Tag Archives: Scooters

August 9, 2009 — The big ride is less than a week away! I, for one, am stoked. This will be my third year attending Rattle My Bones and this year I’m that much more involved. Back in 2007, I didn’t even own a scooter yet, but I payed my $25 for the opportunity to experience scooter culture first hand and get owners’ perspectives on the bikes I was interested in. Last year, by virtue of the crowd of scooter nut jobs I fell in with, I got roped into blocking for several of the rally rides, including the big one. This year I’m looking forward to doing it all over again. I’m even organizing blocking for the Friday history ride. With the event quickly approaching, Joe wanted to run blockers through the 60+ mile route one last time and identify those tricky intersections. The email went out to the whole group of about 20.

August 4, 2009 — Tonight a Jeep Cherokee pulled an oblivious left turn right in front of me. Thankfully I was still far enough away that he only managed to pull out in front of me. Had I been a few yards further along, he might have hit me instead. It was still close though. This is how something like 60% of fatal two-wheel accidents occur.

August 1, 2009 — When I set off for the Square Peg Diner this morning, I had to check the date. Although the calendar said it was the first of August, the temperature seemed more like the first of October. The partially overcast skies with their patches of sunlight and lightly gusting winds felt all too much like autumn. It’s been a very, very mild summer in Minnesota this year. This on the heals of a particularly long, cold and wet winter. I’m fine with it though. I spent my youth in the deep south and I’ve had all the summer heat I need. All the same, my mesh riding jacket felt pretty insufficient as I headed across the river.

July 25, 2009 — The motorcycle and scooter community here in the Twin Cities is just fabulous. Each season there are a handful of events that I really look forward to.

The contest for collecting cars and motorcycles is over. Jay Leno wins. Which yeah, if I had a bajillion dollars I’d have a two-warehouse collection of cars and bikes too. Jay does it classy though. His shop is a museum-quality display of so many rare and fantastic cars and motorcycles.

This week, the word ’round the campfire is that electric maxi-scooter manufacturer Vectrix is going under. That’s really sad to hear. The Vectrix has shortcomings common to first generation electric vehicles (limited range, limited performance, and long charge times), but as the first commercially available electric scooter, it really is a remarkable vehicle. But I’m not going to go into that. Eric Alemendral does a fantastic job summarizing the demise of the Vectrix in this post on Modern Buddy. Eric mentions the KLD E-165, which is something that I’m really excited to see come to the USA in 2010.

June 20, 2009 — Today The Mrs and I got together with a handful of other scooterists for a fresh installment of what was the highlight of last riding season. We met Joe — aka “Kennylibido” — at the Square Peg Diner in Minneapolis for the first of many test rides of the route for the “big ride” at Rattle My Bones this year.

June 13, 2009 — Today I rode the same road four times. I’m not complaining, it’s just the way it went down.