OK, here's one you don't see every day -- a dog on a moped.
Recently visited family in Rhode Island and spent a day out on Block Island with my brother and sister-in-law, who insists on taking her lap dog everywhere. Yes, she actually held this dog as we scooted around the island on Genunie Scooter Co. Urbano 50s. I'm not sure such a practice would receive a 5-star safety rating from the National Institute of Highway Safety, but it DID seem to get lots of positive reactions from fellow tourists.
At any rate, as someone who NEVER rides at home without ATT, it was interesting that on the island, everyone (including us) just rents mopeds and cruises around in their bathing suits and Crocs. I mean, they "only" go 30 mph but you can lose a lot of skin on pavement at 30 mph, right? Guess I just decided to live dangerously for a day. At least we wore helmets!
Anyway, as for the scooters themselves, this was my first time ever on a stock 50cc machine, and let's just say I was not impressed. You hit the throttle and the engine revs, but it took the bike about two more seconds to think about it and decide whether it actually wanted to move. And I think 0-30 in 30 seconds is about right. LOL.
I don't suspect this is a particular criticism of the particular make/model we rented. Probably similar for all 50 cc machines, short of modification. And, you also have to take into account that the rental scoots on the island get beat on daily by all manner of drivers. It was somewhat amusing that every scooter on the island appeared to have one in tact rear-view mirror. My kids asked me about it, and my best guess is that these scooters get dropped, side swiped, etc., so often that within weeks of getting a new unit, one or both mirrors are broken. So, the rental places just poach mirrors off other bikes until it gets to the point there is only one good mirror available for each bike.
