Have you ever owned something that just simply never stops making you stupidly happy?
Press play on the video and enjoy the song while you read on 🙂
It’s funny, because a scooter was never on the radar. In fact, 15 or 20 years ago I’d have probably laughed at you if you suggested that I’d own one.
So how did I end up with one? A series of events….
In 1992 I went looking for a truck. We found a two year old 4-Runner at a dealership a few days before Christmas. When we went to look it over, the salesman immediately defaulted to schmoozing with Kirk. I don’t have a penis, so why would I possibly be the one he should be selling to? When he asked Kirk if he wanted to take it for a test drive, Kirk looked at me as if to say “You’re the one buying it….”.
I shrugged and decided to play the game and waved him into the driver’s seat.
I kid you not…as the salesman showed Kirk the various features…he looked over at me and pulled down the visor and said….and I’m really not joking….“It has a vanity mirror”.
“Oh, OK, thank you very much…”
When we finished the test drive and went inside and sat down with the salesman, he smiled at me and asked Kirk if he wanted to make an offer.
Kirk’s response was perfect…”Oh, I’m not the one buying it…she is…”
The devastated look on the salesman’s face was priceless….and he didn’t fight nearly the fight he might otherwise have when I started to haggle on the price.
We got a very good deal in the end.
In 2000, Kirk and I were in Hawaii and decided to rent scooters…I’d recoiled a bit, but he convinced me to get on one and when I did…the world changed. What a riot! By the end of the first day on them I remember asking “So how much do these things cost?”
On both of our sailing trips in the Greek Islands we rented scooters to explore the Islands we docked at. Again…a total blast.
Fast forward to 2009 and that 4-Runner was reaching the end of its lifecycle with me. I went looking for something new (used). In the fall of 2009, I found a used Xterra, manual six-speed, in pretty decent condition, and thought long and hard as to what I’d pay and what I’d get on the 4-Runner for a trade in. I went to the bank and took out a draft for what I would pay…and not one penny more. When the salesman and I got into it, and he played all his little games, including trying to get me emotionally attached to the truck (my response was “It’s a truck, not a puppy…”). When we got to the final points….he wouldn’t come down $300…and he hadn’t factored in the 4-Runner. I was so annoyed at him that I tore the bank draft in two in front of him and pointed to the 4-Runner as his neglected part fo the deal…and left. A week later he called and asked if I’d thought about the vehicle anymore….”No thank you”.
I was so irritated at that point, and felt in desperate need of new wheels, that I went online and started looking at scooters. The next day I went to Urban Wasp and bought an Aprillia SR-50. The mechanic derestricted it and I later had him put a Leo Vance exhaust on it.
That modification took about 5 lbs off the weight of the bike and increased its power. I’ve had those little thirteen inch wheels spinning at 98 km/hr. It’s terrifying to go that fast on something that small….a pebble could derail you….but I’m also miffed that I have never broken the 100 km/hr barrier on it.
But that stupid little scooter has been putting a stupidly happy smile on my face ever since that day in October that I rode it home in a bloody monsoon and without rain gear.
I did eventually buy a new truck…a Toyota Tacoma, though even that took two attempts and two separate dealerships because the first tried to screw me over on a tire change at the last minute. He just assumed that I’d pay an extra $1500 once I’d sat in the brand new, shipped for me, truck … and become emotionally attached to it and that I’d just somehow roll over and the added cost would be fine.
He was wrong and, once the truck was on the lot and ready for the final payment….I rode in on my scooter and took back the deposit and ended up starting all over with the order on the same make and model, from another dealership, that didn’t jerk me around over the “I will not drive off this lot on OEM tires” topic.
Kirk has taken a new job as of this week, and he will not be working from home anymore. That means that I no longer have a truck in the driveway whenever I need it.
So today…with the sun in the sky, and the threat of snow in the days ahead….I walked into the Village at lunch, with my papers and my credit card in hand, and put the insurance back on the stupid-happy-scooter. Because nothing puts a smile on my face like that silly little bike.
I paid for the year…and it works out to $25 a month for insurance. It costs about $8.00 to fill the tank.
Stupidly happy and stupidly inexpensive.
I also have a newer, gorgeous, and so much more powerful, Kawasaki Ninja 1000 sitting in the garage…. but my first love will always be little Pee Wee.
Everyone should have a scooter.
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