scooters vs. motorcycles

[norcal1]

I have two motorcycles in addition to my Grand Vista. Lately I've been riding my scooter to work instead of my bikes ( HD Road King and a Triumph Bonneville). We have covered parking for bikes and a lot of my coworkers ride. And I always make sure I park next to the bike with the most skulls and tassels and the tallest ape hangers. Since I'm the only scooter rider there I get some ribbing but I've been surprised at how many people are interested in my ride and are usually curious about it.
 I know that some scooter owners are looked down on by "real" bike riders. Have any of you experienced that?
 

[axy]

I have two motorcycles in addition to my Grand Vista. Lately I've been riding my scooter to work instead of my bikes ( HD Road King and a Triumph Bonneville). We have covered parking for bikes and a lot of my coworkers ride. And I always make sure I park next to the bike with the most skulls and tassels and the tallest ape hangers. Since I'm the only scooter rider there I get some ribbing but I've been surprised at how many people are interested in my ride and are usually curious about it.
 I know that some scooter owners are looked down on by "real" bike riders. Have any of you experienced that?
 

Where I live, yes, as "less worthy".
It is strange what people can use in order to build their persona.

Even when I had a "real" bike (Kawasaki 750 cc), other people with motorcycles considered me to be strange because I also had 200 and 50 cc scooters and thought highly of them.

It is a bit like Waco-Davidian sort of thing, I guess... my pack and your pack...

[geezerbob]

A lot of riders of both scooters and motorcycles hang out at a biker leather shop at a local flea market.  The scooter riders were catching it from the Harley dudes, as might be expected.  A few months ago, a big retired cop accepted an invitation to ride to a town to tour the local gardens and meet some more riders from Charleston.

When we pulled out of the parking lot, my P250 left him grinding his gears trying to get started on his 1800 cc Harley.  The same thing happened at every light, although it was no contest once he got it going.  Then, he was amazed that my little scooter was doing 70 mph once we hit the open road.  The final straw was when he met a couple of Burgman riders who had pimped out their bikes with just about every accessory known to man.

He's still riding his Harley, which I suspect will be his last one, but he's now quick to defend the scooter riders and the performance of their bikes.  Since he's so big, the "sissy" chatter has just about disappeared around the leather shop.  One small step....

[ts1]

In Germany many motorcycle riders consider scooters to be not more as inferior - if not just a toilet.
They are not accepted even as small motorcycles. "Scooters aren't motorcycles".

But this prejudices frequently softens if you meet some (not a crowd with its self-dynamic) mc bikers personally.
If they have a chance to convince themselves, that a scooter can drive within the public road limits too.
And then the weather protection with adjustable windshield, folding mirrors, impressive boot, comfortable pillion seat, ... and the never failing CVT!

BTW, I know professional mc drivers, who drive a scooter for private use:
http://www.max-neukirchner.de/de/max
He proudly presents his Burgman 650 as a motorcycle.
(Valentino Rossi is said to frequently show up with a Tmax, but i can't prove it.)
With this information most "real hard mc bikers" can't easily say "scooters are only for people who can't drive motorcycles".

[axy]

In Germany many motorcycle riders consider scooters to be not more as inferior - if not just a toilet.
They are not accepted even as small motorcycles. "Scooters aren't motorcycles".

But this prejudices frequently softens if you meet some (not a crowd with its self-dynamic) mc bikers personally.
If they have a chance to convince themselves, that a scooter can drive within the public road limits too.
And then the weather protection with adjustable windshield, folding mirrors, impressive boot, comfortable pillion seat, ... and the never failing CVT!

BTW, I know professional mc drivers, who drive a scooter for private use:
http://www.max-neukirchner.de/de/max
He proudly presents his Burgman 650 as a motorcycle.
(Valentino Rossi is said to frequently show up with a Tmax, but i can't prove it.)
With this information most "real hard mc bikers" can't easily say "scooters are only for people who can't drive motorcycles".

TS1, the scooter scene in Europe is much different than the scene in the USA. I think that scooters in USA have recently entered the market bigtime. Recently = in the past 5-10 years. Yet, the scooter was a sole mean of transportation in Europe since end of WWII. Remember Vespa and Lambretta in Italy. My father used to ride NSU Prima at the end of 50s/beginning of 60s.

