So, Scooters Originali fixed up my bike. Genuine came through and paid for all the work, so as far as I'm concerned, they did the right thing. I'm willing to let bygones be bygones. (For those of you who aren't following along, see http://tinyurl.com/znwkq, http://tinyurl.com/hd7a8, and http://tinyurl.com/knl3k) Since I work in NYC all day, it was near impossible for me to pick up the bike in Orange, NJ so I had the m drop it off at my brother's house in the as someone would be home to meet the driver. When I got home that night, I had to drive my bike back from his place to mine. It's only a few miles, but it was my first bona fide Buddy ride, and at this point, my first bike ride since taking the MSF course a month earlier. So you could say I was rusty.
Long before I even took the MSF course, I read through Proficient Motorcycling and More Proficient Motorcycling by David Hough. If you haven't read these books, do it because it tells you how to handle most situations. Honestly though, most of the situations in the book rarely come up. At least that's what my assumption was. I mean how often do you have to worry about farm equipment tracking mud into the road in the suburbs? Not often.
I started the ride at dusk, and the moment I left the driveway it started to rain. To make matters worse, I had to ride, in increasing dark, through rush hour traffic, and on some fairly major roads. Nothing too big, but not anything comfortable for a first ride. The icing on the cake was the construction zone. I had to drive over ground up asphalt surrounded by edge traps. At the end of my trip, I had to turn onto my road, which was now host to two new construction projects on the corner. So, the road that I'm turning into had been dug up and replaced with gravel... and... wait for it... construction vehicles had tracked massive amounts of mud into the road. Well, Hough was laughing at me I can tell you that much.
All throughout my Buddy issues, it had occurred to me that the universe was sending me a message. Something along the lines of, "Get off the scooter." I was wondering if the new message was, "See? I told you. Now you're gonna die." But I didn't die. Granted I was scared stupid, but I didn't die. Did I mention you should pick up a copy of Proficient Motorcycling?
So that was that. Not dead. The next morning I started driving my scooter to the local train station for my daily commute. It's only a few miles away and I can stash the scooter in the bike rack. Free parking. The American Dream. More importantly, it fulfilled the promise of more spare time (i.e. not walking to the station or driving and praying for a parking spot).
There was one issue outstanding- since I bought the bike out of state, NJ required that I get the bike inspected. NJ gives you two weeks to take care of that. Well, the first week, the bike was in the shop at Scooters Originali. And that weekend I had to attend a wedding. And of course the next week, was used up working and commuting, so it all came down to a single Saturday. I called around town, and to my dismay, all the local shops that inspect vehicles refused to inspect motorcycles. The only local place I could find had recently lost their license to perform NJ State Inspections for having passed too many dicey cars and bikes. The Buddy was purchased for only in town driving. I wasn't too thrilled with the idea of taking it out on to major roads. At least not without a LOT more practice.
I took a look on the NJ MVC site and searched for locations. The closest one was 14 miles away. Also, to get there, using back roads, I had to drive through a busy roundabout and spend most of my time on a 45 mph road. Not my idea of a beginner's exercise. I called up the local Enterprise Rent-A-Car and they refused to rent me a van without 6 hours notice. Even though they had one on the lot. Just super. So I was running out of time- either take the Buddy on a trek or miss my 14 day inspection window. And if I didn't decide in the next ten minutes or so, there's no way I'd make it to the inspection center before it closed.
So I went for it. http://tinyurl.com/kjdv4. It was in retrospect a very stupid idea. I hadn't yet internalized countersteering, so I had at least one bad moment where I drifted towards the yellow line. While I was out in traffic, and on a major road, I got a feel for the Buddy. It seemed really happy around 35-40 smiles per hour (speedometer-miles per hour). Once I got it over 45 smiles per hour, the bike felt a little unstable. I really can't say if that is the bike's fault, or just my comfort limitations. Since the road I took was posted at 45 mph, I kept the bike around 50 smiles per hour in the hopes that I wouldn't irritate other drivers. Going downhill I got the bike up to 55 smiles per hour. Accidentally. You don't feel the bike shifting gears (cause there are none) and at high speeds it's hard to hear the difference between 50 and 55. I was also able to get the bike to consistently climb hills at 45 smiles per hour, even from a stoplight. That was impressive for a tiny bike I thought.
