Community is a big part of the scooter world, and that is a good thing. When I first started riding a couple of years ago, I really didn't "get it". It took a while to understand how valuable hooking up with the local scooter community can be. These are other people sharing both the experience and the risks. When there is a problem, they are the ones there to help, be it getting a broken bike picked up from out on the road to bringing a gallon of gas for those occasions when we forget to fill up.
It works at both the worldwide and local levels, and the values of those communities cannot be readily quantified. This is part of the driving force behind what I want to accomplish with Two Wheel Junction, because the shared knowledge of a community is far more than the knowledge of an individual.
For me, I find that there are several levels of communities that are important for me. First there are the online venues like Modern Vespa, but then there is the Scooter / Rider blogging community. Folks that have never met face to face, yet share so much of their lives with us. And of course there is the local communities.
The problem is that finding communities is tough. It took me a year to find the time to get out to the local weekly event, simply because it is an hour away from the house.
As Yoda would say though, "Worth the effort it is".
By getting out and putting faces with the names, i've found a group of people who share both the respect and fear of this adventure that even my non-riding but supportive wife cannot share. Though I'm not a huge fan of large group riding, there are people in the group to ride with.
The downside is that like so many groups, there can be an exclusive nature to these groups, and while the local scooter group here is pretty good about not discriminating between modern, vintage or maxi there are always groups that do. Because I have chosen to ride a maxi-scooter, I've found that in terms of the community the bike I've chosen crosses so many lines that I can participate in almost any riding community without too many issues. It often seems that the perspective of doing this has changed how I view the communities are large though.
The insular mindset needs to change. We all ride, and we all need some common resources. That is where I want to go, and it is why I'm trying to build TWJ into something more. I want to build a community where what you ride isn't nearly as important than that you ride.