It's a Scooter, not a Motorcycle!

phatch · Post by **phatch** » Sun May 20, 2012 2:41 am

Years ago, my mom told me (half joking, mostly serious) that if I ever wanted to get a motorcycle, I would have to wait until she died. A scooter's not a motorcycle, right?!

I had it up to 60 mph today... it's just a scooter...RIGHT?!

BTW, noob question - what does the b in "bmph" mean?

heatherkay · Post by **heatherkay** » Sun May 20, 2012 2:44 am

Buddy miles per hour. The indicated speed is less than the actual speed.

phatch · Post by **phatch** » Sun May 20, 2012 3:18 am

Gotcha... 60 bpm, then

JHScoot · Post by **JHScoot** » Sun May 20, 2012 3:53 am

It's a small motorbike with a step through frame and small wheels. It isn't a motorcycle, it is a motorcycle....

May mom live on!

Mutt the Hoople · Post by **Mutt the Hoople** » Sun May 20, 2012 4:51 am

Omg.... I'm not the only person here with mom-based scooter angst??? Lol

Let's share a motorcycle angst moment with Rob and Laura.... Classic episode:

http://youtu.be/Tg_jviHgE4o

phatch · Post by **phatch** » Sun May 20, 2012 5:23 am

"NO, you don't know, It's not one of those big ugly VROOM VROOM; it's a little vvvmm vvvmm!"

Side note: glad they don't call helmets "crash helmets" anymore

Mutt the Hoople · Post by **Mutt the Hoople** » Sun May 20, 2012 5:39 am

I tripped over a goat... Lol

Mutt the Hoople · Post by **Mutt the Hoople** » Sun May 20, 2012 5:51 am

The day I bought my Buddy... I live alone, and on that particular day I didn't have anyone with me to drive my car home while I got my scooter. So after practicing on the parking lot, them the alleyway in back, I felt like I could get home okay. But to get my car, I'd have to take the Metrolink back... And there was no guarantee that I would make it back before the scooter place closed, and my car would have been locked in for two days. So I had to move it to the other side of the fence. I had my helmet... Vintage style 3/4 and a leather jacket on... Didn't want to take it off just to put it back on three minutes later... So I move the car just as this guy comes out of an apartment building next to the parking lot. He gave me a look, then said, "Do you ALWAYS wear a crash helmet to drive a Sebring?". And I looked at him and said "of course... And sometimes I wear a cape as well". The whole idea of wearing a crash helmet to drive a 2004 Sebring is just too funny.

phatch · Post by **phatch** » Sun May 20, 2012 6:24 am

I bought my helmet at a shop before I picked up my bike (used), and I definitely wore it home... in my Corolla! Wonder what looks I got, but I felt like a rally car driver

Mutt the Hoople · Post by **Mutt the Hoople** » Sun May 20, 2012 6:54 am

I think we need jackets with a tulip on the back LOL... At least a Corolla isn't as lame as a 2004 Sebring.

I inherited it from my mom... The woman who hated anything that had a motor and two wheels. Noooo mom... I'm not a tough biker chick... It's more like Audrey Hepburn in Roman Holiday.... Lol

TVB · Post by **TVB** » Sun May 20, 2012 11:25 am

My childhood inquiries about the family getting a motorcycle were met with a simple "absolutely not". So I was careful to describe my Buddy as a "moped" when I mentioned it to my mom.

michelle_7728 · Post by **michelle_7728** » Sun May 20, 2012 12:13 pm

heatherkay wrote:Buddy miles per hour. The indicated speed is less than the actual speed.

Actually just the reverse.

If it says you are going 60mph, you are probably going around 55.

2wheelNsanity · Post by **2wheelNsanity** » Sun May 20, 2012 12:18 pm

I tell people my Buddy is a "Scootercycle" teehee

KABarash · Post by **KABarash** » Sun May 20, 2012 12:32 pm

When I got mine, I simply told my Mom it's bigger than a mo-ped yet nowhere near as big as a motorcycle. I still don't know why I had to justify that as I was 49 and she was 84 at the time.......

As to gear, sometimes when I walk into work carrying my helmet and wearing my gear, someone has to ask "did you ride today?" "No" I say, "I just wear my gear all the time because it's just so damned cool!!"

phatch · Post by **phatch** » Sun May 20, 2012 2:56 pm

KABarash wrote:As to gear, sometimes when I walk into work carrying my helmet and wearing my gear, someone has to ask "did you ride today?" "No" I say, "I just wear my gear all the time because it's just so damned cool!!"

That's like when guests ask "do you have a bathroom?"...

