In early April, 2007, I finally made the leap and bought myself a scooter. I started wanting one following a trip to Bermuda, where scooters are pretty much the standard vehicle everyone rides. I did a lot of research over the next six months, starting with little Vespa’s and gradually looking at ever-larger scoots until, naturally, I settled on the biggest scooter currently made. That always seems to happen with me – I end up with the biggest, or fanciest, or most feature-rich version of whatever I happen to be shopping for.
As this was last year’s model, I got a good deal on it, saving about a thousand dollars over the current year pricing, and getting the color I wanted. Silver-gray, as pictured above. Otherwise, brand new, with less than two miles on it when I took delivery. Turns out, this isn’t really a scooter – it’s a motorcycle with a step-through frame and automatic transmission. It’s no crotch rocket, but it’ll easily keep up with any cruiser on the road.
Having put almost 5000 miles on it in the first summer, I’m well through the break-in period. In commuting, I’m getting about 49 mpg. On road trips, I get anywhere from 52 to 55 mpg. With gas prices over $3 per gallon, this is a pretty nice warm-weather alternative to the car or minivan.
I’ve added some extras :
- Givi E52 trunk, black with integrated brake lights
- Medium tinted ClearView windshield with vent
- Kuryakin ISO Grips #6180 and Throttle Boss #6250
- Polly grip heaters
- LED turn signals on the mirror housings
- RAM mount and power for my Garmin 60CSx GPS
My safety gear:
- Bell Mag-8 three-quarters helmet, silver
- Tour Master Cruiser gel gloves (warm weather)
- Castle Mid Season gloves (cold weather)
- FirstGear Mesh-Tex 3.0 jacket
- FirstGear Kilimanjaro 4.0 textile jacket
- FirstGear HT II textile overpants
Love the Bike. It was good seeing you yesterday. Feel free to stop by anytime and one of these days we’ll try and make it out there. I don’t know if it will happen this summer, but I have a rock opera that I wrote a while ago and I might want to tap into the might power of your voice if I can clean up some of the tracks. The problem is I recorded it in a rough version and when I became obessed with the writing I kind of forgot the more complicated structures so I have to relearn them. Tell MJ if she wants to talk self publishing give me a call. Peace, V.
I saw a very similar scooter with a “for sale” sign on it on my way home yesterday. I’m tempted to swing by for a closer look.
Hey, I didn’t know Tim V. was still around. Makes me want to dig out y’alls album tonight… So glad I have it on CD. I should probably transfer it to my iPod, don’t you think?