Why ride scooters?

This may sound harsh but before I thought that scooters were lame or gay. I always prefer riding something with a manual clutch but as I got older, I slowly found myself riding scooters more. Manual clutch bikes are fun but scooters are convenient and economical. I was in the bike business before so I have rode and owned different bikes but I didn't ride scooters until my son told me that he wanted to ride. He was 4 years old and tried my Honda ATC200 (3 wheeler) which was too big and powerful for him. My next step was to convert one for him using an old Honda Tact 50cc scooter.

I stripped all the plastics then welded a bicycle seat and bolted a piece of plywood for the foot rest. I inserted a 5 Yen coin (coin with a hole in the middle) between the muffler and the engine to reduce the engine power. Then painted it silver (without looking, lol!).

This was my el-cheapo solution and it worked, lol! He rode it off road and even bragged about his new ugly toy to my friends. My friends named his ugly scoot "The Terminator" :)

Here are some of our old scooters.

Whenever my wife and son went with me to the mountains, I always try to bring scooters or an ATV for them.

A few years back, I found myself using my wife's scooter more. Often there were times that I just left my clutch bikes sleeping for months and just rode my wife's 50cc scooter. Then I read an article about scooters going long distances and being loaded with crazy amount of stuffs like tables, cabinets, chickens, etc. Naturally this made me try to ride longer distances and haul crazy stuffs like the photos that I saw on the internet. Here are some of the crazy stuffs that I tried moving with my bikes but I never had the chance to haul live chickens or pigs...

I really like hauling stuffs on my bikes but scooters are more convenient and does the job well. I even tried pulling my old tool box to the scrappers just to prove to myself that it is possible. I tried riding the scoot but my homemade trailer was too unstable and I ended up walking my scoot-trailer 3 kilometers to the scrappers. It worked but I will never try it again, HAHA! The heavy car stereos in a box too is a challenge but it was a lot easier than my stupid scoot-trailer. I'll use a car next time, lol! Nothing beats the scooter for daily chores. Parking is easy and goes trough congested roads without problems. Compared to normal bikes, the bucket under the scooter seat is unbeatable. Scooters are lighter in weight but have extra space for luggage. Another plus that I saw in scooters that scooters are more safer to ride in light snow compared to heavier street bikes. I rode my scooter a few days ago on light snow and had no problems. My problem only started when I rode it on thick snow but after wrapping rope around the tires, I got through and had lots of fun. But the best thing that I like with scooters is fuel economy. My son rode my scooter for 350 kms for only 850 Yen of fuel.

About scooter size, I find the 50cc scooter good for city use especially in heavy traffic. I had a maxi-scoot (Honda Forza) but it was too big for running daily chores. I find that mid-size scooter is best for me. It is small enough to go through heavy traffic, can haul more stuffs than my 50cc, more comfortable riding longer distances (more comfortable compared to my Honda Magna and CB400) and can still find parking space for it. I had problems finding a parking space for the maxi scoot several times when I went shopping. The maxi scoot beats the mid size scoot when riding in tandem but it is still comfortable because my Honda Spacy has a decent seat size for the passenger but can get a bit tight if my tandem rider is big which I never had the experience. Plus I rarely have the chance to have a tandem rider. The only problem that I notice with my 100cc scoot is that it lacks the extra power especially when climbing steep mountain roads. It is slower than most newer mid size scoot and it is ugly, but I'm not complaining :)

The rear carrier is very versatile. On the left photo, I used two identical shopping basket. I tie-wrapped the first basket on the rear rack and the second basket went on top. This is really good for shopping. I only have to load the stuffs I bought on the second basket and just pull it off with the groceries then in to my house. Just snip the plastic tie wraps when the basket is not needed.

On the right, I used a milk box. Good for loading heavier stuffs. Here I loaded it with the tools that I sold (drill bits, lathe machine bits, etc. about 20 kgs.)

There are times that I still ride clutch bikes but it is really getting rare and I rarely miss it. I just got tired of playing with the clutch and riding like a lunatic. My next target or wish is to try hauling a pig on my scooter but I guess that the cops wont allow it. I think I'm really getting old, lol!