LOL

Raiderfn311 · Post by **Raiderfn311** » Sun May 20, 2012 3:58 pm

Mutt the Hoople wrote:Omg.... I'm not the only person here with mom-based scooter angst??? Lol

Let's share a motorcycle angst moment with Rob and Laura.... Classic episode:

http://youtu.be/Tg_jviHgE4o

I REALLY needed that. +1

Wheelz · Post by **Wheelz** » Sun May 20, 2012 4:32 pm

"A minute ago you said you liked tuna casserole..."
"yeah, well, a minute ago I had a motorcycle..."

viney266 · Post by **viney266** » Sun May 20, 2012 4:32 pm

2wheelNsanity wrote:I tell people my Buddy is a "Scootercycle" teehee

^^^ I like that...Stella just got a new nickname..."riding the scootercycle"...yeah that fits...Thanks, your check is in the mail.

phatch · Post by **phatch** » Sun May 20, 2012 5:06 pm

viney266 wrote:
2wheelNsanity wrote:I tell people my Buddy is a "Scootercycle" teehee
^^^ I like that...Stella just got a new nickname..."riding the scootercycle"...yeah that fits...Thanks, your check is in the mail.

"Scootercycling" might be a better verb than "Scooting" which (to me) implies what my dogs do on the rugs at home!!

heatherkay · Post by **heatherkay** » Sun May 20, 2012 5:08 pm

michelle_7728 wrote:
heatherkay wrote:Buddy miles per hour. The indicated speed is less than the actual speed.
Actually just the reverse.

If it says you are going 60mph, you are probably going around 55.

D'oh!

iMoses · Post by **iMoses** » Mon May 21, 2012 5:52 pm

Mom's will be mom's. I'm 50, live 800 miles away and she still worries over her "baby". Caring is one of the things mom's do best

Post by **ericalm** » Mon May 21, 2012 7:32 pm

Your poor mom. Every scooter legally sold in the US is a motorcycle as far as the Federal Government is concerned:

Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards §571.123, S4: :

Scooter means a motorcycle that:
(1) Has a platform for the operator’s feet or has integrated footrests, and
(2) Has a step-through architecture, meaning that the part of the vehicle forward of the operator's seat and between the legs of an operator seated in the riding position, is lower in height than the operator’s seat.

Most states would classify anything over 50cc as a motorcycle as well.

Mutt the Hoople · Post by **Mutt the Hoople** » Mon May 21, 2012 8:11 pm

Thank you Eric for the clarification. I am now guilty of lying when I say ol' red isn't a Motorcycle. More two wheeled angst where's my tulip jacket lol

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Tue May 22, 2012 12:30 am

Mutt the Hoople wrote: Let's share a motorcycle angst moment with Rob and Laura.... Classic episode:

Is there anyone that can't relate to that clip in some way?

Rob

Mutt the Hoople · Post by **Mutt the Hoople** » Tue May 22, 2012 12:38 am

Ohhhhh Rob

There are so many great lines in that episode.... I've watched it four times in the last couple of days. I always thought it was a great episode ... Now that I have my own Ol' Red.... I think it is even funnier. The Motorcycle was actually a Harley Dsvidson m50... So it was a new model when that episode was first aired.

Rob · Post by **Rob** » Tue May 22, 2012 1:30 am

Mutt the Hoople wrote:The Motorcycle was actually a Harley Dsvidson m50... So it was a new model when that episode was first aired.

I didn't even catch that. Who would have thought that Dick Van Dyke was a Harley dude.

Rob

Mutt the Hoople · Post by **Mutt the Hoople** » Tue May 22, 2012 1:59 am

Rob wrote:
Mutt the Hoople wrote:The Motorcycle was actually a Harley Dsvidson m50... So it was a new model when that episode was first aired.
I didn't even catch that. Who would have thought that Dick Van Dyke was a Harley dude.

Rob

Harley Davidson at that time was owned by AMF. They tried to cash in on the new popularity of the smaller Japanese imports like the CB series bikes. That Harley was only a 50cc bike!!! It even looks like a toy compared to the Honda CB200s. Look how big Dyke Van Dyke looks compared to the cycle. Love his pose next to the Drink Calvada billboard. What's really great is how funny that episode is 47 years after it first aired.

phatch · Post by **phatch** » Tue May 22, 2012 2:06 am

Mutt the Hoople wrote:
Rob wrote:
Mutt the Hoople wrote:The Motorcycle was actually a Harley Dsvidson m50... So it was a new model when that episode was first aired.
I didn't even catch that. Who would have thought that Dick Van Dyke was a Harley dude.

