Although Deron Nardo owns a car, he rides his Honda Elite 80 scooter to work most mornings.
“The ride takes about 10 minutes, as opposed to a 30-minute bus ride,” said Nardo, 37, a senior account executive for Dig Communications who lives in Ukrainian Village and works in the West Loop. “I park for free … and it’s a fun, efficient way to get around.”
As gasoline drifts toward — and, in some places like Chicago, beyond — $4 a gallon, motorists across the country are looking to motor scooters, a cross between a small motorcycle and a lightweight moped, as a cheaper mode of transportation.
As the market for trucks, cars and motorcycles sagged, first-quarter scooter sales were up 25 percent from a year earlier, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council, a trade group. Manufacturers attribute the growth in part to sustained high fuel prices.
“The $4 line [in gas prices] really freaked people out,” said Philip McCaleb, founder and president of the Chicago-based scooter manufacturer Genuine Scooter Company. McCaleb estimates his company’s sales have increased “by 150 percent” this year.
David Myer, owner of Vespa Thousand Oaks in Thousand Oaks, Calif., says he has noticed a change in his customers in the past several weeks. Instead of the usual affluent buyers looking for a new toy, recent shoppers have been looking for ways to cut their commuting costs, Myer said.
“Now they come in with a pen, paper and a calculator, and they want to hear the numbers,” he said. “I tell them that if they are paying $100 to fill up their SUV, they can just take a zero off of that.”
Models like the $4,200 retro Vespa S, which recently began arriving in showrooms, can travel 80 miles on a gallon of fuel. Others, like the $2,000 ultra-utilitarian Yamaha C3, tout fuel economy of around 100 miles per gallon. Most models also have automatic transmissions and cargo compartments big enough for a briefcase or gym bag, or sometimes both.
For longtime scooter riders, however, their ride of choice isn’t only about spending less on gas.
“You feel the city more when riding,” said 36-year-old Old Town resident Lisa Julin, who has been riding scooters since high school. “Chicagoans are always so cooped up, it’s nice to just be in the fresh air and have some freedom.”
McCaleb, who owns three scooters, says the vehicles — and the people who ride them — are, “approachable, inviting, and they scream fun.”
Owners may revel in the hipness of their rides, but the scooter life isn’t always a joy ride. Riders say an obvious trade-off for saving fuel is their increased vulnerability when riding a 300-pound two-wheeler among 3-ton SUVs on crowded streets.
In 2005, the latest year with complete data, the death rate for scooter riders was 129 per million scooters registered, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety, a research group funded by the insurance industry. That compares with a rate of 78 for cars and light trucks. The rate is significantly higher for motorcycles, however: 645.
Safety is a big concern for the scooter owners who talked to RedEye.
“If [riders] don’t wear helmets, then they don’t value their heads,” said McCaleb.
Julin agreed, noting, “You have to be a cautious rider; pay attention, you can’t be on a cell phone or using portable radios.”
Other drawbacks of scooter riding include dicey handling on potholed city streets, the need for a motorcycle license in most states and unpredictable weather.
But Chicago’s erratic weather doesn’t stop some die-hard riders.
“I [ride] all year round,” says Millie Dufern, 29, of Humboldt Park, who bought her first scooter last year because she didn’t want to pay more for a car.
Dufern admits riding during the winter months is less enjoyable.
“I get a little nervous when the roads get wet,” she said. “I’ve gotten stuck in the snow. I try not to ride when there’s a lot on the road, there’s less room for error.”
As the ranks of scooter ownership grow in Chicago, Julin warns new riders to respect the city and its laws. Otherwise, “the city will crack down on us,” she said.
After 30 years of scooter riding, McCaleb said he is fine with the rise of scooter newcomers. It’s more business for him, and “we’re still riding our favorite form of transportation.”
Dufern said she doesn’t see the increasing popularity of scooters as a fad. “If gas prices continue like this, we won’t die out,” she said. “We’re not going anywhere.”
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Scooter history
Early internal-combustion engines had barely developed when they began appearing on bicycles almost a century ago. Many of the contraptions were built in garages, but Cushman, a maker of small engines for farm machinery, began mass-producing scooters in the 1930s. The U.S. military used Cushmans in World War II; there was even a model for airborne soldiers, which was designed to be dropped by parachute.
Italian maker Piaggio & C. SpA began building the now-popular Vespa just after the war as inexpensive transportation for Italians struggling with postwar austerity. For the next few decades scooters grew popular throughout Europe and developed a following in the U.S. Toughened emissions standards caused Vespas to fade from the U.S. market by the early 1980s. Scooters that remained on the U.S. market, including models from Honda and Yamaha, were popular among students, messengers and pizza-delivery riders. Only the current fuel crunch has resulted in a palpable influx of mainstream riders.
– Wall Street Journal
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RIDE ON!
After years of trying unsuccessfully to sell them based on their cool factor, retro styling and matching clothing and accessories, scooter makers are finding the vehicles’ practicality is more of a draw.
Nearly all scooters have low-slung frames with “step-through” designs that make getting on and off easier for riders in work clothes.
Low-priced models, like the Yamaha Vino Classic, can be had for about $1,950. More upscale brands, like Vespas, cost from $3,300 for the small, 50-cubic-centimeter LX, to $6,000 for the bigger, faster, 250-cubic-centimeter GTS. Larger scooters like the Honda Silver Wing with antilock brakes and the Suzuki Burgman 650 from Suzuki Motor Corp. cost between $8,000 and $9,000.
Industry analysts and scooter makers also attribute the sales jump to the growing variety of scooters, including larger models like the Yamaha Majesty and the Piaggio MP3 500, made by the same manufacturer as the Vespa.
Bigger, more powerful scooters get around 50 mpg, but are more comfortable than their less-thirsty cousins for long trips and commutes at highway speeds.
To make scooters more appealing to the bigger-is-better set, manufacturer have added beefier models with more storage space and a smoother ride for long commutes.
– Wall Street Journal
