A Scooter Split In Attitudes-Really? By kz1000st (Read 1,123 times)

[kz1000st]

www.justgottascoot.com/scootercannonball.htm

Here's what I said in my e-mail to David Harrington.

Why should this topic be any different than any others involving scooters. I've been riding motorcycles for over 50 years, been the President of an AMA affiliated club and attended more events than I can count. Motorcyclists are open to everything. OK, a little misplaced Harley snobbery, but no one questions the validity of the enjoyment of riding. Even if I showed up on a Chinese motorcycle it would just be another bike at the event.

Not quite so in scooters. Vespa owners view anything less as a pretender, even Piaggios and Aprilias from the same company, and don't mask it. Japanese and Taiwanese owners laugh at the money Vespa owners spend for less performance. Nobody in those two groups likes, tolerates or accepts Chinese scooters.

Up until last summer I never got waved back to from another scooter rider while I was out on mine. Cruiser, crotch rockets and every other type of bike rider did when I rode my scoots, but not scooters. Finally, one night three guys on scooters waved back when I was out on the Fashion. Instead of all this scooter events, scooter gatherings and scooter cannonballs all the scooter related press should be telling people to get their butts out to bike events. You want growth, go where the action is, not sparsely attended scooter gatherings.

Example-Amerivespa. What? less than 500 scooters. Daytona Bike Week, thousands and thousands of bikes. Spread the word about how much fun scooters are to non riding passersby and watch the sport grow.

[twowheeler]

I dont waive because I refuse to ride one handed. These scoots are not steady at cruising speeds one handed.

[randy]

Harley riders are the worst with there "secret" wave. I give them my secret"He Man woman haters" wave.

[cyborg]

We have that kind of bias right here with bathtub boy, it's all based on psudointellectualism and false pride ,,, hell I'm in a Chinese forum and I have an Italian scooter I wave like a idiot no matter what I'm ridin or what they're ridin ,, I could care,,, we're ridin that's all that matters to me and having a blast doing it,,,,

[kz1000st]

Mar 7, 2014 8:56:11 GMT -6 cyborg said:

We have that kind of bias right here with bathtub boy, it's all based on psudointellectualism and false pride ,,, hell I'm in a Chinese forum and I have an Italian scooter I wave like a idiot no matter what I'm ridin or what they're ridin ,, I could care,,, we're ridin that's all that matters to me and having a blast doing it,,,,

And that Dude, is the way it should be.

[fugaziiv]

Well, last time we attended Amerivespa I have to admit that we received a very warm response. I was a bit worried initially as we are a company that caters primarily to the Chinese bike market, but it was a positive enough event that we'll be attending again this year. Granted, it was no Bike Week, but it was the single largest collection of scooter riders I've ever been a part of outside of China.

Matt

[kz1000st]

Yes, but how many scooters were there? Vespa started selling scooters in 1946, the CH series Hondas in 1985. You hold a scooter rally in Europe, thousands attend. You hold one here, a few hundred at best. Different attitudes.

[novaraptor]

A lot of it is perception. I wave when possible whether I'm on my Roketa 250 or my Yamaha FJ1200, and whether the
other rider is on a scooter or a hog. Doesn't cost me anything. It's kind of weird, but in some of the cruiser forums, they complain that the worst people for not returning a wave is the sport bikers. The fewest wave backs for me seem to
come from scooter riders. I think that a lot of the 50cc riders are often a bit timid. Also, a lot of what gets the wave may be the rider, not the type of bike. I nearly always get the wave from motorcycles while on the 250. I think that is mostly because they see the full face helmet, and mesh slide jacket, long pants and boots. Less likely to be "accepted" if I were helmetless, in short sleeve shirt with shorts and flip flops. Can't believe I rode like that on the freeway in the 80's.

[fugaziiv]

Mar 7, 2014 9:50:40 GMT -6 kz1000st said:

Yes, but how many scooters were there? Vespa started selling scooters in 1946, the CH series Hondas in 1985. You hold a scooter rally in Europe, thousands attend. You hold one here, a few hundred at best. Different attitudes.

