Friendly neighborhood scooter enthusiasts Bev Brinson and Bryce Ludwig (of ScooterWorldMag) have recently had their rendition of the “idiot’s guide” come to fruition. The Guide to Motor Scooters is in stores now or available on their site for the paltry sum of $19.95 (shipped! OH! and, ordering on their site benefits them much more than ordering from Amazon by the way).
I haven’t had a chance to flip through the book just yet, but when my autographed edition arrives I’ll be sure to tell ya what I think. It’s likely to be a good resource for the scooter curious.. Here’s what the back says:
With oil prices soaring and people looking for alternative means of commuter (and cruising) travel, motor scooters have exploded across the country as a viable means of transportation. Here’s the book for both scooter newbies and accustomed riders that includes a complete listing of scooters available by size and power, advice on evaluating and buying scooters, maintenance and customizing, and more.—Complete list of all manufacturers, road rules, and government regulations
—Written by the founder and senior writer of the premier industry magazine ScooterWorld Magazine
So, there you have it. I’ve always wanted to make an even SIMPLER version with nothing but black and white icons in it and call it “The Guide to Scooters for Complete Fargin’ Dumbarses!” I’m just not sure how well received it would be by the publishers. Any offers? Publishers?
22. May 2007 at 7:42 am
Since there is no mention of electric powered scooters anywhere in this book, I would say it is not a complete guide and was written by oil company shills. The pollution of a gas scooter is far worse than a car.
22. May 2007 at 2:01 pm
You _could_ argue that this is “not a complete guide” because of the absence of electric scooters (I haven’t read it yet, so I cannot confirm that first hand); but, I’m pretty certain that Bev and Bryce aren’t “oil company shills”. Bryce, do you have any relatives in Houston (or the white house)?
It’s likely that they, like myself, see Electrics as a completely different animal that deserves their own book. Additionally, electrics are still a bit pre-mature in the 2-wheeled arena, that is to say for anything greater than inner city romping.
Yes, we are on the verge of some great new things for 2-wheeled electrics, but I’d say we are at least 10 years away from a gas vs. electric crossroads… and by then, who’s to say what will be out.
Dare I say a Mr.Fusion powered speeder bike? *fingers crossed*
23. May 2007 at 1:00 am
WOO HOO for repulsorlift powered by Mr. Fusion!
That’s what I’m talkin’ about!
23. May 2007 at 1:50 am
I’m sure I’m just stupid, but I don’t see a link to buy the book, specially the mentioned site of the authors for us to buy directly. =)
23. May 2007 at 1:52 am
Never mind, I found it ^_^
23. May 2007 at 11:49 am
I love the concept of electric scooters, but the problem is that there are almost no street legal electric scooters that are widely available in the US. The moment that changes, we will be looking forward to reviewing them in the magazine and adding them to the next edition of the book. We particularly look forward to the Vectrix when it comes out.
However, we don’t review scooters that are not street legal. So the little stand up scooters are were not part of the scope of this book, regardless of whether they were powered by gasoline, electricity, or whatever else.
In the book we do discuss the fact that motorcycles (including scooters) are not held to the same emissions standards as cars. However they have lower environmental footprints in other ways.
As for being an oil company shill…I gave up my only chance of that when I got divorced.
24. May 2007 at 10:31 am
Okay. So I get 90 mpg on my scooter. You get 40 mpg in your little car. I am STILL using less energy to move my scooter the same distance. If less is used, less is wasted. And lets see, electricity is produced by those fabulous non-polluting power plants, right? Don’t lecture me.