Scooteria

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My local friend Vic is a passionate two-wheeler. He offered me a chance to tool around town with him on his scooter collection.

Behold these buddy beasts.

The orange is a 125cc scooter. I’m not allowed on that without a motorcycle license. Its grey twin is a 49cc scooter weighing about 180# with a peppy little two stroke that takes it up to 20mph quickly and 35mph eventually.

When learning new things, it’s hard to walk and chew gum at the same time. When Monkey was learning to drive she had to confront a curve, a narrow road, and a pedestrian with a dog. A mailbox died that day as her inputs overflowed. Mindful of this experience, this meant I generally tried to pick one skill at a time; steer, accelerate or brake.

There was one wipeout. I somehow twisted the throttle while trying to brake and turn onto a road. All three actions at once! This was too much for the rear tire and I fell over. No harm was done.

The scooter simultaneously combines the best and worst of cars and bikes. It’s a strange superposition.

• You feel much more visibly “there” on the road like a car. If you get hit; you’ll pay like a bike.
• You enjoy the open air like a bike; but you’re traveling the speed of a car, so on this high-40s day, brrrrr.
• You park like a bike, but take the keys out and run into a store like a car. No laborious locking process needed.
• You wear a helmet like a bike. But since it’s a cool full helmet, you have the issue of “keep the windshield clean” and the limited viewing angles of a car.
• You ride on the street like a car; and at car speeds too. You get where you’re going faster, but the cost is hawk-like attention. Scrutinize every driver and discern their intentions while keeping an eye out for bumps and potholes too. No lazy biking for you.
• Unlike a car you swoop and swish and feel the lean as you round a curve. The physicality is enjoyment; Vic with more skills and more power reined in his joy to lead me around.

A great joy of living here is the densely populated 40 square miles of city with sub 35 mph speed limits. Those slower speeds are mostly adhered to. Combine this with beautiful architecture and landscaping and bumping around town is a pleasure. We remarked on it while running car-errands on Saturday. We generally come home from bike rides with smiles on our faces.

This scooting adventure made me genuinely excited with mobility options for our youth. The eldest like this town and have no intentions to become road warriors. Having an option that gets them through errands or to a job at a fraction of the cost of a car would be a joy. And they can enjoy the drive too.