Not only have I been going everywhere this week on a scooter, I joined with a thundering (Thundering? Not really, more of a buzzing) horde yesterday, carving our way through the city, out to pit our wits against a corn maze.
My friend Sue, who rides a Buddy 150, belongs to this club, Sqream, and we hooked up with other club members on several Vespas, a Kymco, a Giovanni, and an Aprilia. I'm riding a Piaggio Fly 50, courtesy of Erico Motorsports, very graciously loaned to me for the sake of doing this series of articles. My scoot was the smallest of the bunch, but I didn't have any trouble keeping up. The aftermarket carbs and exhaust let the scoot breathe more freely and that boosts the power.
Make no mistake, these scoots may not be 1000cc growlers, but they've got power. Sue's friend Corey, on the 250cc Kymco, was telling me how he was cruising at 90 mph on a recent trip to Nebraska. Heck, my 1980 Honda CB750 Custom motorcycle has a top speed of 85 mph. And I've only managed to peg the needle once. It's amazing how much more power comes in such smaller packages these days.
One particularly pleasant aspect of scootering is the inclination to avoid the major arterial streets. On a little thing like the Fly, major highways are totally out of the question anyway. So while I don't hesitate to take major streets, if there is a lesser street that will get me to the same destination I take it. That was the case as well with the route devised by Diana Maize, the ride leader for yesterday's event.
The result is that I'm seeing different parts of town and enjoying an easier-going outing as I go places. It's nice. It's so much more of a sit-back-and-enjoy-the-ride kind of thing than battling the traffic on the main roads.
Of course, it also means taking more time. That's perfectly OK on short errands, but I need to go to Boulder tomorrow, and that will be a major outing. Normally I would jump on I-25 north to the Boulder Turnpike and be in Boulder in 45 minutes or less. On the scoot, I'll be taking city streets, none of which are diagonal like the turnpike, so I figure it will be more like an hour and a half each way. But I'll see a lot of parts of town I haven't seen in a long, long time. And I like that. I always enjoy exploring.
I started this week of scootering with the idea in mind that it was going to be a lot of fun. I was definitely right about that. There may be some folks who are a bit macho and look down on scooters, but the way I see it, fun is fun, and if your narrow outlook precludes you from having fun, that's your loss. As for me, I know I'm going to hate to have to give it back come Tuesday.
Related articles
Gone scootering for a week
Scootering with the horde
Scootering week wrap-up; Doing some hard riding
Comments
90 mph on a scooter? I'm impressed.
Great stuff Ken - my new Blur (220ccs) will get me up to an indicated 80 (when conditions permit), maybe a bit more. The windscreen helps!
I know a couple of ladies that both bought scooters. They have a man friend that owns a Harley so when they got brave enough to get out of the parking lots and ride the streets, they rendezvoused with him and followed him to a real deal biker bar.
They rode their little scooters right in behind the leading Harley and followed his example of backing the scoots in toward the curb, took their helmets off and sashayed right into the sea of tattooed, patch wearing, hardcore bikers and ordered lunch.
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