The Scooter Revolution has Started

[Marvin]

Did anybody visit your local motorcycle dealer lately?
Did you notice he is either sold out of scooters or the few scooters he has he wants top price for them?
Did anybody notice seeing more and more scooters on the roads?

I did it smart, last year 2010, I purchaced a new Yamaha Tmax at a give-a-way price and I was made fun of, people were saying I was crazy (even the dealer) for buying one!
now that same dealer is going crazy finding scooters to sell and pissed at the same time cause nobody wants to buy the other bikes
he was grovelling and begging to me to trade in my Tmax by offering me a trade in price of more than I purchaced it for!

Its a nice feeling owning a scooter thats in short supply and everybody wants one, and its a better feeling that I got it for a bargain!

Watch what happens next year! Everybody that manufactures scooters are working 24-7 to produce a good supply of scooters and they will hit the dealer showrooms next spring where half of the dealers showroom space will be scooters, and they will come at a preimun price!

[jstark47]

Sorry, not seeing it. Local dealer is Kawasaki/Suzuki/Triumph/KTM, also carry Polaris ATV's and watercraft. They tend to have a Burgman around 'cause Suzuki sends them a "block" of bikes to sell, and there's always a Burgman in it. It usually sits around until they discount the heck out of it. They had a Majesty on the floor last year, a trade-in, it sat there all last year before someone bought it... (or maybe they just pushed it out back and are using it for a doorstop??)

Look, I'm not a scooter hater, I started on a scooter (Honda Reflex). But I passed hundreds of bikes today, rode about 100 miles, prime summer weather, the bikes were thick on the roads. Not a single scooter. Not one.

[Wrider]

I see plenty of scooters in town, mostly cheap 49cc Korean ones that people are riding thinking they don't need a registration or a driver's license for it following a DUI they had. We're a military town and have a ton of DUIs every year.
How often do I see a Majesty? Burgman? TMax? About once a month or so. And before you go on your high and mighty "dealers don't sell them" horse, there are three dealers of all three within 50 miles, and all three have all three of the mentioned scooters in stock.

[storysunfolding]

When my dealer sells out of scooters, the only thing he has left on the floor are the high end niche bikes. ZX14, VFR800, GoldWing, Ducati 1098, Yamaha Raider, Burgman, T-Max etc. It doesn't matter what he gets in at ~600 cc or less, it never lasts a day. It always happens midsummer and the left over bikes get deeply discounted come the fall (when I buy )

[Thumper]

I think anytime gas prices jump, scooter sales do as well. A couple of years ago when everyone was agonizing over $3/gal gas the Vespas at my local dealer were practically flying out the door. Yet, I saw few actually on the road... Not sure why, but I'm guessing a lot of people buy scooters thinking they'll save money on gas, but then they try to ride and it scares the carpola out of them. And then they start adding up the cost of service intervals, tires that don't last as many miles as on their cars, insurance, and the fact that they're *still* paying for all that on the car they intended to just leave in the driveway...and the math no longer makes sense.

A few months later, there's a glut of scooters on Craiglsist...

I'm not sure if they're selling well in this area right now or not, since all the local dealers have gone under. I don't see many on the roads, but there's one guy with a 250 MP3 in the neighborhood and I've seen an older Vespa parked in various places around town.

Tons of bikes, though.

[sunshine229]

Loads of scooters around London...ALL delivering pizzas!!! Seems very few people ride scooters just to ride them. Everyone is on a bike. We see more scooters on the continent though, that's for sure.

[Marvin]

all I know I bought my scooter last year at a give away discount price and now the same scooter thats in stock costs $3000 MORE
just tooting my horn "toot-toot" I did it right, yea I did it right, i was smart, I seen the future, even when last year all the so called experts said I was stupid for buying one!
now I am just saying to those same experts (pointing my finger at them) saying HA-HA-HA-HA!

[ceemes]

all I know I bought my scooter last year at a give away discount price and now the same scooter thats in stock costs $3000 MORE
just tooting my horn "toot-toot" I did it right, yea I did it right, i was smart, I seen the future, even when last year all the so called experts said I was stupid for buying one!
now I am just saying to those same experts (pointing my finger at them) saying HA-HA-HA-HA!

Tosser

[Wrider]

Noooo gas prices rising? You saw that coming? Along with everyone else on the North American and European continents? You must be telepathetic or something!

[flw]

First for those on the eastern end of the pond; what is a "tosser" ?

Second, I always thought scooters were excellant city bikes. Easy to park, ride, low cost and fantastic on the gas. Not for anyting else but a great city bike. If you need to get to more than just around town, then you need more than a scooter. My 2 cents.