In an incredible handy coincident of wants it turns out the BC government wanted to get old crumby cars off the road at exactly the same time that I wanted to get rid of my old crumby 91 Honda Civic, massive door ding and all. And while the used car prices are already pretty low, the government was willing to give us $1300 towards an electric scooter through the scrapit program. We jumped through the hoops, we got the money and now I'm riding an electric scooter around town, and I just past 100km on the odometers. Yes, that's right, 100.

How is it?

Well, there's a few things that I like and few that I don't. Starting with the good stuff. It's incredibly quiet. I mean dead silent. Zipping along about the loudest thing I hear is everyone else. Which has the nice feeling of floating on the cloud and the detriment of scaring the bejeebers out of blind people, not that I've encountered that situation yet. Another obvious upside is the never needing gas part. It's a novelty that hasn't worn off yet.

Matt told me that once you get a bike you start getting the wave from other bikers. Turns out that in some cases motorcycle riders will condescend and offer the wave to even the lowly scooterist, I appreciate it, although I do feel a sense of other-ness as I noiselessly (and relatively slowly) glide by as they quickly and powerfully eat up the pavement. Speaking of speed, my speed record is 65km/hr. I've done it once, on a downhill, drafting behind a car. It's not a fast scooter. 100 kms in I'm still waiting for my first road rage incident as a motorist speeds by exclaiming how the slowness of my ride makes him want to run me down. Hopefully, sounder minds prevail.

The Downsides

On the downside, the range is pretty limited. While I've yet to actually reach the heart stopping moment where the batteries are exhausted and the scooter slows to a stop on some major thoroughfare, I do dread its arrival. The other downside is the size and weight of the scooter. It's heavy, those batteries are very heavy and just shuffling the scooter around can be a bit of challenge. And it turns out that the scooter itself is a bit small for someone who is 6'3". It's especially noticeable with the storage compartment bolted on the back. I suppose you could say that it lends a feeling of humility to the rider to be somewhat cramped on the bike, but I would have paid a little extra to get a slightly longer wheelbase and a couple more inches of knee-room.

The Helmet

Last but not least, there's the helmet. Yeah, that's right it looks a lot like power ranger without the tinted shield. Do all helmets look this ridiculous? Actually, it's very comfortable and seeing as how it came with the bike. I'm not complaining, we'll see how it goes over when I hit my first scooter meet up. I've seen them in the past, line ups of Vespa's at Ska Fest and other in town music events. I'm not convinced they'll take me seriously, being electric and all.