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+--- Thread: Moped or Scooters anyone? (/showthread.php?tid=118212)
Moped or Scooters anyone? - wowzer - 06-06-2011
I love the look of these things...vespas, hondas, and etc.
It looks great for commutes and the insurance is very low.
How dependable are these things and does anyone own one?
Re: Moped or Scooters anyone? - DeusxMac - 06-06-2011
No expert, but have owned a couple of smallish cycles, and ridden scooters.
I agree with the conventional wisdom that cycles are easier to keep under control and thus safer than scooters because you straddle them like a horse rather than sitting on them like a chair.
Since you grip a cycle with your legs, a cycle cannot tilt to the left or right without your body moving also.
A scooter however can tip out from under you, and you'll have the contact of only your hands to try and correct/recover.
Re: Moped or Scooters anyone? - cbelt3 - 06-06-2011
Not practical for NE Ohio.. riding in the rain and and sleet and snow and ice...... At least not as primary transport. We've got a few guys at work who ride 'em all the time.. one old Honda scooter seems to be one fellow's sole transportation. I think he walks when it snows.
Re: Moped or Scooters anyone? - tenders - 06-06-2011
I owned a 49cc Honda scooter in college (upstate/Finger Lakes NY) and loved it. It had a top speed of 30mph and I somehow put two thousand miles on it in a little over two years. It was a 2-stroke, oil-injected, electric start engine and got about 80mpg. Aside from collision repair the only maintenance was some kind of exhaust system cleanout after 1500 miles; this cost $100 at the time and made a big difference but was probably something I could have done myself.
Despite being a pretty careful driver I had two accidents that only through the grace of a higher being did not injure me seriously. One involved falling down at top speed while trying to brake in a driving rainstorm, sliding hundreds of feet downhill on wet pavement while wearing full raingear. This did nothing to me but broke a mirror and a light lens, scratched some trim, and bent the front wheel of the scooter.
The other involved flying off the bike when my attention drifted for a few seconds in ideal conditions on a perfectly sunny day. I wiped out trying to avoid backending a truck that stopped in the road; I think I hit the post of a street sign on the side of the road, went over the handlebars, and did a sliding face plant through the gravel and road schmutz in the shoulder. Had I not been wearing a helmet *with a face shield* I would probably be blind right now, or noseless.
I also seem to recall falling off the thing going half a mile an hour while stopping on some gravel that had accumulated on the side of the road. I had to pick a lot of grit out of my palms but I'm chalking up things that happen at less than five miles an hour as a miscellaneous occupational hazard; had I walked two thousand miles instead of scootering that distance, no doubt I would have tripped and fallen over my own feet somewhere along the line too.
I drove it a TON in snow too, but never had a problem.
Of course it is totally wimpy by motorcycle standards but it was a fun thing to ride, easy to park, inexpensive, and very practical. Every time I think about how much fun I had on it I also realize that I was very lucky to have not been dumber myself, and to have not encountered somebody else being dumb.
Re: Moped or Scooters anyone? - Trouble - 06-06-2011
Re: Moped or Scooters anyone? - thermarest - 06-06-2011
I had a 50cc 1986 Honda Spree that I just sold this year. I loved it. It still ran pretty darn well after 25 years, especially considering the only maintenance I did in that whole time was clean the carburator twice. It sorely needed new tires. I personally never had a near miss. Going over railroad tracks downhill in the rain at 35mph was a little scary, but that was the worst of it. It got somewhere around 80 mpg and would go 30 mph on the flat. Anything 50cc and under you don't need a motorcycle endorsement for. The tabs were $6. One nice benefit for running errands is that at big box stores is that you can zip up and park it right in front of the door like a bicycle. Similar convenience in hard-to-park downtown or university areas.
Re: Moped or Scooters anyone? - Trouble - 06-06-2011
Remember that it is just like banging a fat chick. The ride is fun till your friends see you.
Re: Moped or Scooters anyone? - Seacrest - 06-06-2011
Scooters is like fat girls: they're fun to ride, but you don't want your friends to see you...
(or something like that)
# # #
I have a Piaggio (manufacturer of the Vespa brand) 150cc, and it's terrific around town. Even in the rain it's not so bad, but I avoid it.
If you have a scooter/powersports shop in your area, go talk to them. They're usually pretty good about giving advice.
The size and type you get depends a lot on your physical characteristics, your transportation needs, and your area.
I am a big dude and my 150 is usable in the city, but not on the freeway -- even though it's legal. My other bike is a speedy Triumph, which might be a factor in the scooter feeling sluggish.
Re: Moped or Scooters anyone? - tenders - 06-06-2011
thermarest wrote:
I had a 50cc 1986 Honda Spree that I just sold this year.
Anything 50cc and under you don't need a motorcycle endorsement for.
The tabs were $6.
That's exactly what I had. 49cc, not 50! 50 is where the motorcycle rules start kicking in.
What's a tab?
Re: Moped or Scooters anyone? - wolfcry911 - 06-06-2011
tenders wrote: What's a tab?It's a diet cola soft drink produced by Coca-Cola
