Post by bluegoatwoods on May 23, 2016 1:38:00 GMT -5
Good evening, folks.
I'm a guy who's always been a scooter fan. Though it took me a long time to actually become a scooter owner and rider. Since this is an introduction, I guess I'll go ahead and give you my story. I'll try not to make it too long.
I have a long history with bicycles, motorcycles --I crossed the nation on a motorcycle once-- , automobiles, right on up through heavily loaded pickup trucks and trailers and straight trucks. No semi-trucks. Never got that far. And I have a long history as a wanderer. That only ended a handful of years back.
I don't recall just dying to have a scooter when I was, say, in my early twenties. But I liked them. I do recall one night at about that stage of life I was driving through the Sunset district in San Francisco. Under a street light, off the road, was parked at least a dozen scooter of the Vespa style. The guys who were riding them were standing around in long raincoats of that green, rubberized canvas type with apparently white-washed symbols on their backs. They couldn't have looked any more like the cover of "Quadrophenia" if they'd tried. No doubt, in fact, that they did try. That that was their aim. I remember thinking, "I'd like to join those guys!" But I had other things to do and to spend what little money I had on. So I didn't. But to this very day, I'd like to have joined those guys.
I was already a serious bicyclist when I married and started having children. And I was pretty confident that I'd convince my wife to ride with me. Yet she surprised me by being strangely resistant. I guess some just don't love it like I do.
About 15 years ago now I took my family on a Florida vacation. The kids and I rented bicycles. My wife took a dim view of the idea. So I rented her a scooter. I don't remember what brand and model, if I ever even noticed that. But it was small. I doubt if it was anything more than 50 cc. I took it for a spin and enjoyed it. But I believe that's the only time I've ever ridden a scooter until recently. My wife rode it around all day and just loved it. In the years since I've had the vague notion that that's the two-wheel vehicle for her. But it took a while to get around to it.
Then some years back I discovered that one can get these cheap little Chinese two cycle engines for mounting on a bicycle. I bought two almost the moment I learned of this. The first one was meant for my wife. But she seems to be somewhat lacking in the finesse required to operate one of these successfully. It was a failure practically from the start.
I did better simply because I seem to have 'the feel' for motor vehicles. We've always gotten along together. Still, my first two motorized bikes had their troubles and didn't last long enough to fully satisfy me. There's some learning to be done to be successful with these. Bikes #3 and 4 have done better. #4 is the one I'm riding right now. And the frame from #3 is being recycled into bike #5 right now. This bike will have some innovations that I've worked out that will help it to be a reliable machine. And I haven't done badly. I commute to work, 6 miles each way, and run a lot of errands with these bikes. I have a pickup truck. But it sits for three weeks at a time, over and over again except right in the heart of winter. Even then I ride my bike a bit.
So I think I can claim that I've established myself as a moped-er. Still............these motorized bikes aren't really quite good enough.
Somewhere around a year ago I became aware of the SYM Symba 100. When I came to understand just what that bike is, I found myself really wanting one pretty badly. Then I noticed that a motorcycle/ATV dealer near me was a SYM dealer. I spent a bit of time thinking about it. And thinking about my wife and how she relies on her car far too much, and so on.
So I said to her, "You know.......I've been thinking about getting you a scooter...." She perked right up and got a big smile on her face and said, "Oh, yeah???......Tell me more...." or something like that. So we went down to this SYM dealer and I said, "Have you got a Symba in stock? I'd like to see one and get the feel for it". The guy said no they didn't have one on hand. And that they were going to give up their SYM franchise. They seemed to feel that SYM demanded too much of them. It's a pity. I really would have liked to get to know that bike. But I''m not gonna buy a new bike with no dealer support.
So we turned to the Honda Metropolitans that they did have in stock. I didn't come right out and say so that minute, but I already knew that we were going home with a scoot that day. After looking it over and confirming that it wasn't too tall for my wife --I was confident of that on a 50cc, anyway. But she's a bit short. So we had to be sure-- I made them an offer that was a couple hundred bucks below MSRP. They actually came back with a better counter-offer. I got a new 2015 model for almost exactly two thousand, even. Out the door total. This was the first week of January. Maybe that had something to do with it. They probably didn't expect to sell a scoot that week. Maybe that whole month.
And my wife was happy as a clam. She took to that scoot like a puppy dog takes to chewing on furniture. Those first few days and evenings we'd take turns taking little rides in the neighborhood. Up to the gas station for a coffee or a hot chocolate. Stuff like that. It wasn't unusual for me. I've been a year-round two-wheeler all of my life. But my wife doesn't have that kind of history.
