Modern Buddy

I have a friend moving to Portland, OR soon and was wondering what the scootering scene is like there. Are they popular? Any decent dealers/shops? Craigslist offerings? Thanks!

PDX is a pretty great scooting place.


Scooter swap shop
Vespa Portland (sells genuine and ural)
Cycle gear
Sabatino moped
see sees
2 stroke coffee

and lots of scooter groups

portland social scooter riders
st johns scooter club
lucky bastards
twist n play



I've got my two scoots off CL, but that's usually the luck of the draw.

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In Portland, around Hawthorne there are plenty of riders and scooters parked at local businesses. Overall great scene lots of places to see in and around the metro area.

Vespa Portland, Cycle gear are good shops. Don't know of any Indie shops, as I am learning hands-on how to repair one of my buddy 150.

Lots on the weekends in wine country, especially in Carlton, Oregon.

Like most other places, the last few years have been hard on scooter dealerships around here. We have lost several of our long standing dealers such as Columbia Scooter and Vespa Milwaukie. We still have one full service Vespa, Genuine, Sym, and Ural dealer - Vespa of Portland. Also one independent shop that does vintage repairs - Sabatinos. And we are the home of Corazzo.

Portland is certainly a scooter friendly town, has several club activities, and lots of good opportunities for fun and rewarding rides. The winter is mild and the summer is generally not too hot so many good riding days - though, you should bring a rain jacket in your topcase.

Cool, sounds like a fun city. I'll be sure to let her know. Thanks guys!

The Vespa store in NW Portland (Vaughn street?) closed, right?
Rain and slick roads from my 40 years of riding in PDX. No lane splitting. Fussy cops. Fussy drivers. Very busy highways. Great social scene. Only the robust ride twelve months. Is your friend robust?

Vespa Portland moved to where Columbia Scooters was, CS moved over off powell somewhere.

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GregsBuddy wrote:The Vespa store in NW Portland (Vaughn street?) closed, right?

Wrong. As FuRocious said, they moved to the old Columbia Scooter shop at 205 SE M L King Blvd, Portland. Nice digs with more room than they had before.

GregsBuddy wrote:The Vespa store in NW Portland (Vaughn street?) closed, right?
Rain and slick roads from my 40 years of riding in PDX. No lane splitting. Fussy cops. Fussy drivers. Very busy highways. Great social scene. Only the robust ride twelve months. Is your friend robust?

She's a yoga instructor. Are yoga instructors robust? Lol
Anyway, she's currently undecided on the move.

GregsBuddy wrote:Very busy highways.

I would take issue with this one. Yes, I-5, I-205, and I-405 are busy - but who would ride a scooter on any of those?!? Portland has a pleasant gridwork of urban streets that make for fun in town riding. More important, it has many scenic rural roads that make for lovely afternoon rides. The Willamette valley South of Portland really can not be beat for good routes to ride a scooter. One of my favorites is the route of the Willamette Valley Scenic Bikeway (which is also a good route to ride a bike )

http://www.oregon.gov/oprd/BIKE/Pages/WVSB_main.aspx

Wrong.
217, 26, 99, aren't crowded?
The small downtown core of Portland is okay most of the time, but no lane sharing.
Suburban surface roads can be okay sometimes. However, you can't share lanes so you're stuck like the auto traffic. That's okay because you can cool your jets standing in the rain behind heavy traffic for many months of the year.
The nice roads are packed on weekends but clear during the week. Everyone wants to go to the coast, mountains or down the valley on "highways" that haven't been updated for decades. There haven't been but a few lanes added to any of the highways in about 45 years and there are no plans to do so. I don't get it since the taxes, especially property and income taxes are very high. No sales tax! Someone else pumps your fuel and scratches your vehicle while you wait. Oh well, it creates jobs for someone. Portland is a great place to VISIT and I go there about 5-6 times a year to see family and friends. The politics are agreeable but there's nearly no diversity unless you go out toward Intel where there's a real mix of people.

GregsBuddy wrote:217, 26, 99, aren't crowded?

I'm not sure why you are teeing off on Portland? Compared to the Bay Area? No, no one would ride 217 or 26 during rush hour either. They are 4-6 lane divided freeways. There are alternate routes to each of them that are far better scooter routes. Now, I live on 99E and ride a scooter on it all the time. Not sure what you mean there.

Erm...I didn't mean to start a war here....

I vote SF Bay area. I've lived both places. Easy call.

I believe Babblefish asked about the scooter scene in Portland. If someone else wants to describe the scooter scene in the Bay Area or LA, I suppose that is fine - but why not Boston (I've lived there) or DC (I've lived there)? He was asking for a reason.

You're all wrong and full of it! None of you know anything.

I vote Paris, Barcelona, Capri, Raiatea, and Maui.

Wait.........what're we discussing?

And Vietnam! Scoot and small bike heaven!
When you include weather, Barcelona and Bay Area.

I want to go scooting on Maui for sure. Maybe ride to Hana on it,and around the back.