snapped into pieces. It ripped the wires loose too.
The big question now is whether I try and fix this motor or replace it. Our Palmer scooter is 27 years old. Part of me would like to restore it to original, just fixed up, like an old car. Unfortunately the electronics are antiquated now. I would have a much easier time replacing the electronics with a modern controller, batteries, and throttle. That’s a heavy investment though. The batteries are the most expensive part of the puzzle. This is getting expensive. The old motor and electronics are much more complicated than a modern controller system. The pieces are expensive and the result is a slow scooter. For a $500 upgrade, our scooter could probably double in speed.