But the fact that it was January didn't bother her one bit. It's true that the Honda didn't start up when the temp was in the single digits F. Even with a battery tender on it. But I told her, "Look, it wasn't meant to start up in temps like that" and she took it with reasonable grace. But if the temp got into double digits, then she wanted to ride. Not far, of course. Those are pretty extreme conditions for a scooter. And some days there was simply too much ice on the road even if the temp wasn't too bad. And while she was a little disappointed, she understood.
But spring came quickly enough and I'm happy to report that she's riding daily and clearly prefers her scoot over her car. I do remember one day about a month ago when the weather was so threatening that she took the car. But I think that's the only day so far. And a couple of weeks ago it was raining fairly heavily at about the time she was getting off work. So I drove on down in my truck, figuring on picking up both her and the bike. The rain had eased up. But it was still steady rain. She said that she'd rather ride her bike home. Well, okay.
I also bought a shop manual for the Metropolitan. I'll be able to do a lot of service work myself. We're a little overdue right now for the 500 mile maintenance. We're at 600 plus. I'm going to take it to the dealer for that first scheduled maintenance since that's a pretty important one. And I'll be calling them for an appointment tomorrow. Since it's high time to get this done.
During this time I've felt fairly tempted to get a scoot for myself. But I haven't jumped since I'm doing okay as is. Yet.....stilll.......it's been pretty tempting. Then a couple of weeks ago I spotted a scooter sitting among the cars at a local independent car lot. I stopped and had a look. It's a Kymco People 150. I felt like Kymco rang a bell. But I didn't really know if I was looking at something worth having or if it was some no-name piece of cheese that nobody would ever want. When the guy told me that the price was a thousand bucks I turned it down and went on my way.
But I looked it up online and found that Kymco is a make that has respect in the scoot community and that the People 150 has a good reputation as well. So I went back and looked it over more closely and took it for a short spin. It looks well-maintained and it started fine and operated as well, seemingly, as my wife's Metro.
So I've spent a few days just trying to decide whether to pull the trigger or not. And I've been inclined toward "Yes" and I've been inclined toward "No". I do want that scoot, or something similar, yet I'm doing okay as is. My wife and I can ride together, after all. I can cruise at 20 mph on my motorized bike without it screaming too badly. And my wife doesn't mind going at pretty slow speeds. I'd rather she did, for that matter. She is still a newbie, after all. That's the only bad thing about this so far, as a matter of fact. As a lifelong two-wheeler I have a very good notion of just how dangerous traffic can be for us. And I've worked out a lot of techniques for dealing with it. She seems to have little conception of how invisible we are to them. She accepts my advice with reasonable grace most of the time. But so far I doubt that it's really going to heart. She dreams a bit of having the engine needed to run with those packs of four-wheeled wolves and I'm determined to deny her the ability for some time to come. She ain't getting anything larger than 50cc for quite some time.
One problem will be if I get something larger. She'll get her hands on it, or she'll try to, sooner or later. I'll have to be careful. But I also think that, with time, I can convince her that this matter requires more thought than she might have been giving it. If I can achieve that, then I think we've gotten her safety margins within reasonable bounds. And there's the possibility that some lame-brain chatting on a cell phone will drive the point home in a more direct manner than me just talking about it.
But, anyway, tonight when it was just about time for her to be getting off of work I started riding on down there to escort her home. She doesn't actually need me. But on non-work nights for me it's kinda nice. Plus we work at the same place. So I can go in and have a cup of coffee and visit with friends and so on.
But I got about half-way there when my engine chain popped of the sprocket. It happens occasionally. But I'd been keeping an eye on that tension because it had been a thorn in my side. I'd been adjusting frequently. I even checked the tension this afternoon after a ride. It was okay then. But not tonight. I'll be able to fabricate an axle adjuster. If not on this bike, then on the next one. I've got a design in mind that ought to work.
But I'm tired of riding a bike that I just can't full rely on. And it's kinda noisy, too.
So tomorrow I'm buying that Kymco. And if I find that it's been sold or otherwise not available, then I'm buying a Metropolitan for myself. I'm not too sure which one I'd rather go with. I kinda don't want a 150cc engine within my wife's grasp just yet. But I also don't have quite two thousand plus dollars right on hand. I'll manage it. But it'll take some creative budgeting. In fact, it'll be more like robbing Peter to pay Paul. But I do have one advantage in that; my wife is actively supportive of me getting a scooter. So she'll be cooperative on the penny pinching that'll need to be done if a buy a new Metro.
So it's likely that I'll be a scoot rider as well the next time I post here. And I'm feeling pretty happy at the thought.
