Modern Vespa

I went down to my dealer this afternoon to pick up my new plates and got into a bull session with the dealership owner. We had talked before about people taking long trips on 50 cc Vespas, but this time he told me about a guy who recently bought a new LX 50 and rode it all the way to Houston, Texas from here in South Carolina. He had to stop and get his scheduled services along the way. The guy went down there to help out with hurricane relief.

I don't know whether to believe this or not. Has anyone heard of someone doing something like this? I suppose that it wouldn't be that different from riding a bicycle, but really .....?

When I was in college, a lovesick friend of mine drove a 50cc Honda bike from California to New Jersey to see his girlfriend.

Wouldn't a bus ticket have been cheaper/safer/more convenient/allowed him to study on the way?

check out this fella's 18k trip on a Honda Ruckus...

http://totalruckus.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=12143

Found and read the entire thing after I'd talked with a guy at a light in N VA who regularly rode his Ruckus to Florida & back...

2 up even
http://scootercanada.weebly.com/

segway across america? not even anywhere to put a top box.

Geez, why not just walk? Way cooler in my opinion.

A pogo stick would be more fun!

I rode a Scarabeo 50 from Texas to California several years ago. It wasn't stock (70cc kit and performance exhaust), but it was still a pretty small bike.

If the scoot is mechanically able to make the trip, and the person riding it has just enough craziness, anything is possible.

Damn, that was an interesting trip, too. You see so much more than you ever could going faster in a car.

Or get across America by run-nnning-guhhh:

I think that the link with the post by Sean S is well worth visiting. Nice story and well documented.

http://scootercanada.weebly.com/

I remember reading about a few senior guys who had taken a trip down the East Coast many years ago and got together to do it again-on 50cc Honda Mets IIRC. Can't find the link for it now, though.

Segway is not a joke...check it out...http://www.10mph.com/
Bob

Here's one of my favorites, from his blog:
"rode a little 2003 Honda Metropolitan 49cc motor scooter on a 9,400 mile transnational, cross-country journey from Baltimore, Maryland to Los Angeles, California."


http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/tstories/vandyck/001330.php


Regards
Harvey

My ass and my ET hurt from thinking about it.

Maybe my P and I someday.

I being still on my honeymoon of Vespa ownership, believe anything is possible. I have an LX 50 or LX 78.8 and have had two 45 mile rides and they were fun, but tough. I do feel less hindered now with the kit, you need to be able to go 45 to take long trips and 50's generally go 35

Jason and Bin rode Ruckus' back and forth from San Jose to Denver...

Yeah, I remember you on that trip! I met you at Rides of March in San Luis Obispo - everybody was blown away that you made that trip all the way from Texas doing 53mph - major props! To this day you still have my admiration for completing such a bold journey. Glad to see you're still scootin, even if it is on something a little bigger now.

I don't remember too much about that Rides of March... I was still tired from the trip!

I'm totally hoping to ride to Amerivespa, even if it won't be as impressive on a 250. It'll still be loads of fun.

I'm about ready to go South with my Typhoon, maybe Key West...I am already sick of the cold weather here in Michigone....

I know of people that ride their bicycles cross country regularly. Seems like a 50 cc would take a lot of the work out of it.

My nephew met so many nice folks on his bike ride from Lawrence, Kansas to No. Cal, down Hwy 1 to So. Cal, and home again - that when his bike gave out someone gave him one to finish the trip. He was fed and cared for on his entire trip.

I can imagine the Rockies on a small scooter. I can not imagine that trip under pedal power.

Bicyling isn't bad though I wish I had the time, money, and fitness to attempt it. A scooter would be ok if i could do it at my own pace.

I'm still thinking about driving down to Key West, nonstop, just to get a few cases of Key West Sunset Ale. I'll take my pickup, not the scooter (scooter would be more fun, but I need the extra hauling capacity). Sort of a mini Cannonball Run, just for beer. If my plant (I work for Ford) gets more downtime, I'll do it.

Beer Run!!!!!!!!!

By chance, do you have a bloodhound riding shotgun and burt reynolds driving a trans-am in front of you?

I don't see why people are so amazed by this.
of course you can get anywhere you like on a 50cc, just slower, but not impossible!

in the UK, 50cc's are not allowed on the motorway (i.e. your freeway) for the top speed is below the average speed limit.
but 125cc's up can.

I rode to a village outside of London via smaller roads and had a fantastic time. Yes, this is when I feel the need of a bigger engine, but I could have used my fella's 125cc, I wanted to go on the 50cc for the fun of it.

We rode this route last Aug/Sep:



I rode my PX150 and Ardy rode her 80cc kitted Malaguti Yesterday. Stayed on roads with limits of 80 kph and lower and had no problems. Several hundred km were in the mountains.
2,200 km from our home on Paros and back.

There are several 50cc machines that can readily cruise at 70-75 kph, such as our Derbi GP1. In fact, the Yesterday cruised 75 kph on level ground before kitting it.

It's really not so difficult if you carefully choose your route.

Or, as some say, "It's not the size, but how you use it".

Al

LOL, no, but I do have the CB radio.

I have to say that if you told me you were coming to visit me on your scooter from CA, I'd tell you not to bother. That seems like poor judgement to me. Of course I've been called a prude before, but too far, too slow. If it's over 3 hours I don't want to drive it.

Every roadtrip I've every been on, every one I've ever heard about, started out being about the destination, but ended up being about the journey. Anyone can fly across country. But if you go by land you can chicken out and turn around at any time. There's always a chance you won't make it. You could run out of gas money, or have mechanical break downs. You could crash. You could take a week to do the trip, or zip there in a few days. You could go by Porsche, Cadillac, or Vespa. It's an intimate experience even if there's a dozen of you, or you're all alone. It's always an introspective learning experience. The longer the journey, the more rewarding the experience.

Yes, but my ass would be Sore!

The story about the guy that rode the 49cc Honda Metro scooter, becomes even more amazing when you see that it was a 49cc Honda Metro II! The Metro II is governed, or restricted, to have a top speed of 30 miles per hour. The standard Metro, like my wife;s 2005, will top out about 40-41 mph.

Jon in Puyallup

A few years back I rode up to Vancouver, BC on a stock ET2. It was a great ride. People thought I was crazy for that, but I barely paid for a beer all weekend, so it was worth it.

No Cattle has it exactly right though, it's not about the destination, it's the journey.

Sadly, I haven't had much of a chance at all to do any hardcore distance riding the last two years.

And don't forget about the Scootstars, who went cross country on Chinese crap 50cc scooters.

Did you have to get a snorkel kit for your scoot? Talk about determination!

Mountains are impressive, but I'm most impressed by the part over the Adriatic Sea! I've never seen pontoon accessories.

some friends have talked about taking a long trip on our 50s and filming a documentary called "slow rider." now if only i could take months off from work ...

I've met people in Florence, Italy that bought 50cc mopeds in Paris, France
and then drove them all the way to Florence, So I guess anything is possible.

Simply overinflate the tires and it's a piece of cake! Braking is what's difficult. The tires want to hydroplane.

If one thinks about it, 1960 era Vespas were somewhat slower than many modern, derestricted 2T 50cc scoots, and folks ran all over Italy on them.

Riding comfort has nothing to do with engine displacement. Yes, the smaller displacement scoots may take more time to get from Point A to Point B, but if it's a comfortable scoot and you are on roads appropriate for your speed, who cares?

Al