TheScooterScoop

This story is for the Cushman fans. It’s about the annual Cushman ride to the Kuhn Bicycle Museum. If Cush is yer sweet cuppa tea you can read a small piece below or click on the title link to check the whole story.

Crazy for Cushmans – Old motor scooters carry enthusiasts to bike museum.
By Scott Rochat.

(photo by Chris Walker… who’s gonna be the first to make their Yammy C3 look like a classic Cush?)

By ones and twos, the Cushman motor scooters rolled up to John and Carolyn Kuhn’s bicycle museum east of Emporia. Thirteen … no, fourteen … no, fifteen scooters had made it there, the halfway point of a nearly 100-mile Saturday trek for the Kansas Cushman Club.

“We thought this was going to be 47 miles,” said John Brockway of McPherson, standing by his 1962 Cushman. “It turns out the newsletter meant 47 miles one-way. But that’s all right. It’s more fun.”

Cushman hasn’t built scooters since about 1965. But that hasn’t stopped fans from finding them and riding them. As of last year, more than 5,000 people belonged to the Cushman Club of America and this year the Kansas chapter by itself counts about 175 members.

The bikes are small — usually 250 to 335 pounds — but comfortable and efficient. Mark Unruh of McPherson, the Kansas club president, said he once managed 75 miles on a single gallon of gas. His is the oldest bike of the group, a 1948 model that’s usually given a five-mile head start before the rest of the group takes off and catches up.

“We do about five meets a year where we go out, find a country road and ride for about 75 or 100 miles,” Unruh said, “We’re not as visible because rides like this one are always back-road rides.”

Don’t underestimate the Cushman, though. Brockway’s put more than 30,000 miles on his, including one memorable ride where he and two friends drove their scooters from McPherson to Casper, Wyo. After successfully completing that 775-mile jaunt, the group continued up to Yellowstone National Park and then turned back. The group had driven for 1,250 miles before Brockway’s scooter finally broke down northwest of Rock Springs, Wyo.