You are the boss, I will defer to your expertise…
I had to cut and modify the frame to fit the drilled and tapped 6KW Navitas motor, running it at 72 volts. with Big Battery Lithium Falcons. Two under the seat and one in the rear (also modified compartment). It required removing the whole right side swing arm and shock. and yes it gets close to 50 MPH, I saw 47 on GPS before i ran out of street, but it was still climbing (flat ground)
For those following along at home… @FUNDAD’s speedster has been sold to @TeamIDFC and is on its way to @Inwo’s to get dialed in before starting a new life in the Coachella Valley ambling around the RV park and sprinting a few blocks on the streets.
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I spend my winters in the Coachella Valley and I drive a GEM around my gated neighborhood. I wouldn’t even think of driving down the 50 mph streets. There is no end to the number of disoriented old drivers and inexperienced foreign drivers who are just itchin’ to test your reaction time. I sometimes see golf carts on the sidewalk (Hey, it’s California, nobody’s walking!) but about the only GEMs that I see are the old beaters that the staff at the McCormick Exotic Car Auctions use on their lot.
When you just have to go to Home Depot make a day of it. Get dressed up and drive the big car. Maybe stop at Shield’s for a date shake on the way home. 
I can’t argue with the sentiment about the other drivers, but the challenge isn’t putting on pants (I never do that down there!), but the fact that the ‘big car’ is all too often gone with the wife. Speedster Gemma is a fall-back couple of blocks ride. I would never drive it on 111, but I can sneak it 2 blocks on Ave 48 and 2 blocks on Dune Palms and most likely survive… :_)
As for Shield’s shakes - they must be an acquired taste as I’ve never loved them like everyone else does…
Is Shields now the replacement for long gone Hadleys?
You are right, tho… I don’t quite get the attraction for those date shakes
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Looks like Hadley’s is/has always been around Banning/Cabazon. Shield’s has been in Indio forever - for a long time it was the “end of the road” on 111 until Phoenix.
With 95% of the country’s dates grown in the Coachella Valley (source) it makes sense we’ve got lots of date and date-adjacent stuff, but the shakes are just overdone…
Having hit 71mph in a Gem (@MikeKC was riding with me) 48-52mph is probally the max you want to go. Once you get over 55 it starts to get a little squirrelly. When you hit 62 it starts floating a little and is really dangerous. The cart looks awesome and you should have a lot of fun with it.
So, yeah… I’m pretty sure I’d never want to go that fast in a GEM… 
Your attachments are larger than mine, sir!
And thankfully that is the speed sweet spot for us to get a few blocks to the local Home Depot
I’m in need of help! I have had a stock 2016 Gem for couple years and it rides like crap.
Where does everyone buy their parts. I want to replace suspension and get a speed kit. Is Ride-4-fun the best kit to buy?
Also, I want new larger wheels and tires. Can’t seem to find sites that sell for the 114.3mm bolt pattern. Any help to start pimpin my ride would be appreciated!
If you only need 35mph, reprogram or add a “speed box”.
@djgabriel2004 no torque loss.
If you want 50mph, need the gear kit + high voltage/big motor conversion.
SpeedBX will give you 35mph on flat, everything else will work as oem , Speedo accurate, odometer, trip etc.
Plug and play,
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Thanks to @FUNDAD for selling me the car, and thanks to @Inwo for his magic - we can now answer the original question - is a near-50mph GEM right for me?
Drum-roll… YES, IT IS!
While it won’t win awards for the calmest ride, doing a GEM Speed Test (video link) shows that I can comfortably do a sustained 46-48mph.
My use cases were:
- Around the RV Park: It works very well. We had a rainy evening and the doors were a great addition, and there are a lot of people jealous of what has been nicknamed “The Popemobile”
- Short runs on the fast streets to get to Home Depot and Groceries: It worked way better than I would have guessed. On the super-fast road in front of the RV park it gets up to speed fast enough that I’m ok in the slow lane and don’t wind up slowing down traffic. It is quick enough that I wind up passing slow-moving trucks!
The only real limitation is the brakes. If anyone has any good upgrade ideas, that would be the next place to investigate.
Thanks to everyone for all your feedback - this is a great community!
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Turn up the regen. You should be able to get it to where if you aren’t on the throttle, it’s going into regen braking as soon as it senses pedal lift. Not as much finesse as the Tesla 1-foot driving programming, but it’ll decelerate you quicker than the brakes. IIRC, @MikeKC set up his gems this way.
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You know, it already is turned up… i’ve just been driving it like a street car, not like an electric car. Once I mellowed out and lifted sooner and let regen slow me down it took a lot of stress out of the braking. Thanks for the tip!
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