SCOOT over! (Harley, ride, motor, SUV)

[ZonyPony]

Scoot over, folks! Here come the scooters. They're everywhere. Motor scootering is catching on with every age group. These are the ones who don't want the Harleys, or for that matter, anything much over 400cc's. They want to save gas and enjoy quite possibly their first experience on a motorized two-wheeler, without having to clutch-and-rev.

Clutch and rev... and rev, and rev... Whew! Them Harley guys sure love to hear themselves rev! Not bad if all of that revving meant small amounts of gasoline intake - and mpg was as good as most scooters' (80 to 100 mpg!).

Yep, no more clutch-and-rev. Just twist-and-go. New scooter clubs and scooter websites are forming (there is even a ScooterDiva.com!). Many women and college age people are entering this scooter craze, which can begin at the 49cc level.

This raises many questions:

What does this do to our current traffic situation out there? Is it worsening? Do scooters cause more problems when they're out there, or does it become better? The good news is that many scooter riders stay off of the freeways and only ride the surface streets.

Is this just another one of the battles being fought in the gas wars? Are we trying to shake our fat and sassy SUV image and join the greenie-granola, tree-huggin' movement?

For crying out loud... what about our image? Are we starting to look like a third-world country with all of them scooters out there? Or are we just now belatedly joining the world in something that has long been a staple, such as we finally did in soccer?

What's next? The metric system? Military time?

[ZonyPony]

Here's one guy's idea of the scooter rage:

Vespanomics :Vespa Vespa MUSIC VIDEO

[Innovator831021]

Scooters are cool however those look pretty lame... better watch out for your life though and stay the hell off the expressways.

Gas isn't expensive enough that I need to tenfold my odds of getting killed every time I hit the road.

[Roaddog]

I've noticed the scooter population is booming here. I think there cool but I already ride a motorcycle 95% of the time, my wife is thinking about a scooter.

[spotrod]

Yep Have a Suzuki Burgman 650. Bought it yesterday. Took it to work this am. 82 mpg. I enjoyed the ride. I't was awesome. No problem on the less congested roads here in Georgia. I would not be afraid to take it on major roads, but prefer the winding roads lots more fun. I wear my full face helmet, gloves, & reflective material in the dark and are very careful and cautious. The ride is awesome and wave to everyone at the gas pumps. Alot of people at work now want one when I came pulling up. Some are paying $600-700 a month in gas , for me I estimate $36 a month.