TheScooterScoop

(Ian posing with his customized Vespa ET at 60th and Broadway)

Unfortunately, I won’t be in town to meet up with the NY Scooter Club today, but at least I managed to talk to a real NY Scooterist named Ian. He, like EVERYONE else I met in the city, was as personable as he could be.

We talked briefly about what it’s like riding a scooter here in America’s biggest city and he said you couldn’t be in a better place to ride a scooter. SURE, in his 6 years (6000+ miles) of city riding he’s had a couple of close calls, but he says the Taxi drivers are very courteous to scooterists and with all the one-ways and “no-lefts”, the apparent chaos is actually perfect for scooter riding.

Ian went on to say that he can make much better use of his time on a scooter. Today, for instance, he made 3 stops on different sides of town in just :45 minutes. A feat that would take a cab or train rider 2 hours at LEAST. You can squeeze though the grid lock and you never have a hard time finding parking.

Ian also reaffirmed what all scooterists know and that’s the driving experience is completely different on a scooter. He gets sights, sounds and smells you would never notice cooped up in a car and adding to those sensations, Ian says, is the sensation of “Play”. Traveling to your destination by scooter is more like play than travel. You feel like you did when you were a kid, enjoying the ride with the quick and nimbleness that you can only experience on a scooter.

I had a heck of a time on my first trip to NYC and I hope when I come back I’ll get to meet more of the city’s great scooterati. It’s a helluva town!

(Steve poses with someone else food delivery Honda Elite 80)

(Times Square even had the Vespa in lights)

(David Blaine’s latest stunt. A week submerged and then a shot at the world’s record for breath holding… 9 minutes. Near Columbus Circle)