Scooter people, pls 'splain. | Page 2 | GTAMotorcycle.com

Scooter people, pls 'splain.

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outkastland said:
like another poster pointed out, the tend to be 50 and 125cc. The chance of road rash is far less. [...]
Everywhere else the fairly safe, not having a clutch makes them extremely easy to drive.
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Not to belabour this, but I thought road rash was a result of friction as a function of velocity, slightly related to horsepower, not engine displacement. See following comic:

correlation.png

Armour works, saves skin and lives, certainly, but in the 40kph city, it looks like things are equal and the risk is the same. Given the behaviour of most riders in the city, I'm beginning to change my attitude toward the risk.
 
too many threads on this forum about people worrying about what someone else is doing.
look after yourself. trust me, they won't be riding squid after getting road rash for the first time.
move on with your life and wear your gear!
 
TorontoBoy said:
+1 I see many motorcycle riders go squid, so it is not just scooter people. The laws of physics are the same for all riders. They choose as they see fit. The 1981 Hurt report from the US:



Both of these are well within the <50cc scooter speeds.
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I'm sure the stats on cars accidents are somewhat similar. The majority of people use their personal vehicles most on short trips and running errands. ;)
 
evang said:
I'm sure the stats on cars accidents are somewhat similar. The majority of people use their personal vehicles most on short trips and running errands. ;)
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It is even simpler than that, every time you go for a ride, you are always within 5km of your home. On every ride. Can't get away from it, you have to ride near your house just to ride. See how statics can be turned to show something?
 
Myztyk said:
Hey now, I do not own a beanie, nor a white Tshirt. That's like saying all sportbike guys buy jackets that are colour coded to their bikes..wait...nevermind.
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Black gear goes with everything ;)

I say each to their own. I would love to ride in tshirt and jeans - shorts would be too hot on my bike - engine heat, but I promised to the wife to wear my gear when I ride, so have some investment in vented gear. Also keeps my clothes clean from bug splats ;)


Just saw a female rider go by on a ninja 500 with leather pants on.. Today's really warm.
 
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kiwi said:
Black gear goes with everything ;)
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Sadly...my jacket is brown. Sigh...I so don't fit in. But then...my engine is liquid cooled so it's not a real harley anyway.

I've got the same deal with my girlfriend! lol
 
I am torn on gear (pun intended). When I head out on the road bike (bicycle) I usually only wear shorts, shirt and a helmet (and even then not 100%, I know, I know...), definitely not in full leathers :). On the road bike I can hit speeds of 60 kph without much fuss, with 40 kph the typical cruise speed.

So on a scooter or a motorcycle if I am not going to be going more than 60 kph... I WAS using this logic, luckily when I did go down at 60 on the motorcycle I was wearing jeans and ballistic nylon...

BTW, not just scooter guys you rarely see more than jeans, t-shirt and a helmet on cruisers riders, and we all know about squids.

But here is an odd twist from the cruiser perspective. My sister was on a tour with a bunch of cruiser riders, all were wearing T-shirts, jeans/shorts and the half helmets, there wearing also all wearing boots. My sisters boots were giving her bad blisters and she put on her running shoes, the other riders stopped her and said "we wear boots!" Like it was crazy dangerous to head out not wearing your boots... with your shorts.
 
I was scooting around in a Hugo Boss suit on Friday. :)

58 yo rider
50 yo scoot
18 yo suit
 
Simply from a comfort perspective, I find it more comfortable wearing a vented leather jacket than bare skin getting fried by the sun for hours on end. I guess if you're only riding 5 mins that's not a big problem. I really don't understand the cruiser riders though. I find it interesting checking the varying degrees of sunburn they're sporting at the coffee shops along the highways.
 
MacDoc said:
There ARE scooters like the big Aprilla that will eat most mcycles for lunch.
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I'm sorry, but by lunch do you mean a light snack like a super small salad and skim milk to wash it down or are we talking buffet style here.

either way, I don't know of any scooter, BIG aprilia's or not, that can eat "most" motorcycles for lunch or any other meal :)
 
A lot of hate and generalisation here towards people who aren't harming anyone.

Anyways, it comes down to image. The full gear look just isn't associated with scooters. The image we have of them is from sunny coastal resort areas where people ride in sandals, shorts, and sometimes other articles of clothing as well. If any one of you naysayers would seriously rent a scooter in Jamaica or Greece and insist on full gear to ride along the beach, then I dare you to post a picture of yourself doing so.

