Stucky

OP, you can get good-quality Chinese scooters now, for cheap, if you want to give scooter commuting a try without investing a lot of money (It's hard to find good used scooters- most of 'em have been abused/neglected/used-up). I had a Tao-Tao, I paid $700 with free shipping. It was "kegally" a 49cc, but it was what they call a "secret 63"- i.e. it was really a 63cc.

Funny thing is, I put a bicycle speedometer on my scooter, because the scooter speedometers are notoriously inaccurate.

Hmm, I'm trying to guess what car you have. Prius? Fiat 500? Smart Car? (I was thinking of getting one of those....to carry around in the back of my Excursion.)

Bikeforumuser0019

I'm starting to like the idea of an eBike more and more. I live in a small space, and even if I had a bike with the motorized 66cc engine installed, I doubt I could store it vertically on the wall (let alone a scooter).

Very expensive, though. For the cost I could put a down payment on a different car. Oh, and to whomever asked earlier, my ride is a Yaris hatchback. I'm not "hipster" enough (or rich enough) for a Fiat or a Smart Car. Although I did own a Prius for about a year and found it extremely disappointing and over-hyped. I like my car a lot but it's still a 5 passenger vehicle with a ridiculously overpowered engine to drive me 16 miles a day @ 25mph. I'd love to leave it home more often.... it does have over 200k miles on the engine.

added: although, the more I talk about getting something electric assisted or gas powered, the more it makes me miss riding my bike. Perhaps I should have asked.... does anyone have suggestions for making riding through an icky part of town less depressing? I'm not worried about my safety, it's just a depressing ride, with my destination being 8 hours at a desk working on a computer. Maybe I need to work on my motivation s'more.


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fietsbob

Or relocate.

Eric S.

I've often considered getting a scooter but haven't looked into it very far. Many of them I see have worse lights than I do on bicycle at night!

It irks me to see people going 30mph on 45mph surface streets. I don't know why they feel the need to do that. If I rode a scooter, I'd stick to my bicycle routes to get around. Heck, I even drive car on my bike routes to stay out of the rat race.

no motor?

Joey Brooks should be able to offer insight into making the bad parts of town less depressing, he's got plenty of experience there.

Nachoman

I may go that route too, but only if I get too fat or too injured to pedal anymore.

wayne2000

I have a 2002 Yamaha Vino. It is a 2 cycle 50cc scooter licensed as a Moped. It will go around 40mph with me on it. Here's the deal. You have to buy license plates (tabs) for it but that is cheap. You also should buy insurance, for me about $75 a year.
It is fun to drive around town. Gets 70+ MPG. I can commute to work for $2.00 a week. Be sure to get a helmet.

If you want a scooter heck get one. You can buy it enjoy for years and sell for $500 less than you bought it for if you buy a used one. For around town get a 50CC one. If you want to park for free at bike racks get one licensed as a moped. I would recommend a Yamaha avoid the Chinese stuff. Have fun : )

cat0020

Zombie thread revival..

I've been riding scooter since the gas prices went up back in 2008.

I bought a 250cc Chinese scooter online for $1499 delivered to my driveway in a crate:



even put a bicycle rack on it:





Nearly 10 years later, the plastic parts are getting brittle, but scooter now has over 18k miles on odometer and still gets over 70 mpg.

My other scooters are vintage Hondas:

atitagain

JonathanGennick 

You have a yellow Honda C70 Passport. I used to have one of those back in the day. So cool to see one again. Loved that bike. Ran mine with a red milk crate bolted onto the back. Great little commuter. My fiance and later wife used to do these 90-mile each way trips on the thing to visit her parents. Seeing your photo.....wow......many memories....good ones.

Cute Boy Horse

'cept one of them's an underbone and the other one is a no-ped...

Anyway this thread is really weird. It's a bicycle forum, everyone here is used to braving cars with their piddly 250W legs. I don't see why so many people are afraid like a 50cc isn't enough to do the business.

cat0020

Both of them are no-ped.

It is the American way, always go bigger.. bigger truck, bigger wheels, bigger wings.. why you hate 'murika?

Cute Boy Horse

Imperialism.

Doug5150

The China scooters were really popular in my area (midwest US) about ten years ago, because a few of the local used car lots began selling them--and they did repairs on them too. After about three years the used car lots stopped selling them for various reasons, and the sightings of China scooters has fallen back down to basically nothing today.

