So, there flew the gauntlet, right off the page of
Skootin Old Skool, in remarking on a recent post in
A Scooter in Turkey, which looked at working scooters,and very picturesque they are too. The Seattle based Old Skool Orin said something to the effect that there is nowhere in the US that would see such examples of working scooters. I felt this was a challenge that needed to be answered.
Key West is full of working scooters, like the examples above,one ridden by a man who anywhere else in the US wouldn't be seen dead scooting to the office, and below that a little Yamaha Jazz, worse for wear but fully functional and obviously used as a daily rider. This gent casually skipped off the scooter, not even bothering to park it properly and sauntered off into Albertson's grocery store:
And Key Plaza, in New Town, has set aside lots of scooter only parking for customers. This sun worn sign shows the parking has been around for a while:
As has this daily rider with his 250cc Honda Nighthawk complete with saddlebags, drum brakes and flowing beard:
Because this is America a lot of what one sees here doesn't look as exotic as one might find in Turkey, in the mysterious and seductive Levant, but the same principles apply. A Tomos two stroke moped might be hard to find on US city streets if one isn't in Key West, where this Slovenian work horse finds favor with the large Slavic migrant population:
Baskets are a feature of mopeds, scooters and bicycles that are used around town to haul anything and everything.
Imagine my chagrin when I spotted a man riding away from Home Depot with four bags of potting soil wedged on his scooter between his legs...and my camera was not to hand! He elicited no attention as that sort of scooter transport is normal around here. Saddlebags show up all over the place too, on motorcycles...
...and Yamaha's ugliest scooter ever, the 250cc Morphous which a lot of people thought looked really cool, before they stopped importing it:
On the more traditional front we can see Honda Elites in various cubic capacities, this one, possibly a 125cc on the Boulevard with two riders, most likely snowbirds (the matching helmets are the giveaway, a not very local touch) out shopping:
In Florida helmets are optional for riders over 21 years of age with medical insurance, and the state also issues motorcycle tags with the notation "under 21" for youngsters. I didn't see the tag on these two joyriders on North Roosevelt Boulevard ("The Boulevard") but I expect they are over 21:
And when one is driving down the street in a car one shouldn't be surprised if one is accosted by a wizened man old enough to be one's grandfather puttering along on a scooter:
It may not be Turkey but I don't think there are too many men like him riding scooters around their home towns. As for actual working scooters deliveries are frequently made on two wheels around town. These vehicles typically use ice chests:
Or my favorite 50cc ride, the Honda Metropolitan (known, confusingly enough in Canada as a Jazz):
And then there is the factory designed delivery vehicle from TGB, which comes in two models, a 50cc (pictured here at Jenna's deli) or the 150cc 4 stroke, both with built in delivery boxes on the back. I fancy the 150 as a touring vehicle if I get the urge to see America slowly, as I did in 1981 on my Vespa 200:
Aside from getting 100 miles per gallon (40 kilometers to the liter), scooters also offer the bonus of easy parking which in Key West's congested Old Town gets critical in winter when tourist season is at it's height. The city offers lots of parking spots for two wheelers, though scooter riders do get creative as well, while some riders just dump their vehicles in automobile spots treating them as though they were cars:
Chinese scooters have made huge inroads into the Key West with their low prices but Kymcos, Yamahas and Hondas still compete. There are a few Italians, some Aprilias a very few Vespas and Victor the Honda dealer on Southard Street is now also a Genuine dealer so a few of those have showed up. Of classics there aren't too many. This sad Vespa sidecar doesn't run and the Sebago employee who staffs it on Duval street told me that if it were running it would be complex and expensive to park it as an advertising tool. I have no idea why but it is something very bureaucratic so he is reduced to pushing it home, ignominiously at day's end:
I also came across this delightful Honda CB125 on the Boulevard at Napa Auto parts. It had just shy of 7,000 miles (12,000 kms) on the clock and it looked great:
On the subject of classics this home in New Town has been slowly working on restoring a couple of Honda Fours from the 1970's here flanked by an older model Yamaha Zuma one of the most popular scooters in town, now also available as a 125cc:
The Chinese scooters like to look cool by using Italian names like this Taiwan Golden Bee,
fast motorcycles in Italian:
Or this TGB model called the
Key West, named for the town that lives and breathes scooters:
Then again the fashionable home will want to have a scooter that matches the front door. Cool huh?
And if you live in the city you will start to recognize vehicles and their parking spots. I like this Harley Road King on White Street:
Or there's this one, a BMW 650 Dakar that I've seen around town ridden by a guy who may even be older then me.I saw the bike at Jiri's motorcycle shop on Stock Island and he said the owner rides all the time, a bit like me I suppose:
My own Bonneville I photographed at an uncharacteristic distance, at the Big Pine Shopping Center. The Triumph usually looms so large in my life I thought it looked funny dwarfed by the vast expanses of cement in the rear of the shopping center:
For those not equipped with their own working scooters rentals are widely available. These of course are usually enjoyed by tourists so they are true working scooters:
John in Turkey challenged me to find a working scooter with three people riding, which I failed to do, not least because that would be illegal, no doubt. However I did manage to find this particular pair riding happily (and illegally) down Duck Avenue:
Certainly Key West doesn't look much like anywhere I've seen in Scooter in Turkey, and the two wheelers won't look as exotic or unusual as those photographed by John, but Key West, by any standards, has a healthy and vibrant population of working scooters.
