Fun Experience This Weekend

[solumized]

Hey Guys,

Just thought I would share with you a pretty fun experience I had this weekend riding around Milwaukee.  This weekend was the 110th anniversary of Harley Davidson and has a huge turn out for Harley riders from all over the world.  They are literally everywhere around the greater Milwaukee area.  Well I was in a suburb (Wauwatosa for anyone familiar with the area) and came to a stop light.  Saw in my mirror some Harley riders coming upon me and the lead guy stopped next to me and started looking at me.  I thought...Oh great...Gonna start giving me sh** for being on my little 50cc sparkly purple moped.  But he started actually complimenting me about it and talking.  He asked me where I was going and I said just around.  He asked if I wanted to join them.  I said "Are you f'ing with me?" He said no, and that they were from Colorado and this was their first time here and wanted to see the area if I could help show them around.  So I said sure.  The fun part was seeing a guy on a purple moped riding with 13 other Harley riders through the streets.  We pulled into a parking lot and they all took turns buzzing around on it in the lot and were surprised how much power that little thing had for a 50cc.  I had a blast the whole time and enjoyed seeing the looks on peoples faces in the street with me in the lead of these guys.  They were all cool people and it was quite the experience.  Thought you guys would all like to hear about that and possibly share some similar experiences of your own! 

[Vivo]

Wow! thanks for sharing! I did not expect your story would end up like that... I thought you would be beaten up or something..Lol! I guess we, scooter people, are just very paranoid when we see those cruiser people around...

My experience was when I was at a restaurant parking area with my 7 year old daughter and saw three parked Harleys.   My daughter and  I were standing beside admiring the machines when the big bearded guy came over and asked if I wanted to try the bike? I smiled and declined? He added that it's ok if my daughter would want to sit and have pictures taken...I said o.k., we had a little chat and left...nice fellow...

[ChefRupe]

I wrote about this a little last wee and, this is the perfect thread to share it on.

Last week, not sure which day exactly but let's say Wednesday just for shiggles. I got pulled over by a bike cop, moreover a Sonoma county sheriffs deputy early Wednesday morning. It was about 4:45AM, he and I were the only two people on the street. He didn't ask for my license or ID or anything like that. He instead said he sees the bat bike every morning and he wanted to ask me about it. I up-sold how great Kymco was, he had never heard of them. We chatted about our bike history, his police bike, his awesome new triumph street triple, the restaurant, and of course batman.

He was a really nice guy and is even planning to bring his wife and come eat some food at my work. I have never had an encounter like that after being pulled over but it turned out great.

Little scooters: winning the hearts and minds of everyone!

[Momma bear]

Great story!

I've known a lot of guys with Harley's and I think their image is outdated.  Most of them have families and just love to ride. My safety class instructor had a big ass Harley with a sidecar for his 82 y/o mother to ride in. My neighbor,who owns a big BMW thought my Like 200 was too cool. The people with attitude are the crotch-rocket boys. They snub their nose at anything that can't cruise at 100MPH

[Vivo]

Great story!

 The people with attitude are the crotch-rocket boys. They snub their nose at anything that can't cruise at 100MPH

Yeah, I've seen a lot... they pass you just to show off their fat rear tires...

[Stig / Major Tom]

Great story! Thanks for sharing!
My story: a couple of weeks ago I impressed a couple of old ladies with how many groceries I could pack into my LIKE. They were a little scary - in their Escalade.

[CosmoKorny]

Hey Guys,

Just thought I would share with you a pretty fun experience I had this weekend riding around Milwaukee.  This weekend was the 110th anniversary of Harley Davidson and has a huge turn out for Harley riders from all over the world.  They are literally everywhere around the greater Milwaukee area.  Well I was in a suburb (Wauwatosa for anyone familiar with the area) and came to a stop light.  Saw in my mirror some Harley riders coming upon me and the lead guy stopped next to me and started looking at me.  I thought...Oh great...Gonna start giving me sh** for being on my little 50cc sparkly purple moped.  But he started actually complimenting me about it and talking.  He asked me where I was going and I said just around.  He asked if I wanted to join them.  I said "Are you f'ing with me?" He said no, and that they were from Colorado and this was their first time here and wanted to see the area if I could help show them around.  So I said sure.  The fun part was seeing a guy on a purple moped riding with 13 other Harley riders through the streets.  We pulled into a parking lot and they all took turns buzzing around on it in the lot and were surprised how much power that little thing had for a 50cc.  I had a blast the whole time and enjoyed seeing the looks on peoples faces in the street with me in the lead of these guys.  They were all cool people and it was quite the experience.  Thought you guys would all like to hear about that and possibly share some similar experiences of your own!

