Any Scooter Owners Here?

[JRNYMAN]

Curious if there are any motor scooter riders/owners here. I'm going to buy one for my daughter very soon and wanted to get some opinions. There's certainly no shortage of cheap, crappy Chinese-made units out there! Jesus H. Christ, the research I've done so far lists about 200 Chinese mfrs. all of which are pretty much disposable and are almost guaranteed to break down shortly after buying one.

The ones I'm looking at are the Taiwanese-made and European scooters. Much higher quality and many, many happy owners.

Just curious....

[G.I.Jim]

Nope... I don't have a DUI.

[conversationpc]

Nope... I don't have a DUI.

In my area, I get the picture that people think you're a sexual predator if you're riding around in one of those.

[JRNYMAN]

Nope... I don't have a DUI.

My daughter doesn't either but you'd think she had based on how much insurance costs for her! Yeeeeouch! She's 19 and has had 1 ticket and a minor, parking lot fender bender and she pays over $200.00 per month.

In my area, I get the picture that people think you're a sexual predator if you're riding around in one of those.

Maybe so but the town I live in shares one of its borders with Tempe which is where ASU is located so there's a butt load of scooter-riding people everywhere you look..... which, now that you said that, makes me wonder how many of those fuckers I assume are students are really future stars of To Catch a Predator....
Thanks! Thanks a bunch for putting that thought in my head you prick!!

[G.I.Jim]

Damn! My nephew has had 3 accidents (he's 17), and his mother has to relinquish his license. His insurance is going to be $1000 a month, and she can't afford it which is why she has to surrender it. He won't be able to drive for 3 years! It's sad, but knowing how bad of a driver he is... the world will be a safer place. He's the worst driver I've ever seen.

And I was just being a smart-ass about the scooter. Pretty much any time you see someone here driving one, it's a middle aged man who lost his license. All joking aside, I feel for them. Lord knows I've driven when I shouldn't have and I was lucky. I don't ever drink and drive anymore, but did several times in the past. Pretty damn stupid, and it could just as easily have been me driving one now. Lesson learned!!

[JRNYMAN]

Damn! My nephew has had 3 accidents (he's 17), and his mother has to relinquish his license. His insurance is going to be $1000 a month, and she can't afford it which is why she has to surrender it. He won't be able to drive for 3 years! It's sad, but knowing how bad of a driver he is... the world will be a safer place. He's the worst driver I've ever seen.

And I was just being a smart-ass about the scooter. Pretty much any time you see someone here driving one, it's a middle aged man who lost his license. All joking aside, I feel for them. Lord knows I've driven when I shouldn't have and I was lucky. I don't ever drink and drive anymore, but did several times in the past. Pretty damn stupid, and it could just as easily have been me driving one now. Lesson learned!!

Oh, no worries buddy. I knew you were just being your usual smartass self.
$1,000.00 a month?!?!?!! Dayummmmm! That's absurd but it's very simple to pay much less: Don't drive over the speed limit, don't drive impaired, and basically follow the rules of the road and pay low insurance premiums.

Insurance is one of those necessary evils that there really isn't a satisfactory solution to or an alternative. One the one hand, any state that has a mandatory insurance law is in violation of the Contract Clause portion of the Constitution that prohibits the government from forcing any citizen into a contract with any entity, person or third party. However, if the law didn't exist, the rates for those who do carry insurance would be far higher to compensate for those without insurance or adequate insurance. Here in Arizona if you get caught driving without insurance the first time it's $790 fine, second is $970 and third is $1200.00, 1 year suspension of your license, surrender your plates and all registrations and then have to carry SR-22 (highest maximum rate allowable by law) insurance for 3 years min. once your license is reinstated. Now, if you're involved in an accident and you don't have insurance that's a whole different kettle of fish. The fines are much higher. And God forbid you kill someone and don't have insurance..... you're done. Forever. Even if it's obvious the accident wasn't your fault. The state automatically finds you at fault because had you obeyed the law and not been driving the vehicle since you didn't have insurance, the accident wouldn't have happened.
Another really nice little scheme Arizona has wrapped up in a nice, tidy little bow is vehicle registration fees. They collect personal property tax via the registration fees and it's OUT-FUCKING-RAGEOUS!!! It's based on a percentage of the vehicle's original cost and depreciates very, very little as the car gets older. Example: 1st year tags on a $25,000 vehicle is $420.00!
Oh and one more little fee you are forced into is the Dept. of Envir. Quality fee you have to pay to the third party testing sites every other year. It's currently about $40.00 for private passenger vehicles. It's not cheap to own and drive a car here when you do follow the rules. It's damn near impossible to afford it if you've got tickets, DUI, etc.

