Scooter Blog

The Scooter Linc - Part 1

Part 1 in our series of blog entries from Linc @ ScootaCo. Scootering from the perspective of a fan, shop owner and not forgetting a fair-dinkum fiddler.

Linc Biggins

PART 1 : Why  I Love Scooters

I will expand this week on a topic I mentioned last week, why I love scooters! Aside from wanting to see scooters being accepted not only as a legitimate form of transport but also a desire to see them accepted by the greater two wheeled community as a “real bike”.

Over the years I have had the good fortune to be involved in many different facets of two wheeled competition. There was motorcross and enduro in my early days, in my late twenties road bikes came along and this lead to motard (a combination of road and dirt on the same circuit). Outside of this I have ridden pretty much every different motorcycle discipline except speedway solo’s - 60hp with 80kgs on dirt with no brakes and solid walls on the outside is just plain lunacy! Hats off to those who can though.

 I love “real bikes” as much as any other rider out there - the difference is that I do not consider myself a “bike snob”. What I mean by this is that I love every two wheeled conveyance. I do believe this comes from an appreciation that every piece of equipment has been designed with a purpose in mind (this theory does also extend beyond just motorcycles). A 250cc trail bike is not competitive against a 250cc Motorcross bike on a dirt track just as that same moto crosser or trial bike is not competitive against a 250cc road race bike on a road track, but in their given environment each of these exact same engine capacity cycles are king. To me scooters fall into this same “right tool for the job category”. If they are viewed in this light I believe scooters have their place and can be appreciated for what they offer. Once that appreciation is gained and an understanding of each individual scooter’s design brilliance or lack thereof can be considered on its merits.

Automatic, or twist and go scooters, also carry one major safety advantage: when in traffic you do not have to worry about gears. This allows the rider to focus on the road. Is that dirt/water or a shadow in the middle of that corner? Or are you going to cut into that gap I’ve left as a safety margin old mate? In other words for general commuting it allows the operator to concentrate more intently on the job at hand. For those who like a good squirt it gives more time to nail that apex more cleanly or hang on the picks just that little bit harder, and as about 40 “real bike” riders found out on a spirited ride up the Gillies Range (270 turns of hot mix over 21klms and 900 metres elevation) a scooter does not necessarily = slow.

So really it’s not so much of a love of only scooters but really a love of any piece of mechanical equipment. You could pretty much call me a mechanical TART!  

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published 9/06/2011