The Mild Ones: Scooters Make Sense

Credit: Vespa

What with gas prices high, SUVs seeming ever more politically incorrect, and a significant percentage of car trips only a few miles or less, this may be just the right time to think about the kind of vehicles much of the world thinks of as fundamental transportation: the affordable, affable scooter.

Though not as numerous in the States as in Europe and Asia, scooters available here do come in a dizzying variety of sizes, prices, and styles. Unlike motorcycles, scooters don't present new riders with a steep learning curve, don't have runaway- from-you power, and require very little maintenance. For a start down the road to two-wheel enlightenment, here's a nicely tailored three-piece scoot.

Credit: Vespa

Vespa LX

No one who has ever seen the movie Roman Holiday will ever forget the romantic sight of Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn whizzing around the Piazza Venezia on a classic Vespa. Never has a scooter had more panache -- and today's Vespas are still the most stylish runabouts running about. The LX, available in 50cc and 150cc versions (identical except for the motor), updates one of the company's classics of the fifties and sixties. Top speed is 39 mph and 59 mph respectively -- not exactly road-warrior stuff, but fast enough to get you to school on time. Vespa offers high quality and high design (and relatively high cost, at $3,199 and $4,199 for these models).

Credit: Honda

Honda Ruckus

If you're an admirer of industrial-strength architecture, you'll love the funky little Ruckus, with its bare-bones tubular frame, naked double headlights, and fat on- or off-road tires. A reliable 49cc water-cooled one-cylinder motor delivers enough power to zip you around town, though freeways are off-limits. For a reasonable $1,999, the Ruckus will make you the center of attention in the school parking lot. Honda also makes the Big Ruckus, a freeway-legal, substantially larger 250cc version that sells for $5,499. Either one will provide proof for the often dismissed theory that teachers can be cool, too.

Credit: Piaggio

Piaggio Typhoon

For something a bit racier, Italian maker Piaggio (the GM of scooter manufacturers) offers the slick, streamlined Typhoon. Though this little macchina looks faster than it is, a 50cc engine is plenty for nonhighway riding, while the rakish lines make a fashion statement in the hippest moto mode. With sturdy alloy wheels and chunky, stabilizing tires, the Typhoon is easy to ride and almost as agile as a sport motorcycle, so what speed you lose on straightaways you get back in quickness through turns. The two-stroke motor type, slightly outdated now, means that gasoline and oil have to be mixed, but that's done automatically. (And speaking of automatic, each of these scooting cuties does the shifting for you.) Ride on!