11 comments:
Dear Sir:
I thoroughly enjoyed this post tonight. Your stuff is always interesting, but it took a much darker, more personal turn in its presentation. There is nothing like a challenge and ample material to meet one. Quite frankly, I'm inclined to say a lot more but there is where I usually get into trouble.
I'm still attempting to impress "A Scooter In Turkey" with my incredibly transparent riding credentials, and was about to suggest that both of you might take pictures of the best candidates for lingerie ads on scooters. Given your location, however, I wouldn't make book on the outcome -- but there is always the unexpected.
I don't know how scooter-riders approach life. Some might be offended at a suggestion that introduces an earthier element to the sublime. But my Beemer riding friends would go for it hands down.
Fondest regards,
Jack
Twisted Roads
It's those clunky gearboxes.BMW riders are weird.When you are in Key West you will be able to see the American apparel ads on the back page of Solares Hill.You will then be able to die happy.
I think you probably missed your chance to catch 3-up on a scooter. If you had a hung around the 250cc Morphous, I bet you would have caught 3 or even 4-up. That thing looks like a tomato vine worm. But maybe they call it a Morphous cause it turns into a butterfly come spring :)
-Peace
Maybe you can clear up something. I have been thinking of getting a motorcycle, scooter, or moped for awhile now.
Well, I guess for a motorcycle, you have to have an endorsement and have to had a class at a few hundred dollars.
For a moped you don't need such an endorsement (just a class E license).
Where does a scooter fall? They have something for a scooter license and they say you cannot ride it on the road, etc. However, I think they are referring to an assistant device for older or handicap.
Any advice would be greatly appreciated. It would help dictate which way one might go. I am not all that keen on a moped at a top speed of 30 MPH, but on that note do scooter have a higher top end? I am not all that much in favor of bike yet, until I am sure I can control the scooter/moped.
A scooter is a body style, usually with smaller wheels and a step through body. A moped used to be a motorized bicycle (technically the Slovenian Tomos is a "moped" if it has pedals that can propel the machine like a bicycle)though the term scooter and moped are frequently interchangeable and mean "a two wheeled vehicle less than 50cc which can be ridden on a Class E (car) license." These machines usually don't exceed 40 mph.
A "motorcycle" is a catch all term for vehicles over 50cc that need (in Florida) a Class A motorcycle endorsement. My Vespa 250 pictured at the top of the blog is a scooter style but required a motorcycle endorsement and it had a top speed near 90mph (don't ask how I know). Florida now requires a weekend training course before you can get a motorcycle endorsement on your license ( a Very Good Thing). You probably would enjoy a 150cc motorcycle/scooter over a 50cc scooter/moped as it will get up to around 60 mph and keep up with crazy Ft Myers traffic on Colonial Boulevard and Highway 41.
PS: In the US a 150cc motorcycle is freeway legal if you have the nerve for that sort of thing. I do though many don't. A Yamaha Vino 125 (though as capable of 60 mph as a Vespa 150) is not freeway legal. If you plan to incorporate freeways into your riding you will do far far better with at least a 250cc motorcycle/scooter. A Bonneville is excellent everywhere.
Dear Sir:
Did the smaller wheels on the scooter offer a challenge at 90 mph? I think about a scooter from time to time too. But I am firm believer in ATGATT. I'd end up putting on body armor if I were going to ride in serious traffic.
Do you think you will ever get the Bonneville up to 90mph? That would be something too.
Fondest regards,
Jack
Thank you for the information. I think I will save my pennies for a "learner" bike and the class (I was enrolled for a similar class in Ohio, but moved before it began - was hard to get into, as it was always full).
Bonneville might be the 2nd "graduation bike".
As always a nice post...loved the pic's...you were really into the blue filter today....or were you just feeling blue when you took them?
Buffalo Bill
I had taken some pictures the night before and forgotten to change the light setting back to daylight. Duh.
Wow, you've been hard at work here!
I imagine Key West being on an island and all (yes, I know there's a bridge) probably makes more people think of a scooter as a practical transportation. So would the climate. I also notice that a series of commercials promoting Key West tourism on one of the new digital subchannels I've discovered upon hooking up my DTV box usually feature a slow-motion shot of some bearded, aloha shirt-clad bohemian type riding an '80s Asian scooter.
I think it's great! Certainly a scooter-based business fits right in to the Jimmy Buffett zeitgeist of spending most of one's time hanging out on the beach, after which there will be booze in the blender, which soon will render that frozen concoction.
You don't see this sort of thing in Seattle because a) too many people have too much money, Boeing and Microsoft are still employing people, and c) we are burdened with a City Council that sees Singapore as an example to emulate (except for the part about being fined $1000 for spitting on the sidewalk).
I enjoyed this. Glad to be able to prod you...
__Orin
Scootin' Old-skool
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