Modern Buddy

Wow. Spent last week taking the family to Lego Land and the San Diego zoo and was surprised at the number of scooters I saw. in a ten minute ride from the zoo to a grocery store (in my dad's three quarter ton diesel. that was fun to park down town) I saw 5 or 6 scooters. I'm pretty certain at least half were buddys. In the next couple days, I noticed quite a few more parked and driving around. We were near the university, so that may affect things, but that's more scooters in 2 days than I see in a couple weeks up here. On the way to the airport I saw a group of about 20 scoots near the freeway on ramp, mostly Vespas.

Was this anomalous, or is san diego scooter city?

Cheers,
Rick

It better be, the weather there is ridiculously nice.

What else do you call a place which has year round riding, weather to die for, and is the home of ScooterWest (Motorsport)?

Dooglas wrote:What else do you call a place which has year round riding, weather to die for, and is the home of ScooterWest (Motorsport)?

Very true. I'll give SD a pass for being the home of the Chargers.

KK, I no longer like you. I am a from San Diego and a charger fan. I wish I still lived there!!![/i]

KooK wrote:KK, I no longer like you. I am a from San Diego and a charger fan. I wish I still lived there!!![/i]

Raider fan here. Get used to Amari Cooper and I'll get used to Melvin Gordon. Damn you guys.

oh, draft related stuff, no clue. but Chargers Baby!! nuff said

For the most part, San Diego is not a scooter city. There are parts of town in which scooters are common, around SDSU, Hillcrest-North Park, and the beach areas.

But San Diego is very spread out. The "mesas" are connected with freeways. It's hard to get around effectively on the surface streets. For example: From where I live, I can get to the beach but it will take me about 45 minutes by scooter and 20 minutes by car.

When I went to San Diego for Amerivespa 2013, I was lost from the time I got there until I finally got out five days later. I was stationed in San Diego for over three years back in the 1950's BF (Before Freeways) and never had any problems.

ScooterWest in San Diego makes any visit worthwhile though!

I hope so; I just bought a Buddy 170 today (my first scooter!). Drove it down the coast from Carlsbad to Clairemont Mesa. I will say that outside of hillcrest, north park, etc. the roads are annoyingly big and fast. Even so, today's ride was fine.

pcbikedude wrote:San Diego is very spread out. The "mesas" are connected with freeways. It's hard to get around effectively on the surface streets. For example: From where I live, I can get to the beach but it will take me about 45 minutes by scooter and 20 minutes by car.

Part of the art of scooter riding is the art of developing "scooter routes" for getting around. It is not fun to ride on the traffic clogged boulevards or urban freeways of any city. And, so it takes longer - I ride scooters for the sheer fun of it, not to get there faster. It is the journey, not the destination.

Use mapquest or whatever and click on bicycle route for alternatives.

Well, after having a Buddy for a bit over a week SD seems pretty scooter friendly, all told. My wife and I are looking for an apartment in a walkable neighborhood and riding around Balboa Park in Hillcrest and South Park there were plenty of scooters and motorcycles. Low speed limits, narrower streets, and limited parking as well, all of which speak to a scooter's strengths. I'm actually a fan of places that have as little parking as possible, but that's due to urban design/pedestrian safety/transport equality/aesthetics/me wishing I still lived in Europe issues.

I'm living in Clairemont Mesa for the moment and the wife is commuting by scooter to Sorrento Valley. It's... suburbia, but it's OK I guess. Drivers haven't been too terrible and there are reasonable routes to take. It's nice that the streets tend to all have protected left turns given that drivers turning in front of you is a common accident.