My Scooter Story: Part 1

It all began ten years ago. My wife, the Coffee Queen, and I were off to Italy for our honeymoon. Pasta, art, coffee, sea and sunshine. And of course, gelato. We discovered it our first day and had it at least once every day after.

The Coffee Queen enjoying a gelato in Pisa

We also discovered scooters. Specifically Vespas. They zipped through traffic by the dozen (no small feat on the streets of Rome) and their riders looked to be having more fun than anyone. We gazed longingly after them and wondered...

Yes, the romance of life on two wheels had captured our imagination. When we returned to the States we toyed with the idea of buying a scooter, but where? We'd no idea where one went scooter shopping and the couple of times I poked around online all I learned was how expensive a new Vespa really is.

Fast forward five years. My brother started riding a Buddy 125 and when we talked to him about it one day our two-wheeled dream was rekindled.  "What? Vespa isn't the only one that makes scooters?"

Apparently not. Genuine, SYM, Kymco, and others (all at half the price of a Vespa). A whole world of scooters we never knew existed. We soon visited Blue Cat Motors in St. Paul (at that time the SYM dealer) and learned about the different models they carried. Over dinner we discussed the benefits of a 50cc scooter: 100 mpg, we could save on parking. And then the Coffee Queen brought up the most important point of all: it's just plain fun.

Before I knew it we were back at Blue Cat and once the Coffee Queen took the SYM Mio for a spin I knew we'd be taking one home. But to be fair, I didn't need any convincing. :-)

The Coffee Queen on our SYM Mio 50

Zipping around on that little bike, suddenly even the most routine errand was so much more fun. And being limited to about 30 mph or so forced me to learn the back ways to get around. But not being stuck in a metal cage, who cared if it took a little longer to get places? (Even if I did need to pay a little more attention to the weather report.)

And so the Coffee Queen and I joined the ranks of the two-wheeled, our dream finally realized. It was about a year later, back at Blue Cat for an oil change, that I caught my first glimpse of a new bike by SYM, a Symba, and I couldn't help but linger for a moment...