Getting a scooter?

Boy did you get the right guy to answer all your questiong, I help my sons at Vespa Cleveland scooters, and they're doing a bang up job of selling them since this gas thing.

1. don't know about NY but here in Ohio you have to have a motorcycle license, we go to the registrar and obtain a learners packet, study that and you are Ok to take the road test. It would be my suggestion to take a school, depending on you pocket book , If you go to the website you'll see a video of my 5 year old grandson riding one, believe it or not.

2. The most popular scooter, the LX150 gets 75 to 80 miles per gallon and it will go slighty in excess of 60 miles an hour. The bigger ones like the 200 and 250CC models can do 75 to 85 miles per hour. This is the Vespa scooter, Piaggio 400 and 500's will go even faster. All the scooters we sell are made by Piaggio, Vespa's Fly's MP3's and Cyclone's

3. The best scooter imported to the states as of now is the Vespa, it's basically all steel with very little cosmetic plastic. The Piaggio's have a tubular frame with plastic outer body, they look cooler and more sleek but I like the steel unibody of the Vespa. Stay away from the chinese made brands such as Buddy etc, have a couple in for service and they seem to be throw away scooters where as we have 1963 Vespa's in for service and they still run fine.

4. Insurance is minimal on the scooters, and I don't think you'll get covered under your parents, could be wrong about this, you have to ask your parents insurance co.

5. You have to think about this one, don't forget, scooters are stepthru you might want to take a little jaunt with a dress on...lol Forget the crotch rockets nothing but trouble, only my opinion.

If you're going for economy, go for the scooter. Piaggio and Vespa are both good brands. You should be able to keep up with 45-55mph traffic without any trouble.

Gas mileage for a single cylinder scooter will be pushing 150mpg. Average for a motorcycle is around 40-50.

Insurance should be cheap considering that they're usually under $5000 new and are not high performance machines.

I'm considering buying a scooter for commuting on and saving my Triumph for on the weekends. Filling up a 2 gal. tank a couple times a month is a lot of encouragement. On the other hand, if I could only have one, I'd keep the full blown motorcycle. Just don't start out with anything too big, keep it under 500cc.

Take the beginning rider class from the Motorcycle Safety Foundation. You'll train on 125cc or 250cc bikes. After that experience, you won't want a scooter. The 250 is a good first bike for you. It will easily handle highway speeds with somebody your size and should get close to 100mpg. (My 1977 Yamaha 400 averaged around 90mpg). The motorcycle will handle better and be a lot more versatile than the scooter. You can probably find a good used MC for less $$ than a scooter.

www.cycletrader.com or try Ebay (never bid on a vehicle on Ebay unless you inspect it in person first)

As far as the insurance goes, check with your parents insurance company to see what their requirements are.

NEVER buy a scooter on-line. The warranties aren't worth the paper they're printed on. Even if they did honor the warranty, you're responsible for shipping the scooter back to them. Then you're at their mercy - they can let it sit in the corner of the warehouse for ten years, saying they haven't figured out the problem yet. Pay the extra money and buy a brand name scooter from a reputable dealer.

I don't know about NY specifically but if you are a new rider you should really take the class by the Motorcycle Safety Foundation. In some states successfully completing the class let's you skip the riding test for a license.

http://www.msf-usa.org/

Seriously. Take the class. It will help you to stay alive.

Vespa and Piaggo are good scooters but so are Kymco and Hyosung and Genuine are just as good and do not cost as much. Some get up to 100mpg. and start at about 2k out the door. It would be worth your time and they are not some imported junk that will fall apart next week.

I found a great scooter site that might answer your question. Listen to the podcast at http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/audioPop.jsp?... called-- "What Scooter Should I Buy". It offered me some great advise.... ignore the bad microphone noise. The main page is located at http://www.justgottascoot.com/podcasts.htm there are a lot of podcasts to listen to on this page for beginning scooter fans.

Hope this helps.