US discovering the chic, cheap appeal of the scooter
With gas prices at an all time high, the stylish two-wheelers are making inroads
[quote] “It’s kind of cool,” he said. “You’ll see a little group of them riding around together, and that feeds it.”
Small scooters, especially those made in China, Korea and Taiwan, sell for as little as US$800-US$900. Larger scooters, capable of legal highway speeds and more, can cost US$4,000 to US$6,000.
Scooters, while fun to drive, also can be dangerous. Other motorists often don’t notice the small two-wheelers, and that can land scooter drivers in the hospital – or the morgue.
Inexperienced and young scooter drivers should be especially careful, Petersen says.
“I see a lot of people driving scooters with shorts, flip flops, no helmet, two-up on a machine that shouldn’t ride two people,” he says. [/quote]
They’ve never been in Taiwan I guess, here a whole flip-flop family without helmets fits on a scooter
[quote=“Namahottie”]In most places in the States having a scooter is useless, like Chicago, where you can get about 4 months of good weather for driving one.[/quote]Scooters give more weather protection than a lot of motorbikes. They are popular now in rainy Britain. (Well, the Vespas and Lambrettas have had a cult following for decades, but now a lot of people are getting into the automatic “twist-and-go” models).
Since arriving in Taiwan and becoming a 'scooter rider, I have done quite a bit of research about scooters.
It seems that there is a quite large, relatively speaking, and devoted motorscooter community (underground?) in the US.
Concentrated mostly around the larger cities; it also exists in some of the university areas.
This came about as devotees of Vespas and Piaggios and a few other ‘old school’ motorscooter riders needed to find parts and service for their rides. Now its quite a burgeoning business.
KYMCO and a few more of the names familiar here on Taiwan are repreented in the US. Along with Honda, Suzuki and Yamaha now marketing their larger version of 'scooter-type rides. 250 - 400- 500cc in sizes.
As a side-note. I have contacted a KYMCO dealer in southern california about english language manuals for my 'scooter. He doesn’t have it - refers me to England dealers. They don’t have my model either…so far.
[quote=“TainanCowboy”]It seems that there is a quite large, relatively speaking, and devoted motorscooter community (underground?) in the US.
Concentrated mostly around the larger cities; it also exists in some of the university areas.
This came about as devotees of Vespas and Piaggios and a few other ‘old school’ motorscooter riders needed to find parts and service for their rides. Now its quite a burgeoning business.[/quote]Interesting. But in the UK, there seems to be somewhat of a divide between the Vespa/Lambretta devotees and the new breed of automatic scooter riders. The original scooterists were the Mods. It’s something to do with that.
[quote=“joesax”]Interesting. But in the UK, there seems to be somewhat of a divide between the Vespa/Lambretta devotees and the new breed of automatic scooter riders. The original scooterists were the Mods. It’s something to do with that.[/quote]Joesax -
I have observed a lot of the same ‘clannishness’ on some of the us 'scooter forums…lol.
Metals vs plastics / autos vs shifters…lol
But all are benefitting with the surge in 'scooter popularity in the US.
