Found my LIKE neighbor this evening!

[Stig / Major Tom]

This evening I spotted my neighbor riding his new black LIKE 200i for the first time in many weeks.
I walked out and flagged him down for a chat.
 Fortunately my fears were baseless - he and his wife had not suffered a mishap on their scoots (she has a matching red LIKE) - in fact he had logged 165 miles since our last visit.

This gentleman is a few years older than myself - perhaps approaching 70 yrs. He explained that he had some major difficulty with the riding test he took, which was very discouraging for him. The slow ride through the cones was his downfall.

I encouraged my (hopefully) new scooter friend/neighbor to stick with his practicing - and to look into attending one of these classes with his wife. I also mentioned my practice of taking very early morning rides through and around our town - when the traffic is nearly nonexistant.
And that I have nearly 3000 miles on my LIKE - and have no shame in putting my foot down to make slow turnings in the grocery parking lot.  At our ages I think the finer parts of slow speed balancing may be a thing of the past? - yet I do not feel this makes me a hazard on the road.

His wife told me that they bought their LIKE's after seeing me ride past their house every day.... (see why I was concerned?!)
Practice, motorcycle safety class and early morning rides are my recommendations.
Maybe this time next year the 3 of us will be scaring the locals on our 3 LIKE 200i's !

[TroutBum]

The secrete to slow speed maneuvering on a scooter is the use of your rear brake. By applying the brake and a little throttle you can easily maintain excellent control and balance. Try this test. Ride in a figure 8 while throttling slightly and using the brake to control you speed. You will find that applying the throttle slightly at all times and using the rear brake to regulate the speed that you can inch along and still be perfectly balanced and under control. Thereby eliminating the need to feel like you have to put your foot down and frantically rock your steering head to maintain control and balance.

[Vivo]

The secrete to slow speed maneuvering on a scooter is the use of your rear brake. By applying the brake and a little throttle you can easily maintain excellent control and balance. Try this test. Ride in a figure 8 while throttling slightly and using the brake to control you speed. You will find that applying the throttle slightly at all times and using the rear brake to regulate the speed that you can inch along and still be perfectly balanced and under control. Thereby eliminating the need to feel like you have to put your foot down and frantically rock your steering head to maintain control and balance.

True! 

[Stig / Major Tom]

 Thereby eliminating the need to feel like you have to put your foot down and frantically rock your steering head to maintain control and balance.
[/quote]

PERHAPS, But that frantic rocking and foot jabbing (we call it CounterSteering here at The Home) in the parking lot is what insures that nobody in a Buick gets near me and the scooter! When they see this act of total lack of scootering control as I come wobbling into the lot - it's like Moses parting the Red Sea.
You gotta go with what works in your part of the world!
Countersteering at 5 MPH like a CrazyMan in Ohio,
Stig

[donandrews]

Troutbum is right. At 75 years I find it easier to use one hand on the brake and one on the throttle rather than put my foot down. And it's so much easier than a motorcycle where you have to maintain the friction zone with the clutch and brake with your foot instead of just feathering the rear brake.

Stig, When you are in the parking lot, start by just doing larger turns rather than U-turns. As you become more adept, you will find that you will start making the turns sharper almost automatically as you, ironically, slightly increase the throttle. You will also find that your slow speed control increases in general as you master the "brake/throttle" dance. Almost as counterintuitive as countersteering, but it works. For some reason, left turns are easier than the right for me. And you're right, counter steering doesn't work at these speeds - you actually steer the bike and lean it slightly, accelerating a bit as you come out of the turn.  Counter steering only works above 15mph or so.

And finally, you will be far less likely to run over your foot as you keep it on your scoot. Feet on the ground are good only for stopping - not for steering.

[Stig / Major Tom]

you will be far less likely to run over your foot as you keep it on your scoot.

Thanks for the advice Don.
And you're correct....I have ruined 2 pair of my dance pumps this way going to AMVETS dances.

[wakeupmaggie]

I'm going for my road test on Friday.  The cones are placed 12 feet apart with a 2 foot offset.  They are very difficult to maneuver around on my DT300.  I will be using a honda 250 of some kind.  Not sure as I'm having a service meet me at the dmv before the test.  I'll get to practice and then take the test. 

I'm going to go out tomorrow and practice this throttle/brake technique.  Thanks for it.

[Stig / Major Tom]

I'm going for my road test on Friday.  The cones are placed 12 feet apart with a 2 foot offset.  They are very difficult to maneuver around on my DT300.  I will be using a honda 250 of some kind.  Not sure as I'm having a service meet me at the dmv before the test.  I'll get to practice and then take the test. 

I'm going to go out tomorrow and practice this throttle/brake technique.  Thanks for it.

If it  is the Rebel....then I hope you are not a tall fellow. They have very low seats with your knees around your chin if you are  a 6 footer. My son (6'2") had this bike issued to him for the 2 day safety class, and he had to take the riding test on it the final afternoon. He aced it , but I never could have!
One reason we took the safety class was because so many folks told us that their riding test would be easier to pass than the one at Ohio DMV. It was.
Good luck!

[tclhb]

I agree Stig. The msf test is easier, mostly because it's just part of the class and I was relaxed because it's the instructor who was testing me.