The First Ride!

[ericalm]

GatsbyGirl and I finally trotted down to NoHo Scooters yesterday to pick up her pink Buddy 125, the first one (as far as I know, and I did ask) unleashed on the streets of LA!

How easy is it to ride a Buddy? GG had never been on any kind of an engine-driven 2-wheeled vehicle before. Even after some sage advice, reading up and plenty of pointers, she was pretty scared going into it. Jen @ NoHo, however, gave her an excellent lesson. Really approached the whole thing in a way I never would have. So after a little wobbling and hesitation, GG was off and running, ably throttling and coming to stops.

I then took over and rode the Buddy to a parking lot so GG could practice turning. I must admit, I got heckled by some truck drivers before I was even a block away from NoHo. And I got a lot of weird looks and stares. I look good in pink, but maybe not ON pink.

After an hour or so of doing laps in both and alternating directions, GG was ready to take to the side streets with me riding my Vespa behind her. She got comfortable taking it up to over 40mph, braking in traffic, and worked on lane positioning.

This morning, another side street ride, then she was confident enough (and doing well enough in my estimation) to ride on bigger side streets with a little traffic. So, after only a day of riding, she was able to fulfill my fantasy of us riding to Sunday brunch together.

Though she still needs to practice and start on some more difficult maneuvers, she's really taken to it and is already learning to enjoy the ride. I'm extremely proud of her, not because she's becoming a scooter chick but because she's not the type to confront her fears when they can be avoided. She tackled this head on!

Plus, our scoots look too damn cute together.

[jaded]

woot!! Congratulations to you both.

[GatsbyGirl]

Yes, I definitely have to say that I have surprised myself with how well I'm doing -- I also can completely see what the reviews mean when they say the Buddy is so simple to learn that you're going to have a lot of overconfident riders out there riding beyond their true ability.

This knowledge definitely makes me more eager to take the course, although I'm going to have to get a lot better at riding in order to make it the 15 miles from N. Hollywood for Santa Monica to take it (and, really, don't you think they could have one closer?). Sure, I could take it on one of the small motorcycles they provide, but I'd really much rather learn on the bike I'm going to be riding.

And after a year of me asking, "Why do you want to junk it up?" whenever ericalm has discussed customizing his scooter, I'm already thinking of how I want to trick out mine. Because, really, it seems just being pink isn't enough for me.

Also, big ups to Jen at NoHo Scooters. She really gave a great lesson.

[AxeYrCat]

Kick ass! Congrats to you both!

[buddylover]

I love how the two scoots seem to be "looking" at each other with their mono headlight in the pic. Very cute. Was this intentional?

[ericalm]

I love how the two scoots seem to be "looking" at each other with their mono headlight in the pic. Very cute. Was this intentional?

Almost TOO cute... Once we accessorize and mod the heck out of the Buddy, we hope the reaction will be more "Man, that pink scoot is bad ass!"
We're planning on taking a "scooter family picture" then emailing "It's a Girl!" announcements to all of our friends who keep pressuring us to have a baby.

[jrsjr]

Kudos to you guys! That pic of the Buddys side-by-side looking wistfully at each other is great, but riding together will be priceless. Y'all keep an eye out for each other and ride safe out there with All Your Riding Gear All The Time.

just showed up again to remind me how much I'm looking forward to riding with my fellow scooter peeps again. Gee.

[Mike @ NoHo Scooters]

I told you my wife is an excellent teacher.

Congrats on the new scooter! Now get out there and ride!