Full circle...

Have you seen the cartoon that depicts wheels in the stages of life...

No sign of the motorcycles we've owned during the stages of our lives, though.  My very first motorcycle was a Honda 150 Dream...

Obviously made before Honda got good at bending metal.  I was 14 years old; my Mother said, "If you bring home a motorcycle, you can't live in this house."  What was she going to do, put a 14 year old out on the street? ;-)  Yes, I did take Joan out on that bike... I remember my forehead freezing when riding in February... in Iowa.  I wasn't always an "island boy."

We've had touring bikes, cruisers, sport bikes, and what I thought would be my last bike...

A year and a half ago, Joan rode a scooter while we were visiting with our motorcycle dealer friends, Dick and Pat, in the Black Hills.  It was cute - a Yamaha Vino; 125cc.  I encouraged Joan to go for it, but our cargo trailer was already full with the V-Strom and kayaks.  She decided against it.

It's been a few years since she had her own bike.  Recently, she started talking about scooters again.  I started doing my research.  We started visiting scooter dealers (the main reason I haven't posted here much in the past week or so).  I learned a bunch about these things... who knew there were SO many scooter manufacturers?  I was warned to stay away from the cheap Chinese stuff... Taiwanese is OK, Japanese is the top of the heap.  Yamaha doesn't make the Vino 125 any more (only a 50cc, which I think is too small).  We looked at the Yamaha Zuma... it reminded me of the mini-bikes some kids had when I was young.  I wasn't sold, but Joan seems drawn to Yamahas.   We looked at Genuine Buddy - very cute, but those wheels looked really small.  Some scooterists (scooter riders?) favor those small wheels for their maneuverability.  I wanted to like them, but...

We looked at a Cali-Classic, imported by Lance.  It had buckhorn handlebars, like a Harley - Joan really liked that one.  I learned about SYM (they make the Lance), Kymco, PGO... and why they are better and different from the cheap Chinese stuff you see at Pep Boys (for 1/3 the price of a "good" scooter).  Yep, more than I ever thought I'd want to know about scooters.  Small scooters, "big" scooters (150 - 200cc is "big"??), and maxi-scooters (that look like a a Lazy-Boy recliner on wheels).

We learned about Honda's PCX, a 150cc model.  Fuel injected and water cooled.  It was getting rave reviews.  At one dealership, we visited with a salesman who didn't know a thing about these - Joan had to show him how to close the seat.  Yes, really.  To make the experience completely unpleasant, he hit us with a price that was 40% OVER the sticker price.  He was still saying, "Wait! Wait! I can do better than that!" as we were walking out the door.  A couple experiences like that take the fun out of the search.  I fired off some e-mails, requesting price quotes.

Today, we visited with another dealer... his quote was very competitive.  No pressure.  He had what we want, in the colors we want.  So, as long as there isn't any "glitches," tomorrow we will bring home a couple Hondas.  Big iron: 150cc.

Git yer motor runnin'...

;-)