Scooting in the USA

[mikal]

Just offering my little sad story. Cabin fever and few cheap yellow beers
presents:

1.Scooting in the US sucks. Most of the people where I am ride Harleys and
are in to there big trucks and think scooters are a joke.
2.The parts that you have to order are from other
models of a similar bike, but never for the model you're riding.
3. When you decide to order parts, it takes forever, costs big $$$, and sometimes
its for the wrong parts, because even after you search for days and days trying
to figure out what parts to order you still order the wrong ones.

Will there ever be a day when scooter tuning is popular here? Probably not. It's
big in the European countries because they are so much smaller. I think it will
always be a subculture here.

I'm just PO'ed about how hard it is, and how much money it costs to be a
tuner here(even at my level).

I know some will say that you can tune here for less money if you really
understand tuning, but......well, just but.


Also, there is too much debate on whether some setups are more reliable than
others. There is a lifespan to every component, and if you tune it right, 99% of
the time it will last as long as the manufacturer suggests it will. If you have
1/2 of a care about the parts you bought, you should spend the time to tune
it.

[OveRReV]

i feel your pain man, why not move to Europe or even the Philippines or Hawaii? :D

[mikal]

Hawaii maybe. I have a little more than a year to go with my degree in electronics.
I already have a job lined up in Utah, but I would like to try to get to Hawaii too.

Whoever pays the relocation fee really. I've got a family and home to move.

[veedubh20]

go to carrerbuilder, post your resume , look for job located. and craigslist.

[mikal]

In about 1 year. My wife had two interviews with some resort down there, but on Kaui.
She never got the job, but we've been liking that area since we've looked into it.

I heard that Honolulu has the lowest nation unemployment rate, but the highest gas
prices.

[veedubh20]

costco gas is cheaper than gas station . Waikiki, there are many hotel jobs, cooks, busboy, bellboy get good tips, surfing , beaches etc. . Japanese/european, american, that where the money comes from build tourist industry job.

moped no problem parking, save money on $5.00 gas a week , than drive my isuzu truck $35.00 full tank. college student ride moped than catch city bus.

moped are everywhere and moped cruise.

[Carlson]

Scooters have been a way of life in a lot of Countries for years. They are necessary and accepted as a means of transporation. Those circumstances that propagated what way of life in other Countries does not exist in the U.S. and probably never will. Here scooters are toys and not taken seriously. Sure scooters are on the increase here in the U.S., but personally I think it is a fad, unless gas prices get a lot lot higher. We are a wasteful, gluttonous, spoiled, faster is better, bigger is better, Car, Truck & Motorcycle Society. I don't see that changing, period.

[Vino A Go Go]

Hey Carlson, Mikal,

I agree mostly. Although I think scoots will stay around( as I don't see gas prices ever dropping). I catch hell from Harley guys in my office and on the roads all the time.
Many don't appreciate what our Country has and what it took to get it. We shouldn't feel guilty though for having the resources, economy, and lifestyles. Many people have sacrificed much to get it. We just need to show some respect for the resources we have.
Nothing kills me more than seeing commuters by themselves, idling their Hummers at nine cars deep in line waiting to get their cheese danish and a venti mocha frappa whatever at the the local Starbucks. America...get off your A**, walk in the damn store and shut your cars off for a minute. Wow..rant over.. I did see a new Vespa dealer open up in town.. that's a good sign I guess.

[Carlson]

Vino A Go Go
I don't think we have any noble ideas in mind when we buy our scooters. Sure they save gas, but the benefit is they save us money. I think we buy scooters to enjoy and have fun. The call of the open road, the freedom they give, the Cowboy/Rascal mentality. The same reasons people buy Motorcycles. It is going to take a many thousands more scooters on the road to really make a difference in gas consumption is the U.S., simply because of the reasons you just posted. Hummers, 4x4 Trucks, Suburbans, Expeditions, one person in every car, what ever happened to car work pooling?

[burnt_toast]

I feel you man, thats why I've taken the budget route for most of my setups, but have still got great results. They may not make the most horsepower, but they cost a lot less than their full race counterparts and when something breaks/doesn't fit you're not out as bad. :shrug:

[JustMe!]

You think scooting in the US sucks???? Try north of the 49. o--

Up here all we get are the left overs of what the manufactures want to get rid of. It seems like they don't give a s hit about us up here because we are such a small market compared to you guys.

We'd love to get all the different models you guys have down there. We can't even import them up here because our federal gov't restricts what it can and cannot bring up here for import. ...TOS...

One of the only things we have up here that you didn't get last year was the Honda CBR125r. But that's not a scooter.

[OveRReV]

over here we get the CBR150R but what we don't get is those awesome sportbikes you take for granted, we have to buy them from the gray market.

[mikal]

Vancouver is just north of Seattle. Hop in the truck and go get a US scooter.