It was something like 800 riders. I know, it's small but it's what we've got to work with. Tiered licensing and million dollar gallons of petrol in Europe force created a scooter enthusiast culture, hence 1000's attend an event.

Here's the hard truth about the Chinese scooter market in the US (backed up by the PFS customer base metrics, and don't get me wrong, I love my customers): The vast majority of people who ride Chinese scooters in the US don't do it because they love it, rather they feel that it is one of the last options available to them for private transportation. It isn't a culture for them, it isn't something to be enthusiastic about or a point of pride, it's an appliance to get back and forth on. It's a last resort. These riders don't wave, they don't get the proper training to ride, they tend to feel helmets and safety gear are superfluous, they often times don't work on their bikes and then wonder why it broke; in short, they don't love it the way that you and I do. Could this attitude alone also force create an enthusiast culture here?

In much of Europe, riding a scooter often isn't a last resort, based on age it's simply one of the few 2 wheel options regardless of your income level, so people have bought into it on a grand level and it's amazing.

The question is "How do we, as enthusiasts, create an overarching enthusiast culture, and bring more people into the fold?" I know that one of the best things that we (I) can do for this is to do what we do: provide parts. The better the parts supply, the more apt people will be to look at riding scooters as a viable alternative as opposed to a last resort. These forums are also great since they are populated by you guys, people who legitimately love riding. Scooter evangelists.

We're supporting events like Amerivespa, despite its Italian focus and relatively small size. We're going scooter drag racing (http://usascooterracing.com/?tag=nasra) with Chinese bikes because it turns out (gasp!) that Chinese bikes are awesome drag racing platforms. The GY6 is a phenomenal little engine that can and does. We attend trade shows, we preach the gospel of scooters.

But these actions really only tend to solidify the already established enthusiast base. So I pose the question to all of us again; How do we get more people involved? Why don't a crap load of Chinese scooter riders simply converge on Amerivespa this year? The organizers freely admit that it's open to all riders and makes, and lord knows there are enough Chinese bikes out there or I wouldn't have a company to run. I'm not asking this hypothetically. Seriously, what do I have to do? I'm really open to suggestions here.


Matt

P.S. Funny side story. I learned that in Europe they don't really wave, that seems to be an American thing (this may not be gospel so YMMV). I asked a German guy about that once at a gas station as I was following for a while and I noticed that he wasn't waving. He simply told me "I'm too busy riding, we greet when we stop." I spoke with him for a bit, he was a pretty cool guy.

Holy smokes, I wrote a book!

[kz1000st]

Great explanation and Amerivespa had more than I thought. It just seems to me that the divisiveness in scooter owners is pretty strong and not conducive to growth. The numbers bear it out. Motorcycles outsell scooters 10-1 according to the MIC. I went to a bike night twice last year. Me and a Stella 2T owner showed up both times I was there and a Yamaha Vino 125 once. Both nights had over 100 bikes. If Amerivespa ventures closer to me I might be tempted to go but I'm not shlepping out to Wisconsin or Louisiana for a rally.

[fugaziiv]

Mar 7, 2014 12:38:31 GMT -6 kz1000st said:

Great explanation and Amerivespa had more than I thought. It just seems to me that the divisiveness in scooter owners is pretty strong and not conducive to growth.

Thank you. I agree 100%. It is a fractured base, I'm trying to figure out how to bring it together a little bit. Just like I can't figure out why Mopeds and Scooters don't get along either sometimes... how odd.


Matt

[Alleyoop]

Around here all the motorcycle guys give me the wave and I back and I am talking about the bandana wearers with long hair and the tatoes all over the place hard core guys some have even follow me and stopped me to check out my trike, also at stop lights we chat. Now the ones that ride motorcycles that you know are not hard core with long sleeve shirts clean cut hair your office type guys THEY are the ones that do NOT give me the Wave(HAHA).
Alleyoop

[cyborg]

It used to be that the harley crowd only waved at harleys,,,, not so much anymore ,,, I get waves from everyone,,, I accidentally ran into a mob of mopeds from moped army,, must have been 1000 there conservative count I chased them for miles,,,, fun fun fun. All smiles all around,,,