Rob
Harley Davidson at that time was owned by AMF. They tried to cash in on the new popularity of the smaller Japanese imports like the CB series bikes. That Harley was only a 50cc bike!!! It even looks like a toy compared to the Honda CB200s. Look how big Dyke Van Dyke looks compared to the cycle. Love his pose next to the Drink Calvada billboard. What's really great is how funny that episode is 47 years after it first aired.

DVD's the man... So funny, without one cuss word or dirty reference...

Mutt the Hoople · Post by **Mutt the Hoople** » Tue May 22, 2012 2:18 am

Omg... I was on a DVD roll all weekend. The Charades episode, What's in a middle name? (where their son Richie learns his middle name is "ROSEBUD", Coast to Coast Big Mouth, (wherenLaura ends up on a Gameshow and gives it away the Allan Brady wears a rug), the walnut episodes, the portrait episode, OMG.... I think I burned a few thousand calories laughing.

KABarash · Post by **KABarash** » Tue May 22, 2012 3:51 pm

And this thread led me to this.....
http://www.hulu.com/watch/87243/my-moth ... s-p6-so-i0

I do remember this show on TV, actually lines from it come to mind now a days and my kids could never understand me.....
Ahhh....... being a child in the 1960's

Mutt the Hoople · Post by **Mutt the Hoople** » Tue May 22, 2012 4:41 pm

Omg I love HULU. Last winter got lost in watching the old Bob Newhart Show, The Mary Tyler Moore Show, The Dick Van Dyke Show... One weekend I watched so many my eyeballs practically fell out. The writing on those shows was so excellent. And though it took a drubbing from the critics, ya gotta love Gilligan's Island.... The bamboo inventions, and c'mon... Hamlet the opera was brilliant.... Sorry, I cannot even hear The Toreador Song from Carmen without thinking "Be not a borrower, or a Lender Be.... Do not forget, Stay out of Debt...."

Drew · Post by **Drew** » Thu May 24, 2012 11:11 pm

My mom is a retired intensive care nurse. She forbid me getting anything like a motorcycle. Though I wanted a scooter for a long time I was 45 years old when I finally got it. Even then I tried to hide it from her. It was less than two weeks before she found out about it. I do think that the fact that it is a scooter and not a motorcycle kind of takes the edge off of it for her.

Post by **ericalm** » Thu May 24, 2012 11:24 pm

Drew wrote:My mom is a retired intensive care nurse. She forbid me getting anything like a motorcycle. Though I wanted a scooter for a long time I was 45 years old when I finally got it. Even then I tried to hide it from her. It was less than two weeks before she found out about it. I do think that the fact that it is a scooter and not a motorcycle kind of takes the edge off of it for her.

Father a doctor, mother was an ER and ICU nurse. So, yeah, two wheelers (that they knew about) until I was in my mid-30s, after my mother had passed and father had moved to another country. (That's not why it took so long, but it certainly saved me a lot of hassle.) Even then, when I've had crashes I've had to tell my siblings not to tell my father. He just doesn't need the worry!

kmrcstintn · Post by **kmrcstintn** » Thu May 24, 2012 11:41 pm

IIRC...the indicated speed is usually 10% higher than actual, hence if your speedo says 60 then estimate 53-55

ThreeSheets · Post by **ThreeSheets** » Fri May 25, 2012 1:50 pm

When I bought my motorcycle my mom was just like everyone elses ,No No No not going to happen. I persisted and look where it got me

thanks mom!

phatch · Post by **phatch** » Fri May 25, 2012 7:17 pm

BREAKING NEWS: I told my mom yesterday! I said "I have a confession.." and showed mom/pops a picture of my scoot. My mom gasps and says "Is that a motorcycle?!?!" and you know what I said...

She eventually asked "how fast does it go?" My response was "fast enough to not get mowed down by traffic"

*Whew... glad that's out of the way!

Mutt the Hoople · Post by **Mutt the Hoople** » Fri May 25, 2012 7:29 pm

Lol... Your brave. I waited untily mom was dead for a year before I got my scooter. And I carry a bundle of white sage under my seat... Just in case.

TVB · Post by **TVB** » Fri May 25, 2012 7:44 pm

phatch wrote:BREAKING NEWS: I told my mom yesterday! I said "I have a confession.." and showed mom/pops a picture of my scoot. My mom gasps and says "Is that a motorcycle?!?!" and you know what I said...

She eventually asked "how fast does it go?" My response was "fast enough to not get mowed down by traffic"

*Whew... glad that's out of the way!

