Any scooter owners?

I just bought myself a used 50cc scooter, and I'm having a lot of fun with it. The only thing is, I'm afraid to go out onto big roads or anything with it because I'm afraid I'll get honked at or severely tailgated for going too slow. I believe the speed limit is 40 or 45, and the speedometer says it goes up to 60, but for some reason I don't trust the speedometer.

Anyone own a scooter/have any tips for a new owner?

I hate to say this, and I will preference it by saying I don't know what kind of scooter you own, what you want to use it for, if you already have a car and what city you live in. But I had a 50cc Italian scooter last year and it scooted me to the brink of insanity. It was my only form of transportation and unless you wanna take those things for a leisurely stroll to the corner market or the (very) nearby mall, get ready to encounter some problems and very rude commuters in cars. I live in Orlando and you cannot fathom how large and drawn out that city is unless you've lived there. "Scooty Puff Sr. the Doom Bringer", as I called it, would break down way too often, which would get costly. You can't really carry much. It made me stand out on the road so if I even broke the tiniest law a cop would be on my ass like that. Then they would bust me for having one or two ear buds in while riding. But you try commuting to work for almost an hour with nothing playing but the sound of rumbling engines, your pissant engine and the wind. It got to the point where I had so many tickets, it was breaking down so often and the engine was dying so slowly (for weeks it would only go 30mph) that I almost had a nervous breakdown or something. The way it finally died was absolutely ridiculous. The flat belt broke and was replaced within a day or two. I got it out of the shop and the NEXT DAY, not even 24 hours later, the new one pops and I call in to work again (they fired me the next day). The dimention of belt this thing needed was 1, metric and 2, so obscure that not one shop in the city could find a replacement so I sold it for scrap. In the two years I got it the price of scooters dropped like crazy. I got $50 for it...it was bought for me for 2,200 dollars.

So unless it's used for recreation and you live in a metro area like Chicago or NYC my opinion on scooters can be summed up in one word:
F*CKem.

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well opinions...


one ticket i got was for what he called "lane splitting"
i was moving through an intersection when traffic haulted, leaving me stuck in the intersection. the light turned red and the opposing traffic had the green to go, but here's my little scooter blocking their way by about 3 feet. so to be a good person and NOT piss off abuncha ppl who were prolly trying to get home like me i inched up to the side of the truck in front of me, maybe 2 feet to let the people who had the green light go. cuz green means go. nope. bike cop pulls up behind me and blocks traffic then pulls me over when we start moving again. i'm a little bike, that moved a couple feet to let other people go. i wasn't up against anybody, you could've fit one more scooter in the spot where i was for christ's sake. and we were not moving. but appearantly that is against the law and he gave me a $100 ticket for it.

if that seems reasonable to you then sorry, but it royally pissed me off. i've deserved a few tickets in my day but most of the ones i got on that thing were undeserved. my helmet breaks so i go on my scooter to get another one and i get a ticket?
let's just say. for many reasons. i do not like cops. and don't dare get all "well lets see how you feel about them when they're saving your ass" bull**** cuz i've heard it before and i do respect most of them most of the time. besides it wont change opinion on the not so good ones...

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