Modern Buddy

So it would seem that there is a good chance the wife and I will be picking up our Scoots and moving the the Chicago area. Nothing definite yet, but I'm preparing. Most homes I've seen on the 'net that are in our price range seem to fall into the Elgin area. I would be working at O'Hare. Since I know didly-squat about Chicago I was for some tips/hints/info etc. Is Elgin a decent place to live? Where else might I find a home for two adults/two scoots/two Labrador Retrievers for less than 250000? Scooter and bicycle friendly? (I'm also a big bicycle rider) Does anyone know if its possible to live car free/single car? Ideally I'd like to ride the scoot/bike/bus to work if Public trans can move me in a decent amount of time.
Any scooter rallys or clubs out there? Here in the springs we have a pretty informal group that does coffee rides or other spontaneous rides when the weathers decent.

thanks for any advice!
Cheers!
Shane

Chicago is home to the Genuine Scooter Co. and Scooter Works USA. Check out the CHIscooterList Yahoo! Group to find out what's going on scooter wise in the area. Can't offer much help otherwise.

pesqueeb wrote:Is Elgin a decent place to live?

It's OK, but suburban and pretty far from the city, not a lot going on out there.

pesqueeb wrote:Where else might I find a home for two adults/two scoots/two Labrador Retrievers for less than 250000?

That's the low-end of houses in the city these days, but it's worth looking. A lot of the scooterists (incl. me) live in Galewood, which is sort of a quiet neighborhood on the very west edge of the city just north of Oak Park.

pesqueeb wrote:Scooter and bicycle friendly? (I'm also a big bicycle rider)

Super bicycle-friendly, Mayor Daley is a big bicycle fan. Scooters, not so much, the weather sucks here and the roads/traffic are bad and scooter parking is very tough in the loop. We have a meeting with the city in May that will hopefully change that. (well, not the weather)

pesqueeb wrote:Does anyone know if its possible to live car free/single car?

Probably not in Elgin. If you're going to live in the burbs, Look at the Metra commuter rail maps and try to live somewhere near the line that goes to O'Hare. If you live in the city proper, public transportation is pretty good, though it keeps getting more expensive. I lived w/o a car for ten years in the city, with a scooter and public transportation.

pesqueeb wrote:Any scooter rallys or clubs out there?

Despite the generally sucky environment for scooters, Scooterworks and Genuine are here and one of the last 80s Vespa dealerships was here, so there's been a vibrant scooter scene since the 80s. There aren't really any big clubs, the politics were a bummer and it's been working better with a couple loose small clubs and everyone chipping in to plan rides and such. Join the list Bryce posted and read 2strokebuzz, you won't miss anything local. Our big rally is Slaughterhouse, this year will be number 13 (how time flies), it's Labor Day weekend. There's also a smaller city rally on Memorial Day weekend, a few camping rallies in the area, and we're very centrally located for all the midwest rallies (Milwaukee 2 hrs, Madison/WI Dells/Cincy/Cleveland/Dayton/Columbus 5 hrs, Pittsburgh/Minneapolis 7 hrs, Quad Cities 2.5 hrs). And of course, there are lots of weekend rides and such.

Ryan Bastianelli is the ChiScooterList moderator, he works at O'Hare, he'd probably have more suggestions for you.

Bryan