On the other hand, motorcycles are associated with either the leather-and-chains type or the MotoGP type so the convention has been made from that, and it's much more easily accepted to be seen with leathers on the bigger bikes.

A more meaningful apparent contradiction would be to ask why people make a fuss about these little things, but when it comes to stuff that will actually have an impact on our lives, our futures, there's almost no interest?
 
fastar1 said:
A more meaningful apparent contradiction would be to ask why people make a fuss about these little things, but when it comes to stuff that will actually have an impact on our lives, our futures, there's almost no interest?
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Some people love to judge others while blissfully ignoring the idiocy of their own actions. Humans being humans. We are imperfect and that's why someone invented statistics.
 
I can't speak for other scoot riders, but I don't really like summer, and I figure I'm more likely to get in an accident after sweltering in a leather jacket, long pants, gloves, a full face helmet. Of course, getting sunburnt (even after putting on sunblock) waiting at one of our 50000000 stoplights doesn't help, either.

I know, I know, getting skin burn from a spill will help even less. In July & August, I'll just have to take my chances.
 
kiwi said:
Black gear goes with everything ;)

I say each to their own. I would love to ride in tshirt and jeans - shorts would be too hot on my bike - engine heat, but I promised to the wife to wear my gear when I ride, so have some investment in vented gear. Also keeps my clothes clean from bug splats ;)


Just saw a female rider go by on a ninja 500 with leather pants on.. Today's really warm.
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I was pondering the bug splat deal today. Every time I go out riding, I leave with a visor so clean that a drill sergeant might say that the virgin mary herself would be proud to see through it. And I come back after several hours on the road with bug splats all over it, and dutifully Windex off the bug corpses. Today was a particularly bad bug day, and I could feel the bugs impacting all over my textile jacket, and gave that a cleaning. The amount of dead bug that I collect on my person is disgusting. How the **** do people survive in t-shirts and an open faced helmet? I absolutely understand the appeal of the freedom, and the wind in your face / hair / etc., and I prefer riding visor-up at low speeds because of the feel of the wind on my face. But holy god, the bugs. If I went and committed a crime in my motorcycle jacket after a ride, the police would run DNA tests and conclude that a massive mutant robot insect powered by an internal combustion engine must have committed the crime.
 
My guess is people consider scooters as bicycles with small motors in em, not as motorcycles, so they think there is no risk. But anything that you ride on the roads, which you share with cars is dangerous, bicycles included and riding without protection is pure stupidity and lack of common sense/intelligence.
 
either way, I don't know of any scooter, BIG aprilia's or not, that can eat "most" motorcycles for lunch or any other meal :icon_smile:
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you would be wrong....full meal deal. :D

Aprilia crosses over and mixes true sports motorcycling with some of the things we love about our Scooter! The Mana 850 is priced at $16,990 + orc.

With its exclusive and unmistakably Italian design, the 850 Mana is unique among motorcycles. Its revolutionary Sportgear transmission is electronically controlled to deliver unrivalled riding pleasure. So whatever your riding style, and whatever the road conditions, the 850 Mana is the bike you will want to be on.

The 850 Mana is the state of the art in motorcycle technology. Only Aprilia, with its legendary technical skills, would have dared take on a challenge of this entity. The Aprilia 850 Mana is so advanced and so unique that it simply cannot be compared with any other motorcycle. The Mana takes all the stress from motorcycling while injecting more satisfaction and more fun into riding under all conditions, from commuting to sports touring on the open road. All you need to do to enter a whole new world is press the button on the handlebars.
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http://www.scootersales.com.au/News-1804-aprilia-mana-850.aspx

and the Burgman has been in that space for a while as these reviewers discovered.
http://www.onewheeldrive.net/2006/10/04/scoot-touring-the-honda-silverwing-and-suzuki-burgman/

and these 10,000 riders know...
http://www.burgmanusa.com/forums/

••••

back to our regularly scheduled program of disinformation.
 
Really? I see more of the shorts, flip flops, wife beaters on the SS bikes downtown. It cost me less per day to operate versus the TTC. It gets me past the grid lock downtown and I can park anywhere including sidewalks when I go pick up my extra hot non fat soy latte grande mocha expresso vanilla bean watcha ma call it.Yes I own a scooter to get around downtown and Oh I also have a "real" bike.

Tinsnips33 said:
Yeah, I don't get it either. Shorts, flip flops, tank tops...I saw one with a little dog between her feet. I think the majority are scared to get a real bike so they think this is safer and they can't get hurt.
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