[wonder_er]

Ooooh what a title

In 2019 I was a bicycling a lot, and really wanted to get something with a motor, so I could be a bit faster/farther/not so sweaty with my trips. I had access to a car but rarely used it.

I really don't like many inherent safety issues with motorcycles and never seriously considered obtaining one, but kept wanting a two-wheeled vehicle with a motor.

I'd ridden a 50cc scooter in 2019 for a few days, and it was fine then, but I never considered one seriously since.

Eventually, in 2020 it was an emergency room doctor who suggested I look at 'real scooters' instead of the 50cc things.

So I did, eventually I ended up owning a 170cc scooter/moped thing, and it feels infinitely safer than a motorcycle, and a bicycle. I've done 20,000 miles on scooters since then, probably, all over the world,

including Denver to Canada and back once.

Cheaper lighter more efficient, than motorcycles. more stable, lower center of mass, better wind protection, useful storage options, too, compared to motorcycles and bicycles.

I ride mine year round, no issues.

I wrote a page trying to capture some of the upsides, but it's hard to get the tone right on the internet:

https://josh.works/scootering

[dntrkv]

> Scooters are vastly safer than motorcycles

Why make such a definitive claim with zero evidence to back it up?

The justifications in that section are nonsense and seem to boil down to a skill issue on your part.

Sure, around the city a scooter makes sense for a lot of people, though I believe they provide a false sense of security. The lower barrier to entry also lowers the "perceived" risk.

Feeling safer !== safer

Personally, I feel much safer on one of my motorcycles than a scooter. But that's because I am extremely comfortable on a motorcycle and can make it do exactly what I want, when I want.

[toyg]

Scooters are great in the city, but they are kinda boring when it comes to touring or hitting the twisties. My dad's 200cc Vespa is just about interesting enough to ride on hills, but anything below that is just yawn.

[enragedcacti]

Any marginal safety benefit you're getting from riding a scooter is being completely erased by the disregard for basic road safety principles shown in the footage.