Riding because you have to; a relative statement

Hi
Im with you both, you only need to read my sig to see my point of view on this subject

Take care and ride safely dear friends
Yours Hank

You cannot tell someone who has not ridden on two wheels (particularly a scooter) what it is really like. They will have to experience it for themselves in order to know. The closest description I've given is like a magic carpet or a Lay-Z-Boy gliding fast a foot or two off the ground, but even that falls far short of the mark.

I started on mopeds when I was 13 had tons of em as I bought and sold them along with motorcross bikes and cruiser street bikes . I had a Honda Elite stock 2T 49cc and later bought my neighbors hot rod Honda Spree which was the very first scooter I ever rode . It was wrecked with bent forks and blown put tire . I replaced both , installed a NGK iridium which it already had , cleaned the airfilter and changed the gear oil . I never ever took a wrench to it again or had any problems . I do not know if it was belt driven as I thought it had a shaft since I was 18 and most of my rides had a chain drive . My neighbors father ran out the door as he saw me pushing it home and was mad he sold it to me for only 100 dollars since it was only a few months old , a Honda and he sais he spent 300 in upgrades on it . He had just gotten a brand new car and lost all interest in it . Rich peoples junk can truly be poor peoples treasures . It smoked my stock Elite big time so I sold it . I rode it for two years like I stole it even with a passenger it would dust any other small scooter .

Almost 20 years later I have been having the two wheel bug and hated spending 75 a week in gas to drive a van that a friend let me borrow . I looked around at scooter shops in town and was thrilled how much cheaper priced the China scooters were compared to Honda or Vespa . I bought a TaoTao ATMa50 and hated it as I was used to a 2T and Honda quality which it was far from being even close . I had a mental meltdown when the piston cracked on the second day and the piston blew into pieces 6 weeks later . I have never in my life had or heard of a piston failing so soon and I went with a 50mm Air Sal BBK as I did not want another POS piston kit . It had way more power and I went with 5 gram rollers and upjetted the carb the rest stock . It was pretty fast as I outran a stock Peace 150 for almost a quarter of a mile before he passed me . I then bought my CFMoto Echarm since it has a 150cc engine , EFI , LC , larger wheels and best of all 2 year unlimited warranty . Most scootes here have a 30 , 90 day or 6 month limited warranty and no way would I spend over a grand with no warranty . The Echarm is much taller and wow it was a rocket compared to mine and every other scooter I have ridden . A good friend had a coworker who had a scooter that blew up , newborn baby and needed a ride since he had two jobs and no license . I let him take a test ride and he whipped out the cash before he came to a stop . His was stock and did not have the power like mine did with a BBK . I took a lil loss but felt good helping him out as I was roughing it too when I first became a father .

After remembering all the great time I had on my Honda Spree I got the 2T bug real bad . I was going to get an Adley but my dealer sold out and said they cost too much to make a profit on and would no longer get any . Luckily he had a few Jonway Magnums which were very similar but the Magnum has a dual piston ( opposed not side by side ) rear disc brake which almost no 50s have . I hate drums and after riding the TaoTao it reminded me how I hated the squeaks and inferior braking abilities . I had my dealer bring it to my house ( which was super nice of him ) as I am only 4 or less miles away . I rode it around the block and was thrilled how it rode and handled even better than my Echarm since it has 130/60/13 tires instead of 10s like my old scooter and they were also 30mm wider than the 16s on my Echarm . I rode it to visit a friend in another county after putting 40 miles going around the block and close by . I was having so much fun I ran it out of gas . I have not ran out of gas in many of years and was lucky a gas station was a 1/4 mile away . I have had so much fun on my Magnum as I love the peppy performance of a 2T with the wing ying yang exhaust sound and the ability to coast . 4ts have tranny drag which helps in braking where a 2T coasts and never has the lag like a 4T can when you accelerate after coasting . The Magnum not only rode , handled , braked waaaay better than the TaoTao the dual 35 watt headlights lit up the road to where I could see as the TaoTao was like a candle . My Echarms single 35 watt is much brighter than you would think as well . My Magnum was bough to be a toy and backup plan as my Echarm is my daily rider as I no longer had the gas hungry minivan anymore .

I have always loved riding on two wheels as I had a MC license 2 years before I had a car license . I was one the first to get the new moped license in SC when I was 14 and back then it had to have bicycle pedals so its classified as a bicycle with a helper engine . If a 49cc moped had pegs or was a scooter it was a 49cc motorcycle . My Spree was MC tagged and insured 23 years ago for 48 dollars a year . I have had way more fun riding scooters than I had running around with wild women and when I had bad habits too . Riding my scooters has made me more happy than any dope ever did . I am sober these days and almost never at all drink booze .

Riding solo is fun but not as much as with a buddy who has their own scooter can be . I have met many cool people on scooters in my adventures with some becoming close friends . I have gave the scooter bug to a few of my friends who got one after seeing me so happy and after I let them ride my scooters around . I ride to save money and for pleasure as its like euphoria to me at times .

