After reading some recent motorcycle threads, seems there are quite a few dopers on scooters. There’s something I’ve been wondering and I thought I might ask.
A bit of riding etiquette is for passing motorcyclists to wave to each other. Not everybody does it, and it’s no big deal if you don’t, but it’s just something to acknowledge that you’re part of the two-wheeled fraternity. The probability of getting a wave depends on what you’re riding. Cruiser guys are more likely to wave to other cruisers and ignore sportbikes, and vice versa. Old guys on Beemers wave to everybody. For some reason, nobody waves in the rain.
But I’ve noticed that I’ve never had a wave returned by someone on a scooter. Not even once. I have a couple of theories, and I’d like to hear from “scooterists”. Do scooters have their own culture, separate from motorcycles? Is there something scooter riders do to acknowledge one another? Are you a newer rider that doesn’t know what this waving stuff is all about? I suspect the latter is the case since the number of scooters around where I live has simply exploded in the past year. Mostly college kids riding in the vicinity of the university.
I’ve never initiated a wave exchange with a motorcyclist, nor have I initiated one with a moped-ist. No one on a motorcycle has ever waved to me (at least not that I noticed), but a guy on a moped did wave to me once (actually, it was more like a mini-salute, “Top of the mornin’ to ya” type thing) and I did return it (to the best of my ability).
I don’t know if moped/scooter riders have etiquette rules for these situations, probably because I’m the only person I know personally who rides a moped. I didn’t know about the motorcyclists-waving-to-each-other thing either, though. It all reminds me of Larry David waving to other Prius drivers, even when he’s walking.
I’ll wave to other motorcyclists when it’s basically just me and the other motorcyclist on that stretch of road. It there’s lots of traffic and therefore, probably more motorcycles, I’m not going to go out of my way to wave at everybody.
I wouldn’t wave at someone on a scooter and if they waved at me I’d laugh. I might return the wave but I’d be laughing. It’d be like returning the wave from a little kid on a tricycle.
I can only think of one time that I passed a motorcyclist on the rode while scooting where we saluted. But it was a nod rather than a wave. It felt as though he were a world-famous painter who had walked by me while I was doing color-by-numbers, and he ruffled my hair to encourage me to keep trying, you know?
Different waves for different classes of rides and people. I wave at all 2 wheelers, including kids in driveways if they make eye contact and also groups of ‘Le Tour’ wannabes clogging the road. Them I go wild on them and try to force them to wave back. It really messes with their rhythm. Bawahahahaa
Also any 4 or 18 wheeler who shows that they are trying to be careful of me and have actually seen me. This does not happen much.
I ride a scooter (Suzuki Burgman 650–it’s a motorcycle in a scooter suit!) and I wave at anybody who waves at me. I don’t often initiate waves (not sure why–I just don’t tend to do it) but I never fail to respond to a wave if I get one.
I find that motorcyclists wave at me about 25% of the time–but then, that’s about the same wave percentage I got when I rode a GSX-R1000, so I don’t think it’s the scooter.
I got a few waves from real cyclists while on my Honda 50cc. I didn’t know of the convention until then. On my Honda 500 ten years later, I got a lot more lifted fingers and nods.
I have riden a Yamaha scooter for 22 years, and it’s my main transportation in the summer. I also live in an area where motorcycles are common, especially the big touring bikes often with multiple riders, and even entire clubs. I have always thought it might be considered presumptious to wave at the big boys, so I usually wave or nod in a low-key manner that can be ignored if desired. But they usually wave back.
If I park next to the hogs, I always tell the owners that their model is what mine wants to be when it grows up. I certainly don’t put my cheap wheels in their class, but I have yet to encounter any hostility.
Rereading the OP: the title may not reflect what was actually asked in the body. Are you inquiring about scooter to scooter encounters only? If so, I wave at other scooters, but you may be right, they don’t always respond. The motorcycles seem to understand the game a little better. And certainly if the wave is initiated by a motorcycle rider, I will return it.
I’ve been waved at (well, acknowledged by head-bob, really) by motorcyclists when on my wife’s scooter, but I’ve never initiated it.
One day, the scooter wouldn’t start so I was pushing it to The Scooter Store which is only about a mile or so down the road. A racing-bike went past, with a young bloke driving and a gal riding pillion. “Get a real bike,” he yelled.
Excuse the partial hijack, or digression. There used to be a definite pecking order back when I drove sports cars. drivers of MGs and Triumphs waved at each other. If an Alpha Romeo, for example came by, you waited for the driver to wave to you, then you returned it. It would be presumptuous to do otherwise.
Some magazine, I think Sports Illustrated, had a funny article on this many years ago. It ended by saying that if a Bugatti Royale ever came along, no matter what you drove, you were required to stop, get out of your car, stand at attention, and salute.