The common complaints about them were that normal motorcycle shops would not do any repair work on them at all. Partly due to no reliable source of parts, and likely partly due to the fact that they didn't want to encourage people to buy cycles that undermined their own businesses... The China scooters cost about 20% to 25% of what a Japanese one will. I'm casually curious if you can take it anywhere for repairs, or if you have to DIY? --Or have you not had any major issues with it?

As I saw it from others who had them, the China scooters tended to have a lot more problems than the Japanese ones did. If yours went 10 years with no problems I think you may have gotten the one single good one that China managed to build....

The 50cc China scooters seem to be built particularly cheap. Maybe okay for a small person and short distances, but I've seen local kids kill plenty of 50cc China (and Vespa!) scooters in just a few months. They run perfect at first but gradually the engines strain (with two people on them) and the gears and brakes make grinding noises...

cat0020

I've been riding motorcycles/scooters for over two decades, my expectation and operation of motorcycles and scooters are somewhat different that most typical riders.

Back in 2008 when I purchased my Chinese scooter, gas prices were high near $4 per gallon, I had a commute of 8 miles one way, daily operation of my Chinese scooter was my commute, mostly 25-45 mph, rarely gets above 55 mph along rolling country roads. I regularly got about 85-90 miles between fill-ups of .75-.80 gal.

I do all the maintenance and most repairs on my motorcycles and scooters, so I felt confident that the purchase of a cheap Chinese scooter isn't going to present much problem if I get to prep the scooter for my daily operation.

Sure the quality of Chinese scooters/motorcycles are not up to par vs Japanese, European or most others around the world.. but personally I feel that nuts and bolts are just that.. operate within designed parameters, most vehicles can last.

Now nearly 10-years later, my Chinese scooter has over 18k miles on odometer.
I've had a few light bulbs go out on me, got two flats, and few plastic body parts have cracked.. but still the original drive-belt.
I'm on my second set of tires, I change the oil and adjust the valves annually, usually takes less than an hour.
It gets ridden about 5-6 times a month, still 15-25 miles at a time carrying my bicycle to local club rides; still gets about 65-75 miles between fill-ups of .75-.80 gal.

Since 2013, I've been commuting back and forth between Phila, PA and Brooklyn, NY.
Motorcycles are better suited for long distance on the highway, but lack the luggage carrying capacity.
Additionally, once I get to Brooklyn, bumper-to-bumper traffic pattern occurs more often than I like, clutch-n-shift become old really quickly in the gridlock traffic. Most of my commute have been done on a maxi-scoot, 650cc.



Triple digit speed capable, plenty of underseat storage, twist-n-go, no-clutch-shifting; not to mention that my wife gets to sit on a much comfortable seat than my other motorcycles, even has a backrest.
Sure most motorcyclists don't consider much of scooters, but in reality, I prefer the Maxi-scooter over many of my other regular motorcycles. 2-wheel vehicles are about maneuverability and efficiency, scooters are better in both.

cat0020

Nearly 2.5 years since last post in this thread.. still rocking the Burgman 650, just turned 32k miles on odometer.
16 year old scooter, besides oil, filters, coolant, brake fluid, rear drive oil, brake pads, tires; nothing else have been replaced, still the reliable, dependable scooter as it always been.

downhillmaster

My new ride

My new ride

Homebrew01

Moved from General

FiftySix

That red one is downright awesome. It looks like it has a proper gear shifter and clutch. If I were to ever get back into two wheels with engines, I'd have to have a proper gear shifter and clutch arrangement.

For some reason the common Yamaha TW200 is the only currently made sub 250cc class motorcycle that has my interest.

cat0020

Picked up a 2002 Honda Reflex ABS with 8.8k mi. on odometer. $600
Used as a pit bike on horse race tracks.
It came with a GIVI top box, needed new tires and likely new brake hoses.
I changed all the fluids.. got the tires mounted, took the wheels to get balanced.
Took it out for a 12 mile ride yesterday.

surveyor6

My wife and I ride Genuine Buddy 125 scooters, made in Taiwan. Do about 60 mph (with a few minor mods) but cruise comfortably between 45 and 50 mph.
My wife has become increasingly uncomfortable in traffic, so we are considering selling the scoots and getting e-bikes (so we can ride multiuse paths and sidewalks too).
50cc scooters do not appeal to me. I would prefer a bicycle with an engine or an e-bike over a 50cc scoot. Just my opinion.

Zinger

One thing about murderscooters: If the dogs come out in the street after you then you can ride with your feet on the bars so they can't pull your shoe off.



I'd go with an old Cushman Husky with a suicide clutch and stick shift. Because it's just cool.