Hi From Texas

[Poots]

Hello everyone.

I wanted to give a quick introduction of myself and then I’ll just lurk for a while until I can contribute something of value.

I am a 59 year old guy that is hoping to learn to ride and get myself a scooter. And yes, that’s really me in my avatar - sort of. (If I had opposable thumbs I could probably ride one of these things…)

I’d rather be a 59-year old rookie than a 59-year old has been though so I guess being new at this is OK.

I have been researching the idea of getting a scooter for around town and just for fun for a few months now. For the moment my experience is limited to visiting dealers and to what I have been able to read on the Internet. My only seat time has been in the showrooms - nothing that’s moving so far.

For what I’ve been doing so far though discovering this forum will be a gold mine for me. I know so little and there’s so much information available here to help me.

I outlined what I wanted to use a scooter for and then made a couple of spread sheets of scooters of various manufacturers. Based on what I can see so far I think that for my particular wants and needs the Kymco Yager GT 200i fits about as well as one can. I’d rather have a fun color like red or orange or green or even purple (yea a nice purple grape), but I guess the grey one will do. It’s the scoot that’s important and I can’t see what color it is when I’m riding it…

You scooter-people all seem very friendly. It’s kind of like comparing basset-people (I have had many bassets here at my ‘House-Of-Hound-Dogs’) to the high-powered (some would say ‘real’) dogs. Bassets are laid back and very friendly. They love everyone. I think I might just have found a nitch for myself here in the world of scooters.

Anyway, I just wanted to say both ‘Hi’ and ‘Thanks’ for all that you have already helped me with. See? Sometimes you do good and you don’t even know it.

I’m going to go and do those three circle things and just lurk for a while now, but I promise to keep you advised of my progress as I continue (slowly) in my new found interest in scooters.

My friends just call me Poots.

(The short answer to that comes in the form of a caution that you need to be very careful what name you give to your basset hound. You might just wake up one day and find that somehow you’ve inherited that name for yourself - HER name was Pootswaddle)

Am I her namesake or was she mine? I can never get that straight…

[MaryK]

Welcome,

In what part of Texas do you reside?
My DH was born in Houston and his brother is in Waco.

I hope you enjoy your ride and ride safely. 
We do recommend wearing safety gear and taking the MSF safety training.

Kymco is a good company and makes good scooters at a reasonable price.
I hope your dealer is as nice as ours.

Scoot Safely,

[zombie]

Sounds like you're gonna fit right in here poots. We have another member that just developed thumbs himself. Oh man I just wanna cry sometimes...
Welcome aboard!

[Hoolander2]

First few days or weeks of riding will be nerve wracking but once that wears off you will discover the absolute JOY of soaring on two wheels!  You might just wanna kick yourself for not getting the idea sooner! You'll feel right in the club with every rider from 50cc scoots right up to the Iron Butt riders.  For God's sake, though, educate yourself on two wheel safety.  Look at some of the posts here and elsewhere on safety and crashes and you'll learn how to think and what to avoid.  To last at it you really do have to develop a different philosophy.  Some or most of that can come to you instinctively/naturally but doesn't hurt to hit the books, so to speak.  Yeah, like MaryK said, try to take a motorcycyle safety course.  I do hope you join the ranks of those who have discovered the great joy of two wheelin'.   Now I feel like reading "High Flight".      

[Hoolander2]

Aw shucks, Poots, you were so eloquent in your intro, here's a nice poem. 

High Flight
Oh! I have slipped the surly bonds of earth
And danced the skies on laughter-silvered wings;
Sunward I've climbed, and joined the tumbling mirth
Of sun-split clouds - and done a hundred things
You have not dreamed of - wheeled and soared and swung
High in the sunlit silence. Hov'ring there
I've chased the shouting wind along, and flung
My eager craft through footless halls of air.
Up, up the long delirious, burning blue,
I've topped the windswept heights with easy grace
Where never lark, or even eagle flew -
And, while with silent lifting mind I've trod
The high untresspassed sanctity of space,
Put out my hand and touched the face of God.
 
 Pilot Officer Gillespie Magee
No 412 squadron, RCAF
Killed 11 December 1941
 

[YagerMySter]

Welcome Poots, Sit...  Stay...  Speak...

I was pretty much Donald Trump and a bunch of scooters were sitting around the table.  I looked at them all and said "your fired" and the last one standing was the Yager GT 200i.

I'm just kidding they were all good.  I did use this site because I thought forums were where the real owner information was.  I was right.

I still listen too.  About what gas to use and so on and so forth.

I'm 51 going on 21.

[blue]

welcome poots im also one of the old guys I thing of my self as a red neck I injoy trying to fix things that work. a little duck tape here or there or maybe a ziptie to hold it together.I beleave in dont fix whats not broken.if you try to hard to fix or make it go faster you are doing more harm then anything.
Again welcome to the fourm you well learn a lot.

