Modern Vespa

I was on a scooter poker run yesterday put on by the Athens Scooter Company.

We're riding along on a 2 lane road in SE Ohio (Rt 56) at the speed limit when some ass hat decides she has to pass us. Her first pass was on a blind corner that cut off a third of the group. Her second pass cut off another third as she bulled her way into the line of scooters and her third pass was at the front of the group where she just managed to duck in front of a car coming the other direction.

We turned off just as she passed the front of the pack.

What an idiot !!

sorry to hear that... if it's any consolation it seems to be jerk season over here as well.

drivers like that shouldn't be on the road - did you report her? i'm glad nobody was hurt.

I didn't. I don't know if someone else on the ride did. We were just glad to get out of her way.

How many scooters were driving in the group?

Total on 2 wheels were 15 I think. There were some motorcycles mixed in with us. So it wasn't a long line of strung out 2 wheelers.

I've come to realize that people just don't like being behind a Vespa... I'll be cruising along, 15-20mph over the speed limit (like 60 in a 45mph zone), I'll have a car pass me going 70, get in front of me, realize that they're going too fast, and eventually slow down to a speed lower than what I was going...

I used to get bent out of shape about it... Now, I almost expect it.

Sometimes when riding in larger groups down two lane roads it might be worth leaving a few gaps to allow other vehicles to overtake if they want to. Vespas aren't the fastest vehicles on the road so others are likely to want to overtake but if you have a group of umpteen riders all together then it's very difficult for someone to make the overtake safely. Eventually they'll get frustrated and just go for it anyway and of course it's us that get hurt. Best to leave a few gaps for faster drivers to use. That won't stop the idiots from overtaking on blind bends but such is life.

Another advantage of having a few gaps is that if someone does have an accident then you don't all go down with them.

This was a group of only 15 two wheelers. We weren't 75 yards long and doing the speed limit. She had no reason to put us all in danger with her passing. I wonder if she would have tried passing the same amount (length) of cars on the road ?

She's lucky it wasn't a group of mean biker dudes. They might have surrounded her car and given her what for.

Don't flame me that's what the biker in the group said.

At least no one got hurt.

A good tail-gunner might have dissuaded her. Just saying.

My neighbor reports never having that problem on their rides....

Damn I hate when that happens. We try to keep our groups on long rides to smaller than 12. When we ride with two groups, we always leave gaps for cars to jump into if they want to, that way they see a logical openings for them.

With a group of 15 if we had the right people, we would have split the group into two, so again, that would leave a big gap in between that cars could use. But even with doing this, you'll still get the occasional asshat or two who'll try to pass and end up cutting right into a group dangerously.

I'm going to take louisq's lead and suggest some 1%er patches and more leather.

I never get cutoff on my Harley

I agree that a skilled clean up rider can really make a difference with the safety of the riders.

Any resources or tips that anyone has about how to improve/develop skills in this area?

Thanks,
-v