Thursday, May 20, 2010

Take a Whiz(zer) home


Recently I met Ralph Westman at a Woodstock City Council meeting. Ralph is the owner of Woodstock Whizzer Works, located at 692 McHenry Avenue (Route 120), Woodstock.

What is the Whizzer? It's an electric bicycle. I didn't ride one, but I believe you pedal it to get going and then the motor can kick in and take you for a ride.

Thanks to a 2009 change in state law, electric- and gas-powered bicycles are not treated as "vehicles" under the state law, when operated at speeds under 20MPH. Will they go faster?

Ralph custom builds Whizzer motors, which can propel you down the roadway at speeds up to 70MPH. Me, 70MPH on a bicycle? No way!

Not many towns have a Whizzer dealership. No town has a Whizzer Master like Ralph Westman.

Check out http://www.woodstockwhizzerworks.com/ and go by to talk with Ralph about adding a Whizzer to your stable. If you want to call and be sure he'll be there, ring him on 815.338.1838

2 comments:

Justin said...

http://moped2.org/whizzer-bike.htm

Gus check out the link above. Whizzer was around for many years and was a very neat cycle. They had a small gasoline engine and easily did 30 MPH. I bought a used junk one as a kid for $10.00 back in the mid 60’s and cannibalized it to make a homemade motorized bicycle that I rode for two years or more. That was MANY years ago. Just the parts I cannibalized are worth BIG bucks now to collectors. Since it was quite rusted I thought taking the parts and reusing them was better…..WRONG

I was told the original tank alone was over $300.00

Gus said...

Just, thanks for posting the link to the interesting history of the Whizzer.