Make or Break? Yamaha BWS50 Billy Whizz.
“Thought you hated scooters?”
Yes, I do, can’t stand the things. This is an opinion formed on handling many rev and go scooters over the years in the name of my work. I have never actively woken up thinking to myself “hmmm, I must buy a fucked scooter today”, but for years they have still managed to find me. They are often tagged on the end of job lot clear outs when buying stock for the breaking business. So I had to justify my latest impulse purchase to a few close mates.
“The Billy Whizz is cool though”
This is what I offered in justification for bringing this skanky K Reg Yamaha 50 into my life. Thing is, they are though! Before China started mass producing scooters on the cheap, the Japanese firms would add a funky rev and go scooter into there range. Things like the Honda PXR50, Suzuki Katana 50 and a few others.
The BWS50 is one of those scooters that were everywhere once, yet now they rarely come to market. I still think it is cool, all these years later.
“What’s the plan, does it even work?”
It does start and run and it even ticks over freely and revs cleanly. The motor sounds crisp! Beyond that the good news gets less obvious. It does have a V5 but the ignition key is lost. The seller pointed out that any screwdriver will turn it on though.
Considering that it’s almost 30 years old, I think it’s great that it’s survived practically intact.
I have no immediate plans to part with it, and it owes me £200. If and when I do shift it, I’m confident that a profit will be spun, time will tell.
Article provided by Scottie Redmond
