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The ultimate transportation hack must be motorcycle and scooters. I was surprised to see so few of these in my travel to California. Given the climate, it shoul
by hcho 15y ago
The ultimate transportation hack must be motorcycle and scooters. I was surprised to see so few of these in my travel to California. Given the climate, it should be a no brainer. Can anyone shed some light on why they are not popular.
- younata 15y agoscooters: because cars and motorcycles exist. Why waste human power when we can waste gas? motorcycles have the whole "one accident and you pretty much die" thing going against them. Of course, this changes around places like mountain view, where there are a lot more people on bicycles.
- hcho 15y agoSorry, by scooter I meant this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooter_%28motorcycle%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooter_%28motorcycle%29
- tseabrooks 15y agoIn the states we'd probably call that a moped (At least in the area of the country I'm from)...
- hcho 15y agoThis is scooter: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooter_%28motorcycle%29 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scooter_%28motorcycle%29 This is moped: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moped http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moped So what do you call the latter, if you call the former scooter?
- fossuser 15y agoDon't know if that would even be street legal in the states.
- davidw 15y agoScooters are great in San Francisco - I had one and found it was a great way to get around, given the climate and difficult parking. However, outside of SF, they're not so good. For example, you couldn't even get from SF to Oakland because they're connected via a freeway, and so you can't go there with a low-powered scooter.
- dkarl 15y agoI've been in four accidents. One was my fault, and the other three involved people slamming into my car while it was stationary. Of the three where it wasn't my fault, once my car had its front bumper, hood, and both fenders crumpled, once it just slid six feet and had a tire blown out, and once it was sandwiched between two cars and totalled. I wasn't hurt in any of those cases, but I'm betting if I was on a motorcycle or a scooter, I would not be walking right today if I was walking at all.
- hcho 15y agoIs filtering through illegal in US? Motorbike riders in the UK generally filter through and stop at the front of the quee, which reduces the risk of stationary accidents.
- dhyasama 15y agoI know it's illegal in New York City, where I am. Not sure if it's a local law or not, but my guess is it's illegal in most places but rarely enforced.
- billpaetzke 15y agoIt's only legal in California. I wish more people used motorcycles here too (I'm in LA). But traffic moves much faster than, say, east Asia (where motorbikes are common). But those bikes are like 100cc. Here you need 600cc or more to handle varying speed conditions (0-75mph/120kph). And I could not imagine a lot of people I know feeling comfortable with that much power on two wheels.
- r00fus 15y agoMotorcycles are dangerous, require adequate training, and have statistics about loss of limbs and life (even for seasoned veterans who wear appropriate clothing). This is probably related to a) the state of the roads here and b) the vehicle size (SUVs).
- jraines 15y agoI know a few doctors, and each will go out of their way to dissuade you from riding if you bring up motorcycles. A few call them "donorcycles".