I am so glad I found ScootDawg as I have met so many cool people who enjoy ( well maybe almost as much ) scooters as I do . I have learned alot even with my many years of wrenching , and tinkering along with formal training on automotive repair and small engine classes . I have build engines but never messed with a CVT before as most of my rides were chain driven . I enjoy helping others when I can and always love to throw in " Get a 2T " when I can get away from it . I hate how some get in flames here as I have a few words but I prefer to be nice and keep it family friendly and glad others do as well .

I will never get rid of my 2T as they are almost extinct and will enjoy it as long as I am alive . I enjoy servicing , modding and tuning since its much easier than a 4T since less parts and best of all 2Ts go faster to boot .

I hope everyone here gets to be as happy as I get when riding and of course be safe out there

So, Skutta, you're obviously saying we're born with the problem.

EDIT: it's funny, because every time I praise my scooter or riding scooters, something seems to happen... 7 months to the day, my rear tire lasted... glad I have a Kenda K329 otw.

Yeah, I can't stand the preconceived notions people have. I have a license, too and have never had a DUI or DWI or anything related to it. I live less than a mile from the middle of my small town and I work out of my home, so I sold my gas hog Ford Explorer Sport and picked up the scooter. I just use my gf's Ford Explorer when I/we need to go somewhere far; she works in the next town over. I think that's why I'm defensive when it comes to people disrespecting scooter riders--they are the same people that disrespect cyclists, pedestrians, etc; their belief is that the bigger entity wins, and like you said, they also believe everybody on a scooter has no license. And you know what? So what if somebody got a DUI--they aren't breaking the law (typically) if they ride less than 50cc, they will pay their dues, and who is anyone to judge that? But I see way more disrespect coming in the form of "I'm bigger" than "Oh, you probably have no license." That's my interpretation, anyway, but out where I live, rednecks abound, and the biggest truck wins. My saying is, "The bigger the truck, the smaller the oh no he didn't."

I see many on a 150 with moped tag but cops here are pulling over riders with a moped tag that go over 35 MPH . The DUI hate and moped speed restriction is why my 2T has a MC tag . I do not have health insurance and I not only have full coverage but extra coverage to pay the ER in case I wreck on my own like if a tire blows out while zooming .

Scooters and mopeds have been around here in SC as long as I can recall with an explosion of scooters in the last few years . So many riders have died due to lack of experience , not sober or a cager not paying attention . There has been some hate on the news from cagers complaining about slow or impaired scooter riders . Even when I was 14 and had pedal mopeds I had enough manners to ride on the far right side of a lane to allow faster cars to pass instead of pile up behind me . I love having fast scooters as I easily keep up with them now and often outrun then except on the interstates where many zoom by while Im hitting 70 and scare me

Me too justbugging I got a warning for doing 72 MPH on an interstate by a state trooper who was curious what scooter I had

Wow EPA Hater I new we would agree on something.

Also we are definitely born with the NEED to ride I got it from my dad. He used to chase jack rabbits across the desert with me on the back of his Honda Elsinore 450. I think I was like 4, I had a smile on my face that was so big it was ridiculous. Man that was fun...

Just so you know not everyone has the bug. Some people ride and they park it after a couple hundred miles. Riding a bike makes some people want to curl into the fetal position and cry while they pee on themselves...

How is that possible that someone can not have the bug? That is not even something I can comprehend. While I dont get to ride mine much, Every single time I do ride, even if it is just around the block, I walk back in the house and tell my wife how wonderful that felt and how I miss riding it when I dont get on it for a long period of time. Now, the reason I mention that is that my wife reminds me after I say it to her, that I say it every single time I ride. While I cant see my face when I am riding, I can only imagine that my grin must be as big as the jokers from batman. And thats just from riding a 50cc scooter. In the last year, I can guarantee you that I have put more miles on my scooter then I have on my car lol. Of course I work from home and rarely get out much, so when I do, I like to hop on the scooter and ride.

Now there is a downside of this for me as well. Since I am only riding a 50cc scooter, I really dont ride but a couple miles at most around my house. The speed limit around here is 45 and I really dont want to hinder traffic and it actually bothers me if I even hold up just one person for more then a few seconds. I guess thats the anal retentive side of me lol.
That can be fixed with a bigger scooter, I just got to get off my lazy but and get my endorsement so I can ride a bigger one and not worry about it. Sadly though, I have spent the greater part of this past year looking at other scooters and I simply can not make up my mind what I want and that just keeps delaying me on doing anything to get it. Part of my problem is I want good quality but at cheap prices and that is just not possible around here lol.

riding back and forth 2 work here in nj

It's now to the point that it's not just enjoyable to me, but it feels strange, awkward, and depressing to not ride for a day. Do you guys feel it to that level?

I sometimes bang my head on the table, because I have no time to ride...
They say moving to a new neighborhood helps;

I believe that, Hankster. And I also believe that my old belief that the riding habit might "wear off" was a silly one.