Scooting with Dru

I am not an instructor, and more to the point, I do not consider myself to be a great rider.  I love to ride, but I fully understand that there remains so much more to know than what I do.  Because of this, I spend alot of time reading and trying to learn more.  Sometimes though, things that I do come more from experience than what I have learned in classes and online.  

Riding what I call a "Street Line" is one of them.  Many of the folks I ride with chide me about the line I take through twisty roads, but that's fine with me.  These are the same folks that have alot more time on the bike than I do, so I listen, but I take what is said with a grain of salt.  Usually, the line chosen by these folks is one that is straight and fast.

The difference is where I am riding.  When riding on a track, the straightest line is usually the best one.  The problem, is that we are not on the track.  So rather than take the straightest and fastest line, I choose to ride a line that maximizes visibility and escapability.  So while the fastest line is usually closest to the inside line of a turn, I am usually in the middle/outside of the the same turn.  The reason is simple, if there is a problem ahead of me I get an extra millisecond of reaction time, and I leave myself an inside line to escape too.

I have to admit, the last few weeks have been interesting.  I love riding, and really enjoy my scooter, but recently, I've had to take a couple of road trips.  Frankly, they are just a little much for the scooter.  I say this because I have taken the BV500 on a couple of trips now and I have this recurring issue when I go slab.  Any ride where I ride over an hour at constant highway speeds (65+) when I slow down to idle at a stop, the engine stalls at idle.  From what I can tell, this is quite common to the MASTER 500 engine, and it is tied to the US only charcoal canister that eats up so much space under the BV's seat.  I have considered removing it.  Reports are that it solves the problem, and the engine runs smoother for it.  My concerns are the increased particulate emissions, scooters are not any better than most cars in terms of emissions per gallon of fuel burned (but by burning fewer gallons have a lower gross emissions than a car for the same milage).

This started me thinking about looking at bigger bikes better suited to longer slab road trips.  I find that the more traditional 'cruiser' holds little appeal to me, so I started looking at the 'Sport Touring' class of bikes.  There aren't that many out there, so I took a few hours to check some out.  It was an interesting day, but what I found was that though I think the FJR is great bike, it just fails to excite me.  The scooter still does.  So rather than spend the money to buy a bigger bike, I am seriously considering tweaking the scooter and keeping it until it is no longer practical to do so.

Since I first came to riding as transportation, I have heard the argument that motorcycles/scooters are NOT more cost effective than cars.  To a certain degree, I have been willing to take that at face value.  In my mind, it has always been a bit of a wash between the fuel savings and other costs, but there really isn't a way to really gauge the real difference.

The reason is that there are no metrics that makes sense when comparing cars to motorcycles.  Miles Per Gallon and  MSRP are the most often used metrics, but these are worthless numbers really.

Cost Per Mile

This is a metric I can get behind and work with, but what is a cost per mile?  In order to figure out a real cost per mile, you need to address the myriad of costs, not just gas mileage into account.  In order to give a reasonable expectation of getting a usable and consistant output number, you have to have some baselines for the metrics.  The first is to decide how long the Cost Per Mile is calculated, the second is to establish baselines for average fuel costs.

Those who have ridden for a while have come to learn that as a rule, non riders have no idea what the laws are regarding motorcycles and that many of our enforcement agencies do not know much more than the average driver.  Because of this, it has become an almost standard requirement for riders to know the laws of their own area.  

There are a number of laws that are vitally important to be aware of because of how they directly impact the rider in every day activities.  Parking, oddly enough, is an issue that is so clearly misunderstood on both sides of the fence that has led to comical and tragic results.  The misconception that a motorcycle can park in spaces that are not designated for parking is the one that seems to lead to the most problematic issues.  Many non-riders assume that a motorcycle can use bicycle parking, or the left over triangles in parking areas.  Depending upon your locale, this may or may not be true.  

In Georgia for example, it is never legal for a motorcycle to use either of those spots.  The only exception to the rule is a 'moped' which is classified as a vehicle with less than 50cc displacement, which can use bicycle parking.  

From my last post, and the title of the domain that hosts this blog, I hope it is obvious that I don't view scooter riders as anything but riders.  

Riding, regardless of what, is an adventure that should bring everyone that rides on two or three wheels together.  It is not something that should be so divisive within the communities.  Little has brought this quite as vividly to the forefront than the last couple of weeks in the ride to work blog-o-sphere.  Dan's three and a half (one, two, three, and a half) part postings about the uptick in economy riders sparked some interesting debate.  It also exposed some of the raw edges that seem to always be lurking within the rider community.

Even before I started riding, I was aware of the latent hostility that existed between the sport and cruiser crowds.  What I didn't know was how much the choice of bike almost becomes religion for many.  Being in the technology industry for 20+ years, I should have expected it, but I did not.   

In the technology world, we refer to the arguments of platforms and tools as religious flame wars.  Where millions of words of invective have been directed at other solutions from the the 'chosen' solutions.   The one that most casual people are the most familiar with is generally the Mac versus Windows arguments.  

Dan over at Musings of an Intrepid commuter has a good summary of an issue that I think most of the scooter community already knew about.  

The Economy Rider

These are the folks that are not, and do not want to be, associated with any of the existing community.  They bought the cheapest scooter they could find and they use it because of it's economy.  To them it is just a motorized bicycle, and as such requires nothing more than what a bicycle does in terms of training and safety.  

Dan makes some great and coherent points, but there is another side of this that, to my mind is even more destructive.  

These riders are encouraged by the media and the retailers.  First, every time we get a good gas price spike, we have the media outlets out there showing scooters and talking about the benefits, but rarely do they talk about the fact that these things ARE motorcycles.  

Since 2006, this video is pretty much a staple in the scooter communities to underscore the issue. Take a moment to go watch it.  It is the end of a live segment in Chicago talking about how great scooters are for gas and the usual fluff.  At the end of the segment, where this video begins, we have the reporter hopping on with a helmet, no gear and no training.  Do we need to see the video to know she is going to hit the pavement?  not really.

Like so many riders, sometimes, convenience wins over the desire to ride.  Then convenience becomes habit, and the old cycles begin again. That's where I was his fall.  Between being the kids taxi and some odd weather, I found myself running around in the cozy coupe (my SMART Car) more than on the scooter.  Interestingly, some of the old frustrated driver personality quirks started to reemerge.

So with the new year I've been back on the scooter more often than not, and it feels good.  The only problem, the weather has remained really strange (it was 25 on the way to work today, with highs of 33, and the home commute should be back in the low 20's).  That hasn't really stopped me, but it has made me reevaluate some gear I have.

One thing that this hammers home though.  I really enjoy riding in the cold.  There is a different feel to cold weather riding.  This is mildly entertaining, since I do not generally enjoy being cold. 

Anyway, before the holidays, I got to add a Scala Rider headset with Bluetooth and MP3 to my kit.  Personally, I am not one to talk on the phone, nor listen to music while I ride.  Both of those seem to defeat the purpose of riding.  But I do enjoy the intercom between rider and passenger or rider to rider when I ride with a friend.  The Scala had good reviews, so I went with it.  While it is configured with my phone, I have answered two phone calls on it, both kept VERY brief.  Even with those brief usages, I see the convenience.  I cannot see the appeal.  Talking on the phone is a distraction that just is not needed on two wheels.  That said, the sound quality is good, and the usability is very good.