When I was about 3/4 of the way there, I stopped for gas. When I pulled into the station and popped the seat, every attendant cam around to stare at the bike. The questions I got were:
1. Do you need a motorcycle license for that?
(yes)
2. What's the gas mileage?
(80 mpg I'm told)
3. You rode that thing all the way from Madison? Are you insane?
(yes, clearly)
They were definitely curious. They wanted to know how it felt like to ride it and the best explanation I could come up with was this: Imagine you're in a lawn chair. Now fling it down the road at 45 mph into traffic. And you can steer.
After spending a whopping $2 for gas, I got back on the road. Overall it took over thirty minutes, but I made it to the registration place. I sat in line among all the SUVs waiting for inspection. Eventually someone came out and told me to get out of the car line and park in front of some wiggy trailer. Some other guy came out and inspected my helmet to make sure it had reflective tape on it. Then he made sure my headlight came on and my signals worked. Not much to it all. Then he asked me for my registration. I looked around my bag and then it hit me- in my rush to get out of the house and get to the place in time, I'd left it home. I drove all the way out to Randolph and I had nothing to show for it. Why? Cause I'm a jackass.
The next weekend I made the same trip again. This time I was a lot more confident as I'd already done it once and survived. On this trip I was able to get the bike up to 55 smiles per hour heading uphill. Not bad for a teeny bike I thought. The long story short is that I came home with my registration this time.
But the plot thickens. My brother's aging SAAB died that same weekend. Drunk with scooterlust, I told him to take my car and keep it for as long as he needed. With the exception of a trip I was taking in September, I couldn't think of anything I absolutely required a car for. So for four weeks, if I needed to go ANYWHERE, it was on a scooter.
And that's what I've been doing. I've road the Buddy in the morning, at night, on hot days, in the rain. I've ridden it around town and I've taken it far away. Basically anything I would have done with my car, I tried doing on a Buddy.
Shopping was easy enough so long as you restricted your purchases to things that fit under the seat, in a backpack, or can be dangled from the utility hook under the handlebars. But it works.
I've taken the bike out to the local Wal-Mart and the local Borders. In NJ parlance, "local" means within a driving range of 20 minutes. In every case, I'm not able to take the most direct route as the most direct route involves a highway. Still, there are so many damned roads in NJ, which if you're crafty enough, there's a back road everywhere. My most ambitious trip involved driving from Madison, NJ to South Bound Brook, NJ to visit a friend. This was problematic because all the back roads cross over 3 major highways. It was difficult to cut a route from town to town and avoid onramps. Even with dodging highways, I was not able to avoid major roads. I had to take the Buddy on a road with a posted limit of 50 mph. My comfort level doesn't allow me to get over 55 smiles per hour, so the other drivers on that road were not happy with me.
Still it's all doable. The Buddy 125 excels at driving around town. I haven't had any problems taking it out in the rain. Potholes are an issue but I haven't hit anything the Buddy couldn't handle. Longer trips on high-speed roads are possible but I don't recommend them. I'm not sure what the real top speed of my bike is, but I've got it to 55 smiles per hour. A cousin of mine who has been riding bikes for decades took it for a casual spin and got it up to 60 smiles per hour. He noted that the bike felt a lot less steady at high speeds than his motorcycle, but he agreed that the bike is absurdly easy to drive and maneuver.
