$GAS...Start the motorbike revolution!

[mb7588a]

The streets of urban Europe are a playground for zippity motorbikes and scooters. Why is that not the case in the U.S.?

The benefits are amazing!
- Much easier to park than a big car
- Much easier to maneuver through traffic than a big car
- ~70mpg (for a Vespa)

The problems (few)
- Rain
- A little noisy
- Can't haul your groceries

I was shocked in Europe last summer by the amount of motorbikes and scooters. In Rome and Florence they were EVERYWHERE. In Vienna and Berlin there were bicyclists everywhere! If not a motorbike, get a normal bicycle (and be healthier!)!

Good place to start:
http://www.vespausa.com/

I'm gonna buy one!

[Midlodemocrat]

1. Would love to.

But I don't think they make one that holds a driver and three kids. So, I am going to stick with the minivan. Not too bad on gas mileage, about 20MPH city, 25 or so highway.

[w8liftinglady]

2. my problem,too-plus insane Dallas drivers...

[htuttle]

3. 3 kids? No problem -- You just need a good sense of balance

[eleny]

5. In the US this could translate into a VW Bug

[w8liftinglady]

8. lol..my kids are 9 and 14-5'5 and 6'4 respectively..

we grow 'em big down here

[BeFree]

7. 20-25 is not too bad?

It's terrible. We could have vans that get twice that. Settling for what we have been told by GM and Ford is not good enough. We are running out of oil and at the present rate, your children will have nothing but fond memories of the stuff.

[flamin lib]

9. Mini vans have been classified as "light trucks" so they don't

have to meet CAFE standards. Otherwise they would be getting 30-35 mpg like my wife's Sentra.

[Midlodemocrat]

11. Yes, you're right. We could have vans that get twice that.

But, we don't. There are seven people living in my house and I drive a 2000 Grand Caravan. I drive it as seldom as possible and combine all my errands.

It is the best I can do right now.

[mb7588a]

16. I live in the most densely populated zip code in DC

, and every car I see has one person in it!

You and your kids won't ride a scooter, no, but the rest of the folk in a car by themselves certainly could.

[AllieB]

4. Looking out my office building here in Boston, there are about a dozen

Vespas and other small scooters, and a half dozen motorbikes parked in the designated zone. They're a pretty common sight when the weather gets nice here, and even when it isn't nice. I would get one if I didn't have access to public transportation.

[mb7588a]

17. Awesome!

I'm in DC and I RARELY see them.

In Rome there was 5 times as many motorbikes as cars. It was beautiful

[AllieB]

31. There's a lot of students and young folks in Boston

it's must cheaper to insure a scooter than a car here!

[tridim]

6. A few other problems

- They're dangerous (especially sharing the road with asshole SUV drivers)

- Can't haul much cargo or passengers (90% of my trips require a trunk)

- Snow, cold, wind, sand on the road. I used to have a motorcycle and was almost killed by loose sand in a turn.

The benefits certainly outweigh the drawbacks, and if I could afford a scooter I'd buy one in a second. Same deal with a hybrid car.

[Swamp Rat]

10. Bicycles are a much cheaper and a better alternative.

If out of shape, one can buy an electric bike. No license or insurance required, and no petrol is required. They operate silently and emit no polution. Of course they are slower, but in the city where the traffic is dense, the moped loses its speed advantage to a large extent. PLUS, electric bikes are a lot cheaper and one can even modify their existing bike with a kit for as low as approx. $300 dollars.

One of the best benifits and advantages of ebikes over mopeds: people who are out of shape eventually become fit. :)

[w8liftinglady]

12. i never thought of e-bikes,but you're right...

I may look into that-at least for trips around town...

[Swamp Rat]

14. Check out this thread for links and info:

:hi: :hug:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=324x1049

[MadHound]

15. Big drawback with mopeds, speed

I live twenty six miles from where I work. Now while I have done the twenty four mile round trip bike commute, fifty two miles is a bit much. I don't want to have to get on the road at 5:30 just to get to work, or to get home at 7:30. Hence, I use a Bajaj scooter.


It gets 100mpg, it cruises at 55-60 mph. Lovely little bike, fun to ride, easy on gas, and I still have time to work around the farm when I get home.

For those of you who are thinking of looking into getting a scooter, I highly recommend one of these. I've had mine a little over six months, and put four thousand miles on it already, and she's running like a champ. You can find out more at <http://www.bajajusa.com>

[mb7588a]

19. You are a fine Ameircan, MadHount. nt.

[MadHound]

21. LOL, thanks, but not really.

I just don't want to pay high gas prices, pollute the air any more than needed, and I want to live out in the country where I can grow my own food and generate my own energy. Hopefully I'm going to install a wind turbine this summer, along with a wood stove.

