[vito]

In America at least, riders seem to look down on scooters as less than a motorcycle, rather than just different from a motorcycle. So many who have ridden motorcycles for years or decades, but have never been on a scooter nor do they have any interest in riding one, don't know how much they are short changing themselves. Maybe because I started my love of riding two wheeled motorized vehicles on a scooter, and a pretty capable one, I have never dissed them or those that ride them. But even I have to admit that there is a stigma to the traditional scooter with its tiny engine, tiny wheels, and whose riders do not seem to want to be part of the riding fraternity.

My primary ride is a Honda Goldwing, and while I am getting ready to trade that bike in for something lighter (I am getting older and worry about handling 920 pounds under some circumstances) I do want to have a real motorcycle in my garage for the riding that I cannot do on a scooter. But I also own a Honda PCX150 and riding that scooter is pure fun. I just got back from a 75 minute, 60 mile ride on country roads north of the city where I live. The roads had posted limits of 45 and 55 mph, and my scooter has no trouble keeping up those speeds and typically 10 over the posted speed. While I do not have the power to pass a slow vehicle in a short distance as I can with my Goldwing, the scooter handles these roads just fine and with confidence. And I do this riding while getting between 93 and 105 mpg routinely. In the mile ride home from the gas station where I stopped to refill, the scooter read 135 mpg since fillup!

So if you are a scooterist, don't feel that you are lesser than a motorcyclist. In fact, you may well be having a lot more fun than that rider pushing a heavy bike through slower city traffic that the scooter just zips through. I feel like I have the best of both worlds owning one of each type ride. Ride safe!

 

[Tobacco Road]

You always seem to build roadblocks out of your assumptions.

 

[Trials]

Suzuki 400 Bürgermeister is a heavy heavy slow responding slug. Scariest motorcycle I ever rode in traffic. Worst bike ever for speed bumps. But you can wear a kilt or skirt riding it so it does have that going for it.

 

[SemiFast]

In America at least, riders seem to look down on scooters as less than a motorcycle

Not all riders in America. Some of us know they are simply "almost motorcycles".

Reminds me of a Fun Fact.

Wondering how to fix a scooter?
Here you go:
Get yourself a five gallon can of gasoline.
Pour the gasoline all over the scooter.
Light the gasoline/scooter on fire.
Put the fire out with shotgun blasts.
If, or when, you run out of shotgun shells an axe will work nearly as well.
And there you have it... A fixed scooter.

S F

 

[Motogrady]

Two tribes, rarely to meet.

 

[vito]

Two tribes, rarely to meet.

Probably true, but a shame. Each type has its virtues, so why not enjoy both. Sort of like the riders who have only ridden Harleys, do not even consider any other brand, versus those who would not even sit on a Harley. Seems silly to me.

 

[Trials]

Nickname for a scooter with small wheels is a Ditch Pitcher - because there's a good chance sooner or later it will pitch you into the ditch.

 

[hogcowboy]

Some of the the new scooters are nearly motorcycles and can do highway speed all day and they all face the same idiots motorcyclists face.

 

[Ride365]

If it has 2 wheels, I will find something to like about it. Some pretty bad ass scooters out there, but not anything I would ever want to ride beyond a county/state/township back road.......but yeah they are a hoot to ride. No way could be my only 2 wheeler in the garage, but would be an entertaining change from time to time. Of course I would likely opt for something like a Miata turbo over a scooter, and no way in hell would I ever own a trike or a spyder.

 

[hogcowboy]

Of course I would likely opt for something like a Miata turbo over a scooter, and no way in hell would I ever own a trike or a spyder.

Just my personal opinion but I’ve always considered folks like that just not open enough to the possibility of continuing to have knees in the breeze. Once tried there are many that say they should have switched sooner. I’ll at least give it a go before I say yes or no.

 

[Ride365]

Just my personal opinion but I’ve always considered folks like that just not open enough to the possibility of continuing to have knees in the breeze. Once tried there are many that say they should have switched sooner. I’ll at least give it a go before I say yes or no.

Oh I hear ya, just not a fan of those machines I reckon "and not for me".....but hey at least those folks are still out in the breeze. Life happens and sometimes we can no longer ride the way we once could, guess that's when I would opt for a convertible sportscar.

