Comments on: Scooter Economics

By: Steve Williams

Steve Williams — Thu, 12 Oct 2006 00:09:00 +0000

kitkatknit: Indeed the true value of owning a scooter or motorcycle is in riding. Saving money is nice but riding….

By: kitkatknit

kitkatknit — Wed, 11 Oct 2006 14:22:00 +0000

After 3333 miles I penciled out how much I'd saved by scooting instead of driving. Yamaha = 90mpg, Nissan Truck = 18mpg. Average gas cost since I bought the Yamaha = $3/gal. $111 to gas up the Yamaha vs $555 if I had driven the truck. So figure $444 saved since March. I paid $1400 used for my scoot. So I figure I am 1/3 of the way of paying her off in gas savings. At 10,000 miles I'll actually be saving money.

Oh but the joy of riding is the real payoff isn't it!!!

By: Steve Williams

Steve Williams — Fri, 06 Oct 2006 02:00:00 +0000

Tina: I always use premium because that’s what the owner’s manual calls for. I suspect because the little Leader engine is a high compression engine it runs better with the higher octane fuel. I know people who put regular fuel in their modern scooters and seem to be ok…

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Wed, 04 Oct 2006 16:53:00 +0000

Steve -- You make good points. I've been thinking about scooter economics only in terms of money saved in gasoline purchases (which is great -- I spend about $4 a week on gas nowadays) vs. money spent on the scooter and its accoutrements (armored jacket, battery tender, etc.). But you're right that there's a lot to be said for extending the life of the car. I still drive my car on occasion, but in the year I've owned a scooter, I've put 2700 miles on it -- and that's 2700 miles I *didn't* put on the car.

I'm curious about one thing. Do you use premium gas in your Vespa for a reason? I thought regular gas was OK. Would I get better gas mileage if I used premium gas?

Tina in Penna.

By: Steve Williams

Steve Williams — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 16:45:00 +0000

scooterguru: The only economic advantage now of still having the truck is that its useful life will be extended thereby reducing the annual expense of amortization.

The scooter definitely eats tires fast than a car but even so the total cost of ownership is so much lower on two wheels than four that I have more money in my pocket.

irondad and anonymous: Parking is a breeze. Free in town. On campus I paid $34 a month for a parking permit. The scooter is $24 a year! And there are always spaces too.

hrw115: 300 mpg! Woohoo that would be nice.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 16:32:00 +0000

I sold a Ford F150 Pickup, bought a 1978 CB400A as a replacement. Since the Ford got about 15 mpg, and the Hondamatic gets closer to 50 mpg that is a saving, but since I no longer drive to work, I can’t say how much.

By: hrw115

hrw115 — Tue, 03 Oct 2006 01:31:00 +0000

What is really sick about your “scooter economics” is the fact that car manufactures are about 20 years behind on their car development. Everything is more powerful – bigger engines – more torque – more room. People tell me that they have a fuel efficient car that gets 28 miles to the gallon and they are even happy about it! They should be sick to their stomachs. Frankly – there is no reason a car can’t get 68 mpg – companies just haven’t invested the resources into it (and really haven’t had any insentive to).

We get about 40 mpg in our little VW Golf TDI in town (and not too much better on the highway). By all intensive purposes – it still seems like a gas hog. People should be demanding hundred mpg cars – which would make the scooter about 300 mpg. Maybe someday you will be able to run your scooter on banana peels – just like in Back to the Future. 😉 Either way – people shouldn’t be excited about paying $2.50/gallon at the pump for anything.

By: irondad

irondad — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 23:27:00 +0000

Hanging out at the coffee shops at the Market? I know exactly what you mean about parking. I took a pilgrimage to Mecca. At least for me. It was to the original Starbucks just up the hill from the Market. Bike parking was so much easier. Not to mention easier to get around!

Dan

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 15:51:00 +0000

Parking, OMG, parking. I live in Seattle and I used to not go places because it’s a pain to park. With the Vespa I can park within a block of anywhere I want to go, much of the time for free. I’m starting to feel more connected to the city and community because I’m now hanging out in coffeeshops at the Market, etc.

By: ScooterGuru

ScooterGuru — Mon, 02 Oct 2006 15:26:00 +0000

That’s a hard one to comment on if you still have the vehicle the scoot was supposed to replace. The benefits become more real when you decide to have the scoot INSTEAD of a car. I have been living without a personal car for many years now. When I got married, my wife and I decided she would have a car, and I would have a bike. That worked pretty good, and allowed us to save enough money to keep her home with the baby up until he was three. For awhile, I tried owning a sportbike, and realized that the insurance, expense and wear rate of the tyres, and cost of parts made it more expensive than our car. That is when I traded it in for a maxiscooter. The main savings I am getting now compared to the sportbike are the insurance and payments, but there are also benefits concerning tyre expense. I originally thought the tyres would last longer, but the rear one doesn’t. Front definitely does. However, my tires are less than half the cost of sportbike tyres.
Now, in terms of commute enjoyment and general attitude about transportation, the scoot wins big-time over a car of any type. I so much more enjoy going to work now, and I arrive there in a decent frame of mind. That in itself is worth the effort.