Besides, riding that scooter is tons of fun. I don't run the highway, just the backroads, and hence I don't have all that highway tension. And frankly, riding anything on two wheels, bike, moped, scooter or motorcycle, is the closest a person can come to flying without leaving the ground.

[htuttle]

23. I'll second those

I've had a 2003 Chetak since it was new. I ride it every day that it's not snowing or icy (then I take the bus or a taxi).

We've discussed this before, but the only drawbacks were the original tires were not great, and I had to tighten a number of loose nuts and bolts after a few weeks of riding it. Otherwise, it's been low maintenance, high fun, and cheap to drive. I spend about $1.50 every 2-3 weeks on gas.

"Seats two, carries a nation," as they say in Puna...:hi:

[MadHound]

25. Yeah, the factory tires sucked

My back one was going bald after 3000 miles(so much for the whole "rotate after 10,000 miles" recommendation:eyes:), so I just switched both out for a couple of Michelin S-83s. Much better tires, stick to the road better and a lot more stable. And I'm sure they'll wear better.

Only thing I've had to tighten were the nuts holding the muffler on, everything else seemed to be OK.

I put a couple of bucks worth of gas in every other day, but hell, I'm running it fifty plus miles every day, I think it's getting great gas mileage.

And I look forward to the commute each and every day I ride. Can't say that about any car(OK, you can say that about a few cars, but not damn many, and most of them I can't afford anyway)

And it is amazing what they can carry. I've seen pictures from India where is looks like the driver is carrying his entire crop in a huuuge bag on the back of a Chetak.

[tridim]

27. I love the fact that it's a manual transmission

A big selling point for me as I hate all automatic vehicles.

Just wish I had 3 grand to spend.

[MadHound]

29. Yeah, that was a big selling point for me also

Automatic trannys on a scooter seem to take forever to get up to speed. The Chetak just picks up and goes with a manual,faster than most cars off a dead stop, and I've even beat out some crotch rockets from a dead stop. And I'm especially pleased that the gear shifter is on the handle, not a foot shifter. I always hated foot shifters on the big bikes, always a pain until you get used to them. This one you just twist and go.

Yeah, the price is a bit steep, but it's well worth the money. Given the amount of driving I do, the bike will pay for itself within two years, less if the price of gas keeps climging. And these puppies last well. I've seen a couple on eBay that were from the early eighties, still in good shape, still going strong.

[Swamp Rat]

28. Thanks for the link

I bet the automatic scooter will be a hit.

[mb7588a]

18. ebikes yes!

I hadn't thought of those.

There's also a new wave of research on hydrogen-powered motorbikes. They make no pollution, and no noise!

[Ganja Ninja]

13. I'd love to have one of these,

GENERAL INFORMATION

Manufacturer Aprilia
Model Year 2006
Model Scarabeo 500 ABS
M.S.R.P. $7,399.00
Engine 4-stroke, 4-valve heads, liquid-cooled, 39 hp @ 7,250 rpm
Displacement 500 cc
Suspension Front: 40 mm fork
Rear: Adjustable dual-shock
Brakes Anti-lock Braking System (ABS)
Tires Front & Rear: 16 in. wheels

65 mpg too!

[Matariki]

20. are there scooters that don't have 2- stoke engines?

as i understand 2-stroke engines are very polluting.

i used to have a scooter btw and I LOVED it. then i traded it for a motorcycle and i loved that too. I sold the motorcycle to get a good bike for a trip around northern europe. That was one of those experiences of a lifetime, but now i want a scooter or cycle again. Can't decide which, but I'm concerned about the 2-stroke engine thing...

[Matariki]

22. oops, went to the vespa site, and answered my own question

but damn, they're expensive...

[htuttle]

24. Bajaj scooters are all 4-stroke in the US

Chetaks or Legends (though I think they only sell Chetaks after the 2005 model year).

They have about the lowest emissions of any gas powered vehicle.

[bullwinkle428]

26. The Piaggio products look totally kick-ass...kinda like a sport bike!

I'd probably think about it more seriously if I lived in a place where I could use it year-round, though...

[Blue_Tires]

30. i hope some of those (future) brand new gixxer owners

take some courses on motorcycle safety!

[aint_no_life_nowhere]

32. Hybrid auto-motorcyles (three wheelers)

The experimental Volkswagen GX3 is a three-wheel two-passenger vehicle that's basically a motorcyle with the comforts of an automobile. It boasts 46 mpg in the city and acceleration of 0 to 60 in 5.7 seconds. The proposed sales price when they come on the market will be about $17,000.

http://www.vwvortex.com/artman/publish/volkswagen_news/article_1647.shtml

Or, if you want a three-wheel motorbike with a hard-top and side-by-side seating and can afford the $70,000 price tag, there's the American made T-Rex:

http://t-rexusa.com/?gclid=CKa6rKXL34QCFQLISAodNws4Pg