Similar situations can occur on windy days when you’re adjusted to the wind, and a semi goes by and cuts it off. That can also be a puckering situation.
ENVY ENVY ENVY.
I was so going to get a Vespa. An old one at that. You know, the Italian dream. swoons And then I discovered the classic ones have no catalysers and therefore cause air pollution and so they restrict them from the centre in winter. I live bang in the middle of town, so that rather would rather complicate my life. The newer ones, which don’t have this problem, are outside my budget for now. But one day…Of course, with the old Vespas you have to master the gears as well, so it would have been even harder to get it home.
Hmm, post is going a bit towards general scooter chat, but no matter. Can you tell I’m excited? 
Anyway, thanks for the good advice. I will do my best to stay safe! I had to look up what lane splitting was, but we definitely do that here, all the time. In fact for some of the richer people, the most important reason they have one is to get to the beach this way when the traffic is blocked.
Good point too, about owning the lane. I could definitely see myself “shyly” staying close to the curb, and that would be asking for people to try and squeeze past.
A bit of mechanical knowledge wouldn’t go amiss either. At the moment I’m up to “wheel 1” and "wheel 2 as “elements of scooter”. Seriously, though, in addition to mechanical knowledge I have to learn the words in Italian, too. I have decent Italian, but never had any cause to learn those terms before now.
Eek, sounds scary. Luckily strong wind is rare here. Though when I used to live in Ireland, I’d get wind strong enough to make my little Suzuki Swift car drift, so I can see what that would do to a scooter. :eek:
Son of a Rich,“Puckering” (>X<) is such a perfect description. It made me laugh. I’m curious, what kind of motorcycle do you own? Whereabouts are you?
PookahMacPhellimey, go to modernvespa.com. They will welcome you with open arms and they’re a world of information. Pretty cool folks, IMO.
I have a Kawasaki KLR650 and a Honda VFR800- It’s the best of both worlds.
I’m in Nebraska, land of the straight roads. My tires are getting pretty squared off:o
Welcome to scootering! My first scooter was an Aprilia Scarabeo 150. Aprilia makes great scooters. 100 cc will get you around town as fast as you want to go, and the larger wheels make them more stable than other scooters. As for riding, as someone else pointed out, it depends on how comfortable you are with learning new vehicles. I rode mine home from where I bought it, and I hadn’t had any riding experience since I was a teenager (on a Honda 90). It can be intimidating at first, though. However you get it home, take it slow and easy for a while – spend lots of time riding sedate streets around your neighborhood until you learn the feel of the scooter – the acceleration and maneouverability. And have fun. I spent this summer going on the most gorgeous rides all over hell and back. It was one of my best summers ever. And BTW, you ride scooters, not drive them.
Now that the thread is devolving into general 2-wheel discussion, my first “real” motorcycle was a KLR and I had a similar experience getting it home from the guy I bought it from. The actual riding went okay, but I ended up dropping the thing at an intersection (while stopped) and clamoring to get the top-heavy SOB up while people honked and laughed.
Of course later I dropped it pretty much constantly in the mountains and so it got to a point that falling and immediately picking it up became second nature. (Mountains are tall things we have in other parts of the country.)
Oops. :o
Really? But Why? I ride in mountains and haven’t dropped mine…yet.
The KLR is basically just a tall, heavy, highway-legal dirtbike. It’s not quite as bad as things like some of the monstrous BMW adventure bikes, but it’s still just a tad unwieldy doing tight maneuvering on jeep trails and single tracks and things like that. Usually the issue is that the thing is so tall that I can just tip-toe it on flat ground, but if I’m trying to turn around on a steep hill and try to put my foot down on the downhill side… cathunk!
In my defense, I haven’t dropped it on pavement since the embarrassing incident on the way home!
Ah, I see. The roughest surface that my scooter has been on is a bumby gravel road for short periods. I did, however, lay it down one morning when I had a super early shift at work and was leaving at 6:30a.m. The seat was dewy (I have a carport, not a garage :(), and when I put my leg over and slid on the seat it sort of got stuck and I couldn’t get my leg down on the other side to touch the ground fast enough. I started going over and that was it. It was in total slow motion. I held on to it as much as I could and fought gravity right to the very end when it ever so gently touched the driveway. I must’ve said, “no-no-no-no-no-nooooo…” about 30 times while it was happening. My poor baby!! No major damage at all. I’ve touched it up and the paint still looks as good as new. It wasn’t easy getting it up, but I did it!
Okay scooter friends. So here’s what’s happened.
The scooter got moved by the vendor to a different place. This place was actually on an easier road, so no problem. Except I didn’t know this road quite as well…
So, I drive around a very quiet neighbourhood a bit, go on the road. It’s a beautiful sunny day and everything’s fine until I come to a confusing roundabout/crossroad. Now, I knew where I’d go on bike because there’s a bike lane, but I can’t go on that so I take a turn. And end up on the ring road. :eek: Now this is not a motorway, but it has a speed limit of 90km an hour and lots of very fast traffic and I’m not allowed to be on it. Shit. So I panic. Stop at the side and ring the police and explain. They tell me to wait and send me two cops on big motor cycles who escort me off the thing again. I make it safely home without incidents after that. 
