Scoot, scoot, scooting along

We, in the rural South, are not equipped for mass transit. We generally lack the density of population necessary to make systems profitable. So, there are no local train lines, and only a sparse number of city bus lines. Bicycle paths are increasing but still rare.

We have plenty of parking spaces and most homes have two or more motor vehicles. If teenagers are in the household, they usually have their own vehicle. So there's one for Momma, one for Daddy, one for brother, one for sister, and maybe another just for a spare.

A few weeks ago, I started checking out motor scooters. My thinking is that it would be a good way to scoot around my little surburban town. I can imagine a quick trip to the grocery store for milk or bread. A trip to Wally World, or Home Depot,the barber shop, or the dollar stores would be easily done on a scooter.

But try to find a scooter in the Jackson area and you will come up empty. There are plenty of motorcycles for sale, but no economical scooters. I found one used scooter in a dealership and one used one for sale on the internet. I have seen one on Hwy 80 in Pearl.

The scooter at the dealership is a Honda but terribly overpriced. The other two are made in China and I have learned to avoid those regardless of how many bells and whistles they have. One dealer told me he handled a couple of Chinese brands and couldn't get parts for repairs. He said he would never handle them again.

I've learned that I'd probably want a scooter with a motor size of 125 to 150 cc. They will get up to about 60 mph, and average around 75 mpg. There are some good brands out there: Vespa, Piaggio, Aprila, Honda, and Yamaha to name the most recognized. But they are tough to buy when they aren't available.

Anybody interested in opening a scooter store?