So I've been living careless for over a month and it's really not a big deal. I don't know how many people here are using the Buddy as practical transportation, but it can be done. The only real problems I've had so far have been with other drivers. In once incident, I was breaking at a yellow-about-to-be-red light. The driver behind me decided that in spite of the fact that I was in the middle of the road, that I wasn't actually a road vehicle. He pulled around me (crossing over the yellow line) on the left hand side and turned right directly in front of me across the intersection. Not cool. I took off after him like a crazy person and eventually caught up. When I did catch up, I had to ask myself just exactly how did I see this turning out? At the end of the day, I'm on a tiny scooter and he's in a car. I'm going to lose. Damn you Hough. I had to let it go.
The other incident of note was in a parking lot. I was waiting for a truck to pull out of a space and another car came up on the other side. When the truck left I pulled into the space and the large woman in the car pulled in right behind me she rolled down the window and screamed, "You're lucky I don't run your f****ng scooter over!" That was a little disconcerting. In reality she could run the scooter over. I can't think it would be that hard. While I was in the store I kept watching the parking spot. All someone would have to do is just push the scooter over. It's not a nice feeling. Luckily it turned out to be an empty threat.
Other than that, I endorse the scooter life.
This past weekend, I got my car back for my trip. I have to say that getting behind the wheel of a car felt very weird. The road feels like it's a hundred miles away and I couldn't shake the feeling that I was driving a tank. It was a little disorienting for about ten minutes. The car felt absurdly large. Still no matter how I sliced it, the scooter just wasn't going to cut it for a long trip to New England, especially with 3 passengers. So on Saturday I went to see the Who in Boston. My friend’s new girlfriend, a motorcyclist, is pretty much a rocker. And me with the scooter, I guess that makes me a Mod. I'm not going to lie to you. There was almost a rumble. Thankfully we found common ground in calling her boyfriend a wuss for not signing up for the MSF course yet. Good times. The Who, by the way still have it. Pete Townsend must be a million years old, but it doesn't seem to be holding him back. After the Who show, it was up to Maine for a miniature golf tournament (http://www.minigolfsmackdown.com). Lots of fun, but it felt weird to be driving a car all weekend.
When I got back home on Monday night, I noticed that I had two large packages. I order lots of stuff months in advance, so it's not unusual to get a package and not be sure what it is. But it was past midnight and I was tired. This morning I woke up and I found that Genuine had sent me a few gifts. The sent a trunk, front rack, and a mid-sized windshield for my Buddy. It was awfully nice of them cause in my book we were already square when they paid to have my bike fixed at Scooters Originali. So cheers to Roy and the folks and Genuine. I haven't had a chance to install any of it yet, but I'll report back when I do.
This morning I got back on the bike and went to work. My brother has my car again. I'll ask for it back when it snows. Maybe.
The Continuing Adventures of Buddy
Moderator: Modern Buddy Staff
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booleanman
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Shellee
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vitaminC
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Very glad to hear that all is now right in your Buddy world!-
tinalee123
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booleanman
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So a quick update- I installed the front rack, the trunk, and the windshield to the Buddy.
The front rack is pretty easy to install. I can't say that I've tried attaching anything to it yet, but it feels very solid. If chrome is your thing, then you'll probably like this regardless if you every actually strap anything to it. My take on it is skip it if you don't really need that much more stowage capacity. I think the lines of the Buddy are more attractive without it.
On the topic of the trunk, I've seen a post on this board in which someone said it looked cheap. I would generally agree. I would mention that I've never really played with any other trunk, so this could be indicative of the status quo for scooter trunks. The trunk doesn't close particularly tightly and it rattles while the bike is running. It was not large enough to hold my full face XL sized helmet, though it was really close. One thing that is odd is that the trunk has a red sticker on the back that gives the impression that there's a break light there. There isn't one. The back rack that came with the trunk is another matter it is very sturdy.
To test out the trunk, I made a quick run to the store to get some roof beer and bread. I figured that would be a good test as the you would want the root beer bottles not to break and the bread not to smoosh. I filled up the trunk and then threw the bike down the bumpiest and most curvy road in the area. I'm happy to report both items made it through the trip intact.