Maybe this is not quite as crazy as it sounds, because I know that plenty of locals actually use this road on scooters on purpose, illegally. There’s no sign to warn you not to. I even saw a 50cc scooter on there, which is insane, but that’s Italians for you. But it was actually legal for 125cc to go on it until two years ago, and in fact the dispatcher was a bit sceptical about me needing assistance at all. However, the cops said I was absolutely right to ring it in if I was unsure rather than risk an accident. With more experience I could have probably just gone full throttle and got off at the nearest exit without too many problems, but I wasn’t sure of what the bike could do or how to drive at that speed and didn’t know where the exit was either. So I didn’t risk it and I am glad I didn’t.
On the upside, the driving part was much easier than I thought. Now am going for another practice run on a road I know! Ciao!
Good for you! I am glad you got that done. You also showed good judgement when you called the police for their help. It is what they are there for.
Welcome to the world of two wheels! I can still remember my first ride like it was yesterday. It was many decades ago. I can not imagine not riding.
As others have said, keep your head on a swivel, IE: always be aware of what is going on around you. You can not react to something that you do not see. As you gain experience you will feel more comfortable. Comfortable is good, complacent is not!
As Scootergirl said, find a group of scooter riders and listen to them and their stories. A local, in person group is good, but an online group is also valuable. The on line ones are nice in that you can just hide and watch, or lurk as they say.
Do not be afraid to ask questions. Most riders will be happy to help a newbie. I am, as is Scootergirl, and many of the others.
Oh, taking a motorcycle riding course is a good thing. Here in the states, you often get a break on your insurance if you pass one.
IHTH, 48.
Several years ago I bought a motor scooter. I had just taken the motorcycle safety course and planned on getting one. Unfortunately, most of the bikes I saw were much bigger with more horsepower than I felt I needed. I just wanted something to commute to work and stop by the store on the way home for a few items. I felt the salesmen were pushing me to get more than what I wanted.
I then noticed in the back some scooters and I liked the style, price and just about everything about it. Unfortunately, it got stolen and stripped. At that time things were in flux and I didn’t replace it and still haven’t.
Every so often I consider getting rid of my truck and just getting a scooter. I think Houston has a good climate and it wouldn’t be too much of a problem to do that. Maybe someday.
Oh I’m happy to hear back from you! I was wondering if we would. That was quite an initiation you had there! And that was a good decision, too.
OK then, practice away and in no time you’ll get more and more comfortable.
There’s just one thing that you need to remember for the next time you check in. Repeat after me: I ride my scooter. I drive my car. 
I lived in Houston from 1982-1986. I don’t know if things have changed, but at the time I-45 was not rider friendly. I saw more empty Lone Star beer cans fly out of vehicle windows than I can count. I rode 2-up on my buddy’s motorcycle from Houston to Galveston one time. It was super fun, but not without its white-knuckle moments.
I hope you do get back to scooting. The more two wheel riders the better!
What do you ride, 48Willys? I see from your profile that you live in Colorado. I spent a couple of weeks traveling through there in 1995. I drove from Albuquerque to Durango and went all over that area including Mesa Verde National Park. I didn’t ride back then, but I remember those roads well. It would be amazing to ride in CO. Oregon, where I live, is also a great place for it. I spent this Summer scooting all over the place. I love my scooter so much. To me it is so much more than a machine to get around in. When I leave the city and ride those winding country roads, I’m just in heaven. All my cares left behind and…well, I’m sure you know what I mean.
Yes! I do know what you mean! The winding country roads are the best. I love them in Colorado, Oregon, Washington, Northern California, Idaho, and western Montana. I will see the SW next summer.
Have you ever heard of the Rose City Grand Tour? It is a self guided tour of Oregon for riders. You pay some $ and get a booklet that has 15 (I think) pages with checkpoints from all over the state on each one. You have the entire summer to get at least ten of them checked off. Then they have a dinner get together in the fall and prizes are awarded. Both years we did this we got all 15 checkpoints. Folks have done this on scooters as well as motorcycles and trikes.
Here is the link [EMAIL=“http://www.rose-city-mc.org/RCEventfliers/GT.html”]http://www.rose-city-mc.org/RCEventfliers/GT.html
I grew up in the PNW. I learned to ride in a town west of Portland. I ride many bikes, mostly Hondas. I have a 1979 CB750A, a 1978 CB750A, a 1985 VF750C Shadow (my wife rides its twin), a 1976 GL1000 Gold wing, and a 1972 Triumph Tiger 650. I have other bikes, but these are the ones that I ride the most.
Note: The CB750A is the 750 Hondamatic, it has a two speed automatic transmission. Honda only made these units for three years. They made a CB400A for seven years, IIRC. I had one of those, but I hung a custom sidecar on it for a friend to ride. We put his wheel chair in the sidecar & mounted a set of handle bars on the sidecar for him. The automatic transmission made the shift linkage easier, and it eliminated the need for clutch linkage. He felt that the 750 was too much for him. I have another CB750A in the barn in case he changes his mind.
:smack: I keep doing that!
Lame defense. In Italian it’s the same word for both: “guidare”. I’m not Italian, though.