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More scooting
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Jul 21, 2011 5:00 am
1473 Views
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Went for another scooter ride the other day. It has been a while since my first ride but the weather has been the pits and not very conducive to riding a scooter unless you like sitting out in the open rain and getting splashed as cans speed through puddles.
I rented the sport scooter once again and this time I headed for the main streets and open stretches where I could see how the scooter preformed. Top speed on a sport scooter that hasn’t been souped up is about 63 kilometres an hour . Ordinary traffic is zooming by you like you are standing still.. Definitely need a souped up scooter if you don’t want to be left behind in the dust.
Enjoyed the ride immensely but started to rationalize the value of owning a scooter as a second vehicle or toy. What would I do with it or more to the point or where would I go with it.. Being retired it wouldn’t be use it to go to work and living downtown I am in walking distance to all the restaurants and stores that I frequent. I could only use it to tool around town as a 50 cc scooter isn’t allowed on highways. Would I get bored quickly and end up not using it, something to ponder.
Total costs of a scooter is approximately $5.thousand dollars including taxes and essential equipment and the kit to soup it up. Annual insurance is approximately $6 hundred dollars then there is servicing and winter storage. I would be better off renting when I feel like scooting but I really want my own scooter. Decisions, decisions what to do.
Went on line today and saw that with the end of season approaching the scooter shop is starting to put on deals to clear their stock. Reduced prices and free financing and probably still better deals to come as the season comes to an end. I think I will rent and see what prices are like in the fall.
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Scooting
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Jun 28, 2011 7:17 am
1363 Views
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I been thinking about getting a small motorcycle or scooter to run around town on. I have never ridden either although I have been a passenger on my late partner motorcycle.
After much deliberation and investigation I decided that getting a motorcycle was more machine than I needed and involved to much hassle. You need a motorcycle license which is a three part process and requires supervision until you pass the motorcycle skills test. This basically requires taking riding lessons because a motorcycle requires skills and lots of road sense. Now a small 50 cc scooter only requires a driving license and you can jump on and go. Decision made a scooter is what I need.
A 50 cc scooters comes with either a two stroke or four stroke engine, but four stroke seem to be the engine of the future, they are more easily maintained and will last longer. A two stroke engine can be souped up because of the basic design of the engine while a four stroke can’t. The newer two stroke are mostly used for sport scooters, they can be made to go a lot faster than a four stroke and look sleek, sexy and resemble small motorcycle while most four strokes look and handle like your compact commuter, very boring.
Like everyone else I love nice things so the sport scooter is on the top of my list for looks but do I really need a souped up machine to run errands . Every time I think I made up my mind about purchasing a four stroke and am about ready to buy it, I read something else on the internet that gets me waffling again.
Finally I smartened up and decide I had better go scooting before I spends thousand of dollars on a toy I might not even like or use once I have it. I found a rental shop near my condo and off I went for my first scooter ride.
I walked into the rental shop took a look at the scooters and told the clerk I would like to rent one of those pointing at the sport scooters. I told the clerk I don’t like those meaning the commuter model.
I was shown the basic of the controls and off I went for my first ride. I decided that I would stick to side street avoiding lots of traffic so I spent an hour riding up and down six square blocks of streets.
It was exhilarating being out in the fresh air but also a little scary. Sitting out in the open on a small little bike makes one very vulnerable as you compete with cars for road space. Being unfamiliar with scooters and the way they handle made cornering a little tricky and I was glad there was not much traffic or I might have run smack into a car a couple of times. Corners with two way stop signs were also interesting because the accelerating on the scooters isn’t that fast and oncoming traffic is barreling down on you.
I was exhausted after an hour of stopping, starting and cornering but I though I learned a lot about scooting. My next outing will be on main
streets where I will not have to continually stop and start and I can see how fast this little scooter can actually go.
Any bet on whether in will be sport or commuter model I finally park in the garage. I am still waffling.
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