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Notice a Pattern?Boy, this doofus can't seem to decide what kind of rider he is. Now in fairness, a couple of those bikes were my wife's, but more on that later. Yes, I know, this is a scooter site.... there were a couple of scoots in there, and no, they weren't my wife's. So how about now? Here's the current situation: 2007 Yamaha Morphous
2005 Genuine Scooter Company Stella
2005 Kymco People 250 & Genuine Scooter Company Buddy 125
2006 Genuine Scooter Company Blur & 2002 Bajaj Legend
Oh Yeah, a "Restorable" Vespa
Wow, What a Change!
Those bikes were sold, and we went with the two-up big touring rigs. As it turned out, Bev was no longer into this either. She was glad to do a little around-town parkway cruising, but I was going on the longer rides alone. I like to ride at a fairly "sporty" pace, and we are surrounded by gorgeous routes here in the upper Midwest. Hauling around a touring behemoth was not what I had in mind. Enter the Suzuki Bandit. I may have mentioned earlier what a "fat old man" I am, and the Suzuki Bandit 1200S is probably the best choice in a crotch-rockety-tourer for those who fit the aforementioned classification. It's fast, I mean fast, especially if you think your old Honda Custom 900 was fast. It handles well and, most importantly, it's comfortable. So now the Bandit is my ride and Bev is pretty much staying away from the whole motorcycle thing. Well, there was the Yamaha Vino scooter of Bev's, but that's nothing to do with motorcycles! Through a set of interesting circumstances, Bev ended up with a new Yamaha Vino 125 which she liked MUCH BETTER than any motorcycle of hers (or min e for that matter). I think it is completely cool that she has purchased (and rides) a scooter. We have had them before. Look back up at the "historic" pictures above and you'll notice a Honda Passport, a severely neglected Vespa P125, and a Honda Helix (I also "borrowed" several Vespas over the years, you know, ones that your friend owns but doesn't work on, you wind up fixing it and keeping it in your garage for a season or two). Of course I'm WAY too old, fat, and tough to ride a scooter. Of course I had to try out Bev's scooter... just to make sure it was safe and all. That was all it took. I couldn't peel the grin off my face for days. I thought about getting another Vino and doing the "his & hers" thing.... but I'm just not quite that sort of person. After looking at lots of places and lots of scooters, I picked up a 2004 Stella from Bob Hedstrom at Scooterville in Minneapolis. I cannot say enough "good" about Scooterville, Bob, or the Stella. Have a look at our LINKS page for more on Bob and Scooterville as well as more on Genuine Scooter Company, the home of the Stella. The Stella filled a need that I hadn't even defined. It brought back pleasant old memories and has helped create pleasant new ones. My wife and I were hooked. We had become scooterists. Our next scooter acquisition was a 2006 Kymco People 250 which has become our "touring" ride. That's right, the same wife who wasn't into the Goldwing is more than happy to ride two-up on a maxi-scooter. While helping me out on my review of the Buddy 125, Bev fell in love with this scooter. Her Vino went up for sale, and she got a black Buddy which is VERY happy with. I have also sold my Bandit 1200 and picked up a nice BMW.... gotta have at least ONE motorcycle in the garage. Boy, there must be something about doing those reviews, after helping with the Genuine Blur review, Bev decided that she wanted one. Now we have a Blur in the garage with the Genuine windscreen and luggage rack - both of which were VERY impressive accessories that fit PERFECTLY - along with a Shad trunk. Bev's idea was that the Buddy would be her "city" scooter and the Blur would be her "over-the-road" scooter. It hasn't quite worked out that way, in a large part because I have become addicted to riding the Blur around town. Yes, in most circumstances, I would still rather take my Stella for city rides, but when a twist-and-go is called for, the Blur is just too much fun to resist. In June of 2007, a horrible life-altering event occurred: I sold my BMW motorcycle. For the first time in about 30 years, I do not own a motorcycle. It was a hard thing to do but I simply was not riding it. In a season and a half, I didn't even put on 900 miles. I also needed to make some room for Bev's new "highway" scooter, a 2007 Yamaha Morphous. Bev was very taken with the LOW seat height and comfort of this scooter. Now I know it's odd-looking, but remember, we had a Helix when they were new so we're no strangers to "odd" scooters. There's also a Bajaj Legend in the garage now. I'm going to sell it, really. I just got it to play around with a four-stroke, manual-shift, metal-bodied scooter..... no foolin'..... it'll be for sale any day now. There's those boxes of parts and a frame that make up a "restorable" Vespa in the garage too, but I don't count that one. I expect that I will have to get some kind of small motorcycle, soon, just to keep "balance" in my life. Hmmm, maybe a nice Kawasaki Ninja 500, or perhaps an older Honda CB.... We live in St. Paul Minnesota and participate in scooter activities with several local groups including TNR (Tuesday Night Ride), Scooter Meet-Up, Minn-Max, and sometimes tag along with The Muscooteers, All Mod Cons and even The Regulars. I am also online at several of the Yahoo scooter groups. We have our own scooter group at JustGottaScoot. For more mindless ramblings, visit the BLAH (as in blah, blah, blah) page. To buy cool Just-Gotta-Scoot stuff, see the STUFF page. Happy riding. Dave
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OK,
So Who Are We?
Now we come to the "real" story. As you can see from the picture at
the top of this page, I am a fat old man. I no longer entertain any illusions
about becoming a professional racer, or feel that I must have and ride a certain
type or brand of motorcycle in order to define myself. I ride for FUN. My
wife (pictured to the left and above, and yes, I am completely aware that she is
WAY too hot for the likes of me) has
always gone above and beyond in trying to share my passions. She had ridden with
me for all of the over twenty years that we have known each other. I was always
pushing her to ride on her own, and a while back, she took and passed the 