Yet, I've stopped caring a long time about about what other people think. I have 28 km round trip every day to work and back. If I used a car I could not go to the gym during lunch break (I have one hour). I would have to go to work one hour earlier with a car to find parking and meanwhile to be stuck in a traffic jam. I have no idea where I would park as I work in the very center of the city - people from my company park 5 or 6 kms away and then use buses to reach the office! Parking costs from 1 to 2 EUR where I live per hour. Just if I count 1 hour per day extra in traffic, this means 250 hours per year spent on doing nothing. 10 days of my life!!!!

I prefer motorcycles to scooters, in fact, I think that 250-300 cc is the top displacement new scooter I would buy unless I had some good deal because I prefer for everything over 250 to be a motorcycle but scooter has a big storage space and when the rain is not so heavy, you can even survive and be almost dry on short distances. Also, your trousers do not get dirty as opposed to motorcycles where even the smallest amount of water on the road ends up on you.

However, scooter is my sole transportation vehicle, I used it to travel, go to work, go to get groceries, shopping, hell, I even hauled decorative stones for my garden using Piaggio NRG 50! These are some things that would not be possible on a motorcycle, so for me it is not or-or relation, it is *and* if possible, if not, just scooter then...

[kawzak]

I think it's funny how people act. I ride my Victory and the harley guys wave, I ride my Gold wing and only other non-harley guys wave, I ride my DRZ and no body waves, I ride my military side car rig and every body waves. I do get some waves from sport bike or standard riders when I ride my scooter. I really don't care. As I am getting older it sure is a lot easier riding the scooter. Plus the 250S runs great! and is just plain fun to ride. I"ll listen to the crowd when they start paying my bills or buy me a bike. HA!

[axy]

I think it's funny how people act. I ride my Victory and the harley guys wave, I ride my Gold wing and only other non-harley guys wave, I ride my DRZ and no body waves, I ride my military side car rig and every body waves. I do get some waves from sport bike or standard riders when I ride my scooter. I really don't care. As I am getting older it sure is a lot easier riding the scooter. Plus the 250S runs great! and is just plain fun to ride. I"ll listen to the crowd when they start paying my bills or buy me a bike. HA!

)) I like this notion about bills and buying bike.

[bongoman]

Here in Austin, Texas there are way more scooters than motorcycles, it's ScooterCity USA. At least that's what we scooterati call it.

When I leave and get on the back roads - lots of hills and twisty curves - I see lots of m.c.s, and pass them. At first, they look down their noses, and then try very hard to keep up . . . even though I am not forcing the issue.

I am an older, former m.c. rider that resisted scooters, until that magic moment when I checked them out instead of turning my nose up. Now, around here anyway, m.c. riders sit up and take notice and ask, "Is that automatic?"

It was really fun when the R.O.T. Rally for motorcycles was held and all the big Harleys in the world showed up, over 20k of them. I had lots of fun riding away from them at lights, laughing as their ride choked out, or they mashed gears and with roaring motors went nowhere fast.

Those big m.c.s have their place on the interstates, but on roads, forgetaboutit.

[axy]

Here in Austin, Texas there are way more scooters than motorcycles, it's ScooterCity USA. At least that's what we scooterati call it.

When I leave and get on the back roads - lots of hills and twisty curves - I see lots of m.c.s, and pass them. At first, they look down their noses, and then try very hard to keep up . . . even though I am not forcing the issue.

I am an older, former m.c. rider that resisted scooters, until that magic moment when I checked them out instead of turning my nose up. Now, around here anyway, m.c. riders sit up and take notice and ask, "Is that automatic?"

It was really fun when the R.O.T. Rally for motorcycles was held and all the big Harleys in the world showed up, over 20k of them. I had lots of fun riding away from them at lights, laughing as their ride choked out, or they mashed gears and with roaring motors went nowhere fast.

Those big m.c.s have their place on the interstates, but on roads, forgetaboutit.

It is interesting that a lot of 250-500 cc scooters handle just like customs: they carry a lot of weight in the rear, they are relatively heavy compared to their power (power to weight ratio), on a scooter you have upright position with legs in front just like you do on a custom. When cornering heavy, the scooters tend to wiggle with rear end, all of them, because of the reasons I have mentioned.

So, customs and scooters have quite a number of things in common (unfortunately, I'd add...  )

I have limited experience driving smaller custom bikes (up to 750 cc, Japanese production), and like I said, I would almost rather crawl on all four than drive one of those things on a regular basis. For me - either scooters or naked / sport-touring bikes.

Of course, I know that a lot of people are crazy about custom bikes, Harleys, Indians etc. To be honest, I'd have one of those to decorate my living room, because they are aesthetically very pleasing, but not to drive them. But, to each his own...