Modern Vespa

This is my first thread here. I live in Miami, the way I got into scooters from my trip to Key West. Rented em and a few months later ended up buying one for my wife before I left on deployment. I come home soon and I bought another one. I am wondering how practical it would be to buy a 50cc maybe honda or LX50 for Guests to ride. I am from Ohio but seeing as how I live in Miami a lot of friends and family come to visit/vacation.

What do you guys think about a "Guest" Scooter?

Yea I walk down the street to my parent's house and grab one of theirs.

The problem with 'guest' scooters is making sure that those who ride them are capable/qualified riders . Most people look at scooters as harmless toys, yet accidents can and do happen. And usually to those people...

Nothing would suck more than a guest borrowing a scoot and getting into a wreck. Yeah I'm being a downer here, but I just want you to be aware as to both the positives and negatives of doing this.

I have a guest scooter, an ET2, but only for licensed riders.

I would get a 50cc because a license is not required and it limits the speed and everything.

I'd probably buy a Vino or something cheaper than a Vespa for guests.

and a 50cc is kinda worthless. IMHO

We have a Vino, I suppose that you could call it a guest scooter, but really only two of our friends have ridden it and both are "official" scooterists
I would never just hand it to someone who has never ridden to "try out" YIKES "hey lemme try.... usually turns into ....woa...whoa....WHOA...CRASH! Thats what rentals are for LOLOLOL

on the other hand I could see it as a training scooter for a friend, you know... the wide open, empty parking lot thing.

I have one now the LT, which i crashed myself so nobody can hurt it I used to have a little 50cc that a friend bounced off the pavement a few times. However the friend didn't fare as well as the scooter. He got a scraped knee that became infected. Had to have a special IV line put in for long term antibiotics. The 50c died a natural death. It was fun having 3 scooters tho. Had some Santa Fe MV'ERS come out and we (3) of us went for a ride. So now i have 2 scooters and a ATV that can do 50 8) Definitely think extra ones are a good thing.

If you buy a guest scooter and somebody crashes and injures themselves, be prepared to get sued. You would be very surprised at how quickly a "so called friend" will sue you if they smell money. I'm sure that you are aware of the old saying "No good deed ever goes unpunished".

Liability + horrible feeling of someone you care about getting hurt on your property = bad.

by a second a scoot and make them a passenger with you & wife each driving

I have an ET2 guest scooter in Puerto Vallarta. Look me up if you come down and we will go for a ride. Lots of fun.

I think a Honda Metropolitan would be good, the thing only does around 35mph. You pretty much can't crash that unless you're retarded, and I don't let retarded people ride scooters, for their own safety.

My absolute worst crash happened at 35mph. As far as the bones were concerned, I broke my lower arm completely in half. Multi-hour surgery to repair it with metal plates and screws. I spent a week in the hospital, and racked up a bill over $12K AFTER insurance paid their part (and I had decent insurance at the time). Two weeks of work lost. Totalled the scoot. And it was because of an inattentive car driver, not even my fault.

While pulling to a stop at a light, more than likely only doing about 10mph at the time, I hydroplaned and dumped sideways. Fell on my knees. This was in April, and I still have bruises from it.

So yeah... you can do some pretty significant damage even at 35mph or less. Not trying to discourage you, just trying to dispell the myth that you can't get hurt if you're not going fast. Totally not true.

That said... if I were to get a "guest" scoot, I'd go with the others who recommended a reliable-branded plastic 50.

I think I was misunderstood. I know that, I have crashed a few times, (I've ridden off road bikes my entire life.) I guess I just mean its less harmful for two reasons. A bike that only does 35mph cannot go on most streets where I live. Its main purpose will be for riding in the Florida Keys, where the speed limit is pretty much 30 or so and there is very little traffic. So I guess it is less dangerous because you cannot ride on "fast" roads where there is a higher density of traffic. The second thing is I only plan to allow certain people to ride it. For example, my father who has a motorcycle license and used to be a Harley Rider. Or my brother who grew up riding dirt bikes and motorcycles with me. I wouldn't be able to handle getting somebody hurt who wasn't qualified to safely use the equipment.

And as far as freak accidents go, I guess it is the same scenario as if somebody was visiting and borrowed your car and got into a car accident, if they were a qualified driver, and you have insurance, then sometimes you have to just realize that bad things happen.