[G.I.Jim]

S.C. has that nice little "property tax" here too. Not trying to brag here, but my truck is (was) a $42,000 truck. The taxes on it the first year were almost $800!!! And that's after you pay sales tax when you buy the vehicle. Complete bullshit!! They pushed for an increase in food taxes here a few years ago and said by raising it 1%, that they would do away with the car taxes. We voted it in, and now we pay both. It's enough to just make you sick. The way this government screws people coming and going... it's a wonder that there aren't more Timothy McVeighs out there. And before you go off on a tirade... I am NOT condoning what that sick man did. Just stating that the government is enough to drive ANYONE nuts!!!

[JRNYMAN]

S.C. has that nice little "property tax" here too. Not trying to brag here, but my truck is (was) a $42,000 truck. The taxes on it the first year were almost $800!!! And that's after you pay sales tax when you buy the vehicle. Complete bullshit!! They pushed for an increase in food taxes here a few years ago and said by raising it 1%, that they would do away with the car taxes. We voted it in, and now we pay both. It's enough to just make you sick. The way this government screws people coming and going... it's a wonder that there aren't more Timothy McVeighs out there. And before you go off on a tirade... I am NOT condoning what that sick man did. Just stating that the government is enough to drive ANYONE nuts!!!

No argument here my brother. Ever see the movie Falling Down with Michael Douglass...? Every time I read/see a story about someone who just basically snaps and does something completely out of character, I immediately wonder if it had anything to do with the govt's involvement in their life. It has gotten completely out of control. The govt. et al has become so completely disconnected from the general public and think they have an unlimited stack of blank checks that they can do as they please with and when they need more money they come up with a new tax. The general public on the other hand has become so complacent and disinterested in actually doing anything about it. Think of every special interest group you've heard about on the news over the past decade or 2 decades. Groups like the 99% or Occupy Wall St. ... all of those kinds of groups that actually were able to get a head of steam and at least make national news were made up of citizens who had had enough and wanted to do something about it (whatever "it" was at the time). And as big as the biggest, most well-organized groups were, their efforts were in vain. Every single time. Why? Because:
A. As soon as any group began to become a thorn in the side of the govt. agency they were targeting, the hammer came down and politicians told police they'd heard enough and to break them up. Arrest them, spray them, whatever necessary. Just make them go away. And,
B. Not enough people joined the movement for change du jour to force the govt. to act the way "the people" were tekking them to.
Yeah, it's pretty fucked up and I honestly don't believe there's a way to get it back to the way it';s supposed to be at this point. Big Brother has become too big, too powerful and to secretive.

[Voyager]

[yulog]

Never rode a scooter but many motorcycles and Yamaha is super reliable they sell scooters, I don't see how you can go wrong with them......even if its used

[steveo777]

The Scooter store got raided............. Too many stinky diapers in the seats, apparently.

[The Sushi Hunter]

Some reference their Harley as a "scooter".

[JRNYMAN]

Never rode a scooter but many motorcycles and Yamaha is super reliable they sell scooters, I don't see how you can go wrong with them......even if its used

Agreed. Vespa, Piaggio (Vespa's chief designer jumped ship and went to work for Piaggio some years back), any of the Japanese makers, and the Taiwanese-built scooters are all high quality products. Then, yesterday, as I'm continuing my research, I come across an ad for this:



The BMW C 650 GT
It's $10,000.00 !! Now, don't get me wrong... I've ridden a BMW motorcycle many times. I had a roommate who had a very nice one, and they are suhweeeet! and oh-so-smooth... but ten-grand for a scooter? If the only difference is the fact that you don't have to change gears then you must be pretty damned lazy to be able to justify the cost! It's very highly rated by the various motorcycle-associated magazines and has been well received according to sales figures since it was released last year. Hell, I didn't even know BMW made scooters.

[Michigan Girl]

No, but I always thought I might like to have one ...I did not know the history of MS owners. Wow, will have to rethink my retirement vehicle choice ...or start drinking more.

[Rick]

S.C. has that nice little "property tax" here too. Not trying to brag here, but my truck is (was) a $42,000 truck. The taxes on it the first year were almost $800!!! And that's after you pay sales tax when you buy the vehicle. Complete bullshit!! They pushed for an increase in food taxes here a few years ago and said by raising it 1%, that they would do away with the car taxes. We voted it in, and now we pay both. It's enough to just make you sick. The way this government screws people coming and going... it's a wonder that there aren't more Timothy McVeighs out there. And before you go off on a tirade... I am NOT condoning what that sick man did. Just stating that the government is enough to drive ANYONE nuts!!!

My daughter was complaining about the "property tax" on her car in Virginia. I had never heard of such a thing. Texas doesn't have the property tax on your vehicle, they don't have sales tax on food and there is no state income tax. They have higher property tax on homes and car insurance here is kinda pricey though.

