Are motor scooters legit transportation?

[beagleboy]

I live in a tropical paradise that hosts well maintained streets lined by Palm trees and bathed I sunshine most of the year. When it rains it pours only for the wet to be dried up quickly by the sun.
I recently was offered a ride on a friends motor scooter and became interested in purchasing one for myself. After researching them on the Internet and speaking to other owners in my area purchased a 50cc model from my employer who rents them to tourists at the beach from his fleet.

I'd like to hear from others about their experience with mopeds and motor scooters.
I for one think that if they are ridden responsibly by an adult are great fun.

If you think that scooters are a nuisance on are roadways you are welcome to post in thread also.

Does anyone know how to post pictures on b l from a iPhone?

 

[socko]

If you want a motorized vehicle that is relatively "green," scooters are probably the best. Gas mileage is 100 mpg or better. Riding in a car in Florida in the summer sun is liked being baked alive in an oven. Scooters would probably feel good and you will stay cool. Unless Florida has a helmet law. That would totally spoil it - a full helmet would be like wearing an oven on your head. I As for being a nuisance, it depends on who is riding it.
If you live in a city, a scooter is big enough to keep up with traffic within the speed limit.

 

[beagleboy]

Thanks for replying Socko!
I hold a Class A Commercial Drivers License in the State of Florida, and no, it is not a violation to wear no helmet while operating a motorcycle of any size.

Oh yea, it is a violation to the tune of $283 to be operating a motorcycle without wearing some sort of eye protection of any color at any time on Florida roadways.
Florida is a vacation destination for bike enthusiasts and if you ever visited our sun drenched paradise you might notice how many others are biker friendly with the motorcycle awareness bumper stickers they have on the back of their cars.

What does gas cost per gallon as of lately in France?

 

[beagleboy]

Maybe busty will chime in with euro equivalent.
I heard Ducati mopeds are popular overseas. Ducati distributors in America don't carry their scoots.
My dad bought a 1994 1 of 200 made Ducati 888 Superbike from near the baseball hall of fame in Cooperstown when I was 14 and because it was a one seater he bought another bike brand new from a dealership in Syracuse and my sisters and I put a bunch of stickers on it and wrapped the exhaust and he started to let me ride with him a lot, like every weekend and sometimes during the week late at night to see live bands in downtown Syracuse when they weren't packed with drunk people. No one around our community or school ever asked any questions bout a rambunctious child piloting a 900cc Ducati motorcycle. My mother, who like my Father was not working (but going through nursing school ) almost put the wind to our flame when she discovered my Father and I at Barnes and Nobles. I saw nothing that was happening wrong in any way except for when my two beautiful scheming sisters tried to work over my mother and put implants into our family dynamic in order to score wanted material goods through my mother by suggesting that I was spoiled because I "had a motorcycle".

My father and I bonded through riding motorcycles in and around central upstate New York and New England to bike festivals. My father being an older man seemed very approachable to people and he warned me to not answer "get mad" at any geek that discovered my age while riding in the neighboring Towns. Instead he wisely instructed me to "be cool and not get worried". We had conversations relating to motorbikes with many people and my dad would treated a lot of solo late teen/twenty something year old riders with ice creams or meals at restaurants.
I never told any of my schoolmates that I rode my own motorcycle. It was made overt information to my best friend and partner in crime ( my parents approached this older neighborhood kid and asked him to do the right thing and be my friend in an attempt to raise me properly. Richard parents werent to be told about my father letting me drive motorcycles with him but my sisters knew that he knew they knew) that I very much was not licensed to drive a motorcycle and was allowed by my father to do so.

It was fun for awhile but I rode a twenty inch bikes with my friends and we rode "flatland", so I naturally wanted to get my Ducati tipped silly. And I did, while behind my father or in the rain and loose surfaces I would pull wheelies, do stoppies, two wheel drift and also I would thrash my shoes by dragging them on the pavement. Ducati motorcycles aren't good at wheelies like Japanese machines and they are expensive. They're a grown mans bike. My father ended up years later while I was away in another state both motorcycles for a $3000 because they weren't popular amongst riders during that time in Syracuse. Everyone wanted a Harley davidson. Harley riders are poor spirited people and their bikes are a shitty build. During all the time I rode as a child I and my father would wave to other riders hoping to get a nod or least an acknowledgement meaning that " yes, I am a rider, we are a unique tribe" and it was half expected that most riders would help u when u needed something badly. My father and I never got one fucking wave from Harley Davidson riders because we weren't riding Harley davidson motorcycles.