Life is good riding a bike like these.
I'm a guy who's always been a scooter fan. Though it took me a long time to actually become a scooter owner and rider. Since this is an introduction, I guess I'll go ahead and give you my story. I'll try not to make it too long.
I have a long history with bicycles, motorcycles --I crossed the nation on a motorcycle once-- , automobiles, right on up through heavily loaded pickup trucks and trailers and straight trucks. No semi-trucks. Never got that far. And I have a long history as a wanderer. That only ended a handful of years back.
I don't recall just dying to have a scooter when I was, say, in my early twenties. But I liked them. I do recall one night at about that stage of life I was driving through the Sunset district in San Francisco. Under a street light, off the road, was parked at least a dozen scooter of the Vespa style. The guys who were riding them were standing around in long raincoats of that green, rubberized canvas type with apparently white-washed symbols on their backs. They couldn't have looked any more like the cover of "Quadrophenia" if they'd tried. No doubt, in fact, that they did try. That that was their aim. I remember thinking, "I'd like to join those guys!" But I had other things to do and to spend what little money I had on. So I didn't. But to this very day, I'd like to have joined those guys.
I was already a serious bicyclist when I married and started having children. And I was pretty confident that I'd convince my wife to ride with me. Yet she surprised me by being strangely resistant. I guess some just don't love it like I do.
About 15 years ago now I took my family on a Florida vacation. The kids and I rented bicycles. My wife took a dim view of the idea. So I rented her a scooter. I don't remember what brand and model, if I ever even noticed that. But it was small. I doubt if it was anything more than 50 cc. I took it for a spin and enjoyed it. But I believe that's the only time I've ever ridden a scooter until recently. My wife rode it around all day and just loved it. In the years since I've had the vague notion that that's the two-wheel vehicle for her. But it took a while to get around to it.
Then some years back I discovered that one can get these cheap little Chinese two cycle engines for mounting on a bicycle. I bought two almost the moment I learned of this. The first one was meant for my wife. But she seems to be somewhat lacking in the finesse required to operate one of these successfully. It was a failure practically from the start.
I did better simply because I seem to have 'the feel' for motor vehicles. We've always gotten along together. Still, my first two motorized bikes had their troubles and didn't last long enough to fully satisfy me. There's some learning to be done to be successful with these. Bikes #3 and 4 have done better. #4 is the one I'm riding right now. And the frame from #3 is being recycled into bike #5 right now. This bike will have some innovations that I've worked out that will help it to be a reliable machine. And I haven't done badly. I commute to work, 6 miles each way, and run a lot of errands with these bikes. I have a pickup truck. But it sits for three weeks at a time, over and over again except right in the heart of winter. Even then I ride my bike a bit.
So I think I can claim that I've established myself as a moped-er. Still............these motorized bikes aren't really quite good enough.
Somewhere around a year ago I became aware of the SYM Symba 100. When I came to understand just what that bike is, I found myself really wanting one pretty badly. Then I noticed that a motorcycle/ATV dealer near me was a SYM dealer. I spent a bit of time thinking about it. And thinking about my wife and how she relies on her car far too much, and so on.
So I said to her, "You know.......I've been thinking about getting you a scooter...." She perked right up and got a big smile on her face and said, "Oh, yeah???......Tell me more...." or something like that. So we went down to this SYM dealer and I said, "Have you got a Symba in stock? I'd like to see one and get the feel for it". The guy said no they didn't have one on hand. And that they were going to give up their SYM franchise. They seemed to feel that SYM demanded too much of them. It's a pity. I really would have liked to get to know that bike. But I''m not gonna buy a new bike with no dealer support.
So we turned to the Honda Metropolitans that they did have in stock. I didn't come right out and say so that minute, but I already knew that we were going home with a scoot that day. After looking it over and confirming that it wasn't too tall for my wife --I was confident of that on a 50cc, anyway. But she's a bit short. So we had to be sure-- I made them an offer that was a couple hundred bucks below MSRP. They actually came back with a better counter-offer. I got a new 2015 model for almost exactly two thousand, even. Out the door total. This was the first week of January. Maybe that had something to do with it. They probably didn't expect to sell a scoot that week. Maybe that whole month.
And my wife was happy as a clam. She took to that scoot like a puppy dog takes to chewing on furniture. Those first few days and evenings we'd take turns taking little rides in the neighborhood. Up to the gas station for a coffee or a hot chocolate. Stuff like that. It wasn't unusual for me. I've been a year-round two-wheeler all of my life. But my wife doesn't have that kind of history.
