Moped or Scooters anyone?

[wowzer]

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?

[DeusxMac]

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.

[cbelt3]

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.

[tenders]

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.

[Trouble]

[thermarest]

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.

[Trouble]

Remember that it is just like banging a fat chick. The ride is fun till your friends see you.

[Seacrest]

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.

[tenders]

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?

[wolfcry911]

tenders wrote: What's a tab?

It's a diet cola soft drink produced by Coca-Cola