How to justify a scooter vs. a car

[JohnnyGrey]

Say what you will about cars, but it would depend strongly on where you live. As a personal note I am on this mission to improve efficiency because my best friend currently sits in a hospital recovering from an accident he had on his motorcycle. He was hit by a car, a lady on her freakin cell phone. He will likely have permanent brain damage despite wearing a helmet and that will be the best scenario if his physical wounds heal 100%.

Everyone knows a story like that. A guy on my street who owns a popular authentic Italian place was on his way over there on a moped when some kid on his phone ran a red light and slammed into him. He's in his house right now, on life support, in a coma, and for what? I guess he's saving lots of gas now because his family sold his SUV.

[dcb]

You guys should just stay inside where it's safe

JG, you are waaaaayy off on your 21x organ donor figure.

[adrive7]

I rode a scooter to work everyday last summer. I found a 1999 Yamaha Zuma on craigslist for $350. It needed work and I was able to talk the seller down to $300. I put about $150 into it over the course of the summer, increasing the top speed from about 5 mph (slow but running!) when I bought it to about 45 mph by the end of the summer. Despite having a poorly tuned carb and a giant exhaust leak I was still able to get about 60mpg out of the 50cc drivetrain (still needs CVT work and the exhaust fixed). My weekly commute cost about $3.

Scooters are a blast to ride, so what if you look a little stupid. If you do get one I would recommend a name brand like Honda or Yamaha for parts availability and quality. Also, as is said so often about motorcycles, its not the motorcycle you need to worry about its the other drivers on the road.

Scariest scootering moment yet: Driving down the road at night and a woman in a Mercedes pulled out of an apartment complex into my lane without even looking my way. I laid on my ridiculous sounding horn and she stopped in time for me to swerve around her, but its just another example of how alert you need to be when riding.

[Ryland]

When I took the motorcycle safety class they gave us a list of accident statistics and out of the 100 or so about 3 of them involve the motorcycle operator wearing a helmet, was sober and was not speeding and they made a big point of that, always wear a helmet, don't drink and don't speed!
A scooter has a top speed of 30mph so speeding is not an option, most people don't drink and operate them and so you are left with wearing your helmet, the advantage that they have over a bike is that they make a sound, they have lights including turn signals and brake lights and they have a horn.

I take personal responsibility for my self while on my scooter or motorcycle and figure if I get killed that the world still has to many people.

[Greenblazer]

I love motorcycles, and my dog does too.



Scooters can get phenominal MPG, but they are dangerous. The above statistics do not take into consideration that there are waaaaay more cars on the road than motorcycles, so of course more people die in cars. If you were in an accident in a car you are less likely to be injured than on a bike. No offense, but the reality is inexperienced(young) drivers are far more likely to experience an accident, so your parents are right. Motorcycles have other expenses that make them not as economical as their fuel efficiency might lead you to believe, plus girls and their parents are less likely to approve of a scooter over a car when it comes to going on a date. Motorcycles are great for recreation, but they are high risk RVs. Because of maintenence cost, parts cost, insurance costs, and the level of risk, motorcycles are not the good deal you might think they are.

I would cite this example: In April 2005 I had just bought my DRZ 400 which got 50 or so MPG. About month and a half later some guy in a Lincoln Navagator decided to make a u-turn from the right lane right in front of me. I was in the left lane. I was injured to the point where I needed an ambulance, and three weeks off from work. I went back to work sooner than I should have, because I had bills to pay. I still have pain from the injuries. The worst part is that the guy in the lincoln lied and said I was in the scuicide(turn) lane, so the court moderator placed 20% of the blame on me. I was not at fault, but because I was on a motorcycle I got screwed. I mean to say that I am sure that I was discriminated against because I was riding a motorcycle. The lawers could have fought it, but I would have had to come up with big money that I didn't have to fight it, so I took the settlement. I lost thousands of dollars in income, and other expenses. There was further drama because of this accident. His lawer filed some paperwork with the department of motor vehicles, and they made a mistake that suspended my license, and registration, I was almost arrested, and it took about a month to sort that mess out. This cost me a bunch of money for taxi's to work, and three trips to court. Mass quantities of stress, and money. There is even more to the story, but it's too much to talk about here.

My bike is just over 3 years old and has over 45,000 miles on it. Still runs fine, but it needs to be overhauled, further reducing the effect of the fuel savings. I have 30+ years of experience riding motorcycles, and I love them, but they have their drawbacks. Get a car, and a bicycle, besides a car's back seat is way easier to make out in, a girl might not even talk to the guy with a scooter. At 42 and never married, I would say that motorcycles have definately contributed to me staying single and dateless. My new girlfriend digs my new Tacoma, and it has a back seat.

Later,

Allan Greenblazer

[dcb]

Originally Posted by Greenblazer

but the reality is inexperienced(young) drivers are far more likely to experience an accident.

Everybody has a story about the car full of inexperienced teens that crashed and died too.

Originally Posted by Greenblazer

At 42 and never married, I would say that motorcycles have definately contributed to me staying single and dateless.

Sorry, I don't think you can't blame the bike for that one I was motorcycle only when I met my wife, and did have other girlfirends who dug a bike, even though I always drive rat bikes too (they cheap).

[NoCO2]

Not saying I wouldn't keep my car. The car would just become my secondary mode of transport because I find it ridiculous that I work 5 miles from where I live, but I have to take a sedan to get there (riding my bike is hard because it's a very small, high speed limit road with almost no shoulder to ride on). Thinking it over, I might just get one of those electric assists like I was thinking about a while ago and maybe just use that to boost my speed to near 30mph so I can at least stay more or less with the flow of traffic on my road bike.

Thanks for the stats on the motorcycles by the way. I was just curious, for my own benefit, what they actually were because I guess it may just be the area I live in. But I know at least 2 dozen people who ride motocycles/scooters or who used to, and only 2 of them have been in accidents, and very minor ones at that. One of those people is actually my father, which I think has something to do with his decision on the matter. He was struck at an intersection where he was waiting at a red light in down town Manhattan, when a motorist hit him from the side. This broke his right leg, but that was about it. He hasn't had any long term repercussions from it, but it has scared him to the point where he is 100% anti-bike.

Nice to see the stats. on the bicycles too, I had no idea the pedestrian fatality rate was so high compared to bikes, I would have assumed cyclists have the greater chance of being killed because they are actually in the road going, sometimes, no faster then a jogging pedestrian.

[Lazarus]

Since $4.00 is the breaking point you could follow the goverments lead and have your folks subsidize you .50 cents on the gallon and proceed as usually.

[NoCO2]

Originally Posted by Lazarus

Since $4.00 is the breaking point you could follow the goverments lead and have your folks subsidize you .50 cents on the gallon and proceed as usually.

Hmm, that's an interesting idea...so, wait, the government is subsidizing $.50 per gallon over $4 now? I haven't heard of this...

[Lazarus]

Originally Posted by NoCO2

Hmm, that's an interesting idea...so, wait, the government is subsidizing $.50 per gallon over $4 now? I haven't heard of this...

Actually we are paying about 6-8 dollars per gallon to keep it at $4.00