Any Houston, TX people here?

[un_designer]

I was talking to my friend who lives in Houston in the 3rd Ward about possibly getting a scooter. He says he feels unsafe riding there. Thoughts?

[Alb brajn]

I recently applied for a job in Houston and my wife said it was not as scooter friendly as Austin. She said if I get the job I may have to give up commuting on the buddy.

[scubadoobie]

I was talking to my friend who lives in Houston in the 3rd Ward about possibly getting a scooter. He says he feels unsafe riding there. Thoughts?

I'm in Houston! While I'm not that familiar with the 3rd Ward area per se, I think it does depend on your commute, neithgorhood, etc. I live in the museum/montrose/Rice U area and it's a VERY scooter friendly part of town. At least 3 scooter-only dealers in my neighborhood, including the Genuine dealer only about 5 miles away. My commute is short, but it's in some heavy traffic around the medical center. I don't feel particularly "unsafe" in that traffic, but I also assume nobody sees me and practice uber-defensive driving. I used to live in the Galleria area and would think twice about scooting in that neighborhood. The traffic is just insane in that area.

Having said all this, Houston is a HUGE city, square miles-wise, and it's not always easy to get around town without using freeways. That's why I'm mostly a neighborhood scooter, with a few exceptions for group rides and the occasional ride out to west Houston using some back streets. Someday I'll borrow or rent a truck and venture out of town for some non-urban riding!

There are a couple of scooter groups. Houston Scooter Battalion and United Scooter Riders. They do rides all over town and beyond.
Edit: There may be others, but these are the two I know about...I'm new to scooting.

[un_designer]

Yea that's kind of what I figured as much. My friend lives in the Greater Third Ward in one of those transitioning neighborhood that's still kind of sketchy. It's off of Elgin St. just south of downtown, bounded by the 288 on one side and the 45 on the other, just west of the University of Houston.

[peabody99]

a few years a go I was there for several days. We stayed in a neighborhood that was very central (Montose) we saw one scooter the whole time! They really seem to love cars there. a lot.

[scubadoobie]

a few years a go I was there for several days. We stayed in a neighborhood that was very central (Montose) we saw one scooter the whole time! They really seem to love cars there. a lot.

Houston is definitely a car town, but I think you would notice a lot more scooters in the area now. I see at least 5 or 6 each day on my commute. Then I see even more parked at bike racks around the Medical Center. Students and others like me taking advantage of free or drastically cheaper motorcycle parking.

[cdwise]

Yea that's kind of what I figured as much. My friend lives in the Greater Third Ward in one of those transitioning neighborhood that's still kind of sketchy. It's off of Elgin St. just south of downtown, bounded by the 288 on one side and the 45 on the other, just west of the University of Houston.

I know where that is and have ridden through it many times. I can understand being a little spooked about riding through parts of it at night but during the day it isn't a problem at all. I would advise your friend to lock his scooter up at night and other times in that area. I live west of there near Rice University. I see scooters daily around my neighborhood and other parts of town primaily "inside the loop" and in "The Heights".

Go to Montrose now and you'll see a lot more scooters. We've got some excellent dealers which makes all the difference. Scooter Batallion mentioned earlier is mostly smaller cc scoots with a large number of folks who ride Buddies. Last Saturday there was a "Scoot In" art film showing at one of the parks downtown. I swear at least a third of the scooters there were Buddys. The Batallion does month rides on the first Sunday of each month. You friend will probably find some foks in that group that live in or near his part of town. USR does more out of town, longer distance rides but a Buddy can do probably 75% of them without issue. I've taken our 125 on several.

FWIW, there are two other active scooter clubs in Houston - Houston Ruckus Crew which is all Honda Ruckus riders and Sunday Punchers which I think is vintage only but couldn't swear to that. Best dealer for service and more info on the small scooter scene in Houston is Steve at Scootersmith in the Heights.

FWIW, while I don't "commute" to work I know dozens who do on scoots ranging from Ruckus to Burgmans. You can commute on a Buddy, it really isn't that much different than Austin other than Houston not giving free parking to scooter/motorcycles. On the other hand whenever I take the Buddy or Vespa downtown I pop them up next to the bike rack across the street from the Harris County Tax office and never had a problem or a ticket. Even when a cop has seen me do it.