 

[Motogrady]

Nickname for a scooter with small wheels is a Ditch Pitcher - because there's a good chance sooner or later it will pitch you into the ditch.

 

[RogerC60]

Oh I hear ya, just not a fan of those machines I reckon "and not for me".....but hey at least those folks are still out in the breeze. Life happens and sometimes we can no longer ride the way we once could, guess that's when I would opt for a convertible sportscar.

And this is why we all love the saying, "Ride your own ride."

 

[RogerC60]

A couple of years ago I led a small group of riders on a ride down OH Route 536, nicknamed "The Ohio Cousin of the Tail of the Dragon". Motorcycleroads.com has it rated as the #2 ride in the state of Ohio. One of our riders was on a 400cc scooter, I can't remember the make/model. The scooter rider did better on these twisty backroads than some of the other riders on "real" motorcycles. That incident shattered my misconception of scooters forever.

 

[Ride365]

Yup 536 is a fun road for sure, actually several good roads in Ohio which might surprise folks.

 

[Trials]

A couple of years ago I led a small group of riders on a ride down OH Route 536, nicknamed "The Ohio Cousin of the Tail of the Dragon". Motorcycleroads.com has it rated as the #2 ride in the state of Ohio. One of our riders was on a 400cc scooter, I can't remember the make/model. The scooter rider did better on these twisty backroads than some of the other riders on "real" motorcycles. That incident shattered my misconception of scooters forever.

What were the "real" motorcycles?
makes a lot of difference on what they can or can not do on twisty backroads.

 

[vito]

A skilled rider on a decent sized scooter will easily outperform a novice on a more capable scooter. Many years ago I went to a rally in Ohio and signed up for a group ride to see some local roads that I might not have found by myself. Before the ride I struck up a conversation with two riders from Indiana, both on big Harleys, and both older guys that said that they have been riding motorcycles for decades, while I was a relatively new rider on my small engine cruiser. The group ride was on some really nice twisty roads, and whenever we reached a twisty these two guys fell way behind me and the rest of the group, then caught up on the straight sections. I asked one of them about this when we stopped for a break and he said with a laugh that where he normally rides there are few if any curves, other than highway ramps. The reality was that despite his many years of riding he had apparently never really learned how to negotiate a curve at speed. So in that case it had nothing to do with the bike, and everything to do with the rider. And I'm sure you have seen the YouTube videos of a Goldwing rider outrunning some guys on sport bikes on the Tail of the Dragon.

 

[Trials]

...Before the ride I struck up a conversation with two riders from Indiana, both on big Harleys ...

Kinda says it all right there doesn't it, a big Harley-Davidson is not exactly a twisty backroad motorcycle. Actually I can't even think of a motorcycle that would be any worse for small twisty backroads then an Electra Glide.

 

[Ride365]

I could sure ride at a good pace on a Roadking on Ohio twisty roads, they are actually quite nimble and I can see why law enforcement run them......but yeah an Electraglide is a big cumbersome machine for sure.

 

[vito]

Kinda says it all right there doesn't it, a big Harley-Davidson is not exactly a twisty backroad motorcycle. Actually I can't even think of a motorcycle that would be any worse for small twisty backroads then an Electra Glide.

But there were other riders on big cruisers that had no trouble keeping up with the moderate pace of the ride, other than these two. Years later it occurred to me how true the statement could be about someone not having 30 years of riding experience but having one year of experience repeated 30 times. When I was an MSF Instructor in Milwaukee in the 1990's I often had Harley employees as students in my basic riding class. Some of these folks had been licensed riders for decades, but before they could be part of the program at Harley where they could borrow a bike for use from the company they had to take a motorcycle safety class. I met some of these very "experienced" riders who did not know how to countersteer, still believing that turning a motorcycle meant slowing to a crawl and sort of leaning through the turn (as well as "knowing" that you should never use the front brake!). Teaching these riders to "press right, go right, press left, go left" was an interesting experience. Some of them were willing to admit that they learned more in the 20 hours of the class than they had learned in decades of actual riding.