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I joined the "Scooter Club"

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TOK:

--- Quote from: ahofle on May 28, 2008, 09:56:08 pm ---
--- Quote from: TOK on May 28, 2008, 08:35:26 am ---Its funny that you consider scooters safer than motorcycles. Falling off at 35mph feels the same if you're riding a scooter, a Harley or a Hayabusa. You are also actually safer on the freeway, because despite the speed everyone is heading in the same direction and there is nobody making left turns in front of you. All you have to watch out for is people merging.

--- End quote ---

I completely agree with every word there.  I constantly see idiots on scooters with no helmets and people saying how they are so much safer than motorcycles.   :dizzy:

--- End quote ---

I wish I knew the percentage of motorcycle accidents that were caused by a car turning left in front of a motorcycle. It must be in the 70% range. There were 3 accidents near me Memorial Day weekend. One guy died and two guys were hurt. All 3 of those accidents were a car making a left turn across the path of a motorcyclist.

Around me, what makes a scooter impractical is the lack of a good network of back roads. If you're riding where you can't move with the speed of the traffic, it's downright dangerous. Most roads are posted 45mph, but traffic is moving at 55 to 60  -faster than most of them can comfortably run (for more than a couple minutes). You end up with some dumb ass mom in a Yukon tailgating or trying to pass while talking on a cell phone and arguing with their kids.

patrickl:

--- Quote from: Cakemeister on May 27, 2008, 10:10:56 pm ---
--- Quote from: somunny on May 27, 2008, 09:37:41 pm ---If your commute is so short and on back streets, why not just ride a bicycle?

--- End quote ---

Several reasons.

1) I am 15 pounds overweight and out of shape.
2) I am lazy when it comes to physical exercise.


--- End quote ---
Aren't those just the perfect reasons to actually ride a bicycle to work? You'd lose weight and since riding a bike actually serves a purpose you're not wasting your time/energy on sitting on some useless home trainer.

shardian:
I wish I could ride my bike to work. I practically lived on a bike until I was 18. I rode my bike to work at the Grocery store for a whole summer when I wrecked my car. I think that was around a 3-4 mile trip. Now that I live 25 miles from work with no realistic "bike roads", it isn't even a remote possibility.

Dartful Dodger:

--- Quote from: Cakemeister on May 28, 2008, 09:49:32 pm ---Too bad I don't have a twin, I could look like these guys:

--- End quote ---

:)

I agree with shardian.   I wish biking was an option for me.   I live 33.3 miles from work and spend 60 bucks a week on gas. 

If I lived 3.3 miles from work I'd walk to work at least once a week.

15 pounds is nothing, 3.3 miles is even less.

the only one who thinks you're too out of shape to ride a bike is you.

If you don't want to do it for you, do it to make shardian and I envious.

Cakemeister:
I drove the bike to work for the first time yesterday. Conditions were ideal, no traffic and relatively cool.

Insurance for the scooter is $200/year with everything and a $100 deductible on collision and comprehensive vs. $900/yr for the Infiniti with a $500 deductible.

I've put about 22 miles on the scooter and the 1 gal. tank is about 3/4 full, so the 90 mpg figure looks about right.

If a scooter of this type costs $1200 used and I depreciate over five years, that's $500 depreciation per year for five years. So I still am saving $200/year before gas.

For gas, if I drive the scooter 2400 miles in a year at 80 mpg, that's 30 gallons of gas. The Infiniti got about 15 mpg for a usage of 160 gallons, a savings of about $500, which pretty much cancels out the depreciation.

The downside is getting wet, haven't worked out a good way to deal with that yet. Maybe I'll keep a change of clothes at the office.

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