[quote=novice1027]Can you ride them in the bike lanes?[/quote]

Nope. Bike lanes are for bicycles only.

I had two scooters, both 49cc (no motorcycle license required). Liked that I was able to park them anywhere, including bike racks. Cheap, but very easy to steal. One of mine vanished for a couple weeks then reappeared. Decided scooters were LESS safe than a motorcycle since they weren’t fast enough to get out of the way of an inattentive driver; I had a couple close ones. Sold the two scooters and bought a ’81 Kawa KZ750LTD, a reliable classic cruiser.

Moved to Cali, aced the M1 skills test on the 750, although I’d strongly recommend taking it with something MUCH smaller and lighter. Rode it for a year here in San Diego until I was clipped by an 18yr old kid in an 80’s civic during the morning rush on 5 north. He wasn’t paying attention, was missing his exit at UCSD, and tried to cut across a couple lanes. We were both doing around 70. I’m a pretty defensive rider and I didn’t have a chance. Fortunately I escaped with only road rash, a broken wrist & broken foot. I could just as easily have been killed or very mangled. After a few years my foot doesn’t hurt constantly anymore, as long as I’m not barefoot or wearing flip flops. I had run my first marathon 2 weeks prior to the accident and almost qualified for Boston. The kid had California minimums which barely left anything for my “pain & suffering” after medical expenses.

Be careful out there. No matter how safely you ride, it only takes one inattentive driver and one unlucky moment to really change your perspective on how much you are “saving”.

Speaking of “saving” – does anyone have a comparison of the smog emissions of various scooters/motorcycles of different vintages and a typical recent car or SUV? I know none of my cycles had catalytic converters. I suspect that while I used less gas I probably pumped out more smog than a typical modern car.