Tag Archives: Scooters

4/3/2009 — Ride agenda for today: errands. I had to do paperwork at The Creative Group and wanted to browse the MacBook Pro at Ridgedale in Minnetonka. Also insurance info to the credit union and groceries from Aldi in Minnetonka. Then an exploratory journey to Eagan ’round our new apartment to experience the hwy 77 bridge on my Vespa as a possible commuting route.

I headed out to Minnetonka just after noon to fill out 2009 paperwork for doing contracting work with The Creative …

3/26/2009 — On this cloudy early spring day, I was kindly invited by fellow scooterist Kent Aldrich to attend a hands-on demonstration of what he does in his letterpress shop, The Nomadic Press.

Weather forecast showed that the afternoon would warm up to upper 30s with only a 10% chance of precipitation. That turned out to be a load of rubbish. Trip out was uneventful, if ominous. I was comfortable and warm enough while riding with the exception my pointer and …

Last season, when I got into scooters, I rode for the sheer joy of it. The practicality was simply gravy for me. Today that changed. Since I’m between jobs, any cost savings I can scrounge together is a very good thing. Now riding my Vespa is one more way I can reduce costs. Gas may be less than $2/gallon right now, but getting 2-3X the mpg of my MINI will add up none the less. Every little bit helps.

Today …

Yesterday I un-mothballed both my Vespa GT 200L and the Mrs’ Buddy 125 for a kickoff run after petrol and compressed air. Glorious! The weather was just the cool side of perfect and surprisingly the roads are virtually free of sand and grit here in our part of the Twin Cities. I was apprehensive at first, having been three months out of the saddle for winter, but soon the feel and rhythm of riding my gorgeous little italian beast came …

I had a short conversation with a colleague today about why I and another colleague both love riding scooters: the economy, the fun or riding, the chic simplicity of it. Her question was “Why don’t more people do this?”

America is such an odd place. We pave the way in so many areas, yet when you compare us to Europe or Asia (whole continents, mind you), we’ve completely missed the boat on scooters until just this last season. I’m really …

Originally posted August 26th, 2008. Updated September 30, 2009.

People keep asking me about scooters. I’m hoping that they’re drawn to the practicality and fun of it as well as the economics, but I know better. Gas has been expensive this summer. But that’s a perfectly great reason to get into scooting.

So I thought a primer was in order. My obsessive researching tendencies and ongoing work to be a wealth of all semi-useless knowledge can now benefit YOU! So let’s get into the meat of it and answer the basic question of what is a scooter?

Frequent commenter RB pointed out this article on Wired.com about “scooter trends” which turned out to have almost nothing to do with scooters at all. What’s more it appears to be a fumbled rehash of this interview for Taiwan Economic News. I expect more from Wired and am annoyed at the consistent misconception Americans and American journalists have of scooters, scooterists, and scooting.

This is a repost of a story on 2strokebuzz, but I just enjoyed this so much I wanted to share it here.

Jeremy Clarkson being the motorcycle curmudgeon that he is, even he’s won over by the end of it. Honestly I struggle to come up with many places that’d be more appropriate or adventurous to see by scooter. I may have to add Vietnam to my own list of 2-wheel destinations. My list for now includes:

All the national parks …