Vespa scooter

So, you have decided to own a scooter, congratulations!

Scooters are fun, they are stylish, they come in different shapes and colors, some have retro looks, some look modern and futuristic, each of them has its own character. No matter which one you pick, at the end of the day, they are all environmentally friendly and a cheap alternative to a car, especially with today’s rising gas prices.

Do you know how to ride? If not, don’t worry, operating a motor scooter is easy, operating it safely is NOT.

Compared to a car, a scooter operation requires more skill and coordination. You have to keep an eye out for cars all the time. You need to make sure you remain visible to the drivers and anticipate what might happen at all times. For example, you need to anticipate that drivers making left turns may not see you and be prepared to make defensive maneuvers. Many crashes occur from other motorists not seeing the scooter and turning into its path. You need to be cautious when riding in bad weather conditions, on slippery surfaces and when encountering obstacles. Ejection from the scooter is the most common injury path. There are no airbags and seat belts to protect you, when you are ejected, be ready to hit the ground. So, it is very important to wear protective gear, such as a helmet and protective clothing at all times. For more information, please read about the anatomy of a motorcycle crash at the NHTSA website.

In many states, you are not required to obtain a motorcycle license in order to operate scooters up to 50cc. You can easily find out about the requirements of your state through your regional DMV’s website.

If you are not required to get a motorcycle license, the best way to learn is to attend MSF’s half day Introduction to Scooters (IS) class, the alternate way is to have someone teach you. If you don’t know anyone who can teach you, you can attend a training course offered by another provider.

This is a repost of the article “…where to start” posted on 02/22/2011 under our Technicalities section.

The post Scooters 101 – Where to Start… first appeared on scootcats.

With the arrival of spring and the great weather, we welcomed the riding season one more time. This means more riders hitting the roads, unfortunately it also means more accidents.

Here are some safety tips to consider:

• Choose your position in traffic so that you remain visible to drivers
• Anticipate what might happen at all times
• Use your turn signals
• Wear a helmet and protective gear if possible
• At night use reflective clothing or stickers to remain visible
• Do not hesitate to use your horn as a warning
• Always check the vehicles behind you prior to braking

Also read the article …where to start.

The post Safety Tips first appeared on scootcats.

Full face helmet

Whether to pick a half face or a full face helmet is a tough decision, especially for the new rider. Besides concerns about safety, protection and comfort, one major factor influencing the rider’s choice is usually aesthetics. We’ve been brainwashed by media that the cool kids are the ones, riding either without helmet or with half face helmets. Especially when it comes to scooters, you never see scooter riders wearing full face helmets on TV, unless they are delivering pizza. But, let’s leave that aside.

The major difference between a half face and full face is, that the full face covers the complete head. It comes with an extra section on the front, covering the chin and with an extension on the rear covering the base of the skull. When it comes to safety, both helmets will protect the top of your skull during a collision, but only the full face one will protect your chin, jaws and teeth. Research shows a high possibility of impact on the chin during a crash. So, for better protection, it is obviously better to pick the full face helmet. In addition to providing extra coverage during a crash, its visor will provide your eyes protection against sunlight, rain, dust and bugs.

But are there any disadvantages to a full face?

If you are concerned about comfort, in means of  restrictiveness and air ventilation, a full face won’t be able to provide you as much comfort as a half face. Also, most likely, for a full face helmet, you will end up paying much more money.

If safety is priority, which it should be, one doesn’t have to be a genius to figure out that it is better to pick a full face helmet. It is only one life to live, so why risk it? But if you insist on not wearing a helmet, than it is obviously better to wear a half face helmet rather than no helmet.

The post Half face or a full face helmet? first appeared on scootcats.

Those of us who have never been to New Zealand often see its beautiful nature on TV and simply can’t help ourselves from admiring the country. But there are so many more things to admire about New Zealand. At least there are two more that are going to be mentioned in this article.

First one, there is an organization called ACC (The Accident Compensation Corporation) which provides comprehensive, no-fault personal injury cover for all New Zealand residents as well as temporary VISITORS! Isn’t that great? Who does that?

In order to keep its costs low, ACC also works towards preventing injuries from happening. How do they do that? Simple: By educating people!

Which brings us to the second item, ACC teamed up with some key motorcycle groups to create the scooter survival website, which is admirable. Hard to believe there is a government behind that. The content is highly useful and the design is dynamic and modern. OK, it was intended for NZ, but most of the content is valid for any scooterist in the World. So go and benefit from it! You can find anything on the website, including tips on properly gearing up, buying, maintenance and handling. Not to forget the library of highly educational videos.

Currently, scooter survival is running a safety campaign called “Add another layer” aiming to get young scooter riders to cover up bare skin in order to reduce serious injuries during a crash. To promote the campaign scooters in the area are being dressed up in fabric. Watch this video to see how scooters are being stripped down and covered in fabric: http://scootersurvival.co.nz/videos/scooter-dressing/

Hope to see our government caring for scooter riders and spending some money towards educating scooterists one day.

The post New Zealanders on how to survive the scooter accident first appeared on scootcats.

Last week, one popular topic in the news was, how increasing gas prices helped boost up scooter sales.

Finally, consumers started thinking about how they could cut down their transportation costs in terms of gas consumption.

OK, let’s think about that… If we don’t consider public transportation, shared commute or bicycling, one option would be to buy a hybrid car, and  another one  would be to get a motorcycle or a scooter. A hybrid car is not something everyone can afford, for example, a Prius starts at 23K.However, a second hand scooter or motorcycle can easily be purchased for under $2000.

But then again, not anyone can ride a motorcycle, you need to get a special license first, unless it is a 50cc scooter; many US states allow you to operate a 50cc scooter with a regular driver’s license.

Given all these facts, a 50cc scooter looks like a good choice. And then, it is not only that you save costs, but you also help the environment by reducing your carbon footprint. Plus, riding a scooter is more fun then driving a car, but that is outside the scope of this article.

Well said, let’s see  these savings in numbers… Vespa seems to have invested into this kind of research with Vespanomics.

If you haven’t heard the term Vespanomics before, here is the definition from the Vespa website: “Vespanomics promotes embracing motor scooters as an alternative form of transportation to reduce oil consumption, pollution and traffic congestion”.

Here are some very interesting facts from Vespanomics (and no Vespanomics is not a new concept).

Average fuel consumption:

• Scooter: 70MPG
• Prius: 47MPG
• Average car:  30MPG

Scooters:

• save you 57% gas over a regular car
• produce 72% less CO2 then the average car

The post Why pick scooters to save costs? first appeared on scootcats.