Fuck Harley Davidson

 

[socko]

Scooters are fun, no matter what anybody thinks, so don't worry about Harley riders looking down at you for being on a scooter. My mental image of a Harely rider is a 65 year old retired man who lives in the suburbs buying a brand new one as his first motorcycle, not knowing and never planning to know how to work on in himself. He has the local Harley shop do all the maintenance and repairs. While at the shop deciding on chrome accessories and upgrades, he also buys $5000 worth of Harley brand T-shirts, harley boots, Harley pants, Harley jacket, Hqarley belt buckle, Harley cap, Harley flags, Harley Coffee Mug set for himself and his wife, and Harley tassels to go on the ends of the handle bars. Hardly the pioneering, rugged individualist Harley, Inc, sells itself on.

I had a 50cc Honda scooter taht I rode into the ground taking it on trails and jumping ditches when I was a kid. In California, I bought a BMW that had been sitting in a barn in the desert for 40 years and bought a Clymers/Haynes manual, bought/borrowed some tools, and learned to fix it and got it running. That motorcycle was easy to fix and reliable enough for 1000 mile solo rides. I never had anything like a Ducati or moto Guzzi but I've read that they are high quality. But I had a 40 year old Harley Sportster for one summer, and that experience made me hate Harley Davidson motorcycles. Despite the negative stereotype Harley riders have, most of them waved to me, but that's the West coast, and people are not as cliquish sometimes. No idea about the East coast or Florida. Now in Paris, sometimes it's tempting to get a cheap used scooter again for the narrow streets. Almost anything else is too big. Unfortunately, France has a helmet law which totally ruins the feeling. So I stick with my bicycle and no helmet and it feels like flying.
In my neighborhood in the center of the city, 98 octane gas is around 1.65€ per liter or maybe 8$ per gallon. At 100 mpg, it's still very cheap.

 

[laugh]

there are riots in se asia

 

[beagleboy]

I'm going to guess that like in Florida, se Asians aren't required to have scooter insurance

 

[laugh]

 

[beagleboy]

Thank you Laugh for that picture of scooters.

 

[laugh]

scooterists are people too

 

[beagleboy]

HaHa, socko, i just retead this thread and noticed you owned a Honda scoot.
I had a $40 Kohler brand 3hp cast iron fullsuspension mini bike. I bought it foolishly and it sat in my garage for half a year while I was at Nys Military Academy. I came home bored and started dissasembling it and scrubbing the rust from the chrome fenders. My father let me sandblast it and spray the frame red. The headlight plate ( it didnt come with a working lamp) I had a art student from high school paint M-13 ( to covertly express my interest in marijuana. I was copying the hells angels). My dad cleaned the carb, put on new cables, a kill switch and gave me free reign. It was my first mini bike and when i rode it into town all the older kids went wild, as they had rode this bike years ago. I was tough enough to deny people a chance at riding my bike except for some of my best friends and the original owner.

 

[beagleboy]

I'm replacing the crankshaft this weekend and decided to bump this thread.

*Ill bet there's some female scooter riders lurking this website. Post pics.

 

[herbavore]

I don't have one but I am seriously interested in getting one. I was thinking a moped rather than a scooter. I remember seeing my ancient teachers in Switzerland riding up the hill to school on mopeds. Of course from the arrogance of youth I thought they looked ridiculous but from the humbleness of age I could give a shit how I look.

 

[beagleboy]

I don't have one but I am seriously interested in getting one. I was thinking a moped rather than a scooter. I remember seeing my ancient teachers in Switzerland riding up the hill to school on mopeds. Of course from the arrogance of youth I thought they looked ridiculous but from the humbleness of age I could give a shit how I look.

Hi herbivore!
Where will you be using the moped? What country? What is the terrain like? Traffic? Weather?
I have never checked out mopeds, but they seem interesting nontheless.
Let me know if you need some advice when browsing to buy. I may be able to help you make an informed decision with the mechanical stuff as I am a mechanic.
I feel the same way when considering the way other people may think about my appearance. It gets me from point a to point b. That's fine with me.

 

[herbavore]

I live in California in a smallish but heavily traffic infested city. The reason I like a moped over a scooter is that it would give me the ability to ride in either the bike lane or in traffic (depending on the speed of traffic). There are a lot of boulevards here where the speed limit is 30 but everyone goes 50 with a lot less awareness than they might give to actual freeway driving so in that situation I might choose the bike lane. As far as I understand, that would be legal but I could be wrong.

Thanks for the offer. If I actually get closer to buying one I will definitely hit you up for your knowledge. But, now that I know you are a mechanic, watch out! I have car questions!