Scooters (thinking of getting one)

[igo]

I was thinking about getting a scooter. I don't need too much power just enough to keep up with traffic on city streets a 50cc or 150cc would work fine. Insurance is around $75 a year and they get around 60 to 100mpg. I guess this is more a move for safety/laziness then anything else. Rush hour traffic can get a bit dangerous on a bicycle. I think the ability to hold 30mph vs. 15mph would really help my sanity.

So any scooter users out there in ecomodder land?

[Christopher Jordan]

Originally Posted by igo

So any scooter users out there in ecomodder land?

My trikes are "below the legal radar" - bicycle license but no insurance necessary. Not exactly scooters!

On the news tonight scooters were mentioned- a group of teachers in a Salinas, CA. school all got new scooters as an answer too gas prices. Very admirable!

countersTrike

[Gone4]

Whats the best way to go about getting a trike though? I know where to get scooters but not trikes.

What do you look for in one?

[LostCause]

I thought about getting a scooter. If you're wondering about what to get, the best I came up with was:

• Honda C114
• Honda Super Cub
• Bajaj Chetak

I'm a fan of manual/semi-automatic gearboxes vs. CVT. Better gas mileage.

The Bajaj supposedly gets 150mpg, the Super Cub ~115mpg, the C114 ~?mpg. I wonder why all the good stuff isn't sold in the US anymore?

- LostCause

[apgrok1]

In most cases, the 50cc scooters do not require a motorcycle license and will only go 45mph (which may be OK). These are the scooters that get 100mpg. 150's can hit 65mph, but you will need a license.

[Ryland]

If you look at moped2.org they have a listing of laws by state and some of those laws group 50cc scooters in the same class as mopeds, the best option of course is to go to your department of motor vehicles and ask them for the pamphlet on scooters.
scooters2.com also has some information, but I haven't spent any time looking around to find out how good it is.
MopedArmy.com is awsome for information on mopeds, if you have questions about a scooter you will be informed that the site is not called scooter army.
For the most part, most states classify a 50cc scooter as a moped (altho mopeds have pedals) and put a speed limit on them that will vary by state, 25mph is common my state allows 30mph, automatic transmissions are also commonly required to make them simpler to operate as vehicles of this class often just require that you have a normal drivers license, at least in my state anything above 50cc engine size requires a motorcycle license.

I know more about mopeds then alot of the scooters as I work on most of the mopeds that are part of the local moped gang, and I also often get asked to help fix scooters and mopeds when they come in to the motorcycle shop that is down the road.
My Tomos Arrow (2005 50cc scooter) is supposed to get 100+ mpg, I don't have solid numbers because I only have 50 miles on it.
My old (sold last summer) Tomos Bullet (1982 moped) got 80-90mpg with an after market exhaust that gave it a big power boost for climbing hills, and raised the top speed to 35mph.
I also sold a Honda E-lite 50cc scooter last summer, it was a little sluggish compared to my Tomos's when going up hills, on flat and from a stop wasn't bad, gas mileage on that was around 90mpg.
I've ridden a friend's 250cc 2005 Vespa, claims to get around 75-80mpg with it, has a top speed of 80mph, requires a motorcycle license, for an engine that size I would prefer to have a motorcycle, but the vespa has fuel injection so it requires less matence.

If I was to recommend a new 50cc scooter, I would say to look at the Honda Ruckus (never ridden one, but it's a 4 stroke Honda), a Sachs Madass (never ridden that either, but has a 4 stroke 50cc Honda dirt bike engine), or any of the non-china made Tomos mopeds (you can get them with pedals, or foot pegs), apparently the new Tomos scooters (Nitro and Velo models) are made in china and their quality dropped when that happened.

[roflwaffle]

Originally Posted by Christopher Jordan

My trikes are "below the legal radar" - bicycle license but no insurance necessary. Not exactly scooters!

They should be registered as motorcycles or scooters, technically... That being said, people get away with registering 50-250cc scooters as scooters, and sub 50cc scooters as motorcycles, so there's a lot of leeway.

[dcb]

Originally Posted by roflwaffle

They should be registered as motorcycles or scooters, technically...

Nope, if it is electric and has three or less wheels they are in a seperate class, many can be used on bike trails. Some places put a weight limit on them and/or a top speed limit.

I talked to the detective at the Illinois Secretary of State about the lack of definition for electric bicycles and he said it is basically wide open. So put whatever you want together for an electric bike/trike and take your chances that the officer will see it your way, if not take it up with the legislature.

[roflwaffle]

Originally Posted by dcb

Nope, if it is electric and has three or less wheels they are in a seperate class, many can be used on bike trails. Some places put a weight limit on them and/or a top speed limit.

I talked to the detective at the Illinois Secretary of State about the lack of definition for electric bicycles and he said it is basically wide open. So put whatever you want together for an electric bike/trike and take your chances that the officer will see it your way, if not take it up with the legislature.

I was talking to Christopher Jordan about CA regs.

[Ryland]

It's best to check with your state as to what is allowed, my state allows a motorized bicycle to simply be registered as a bicycle with the city and as long as you can removed the motor or engine to convert it back to a bicycle and it's under 125cc gas engine... altho 50cc if it's integrated in to the vehicle like a moped is.
It makes motorized bicycles a great deal, $3 per year to register it with the city, and a 30mph speed limit (unless the posted speed limit is less) while being powered by the motor or engine, and you have to turn the motor or engine off to use it on sidewalks, bike paths, or other "bike only" areas.