Great story!  I've got a little reverse prejudice going on, perhaps it's time to tone it down a bit.

[CROSSBOLT]

Really great stories! It is a wonder how a slightly different configuration can really spark folk in a positive way. You older guys can remember ( I do!) "you meet the nicest people on a Honda" from the '60s. Honda changed the way the general public thinks about two wheels and the folks that ride them. Now the scooters are doing the same thing! Funny how Kymco started making engine units for Honda in '63 now they are in the middle of a "rebirth" liike Honda started!

Karl










1

[tclhb]

Very cool! Enjoyed reading that. I generally get pretty good responses when I wave to Harley riders. Sport bike riders, which I used to be one, usually ignore me when I wave.

[wakeupmaggie]

I ride a DT300i, my husband rides a Harley!  Nuf said! 

[solumized]

The people with attitude are the crotch-rocket boys. They snub their nose at anything that can't cruise at 100MPH

Actually,  I have another couple of experiences! All around the same spot (so maybe it's just the people in that area.  I actually had a lot of Harley riders waving to me all during that week.  And with the crotch rocket ones, I was thinking the same one as I was heading home after a kick-ball league game.  I saw a guy on a sport bike behind me and I was going down hill and hitting like 45 or so and he comes pulling up next to me and again I thought "Oh great here we go.  Start making fun of me" but instead he says "That little thing hauls some ass!"  I had a chuckle and say "It does even with my fat ass on it!"  He laughed.  He said his speedo didn't work so he gauges his speed off of other people and feel and he just saw me taking off from him on the downhill.  He seemed like a cool guy.  At the green light we rode side by side until he honked, waved, and took the on ramp for I-94.  I guess maybe just lucky with good experiences so far but still prepared for the heckling that will surely be received at some point in time.

[mverps]

I did Glacier National Park last weekend, I think I was the only scooter there, however there were a bunch of Harley riders, All waved when we passed. Met a guy from Calgary and we talked bikes for awhile. He really liked my scooter. At the Logan pass visitor center there was probably 50 Harleys parked there. I was getting ready to leave when the rider next to me came out and we started talking. He was almost out of gas and still had about 18 miles to the nearest gas station. I gave him some spare gas I was carrying and he couldn't thank me enough. Nice guy as was all the Harley riders I met that weekend.

[ScooterCommuter]

When you get right down to it, we're all bikers, whatever our opinion may be of the other guys machine. I've seen plenty of examples to prove it, from the guy in full 1%er gear pulling over to use his tire repair kit to help out an older guy on a moped on up. It's one of the few areas in the modern world where the term "community" still applies.

Sure, there's the cliques and clans who (for example) wouldn't dream of waving at a scooter or at somebody riding the "wrong kind" of bike, but the majority of those same folks wouldn't hesitate to help out if the machine they make a point of sneering at was in the ditch or broke down by the side of the road.

Like they say, "We don't care what you ride, as long as you ride." We ride because we love to ride, and while we all have different reasons for loving it that's one thing we all have in common.

[Mscmkr]

I really love hearing all the positive experiences everyone has been having on there scooters. Nice to find out I have kinda tapped into a very cool society that, just because I now ride something on two wheels, I am a part of. I had a small example of this a couple weeks ago when I rode in to the convenience store and got off my scoot. I had a guy walk right up and start asking me about my scooter. Turns out he used to ride one and really missed it. I told him I had just bought my Like about a month ago and he thought it was really beautiful. He is saving to buy another scooter so we had a 15 minute conversation about my Kymco and other scooters. He had never heard of Kymco and said he really wanted to check them out. I love scooters.

    I hope everyone has some great experiences like these themselves and ride safe, mscmkr