[yulog]

S.C. has that nice little "property tax" here too. Not trying to brag here, but my truck is (was) a $42,000 truck. The taxes on it the first year were almost $800!!! And that's after you pay sales tax when you buy the vehicle. Complete bullshit!! They pushed for an increase in food taxes here a few years ago and said by raising it 1%, that they would do away with the car taxes. We voted it in, and now we pay both. It's enough to just make you sick. The way this government screws people coming and going... it's a wonder that there aren't more Timothy McVeighs out there. And before you go off on a tirade... I am NOT condoning what that sick man did. Just stating that the government is enough to drive ANYONE nuts!!!

My daughter was complaining about the "property tax" on her car in Virginia. I had never heard of such a thing. Texas doesn't have the property tax on your vehicle, they don't have sales tax on food and there is no state income tax. They have higher property tax on homes and car insurance here is kinda pricey though.

I hear Conn. has that same tax, brutal, it could really change your mind when thinking about getting a new car.

[JRNYMAN]

S.C. has that nice little "property tax" here too. Not trying to brag here, but my truck is (was) a $42,000 truck. The taxes on it the first year were almost $800!!! And that's after you pay sales tax when you buy the vehicle. Complete bullshit!! They pushed for an increase in food taxes here a few years ago and said by raising it 1%, that they would do away with the car taxes. We voted it in, and now we pay both. It's enough to just make you sick. The way this government screws people coming and going... it's a wonder that there aren't more Timothy McVeighs out there. And before you go off on a tirade... I am NOT condoning what that sick man did. Just stating that the government is enough to drive ANYONE nuts!!!

My daughter was complaining about the "property tax" on her car in Virginia. I had never heard of such a thing. Texas doesn't have the property tax on your vehicle, they don't have sales tax on food and there is no state income tax. They have higher property tax on homes and car insurance here is kinda pricey though.

I hear Conn. has that same tax, brutal, it could really change your mind when thinking about getting a new car.

Absolutely! And if it's a luxury car with a sticker price of $90,000 or higher there's another tax added on. And we're just talking about private passenger vehicles. Move into the commercial side of things and they get much more interesting.

Not to saunter my way back to the original topic or anything but...
I finally bought the kid a scooter a few days ago. So, so glad I did my due diligence and educated myself about which ones are garbage and which ones are decent little units. The one I got, if anyone actually cares, was bought last April by a guy who has a monster Vulcan 1500. His wife decided she wanted to get a bike and learn to ride so he bought her a scooter as her "training wheels" so to speak, before he bought her a real bike. It's got 400 miles on it, not a single scratch anywhere (I searched, seriously I did) and it drives and shows like brand new - which, essentially it is.
Went and looked at it, spent some time with the guy and his wife, had lunch with them and decided they were the real deal so we made a deal (smokin' deal, actually) and we parted company. My wife takes off in the car and I jump on the scooter. 2 miles from the guy's house, the scooter dies. I mean flat out dies while running at 45 mph. 3/4 tank of gas, plenty of spark, I know it's getting fuel because I can smell it. WTF?! I call the guy and ask him if he's ever had any problems with it whatsoever to which he reiterates the story about how long he's had it, how well they maintained it, etc. He's as puzzled as I am and is immediately offering to buy it back if I decide that's what I want to do... basically, the guy is genuinely concerned and doesn't want me to think I'm getting screwed. So, I sit there for about 10 mins. wondering what the Hell the problem is. He calls me and asks where I am exactly and to stay put that he'd be right there. Not 5 mins later, he shows up and hops out of his truck with a huge grin on his face and a gas can.
The scooter hadn't been ridden since February and since they get almost 100 mpg. he wasn't even sure how long the gas had been in the tank. We pulled the fuel line from the bottom of the tank and drained the stinky, unstabilized, crap out of the tank and replaced it with premium unleaded and she fired right up and everything was wonderful.
Nothing worse than taking ownership of something and signing a bill of sale "As Is" with no recourse, and having it die 5 mins. after you bought it! Great little scooter. 150cc with a 2 gal. tank and a top speed of 74 mph... well, maybe with my daughter's or wife's weight on it. With my fat ass on it I couldn't get it to go faster than 66!

Oh, almost forgot... the best part of this whole story is this:
Registration, title transfer fee, emissions, and EPA surcharge all added up to $24.50!!
Insurance for the kid for a full year is..... $90.00. The insurance agent actually asked me, "Mr. McLean, would you like to pay for the full year, 6 mos. or do monthly installments which, of course will mean a slightly higher annual premium?" Are you freakin' kidding me?! You're telling me I can insure the kid for a full year for less than a C note, and you're asking me if I want to break it up into payments?!?! Needless to say....