TheScooterScoop

(M.Spencer Green/AP – Johnny Scheff of Motoworks in Chicago helps a customer try out a scooter. Business is good, he says: ‘April was a terrible weather month in Chicago, and the things were just flying out the door.’)

The 51-year-old restaurant owner bought a candy-apple red Honda last week as worries about the price of gas overrode any trepidation about learning to drive it. With the average price of gas closing in on $4 a gallon, many cash-strapped motorists are turning to fuel-stingy motor scooters and smaller motorcycles.

Dealers across the nation report brisk sales this spring, particularly for those that get from 75-120 miles per gallon.“Ninety-five percent of those who come in mention high gas prices” said Lonnie Trujillo, sales manager for Vespa of California at Sherman Oaks, Calif. “Even though we’re in southern California and have ear-round riding weather, April sales were phenomenal,” he added.

Sales of name-brand scooters such as Honda, Yamaha, Vespa and Suzuki rose 24 percent in the first quarter of the year, said Mike Mount, spokesman for the Motorcycle Industry Council trade group — noting that it’s not exactly a hot sales period because of cool weather in much of the nation.