I had to have this conversation with my parents twice in my life. It turns out they were more surprised - but less stressed out - by the scooter than by the boyfriend.

In both cases I downplayed how fast they were.

Post by **ericalm** » Fri May 25, 2012 9:00 pm

TVB wrote:
phatch wrote:BREAKING NEWS: I told my mom yesterday! I said "I have a confession.." and showed mom/pops a picture of my scoot. My mom gasps and says "Is that a motorcycle?!?!" and you know what I said...

She eventually asked "how fast does it go?" My response was "fast enough to not get mowed down by traffic"

*Whew... glad that's out of the way!
I had to have this conversation with my parents twice in my life. It turns out they were more surprised - but less stressed out - by the scooter than by the boyfriend.

In both cases I downplayed how fast they were.

The only thing I keep from my wife is the top speeds on my scooters and where/how I attained them. I'm a horrible liar and for whatever reason 100% incapable of keeping secrets from her. I just blurt stuff out. "I BOUGHT ANOTHER CAMERA ON EBAY AND IT WAS ONLY $20 BUT I HAD IT SHIPPED TO MY OFFICE BECAUSE I DIDN'T WANT YOU TO KNOW I GOT ANOTHER CAMERA. Oops."

But I can keep mum on the scooter stuff!

Mutt the Hoople · Post by **Mutt the Hoople** » Fri May 25, 2012 9:22 pm

This is hysterical. One thing I have noted since joining this board is that the majority of us are ahem, 40-50-ish. Not everyone, but it does seem to be a common thread. And out of that group, how many of are avoiding, whitewashing, etc. our scooter stuff to our parents LOL. I have no room to talk, I took no chances and waited until my mom was... Past. Late. Pushing up the daisies... A late mum. Tits up sorry... Besides being a Dick Van Dyke fan I like Monty Python as well. She ceased to be. I keep looking at the SYM Wolf.... And yesterday I was a Honda looking at an SH150i and the newer scoot replacing it when I saw a new Honda Motorcycle... Not a 150cc but a 750cc and... It was soooooo cool. And yet, the guilt is still there. I looked at it rather lustfully, and then though... That's Bad. I can't be bad. That's not girlie enough. But somehow I have no guilt a about a 150cc scooter or even a 200 or 300 with motor cycle sized wheels. Scooters are okay. Audrey Hepburn rode a Vespa. Everyone love Audrey... Eliza Doolittle, Roman Holiday. Funny Face... She even played a nun... Therfore scooter was is next to godliness. It's not a big ugly BROOOM BROOOM. It's a cute little vrmm vrmmm. Lol. Two wheeled hypocrisy is a funny thing.

JHScoot · Post by **JHScoot** » Fri May 25, 2012 10:54 pm

Mutt the Hoople wrote:This is hysterical. One thing I have noted since joining this board is that the majority of us are ahem, 40-50-ish. Not everyone, but it does seem to be a common thread. And out of that group, how many of are avoiding, whitewashing, etc. our scooter stuff to our parents LOL. I have no room to talk, I took no chances and waited until my mom was... Past. Late. Pushing up the daisies... A late mum. Tits up sorry... Besides being a Dick Van Dyke fan I like Monty Python as well. She ceased to be. I keep looking at the SYM Wolf.... And yesterday I was a Honda looking at an SH150i and the newer scoot replacing it when I saw a new Honda Motorcycle... Not a 150cc but a 750cc and... It was soooooo cool. And yet, the guilt is still there. I looked at it rather lustfully, and then though... That's Bad. I can't be bad. That's not girlie enough. But somehow I have no guilt a about a 150cc scooter or even a 200 or 300 with motor cycle sized wheels. Scooters are okay. Audrey Hepburn rode a Vespa. Everyone love Audrey... Eliza Doolittle, Roman Holiday. Funny Face... She even played a nun... Therfore scooter was is next to godliness. It's not a big ugly BROOOM BROOOM. It's a cute little vrmm vrmmm. Lol. Two wheeled hypocrisy is a funny thing.

It's my mom who led me to riding. So that's sort of funny or ironic or w/e.

See, SHE at 66 wanted to learn how to ride a motorcycle. I really hadn't given it a second thought over the years except maybe in the mid - late 80's when Harley's became trendy with the Hollywood set. Rourke, Stallone, Bono, etc.

Fast forward to now and my mom dumped her bike at MSF. So weeks pass and she thinks "trike." But thats no fun. So I think "scooter" for the first time. Start to research and come across the Buddy. Go to check 'em out and she picks up a Blackjack. She still isn't ready to ride after her accident, though. So I ride it a bit....and of course am taken by it. So much so I get my own scooter.