[speedfreak76]

I'm in somewhat of the same boat, Mikal. Alberta is like the Texas of Canada... big trucks, big bikes, big egos, etc... Also, parts cost more here than from Europe! There is one good thing though... I have the fastest scooter in town! ..#1.. (Although no one else here seems to care or understand...)

That's why we have forums like Provo, though! So true scooterists from across the world can talk and share, and stay connected and strong! o-- :raf:

[mikal]

One of the guys I just found here in my town has a vento zipr3 with a 105cc kit in it.
I don't know if I can beat him. I'm placing a Euro order with 4 other guys from my
area. We're all with 50 miles of each other.

So, finally I have someone other than my wife to ride with.....not that there was
anything wrong with that.

[rydah]

over here we get the CBR150R but what we don't get is those awesome sportbikes you take for granted, we have to buy them from the gray market.
lol, tiba what awesome sportbikes are you talking about. there aint no nsr250sp's, tzr250sprr's, kr-1s, rgv250's, and the rest of the nice 2stroke streetbikes or even really nice supermoto's. to me those are the nice bikes.

[OveRReV]

lol, tiba what awesome sportbikes are you talking about. there aint no nsr250sp's, tzr250sprr's, kr-1s, rgv250's, and the rest of the nice 2stroke streetbikes or even really nice supermoto's. to me those are the nice bikes.

you know what i am talking about; CBR, R6/R1, 10R, 6R etc. funny thing is all italian marques have dealerships here but the jap bikes are gray market imports & what makes it more ironic is that japan is a lot closer to us than europe.

[sooznd]

Anyone seen the new line up from Genuine Scooters? Some awesome new colors plus they are coming out with a 150 cc. Their marketing alone is making a difference in increasing the popularity of scooters. Affordable for everyone w/o all the Vespa mystique and price tag.

Also over on the urbanscootin.com forum, someone recenlty posted about the Mayor and City Council of Aurora Colorado really making some serious efforts in promoting scooters. The Mayor of Denver (John Hickenlooper) rides an Aprilia 50 to get around town!

In the 4 plus years I have been riding scooters, I have seen tons more in my area.

While we are years behind Asia & Europe, scoots are getting much more popular.
You don't need to leave the country , just look for a more scooter friendly town in the US. :)

[speedfreak76]

Anyone seen the new line up from Genuine Scooters? Some awesome new colors plus they are coming out with a 150 cc. Their marketing alone is making a difference in increasing the popularity of scooters. Affordable for everyone w/o all the Vespa mystique and price tag.

Also over on the urbanscootin.com forum, someone recenlty posted about the Mayor and City Council of Aurora Colorado really making some serious efforts in promoting scooters. The Mayor of Denver (John Hickenlooper) rides an Aprilia 50 to get around town!

In the 4 plus years I have been riding scooters, I have seen tons more in my area.

While we are years behind Asia & Europe, scoots are getting much more popular.
You don't need to leave the country , just look for a more scooter friendly town in the US. :)

My new workplace, a Kawasaki dealer, sells PGO scooters, which are basically re-badged Genuines. They just came out with the Buddy (Metro) and the Rattler (PMX Naked), hopefully I'll get to work on some in the future...

Geniune definitely does a better marketing job then PGO, as well as in the support area...

[JustMe!]

A lot of people would kill for the CBR150R, myself included.

The 125 is not quite up to par with a lot of people. Some say it just doesn't cut it on the highways here.

We don't even have the luxury of getting the YZF125.

But I hear the manufacturers are pushing smaller cc bikes now more than the larger bikes

It is not as simple as you think importing a bike from Seattle or Bellingham and just bringing it up over the 49th. We have something called the Register of Imported Vehicles or the RIV. If the bike is not on the list, then fuggetaboutit!!!!!


We have our share of Japanese greybikes here, but most are pretty old and nobody wants to service them or order parts for you.

And about Alberta being the Texas of Canada. Hahh hahh ha. that's absolutely right. I gotta use that line one day. :)

[veedubh20]

It is not as simple as you think importing a bike from Seattle or Bellingham and just bringing it up over the 49th. We have something called the Register of Imported Vehicles or the RIV. If the bike is not on the list, then

hook me up, lol , can you dismantle as part bike before enter to wa state border? :--- . I really want to go there.

[JustMe!]

It is not as simple as you think importing a bike from Seattle or Bellingham and just bringing it up over the 49th. We have something called the Register of Imported Vehicles or the RIV. If the bike is not on the list, then

hook me up, lol , can you dismantle as part bike before enter to wa state border? :--- . I really want to go there.

LOL!

A lot of people have already thought of this, even bringing it up as a "competition bike", and then converting it back to a street legal bike.

Now, this is entering the "grey" side of importing. But, having said that, both have been done before. Don't know exactly how.

Getting insurance could be a big problem here. It has to be a legally registered bike in Canada before it can be insured. That in itself negates bringing it up in pieces and re-assembling it. But, as mentioned, I've heard it's been done before, but I don't know how.