However, you guys have brought up some good points to think about. My wife confessed to allowing her sister (who has a motorcycle endorsement) to ride her new LXV 150 I bought her for Christmas last year and almost crashing, when confronted she replied, What? Don't you have insurance?
Believe me I have told her not to allow people to ride it because they're going to think it is a toy.

I think I am leaning more towards having them get rentals.

Rentals might be a good idea, I agree, depending on how often you might have a guest willing and able to ride. Probably much cheaper in the Keys than most places, too. Around here, the one place I know that will rent a Vespa (don't know of any place that rents other scoots) charges what I pay every month on my loan every month for just a couple of days with an LX50!

Good policy of not letting idiots ride, too. I used to have a personal policy of only allowing riders who had a valid motorcycle license. But because of the cost of my GTV and the fact that Colorado drivers are clinically insane, I've narrowed it down to my fiance (who took the MSF, & co-signed for the bike itself) and a handful of approved shop mechanics.

If they are available, that's probably the prudent approach, for a variety of reasons.

We held on to our Derbi GP1 to make it available for guests. Space is limited at our house, and during the bulk of the year, when we didn't have a riding house guest, it was just in the way. When a friend's employee was looking desperately for a good, reliable used scooter, we sold it to her.

Now, when someone visits and wants a scooter, our friend who has a rental shop gives them a good rate and the liability and so forth is a business contract between our guest and the rental shop. No mishaps to date, but still a much better arrangement.


"Neither a borrower nor a lender be; / For loan oft loseth both itself and friend. / And borrowing dulls the edge of husbandry."--Shakespeare

Al

I don't know about the rest of you, but my insurance policy (GEICO) covers me on whatever PTW I'm currently on. So, if I get a loaner/rental from the shop I'm covered or if I borrow someone's PTW I'm also covered. I also live in a state that mandates insurance on all scooters.

If you get a "guest" scooter, check your insurance policy (homeowners I guess since you don't have to register a 50 in FL) and possibly draw up a liability waiver as a formality.

While Key West is a fun place to ride it is also the most insane place to ride a scooter I have ever been. No one wears gear, tourists are riding drunk, the ones that aren't drunk don't know how to ride and ignore things like stop signs, traffic lights. And yeah...I have seen more than one person getting scraped up off US1 after wrecking one of those harmless 50cc scooters.

As far as Miami having little traffic and people driving slow...what the heck are you talking about? South Beach (Miami Beach) is jammed, Little Havana is like driving in downtown Beiruit.

The most insane group ride I have ever been on was at the Miami Vice Grand Theft Scooter rally...oh those Vulcans!

My "guest" ride fttb is a GTV125. Until I get around to giving her a wash, polish and posting on eBay, that is...

Best,

Mark

I have my beach scoot, a Honda Met. My friends take it out for doughnuts while I sleep in.

Once I put my buddies 15 year old and then her two friends on it to ride around the suburban streets, their first time on PTW or PFW for that matter.
My buddy OKed the plan.

I would not allow anyone on it who wasn't sober and responsible.
Call me foolish but there are limits to what I will worry about.

I use to keep an LT-150 here for guests. My rules are that it's family and personal friends only, they have to ride in equivalent traffic on an equivalent or faster vehicle. It wasn't used that much so we sort of got rid of it (sold to friend in VA and we use it when we get down there). Now we just have the GT-200 and the Mana as guest vehicles.

Amen, Like I said where I live you cannot go on major streets with a 50cc Honda Metro, and US 1 is a crazy street. The speed limit is 45 so you're an idiot if you go on it with a 50cc.

As for Key West, yeah there are lots of tourists, but I live in Miami, I go to the Keys whenever I want (Key Largo is 40 minutes away) and Key West is only one of the many wonderful Keys in South Florida, I don't go to Key West during touristy times, I go there to relax when nobody else wants to be there, (Rentals are cheaper)

I only have a guest scooter because I can't sell my Buddy 125 - Anyone wants to buy it?

Perfect. That way if they want to ride, they can but you are off the hook.

I have two LX125's here on Tortola ... mainly because it takes so darned long to get replacement parts and I don't like to be without a working scooter. But I also use it as a guest scooter.

Not worried about anyone suing me. Things in the BVI don't work the same way they do in the US. I wouldn't loan it to anyone without the proper license though.