But the fact that it was January didn't bother her one bit. It's true that the Honda didn't start up when the temp was in the single digits F. Even with a battery tender on it. But I told her, "Look, it wasn't meant to start up in temps like that" and she took it with reasonable grace. But if the temp got into double digits, then she wanted to ride. Not far, of course. Those are pretty extreme conditions for a scooter. And some days there was simply too much ice on the road even if the temp wasn't too bad. And while she was a little disappointed, she understood.
But spring came quickly enough and I'm happy to report that she's riding daily and clearly prefers her scoot over her car. I do remember one day about a month ago when the weather was so threatening that she took the car. But I think that's the only day so far. And a couple of weeks ago it was raining fairly heavily at about the time she was getting off work. So I drove on down in my truck, figuring on picking up both her and the bike. The rain had eased up. But it was still steady rain. She said that she'd rather ride her bike home. Well, okay.
I also bought a shop manual for the Metropolitan. I'll be able to do a lot of service work myself. We're a little overdue right now for the 500 mile maintenance. We're at 600 plus. I'm going to take it to the dealer for that first scheduled maintenance since that's a pretty important one. And I'll be calling them for an appointment tomorrow. Since it's high time to get this done.
During this time I've felt fairly tempted to get a scoot for myself. But I haven't jumped since I'm doing okay as is. Yet.....stilll.......it's been pretty tempting. Then a couple of weeks ago I spotted a scooter sitting among the cars at a local independent car lot. I stopped and had a look. It's a Kymco People 150. I felt like Kymco rang a bell. But I didn't really know if I was looking at something worth having or if it was some no-name piece of cheese that nobody would ever want. When the guy told me that the price was a thousand bucks I turned it down and went on my way.
But I looked it up online and found that Kymco is a make that has respect in the scoot community and that the People 150 has a good reputation as well. So I went back and looked it over more closely and took it for a short spin. It looks well-maintained and it started fine and operated as well, seemingly, as my wife's Metro.
So I've spent a few days just trying to decide whether to pull the trigger or not. And I've been inclined toward "Yes" and I've been inclined toward "No". I do want that scoot, or something similar, yet I'm doing okay as is. My wife and I can ride together, after all. I can cruise at 20 mph on my motorized bike without it screaming too badly. And my wife doesn't mind going at pretty slow speeds. I'd rather she did, for that matter. She is still a newbie, after all. That's the only bad thing about this so far, as a matter of fact. As a lifelong two-wheeler I have a very good notion of just how dangerous traffic can be for us. And I've worked out a lot of techniques for dealing with it. She seems to have little conception of how invisible we are to them. She accepts my advice with reasonable grace most of the time. But so far I doubt that it's really going to heart. She dreams a bit of having the engine needed to run with those packs of four-wheeled wolves and I'm determined to deny her the ability for some time to come. She ain't getting anything larger than 50cc for quite some time.
One problem will be if I get something larger. She'll get her hands on it, or she'll try to, sooner or later. I'll have to be careful. But I also think that, with time, I can convince her that this matter requires more thought than she might have been giving it. If I can achieve that, then I think we've gotten her safety margins within reasonable bounds. And there's the possibility that some lame-brain chatting on a cell phone will drive the point home in a more direct manner than me just talking about it.
But, anyway, tonight when it was just about time for her to be getting off of work I started riding on down there to escort her home. She doesn't actually need me. But on non-work nights for me it's kinda nice. Plus we work at the same place. So I can go in and have a cup of coffee and visit with friends and so on.
But I got about half-way there when my engine chain popped of the sprocket. It happens occasionally. But I'd been keeping an eye on that tension because it had been a thorn in my side. I'd been adjusting frequently. I even checked the tension this afternoon after a ride. It was okay then. But not tonight. I'll be able to fabricate an axle adjuster. If not on this bike, then on the next one. I've got a design in mind that ought to work.
But I'm tired of riding a bike that I just can't full rely on. And it's kinda noisy, too.
So tomorrow I'm buying that Kymco. And if I find that it's been sold or otherwise not available, then I'm buying a Metropolitan for myself. I'm not too sure which one I'd rather go with. I kinda don't want a 150cc engine within my wife's grasp just yet. But I also don't have quite two thousand plus dollars right on hand. I'll manage it. But it'll take some creative budgeting. In fact, it'll be more like robbing Peter to pay Paul. But I do have one advantage in that; my wife is actively supportive of me getting a scooter. So she'll be cooperative on the penny pinching that'll need to be done if a buy a new Metro.
So it's likely that I'll be a scoot rider as well the next time I post here. And I'm feeling pretty happy at the thought.
Life is good riding a bike like these.
