As gasoline prices soar, so do the sales of scooters

By Austin Wright

In his 17 years as a salesman at Sunrise Cycle & Watercraft, Roy Ford has never seen an item sell so fast.

Motorized scooters are flying off the lot. He even bought one himself recently.

The dealership on East Little Creek Road in Norfolk sold 23 scooters in May, Ford said, compared with the one or two sold the same month last year. Record-high gas prices, Ford said, are driving people to consider two-wheelers as a cheaper alternative to cars.

Other local dealers also said they can barely keep the smaller, gas-sipping models in stock, and the Motorcycle Industry Council reported a 24 percent increase in scooter sales nationally in the first three months of 2008 compared with the same period in 2007.

“We’re getting calls on them every day,” Ford said. “We’re selling 15 to 20 a month, whatever we can get our hands on.”

Three weeks ago, Ford bought a 2008 Yamaha C3, a $2,000 scooter that gets 115 mpg and maxes out at 40 mph . He rides it to work every morning but sticks to roads with speed limits of 45 mph or less.

“I got a Toyota Tundra sitting in my driveway, but I’m not going to drive it because of gas,” he said. “I’ve ridden the scooter six or seven days and put half a gallon in it.”

Slower scooters such as Ford’s have smaller engines and don’t require a motorcycle license or insurance. Faster scooters with more horsepower require a license and can keep up with interstate traffic, just like motorcycles.

The region also has seen the comeback of Vespas, Italian scooters that have gone in and out of style several times since they became popular in the 1950s. Two local dealers have started selling them, RK Chevrolet in Virginia Beach and Steelhorse Classics in Williamsburg.

“It’s not uncommon to have people trade in their cars for one,” RK Chevrolet salesman Randy Slaughter said.

Vespa USA reported a 105 percent increase in sales this May compared with last May.

“It’s ridiculous,” Slaughter said, referring to the popularity of the smaller models that don’t require a license. “We can’t keep them in stock.”

At the low end, the Vespa LX 50 is listed at $3,299 and gets 70 to 80 mpg . It can reach a top speed of 39 mph .

The faster models that require a license typically cost $5,000 or more.

Motorcycle ridership has been on the rise for several years in the state. The Department of Motor Vehicles, which lumps licensed scooters with motorcycles, reported that from 2001 through 2007, the number of registered motorcycles increased 81 percent to 166,806 in Virginia.

And so has the number of cycle- or scooter-related injury accidents in the state. In 2006, 2,206 people were injured in motorcycle crashes, and 70 people died, according to the DMV. In 2007, 2,284 people were injured, and 126 people died.

Keith Lindgren, coordinator of the motorcycle program at Tidewater Community College and president of the Motorcycle Safety League of Virginia, said car drivers often don’t know how to react to the two-wheel vehicles. He teaches the Virginia Rider Training Program, a 2½-day class at TCC for riders wanting to get their motorcycle licenses.

“The demand has been increasing over the last several years,” Lindgren said. “What I have seen is more people saying they want to take the course because bikes have cheaper fuel economy instead of just because they want to ride.”

He was concerned that more people are buying the slower scooters that don’t require a license. He said the smaller machines, which are supposed to follow the same laws as cars, don’t go fast enough to keep up with traffic and are often ridden by people with no training.

Lindgren owns six bikes, including a scooter. He’s had one major accident, in 1999, when he hit a deer while going 65 mph . He broke three ribs and his foot and popped a blood vessel in his brain. The police told him he slid 256 feet.

“When you’re on a bike, you have no protection, compared to when you’re in a car,” he said.

Ford expects that despite the risks, more and more commuters will be drawn to the two-wheel alternative.

“I think gas prices are going to change the American lifestyle,” he said.

Austin Wright, (757) 446-2667, austin.wright@pilotonline.com