So as far as the trunk goes, if you really like the stock buddy trunk, I won't say you're wrong, but I would take a look at other options as well. The back rack is a must have.
Finally there's the windshield. I'm not really a fan of windshields. It just looks like extra plastic to me. I have to say it's not. The windshield increased my speed by about 10 smiles per hour. I'm not sure that the top speed was altered, but for the amount of throttle I gave the bike, it hit a higher speed. My usual twist of the wrist takes the buddy up to 30 or 35 smiles per hour. With the windshield I was breaking 40 with out noticing it. The way I realized this was my breaking distance increased like crazy. That's when I noticed I was going faster than I realized. I need to play with it a bit more, but my first take is that the bike feels a bit more stable with the windscreen. Also, the stock mirrors, remounted on top of the windshield rig, are placed higher up and further out. It takes them from near useless to near useful. So far the only downside I can see of the windshield is the noise. The sound the wind makes whipping off the shield is very noticeable. I'm not sure it's a deal breaker. If you have to travel on roads that have a posted speed of 40+ mph, you should consider the windshield.
The front rack is pretty easy to install. I can't say that I've tried attaching anything to it yet, but it feels very solid. If chrome is your thing, then you'll probably like this regardless if you every actually strap anything to it. My take on it is skip it if you don't really need that much more stowage capacity. I think the lines of the Buddy are more attractive without it.
On the topic of the trunk, I've seen a post on this board in which someone said it looked cheap. I would generally agree. I would mention that I've never really played with any other trunk, so this could be indicative of the status quo for scooter trunks. The trunk doesn't close particularly tightly and it rattles while the bike is running. It was not large enough to hold my full face XL sized helmet, though it was really close. One thing that is odd is that the trunk has a red sticker on the back that gives the impression that there's a break light there. There isn't one. The back rack that came with the trunk is another matter it is very sturdy.
To test out the trunk, I made a quick run to the store to get some roof beer and bread. I figured that would be a good test as the you would want the root beer bottles not to break and the bread not to smoosh. I filled up the trunk and then threw the bike down the bumpiest and most curvy road in the area. I'm happy to report both items made it through the trip intact.
So as far as the trunk goes, if you really like the stock buddy trunk, I won't say you're wrong, but I would take a look at other options as well. The back rack is a must have.
Finally there's the windshield. I'm not really a fan of windshields. It just looks like extra plastic to me. I have to say it's not. The windshield increased my speed by about 10 smiles per hour. I'm not sure that the top speed was altered, but for the amount of throttle I gave the bike, it hit a higher speed. My usual twist of the wrist takes the buddy up to 30 or 35 smiles per hour. With the windshield I was breaking 40 with out noticing it. The way I realized this was my breaking distance increased like crazy. That's when I noticed I was going faster than I realized. I need to play with it a bit more, but my first take is that the bike feels a bit more stable with the windscreen. Also, the stock mirrors, remounted on top of the windshield rig, are placed higher up and further out. It takes them from near useless to near useful. So far the only downside I can see of the windshield is the noise. The sound the wind makes whipping off the shield is very noticeable. I'm not sure it's a deal breaker. If you have to travel on roads that have a posted speed of 40+ mph, you should consider the windshield.
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Sudsie
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booleanman
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My XL helmet does fit under the seat, though it is a tight fit. You have to drop it straight in and make sure there's nothing underneath it. I have an HJC CL-15 (http://www.hjchelmets.com/cl15.htm). When I put that in the trunk, it doesn't get even close to closing. I'll post some pictures soon for those who are interested.
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Javarod
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Smiles, "I think what you're seeing with the windscreen, or rather feeling, is how it shields you from the wind. With it, you don't feel you're fighting it, it isolates you from the speed somewhat, allowing you to pick up your pace, without ever actually making the scooter faster."
Javarod
G! Buckleshoe
G! Buckleshoe
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castleton
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