Edging Into The Future, One Small Wheel At A Time

On Saturday, in this fancy neighborhood of mostly retired rich white people we found an advertised Vespa at a local garage sale, just around the corner. We were curious to see if it was a real one. It was. A fuel injected, 150cc model, suitable for a rider and girlfriend/wife on the back, able to pull the hills. It was the LXV150 in grey for $3800.

Nice looking. It was metallic gray, no racks, and a slightly fancier seat. Mostly vintage looks with the slightly rounded curves and chrome accents found in all Italian vehicles today. Italian cars are modeled on women, apparently. With a fast Ferarri or Lamborghini that seems possible, but with a short squat Fiat 500? Make of that what you will. The Vespa is designed to suit people who are used to a Camry or Accord. Easy to control, automatic transmission, reliable brakes and starter. My big problem with the scooter wasn't the worn leather seat that needed replacement. Nor was it the size, which was built for a grown American man. It wasn't small at all. It would fit me. My big problem is that Vespas are overpriced.

My earlier rant to Honda in a prior week remains true for Vespa too: Vespa charges too much for their scooters in America. If they sold them for merely 10x cost ($1600) they'd sell millions of them here. Instead they sell for $5000 or so, and only rich people buy them. As a pure utility transportation machine, for travel around town, its too much money.

I still want a Vespa equivalent. The Piaggio Fly 150 is $2900 new. Not EFI like the Vespa but a lot lighter too. Five minutes of warmup time is what it will take to make proper use of the machine. I still think that's too much, and for $1550 it would be a reasonable price for what it is: transportation you don't have to pedal. I may pay it anyway. Its practical, otherwise. A reliable engine strong enough for the hills, and tires big enough to survive the potholes if I'm not riding like a fool.

A pity the Scarabeo 200 isn't cheaper. That would be a decent machine for up here, too. Its an Italian copy of the Honda Wave.

Which is an upgraded version of the Honda SuperCub.

You can see the similar design right? The Italians have the gall to pretend their design came first, when they're a copy of a copy. The SuperCub has been around since 1958.
Like the Italians, the Pacific Islanders/Rim (Japanese, Thais, Vietnamese, Indonesians) have good perspective on scooters and underbones motorcycles, recognizing the need for suspension and bigger wheels to deal with crappier roads.

I recommend watching this one with the sound muted, as the song is annoying. Pay attention to the scenery instead: the road disappears. It gets overgrown. It loses sections to the nearby stream, which has washed parts of it away. Road Decay is a real problem, and something I ponder when I'm riding on them slow enough to see every bump, crack, and ripple. When your combined tire-contact patches are the same area as the palm of one hand, you worry about grip. You should. Lack of grip when you need it can kill you. Especially up here where there's so much gravel and sand on the corners of every road, and at the exit of every driveway. Judge that wrong and you die. Or get badly hurt and spend thousands on doctor bills. A safe bike is safe because the tires have enough grip, the brakes work well, and rider is paying attention and not going too fast. Slow is smooth, smooth is safe. Arriving alive is winning. Besides, you see more when you're going slow.

I liked the Vespa, but not for $3800. If it were $1500, I'd have bought it. If it were a fake Vespa and $400 with a CA license plate, I'd have bought it, even with a blown engine. Building a new one would have been a fun project, and this being California, even the winter takes vacation here. Could do shop stuff on rainy days, and ride it between the storms. I don't think that the maintenance requirements of a scooter are a negative. My bicycle needs maintenance too. Lube the chain, add air to the tires. Wipe off the dust and tighten the brake cable. These aren't hard things to do. A scooter just adds an engine and better brakes to the mix, and takes out the pedals. There are many manufacturers of scooter besides Vespa. The big Italian conglomerate sells a decent machine, but in my opinion it is too much money.

The California Air Resources Board (CARB) gets to decide what bikes are legal in California. They ban bikes because their paint color changed and the manufacturer refuses to submit a bike for destructive testing (destroy it). I don't blame manufacturers for refusing. CARB needs to take a more rational approach to their certification process. Paint color isn't relevant to its pollution index. They also need to allow bikes like the Wave and the SuperCub into California to compete with the effete and overpriced Italian bikes, which are built in the same offshore, non-union Chinese factories as their less expensive competitors. They need to get out of the way. If the Governor were actually progressive instead of just TALK, he could order the CARB to let these in, order CARB to be progressive. Get them out of the way.

Sometimes progress feels like taking a step back. Scooters are one of those times. We'll all be riding them if we want to work, because all jobs are going to Minimum Wage, and Minimum Wage only pays for enough gas to run a scooter, not an SUV. I imagine a future where bicycle shops and hardware stores and car lots all sell scooters, and nobody bats an eye when you go past. You will be able to buy tires and rings and spare parts and two-stroke oil an aisle over from the house paint or lawn seed. Its the future. Look good and hard at it. It is coming no matter what you think.