[Oldscoot]

Howdy Poots.  As you can tell from my handle I am an old guy too - 65.  It's never too late to teach an old dog new tricks and scooter riding to me is a fountain of youth. I've ridden motorcycles since 1964 but gave it up for over 20 years to raise a family and manage a career. I picked up riding scooters in 2008 and haven't stopped. IMHO  scooters are more user friendly than traditional motorcycles. I live in Houston and can ride practically year round. I retired last year and hardly use my SUV anymore.  In the words of the old commercial, "Try it .. you'll like it."       

[juice]

Welcome Poots . As a new scooterist I will give you the same advise I gave my teenage son , and I have tried to follow myself . Always ride as if you are totally invisible to other motorists . That little old lady at the stop sign  looking directly at you dosn't see you , belive me . Otherwise have fun and enjoy your new scoot . Good luck .

[YagerMySter]

Welcome Poots . As a new scooterist I will give you the same advise I gave my teenage son , and I have tried to follow myself . Always ride as if you are totally invisible to other motorists . That little old lady at the stop sign  looking directly at you dosn't see you , belive me . Otherwise have fun and enjoy your new scoot . Good luck .

You can never hear that enough. 

[zombie]

Please don't take this wrong. In ALL RESPECT to P.O Magee...

There once was a man for Texas,
The girls all wondered how long his...

[Poots]

Hi again everyone.

Thanks for all the well wishes and encouragement.

I live in Spring, TX. That’s about 25 miles due north of Houston.

I didn’t mention it, but although I haven’t ever ridden a scooter or motorcycle, I have been riding my multi-speed bike for years. You are right, drivers DO NOT SEE US! I feel like Bert in the old TV show "Soap” sometimes. I’m invisible…

I have also already found the local MSF group. In fact, I’m not sure that my fellow Texans are aware of it, but the State of Texas dropped it’s motorcycle and scooter road tests a year or so ago. Now you have to be tested by someone like MSF that is already certified by the state in order to get your license.

I had planned to anyway. I intend to learn as much about safety as I do about the scooters themselves. And yes, I do believe in helmets.

As Woody Allen said in his movie Sleeper when they told him that if he got caught they would reprogram his brain: “…My brain? That’s my second favorite organ…”

I want to protect it.

I am already figuring the cost of the gear as a part of my scooter purchase price – insurance too…

Thanks again for all the welcomes. Very nice of Y’all…

[streido]

Welcome Poots. Its all been said already so i wont repeat it.

Ok, well i will, protection, protection, protection. Good gloves, sturdy boots or shoes, halfway decent helmet and a leather jacket are a must for me. I hadnt riden since i was 18-19 and bought my scooter just over a year ago, i just turned 40 in December. The 1st few weeks i was ok but a little nervous at times and not great with leaning into bends etc. After a month or 2 i thought i was king of the road and lost all fear and nerves i had, then i came off in the rain. Nothing like a bail to bring you right back down to planet earth, with a bump.

In some ways it is actually a good thing as i now ride far more safely and am more aware of road conditions etc when i ride. I cant stress enough tho how glad i was i had an armoured leather jacket on as i slid along the road on my back.

Any questions or advice just ask and someone will give you the help you need. See you around the forum, hopefully you will get onto 2 wheels soon.

On the bassets..... my daughter loves basset hounds and beagles, we came close to buying one a year or so ago.

[zombie]

"On the bassets..... my daughter loves basset hounds and beagles, we came close to buying one a year or so ago."

They are like walking a cinder block. I do love dogs too!

[Poots]

"On the bassets..... my daughter loves basset hounds and beagles, we came close to buying one a year or so ago."

They are like walking a cinder block. I do love dogs too!

Basset hounds are definitely not jogging partners.

They will walk only so far then sit down like mules and look at you like: “…That’s it we’re done. Go get the car…”

I used to take two of mine for a walk and I’d pull the wagon behind me. My neighbor would laugh and say: “…Taking the kids for a pull?...” And sure enough I’d come home pulling them in the wagon.

I had one named ‘Moo’ whose idea of a walk was getting up from a nap on the futon and walking all the way over to the sofa for another nap.

I tried taking her for a walk one day and when I put the leash on her she looked at me like I was crazy. I couldn’t get her to the end of the driveway. She sat down and looked at me like: “…Enjoy your walk dad. I’ll wait for you right here…”

They are wonderful dogs and great with children, but remember that they are pack animals. They need to have another animal in the house. It doesn’t have to be another basset or even a dog. It can be a cat, ferret, rabbit, or even a rhinoceros for that matter. They just need to be in ‘the pack.’

I like to say that they are two dogs long and half a dog high…