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Bills will restore some cuts to
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Supporting the troops in a time or
war
Go-Ped:
A small need
for speed |
A Newberg architect
relaxes with a project to customize, enhance a motorized scooter |
By Christie Scotty, Newberg Graphic
Reporter
Email Christie at cscotty@eaglenewspapers.com
|
 Steve Bragg’s last project was prompted by a simple question:
“Can you make it go faster?”
The “it” in question was the Newberg man’s 1987 Go-Ped, a
motorized scooter, and the questions emanated from his teenage son, Ian, and his friends.
The result of that question is a restored, customized Go-Ped that can go 30 mph instead of
15 mph, and wins awards at major road shows.
Last month, Bragg brought home two such awards for his efforts — a
three-and-a-half foot trophy from the fifth-annual Portland Rod & Custom Show and a
plaque from the 47th annual Portland Roadster Show.
Bragg estimates he put in about 750 hours over five months beginning last
April to restore the Go-Ped, now nicknamed “Rosebud.”
The Go-Ped was first purchased more than 15 years ago when the architect
worked in an industrial park and buzzed around the area on the scooter, logging about five
or six hours on it.
“Then I started getting stupid, popping wheelies,” he said.
“It went up over my head and I broke my wrist.”
The scooter went into the attic, where it remained until Ian and his friends
coaxed it out of retirement. Bragg worked on it until it was back in running condition,
then continued restoring it into award-winning condition.
“This thing looked like a total mess when I started,” he said.
One highly-modified 22.5 cc Zenoah two stroke motor, two Meyer Racing T-6
two-piece billet aluminum wheels, loads of detail work and countless other restored
original parts later, the Go-Ped was complete.
It wasn’t his first project, though. At the age of 8, Bragg said, he
started rebuilding lawn mowers. “I had the fastest lawn mower in town,” he said.
In college he began designing a car, to “keep himself sane” while
studying structural engineering,“ and he has also worked on motor scooters and
mini-bikes.
Bragg’s current projects sits in his Newberg garage, where Bragg hangs
his tools neatly and labors near a small yellow sign taped to the cabinets that reads,
“If you think it, do it.”
The garage gives Bragg a break from his at-home architecture work which he
begins as early as 5 a.m. some days.
Bragg plans to take “Rosebud” to a few more shows, including a
large one in Lincoln City, before donating the scooter to a yet unnamed charity to sell
for auction. “Probably one dealing with education,” he said.
With 750 hours of work on the Go-Ped behind him, Bragg can return to
restoring his Ferrari, or what he terms his “10,000 hour, five-year project.” |
|
From March 8,
2003, Newberg Graphic
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