So she starts riding again and drops the Blackjack in a parking lot. Hard. So she has not rode for about a year now, but I ride the Blackjack regularly, being more local these days. And maybe...when she is finally "tits up" or w/e its called lol....i will inherit it

Hopefully she will just ask if I want to buy it, however. I won't ask her to sell it, because she doesn't want to. Somehow the little dream of riding one day makes her feel good, I think. She is plenty active still, so you never know.

Until then I will just have to sacrifice some time and energy....riding around on a Blackjack a few times a week. Just to "keep it going."

Oh, woe is me

Dracolibris · Post by **Dracolibris** » Fri May 25, 2012 11:05 pm

My mom and step-dad are always going on about how worried they are about me riding a scooter in the "big city." They live in a VERY small town on the Western Slope and are generally terrified of the "big city" and seem to think every time I leave my driveway I am going to get mowed down by a crazy driver. As we all know, that is a possibility and why I do my best to be protected and aware at all times.

He rides a huge Harley, and she sometimes goes on rides with him. Without helmets or armor. Over mountain passes (that scare me in a car!) and through deer infested fields.

We have agreed to disagree about our views on "safety."

heatherkay · Post by **heatherkay** » Sat May 26, 2012 4:16 am

That's the advantage of having a mom who was a teen in Scotland in the 50s. When I told her I was getting a scooter, she asked how many ccs it had and whether it had a kick start. The she told me a story about how she used to buy oil-gasoline premix at the pump.

Demo_Nic · Post by **Demo_Nic** » Sat May 26, 2012 5:37 am

My mother called me to tell me she sent me a care package. A few days later it arrives and I pull out 4 bras, 3 packs of underwear, 2 boxes of tooth paste and 5 tooth brushes. That was last year. I'm 37.....

Mutt the Hoople · Post by **Mutt the Hoople** » Sat May 26, 2012 7:09 am

Demo_Nic wrote:My mother called me to tell me she sent me a care package. A few days later it arrives and I pull out 4 bras, 3 packs of underwear, 2 boxes of tooth paste and 5 tooth brushes. That was last year. I'm 37.....

k1dude · Post by **k1dude** » Sat May 26, 2012 8:16 am

Demo_Nic wrote:My mother called me to tell me she sent me a care package. A few days later it arrives and I pull out 4 bras, 3 packs of underwear, 2 boxes of tooth paste and 5 tooth brushes. That was last year. I'm 37.....

I hope you're a woman..........Nic.

KABarash · Post by **KABarash** » Sat May 26, 2012 1:53 pm

Mutt the Hoople wrote: I carry a bundle of white sage under my seat... Just in case.

OK.... What's that do?

Scare off evil 'mom looks'?

KABarash · Post by **KABarash** » Sat May 26, 2012 2:01 pm

I have to admit, my son and I had the 50cc Honda about a year before I told my Mom about it. Growing up my parents didn't want me to have anything to do with any type of PTW no matter what! (Odd story there)
When I did tell mom, she told me that before dad had passed away, in 1988, they have traveled several times over consecutive years to Bermuda where they ALWAYS rented scooters.

When I got the Buddy, mom said dad would have probably loved it.
Mom is now 87 and a few years ago I took the Met to Long Island for me to use while I was there and I left it for a while. I noticed that the mileage was increasing on it even when I wasn't there to ride it! Hmmmm........

Mutt the Hoople · Post by **Mutt the Hoople** » Sat May 26, 2012 2:10 pm

KABarash wrote:
Mutt the Hoople wrote: I carry a bundle of white sage under my seat... Just in case.
OK.... What's that do?

Scare off evil 'mom looks'?

YES!!! Ward off Evil vibes. Just goes with the rest of the scooter armor. Not that I'm superstitious or anything. Maybe I should start carrying a couple of extra ones in the glove box.. When cut off by bad, clueless drivers I could chuck a small bundle in their window and yell STOP BEING EVIL! Lol then make an a anomynous call to the cops and say i just saw someone driving in a whatever car holding the biggest doobie I have ever seen. Not that I would ever do such a thing. Laura Petrie or Mary Richards would never do anything like that. But Rhoda might

Demo_Nic · Post by **Demo_Nic** » Sat May 26, 2012 6:16 pm

k1dude wrote:
Demo_Nic wrote:My mother called me to tell me she sent me a care package. A few days later it arrives and I pull out 4 bras, 3 packs of underwear, 2 boxes of tooth paste and 5 tooth brushes. That was last year. I'm 37.....
I hope you're a woman..........Nic.

Lol I am.