Originally Posted by
resipsa
If the OP is truly concerned about his/her impact on the environment, he/she should be wary of getting a small scooter. They do get great gas milage, there's no doubt about it, but they spew an awful lot of crap into the air. The problem is that (unless you're in California, I think), they don't have catalytic converters in the exhaust stream, so you get a lot of unburned hydrocarbons in the exhaust. A lot more than your average car. This is compounded by the fact that scooters in the sizes you're looking at are usually two-stroke engined, meaning that they put out a lot more in the exhaust than their four-stroke counterparts due to, among other things, the addition of two-stroke oil to the gasoline.
This isn't to say that they aren't useful or fun - they definitely are - but one of the stated goals was lessening such effects.
Oh, and check the licensing requirements in your jurisdiction. They vary pretty widely.
This was true in 1980, but not now. Most sold are 4-stroke, and have to meet fairly strict emissions standards, so they pollute much less than an automobile. I can only think of maybe two (reputable) companies that sell 2 strokes, and one of them is a scooter made to replicate scooters from the sixties. (The Genuine Stella.)
The cheap Chinese scooters that only run for 1500 miles may be an exception, and I know that this is the internet, but get your facts straight before you decide to hold forth as if you are an expert, lest you confuse others who are just as clueless as you.