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Italian scooter builder Piaggio is bringing a plug-in hybrid version of its Piaggio MP3 three-wheeled scooter to the U.S. by 2010. The model is burlier than a traditional two-wheeled scooter, thanks to the stability of two closely spaced front wheels, but otherwise it fits the profile of scooter commuter fun.
The New York Times Wheels blog gave the PHEV MP3’s specs:
Italian scooter builder Piaggio (owner of both Piaggio and Vespa brands) confirmed this month that its three-wheeled plug-in gas-electric hybrid scooter will go on sale in the U.S. in early 2010. The Piaggio MP3 hybrid, which has two closely mounted front wheels and one rear wheel, will have a range of “several” EV-only miles, and an overall range of 141 miles with the help of a small gasoline engine.
Piaggio CEO Paolo Timoni told FoxNews.com that the MP3 will have a 125 cc engine and an electric motor (size unspecified) that can be charged at a standard 110v outlet. It will also have regenerative braking capabilities and “several adjustable hybrid modes.” FoxNews.com says to expect the price to be in the neighborhood of the current cream of the MP3 crop, just under $10,000.
I recently got a copy of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Motor Scooters to review. Here’s the one-sentence 
review, in case you’re pressed for time: If you’re new to scootering, this is a great place to start, but if you’re an old hand, you won’t find much you don’t already know.
The Idiot’s Guide books are similar to the Dummies books, but they seem to rely less on lists and cartoons to get the reader through the information. The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Motor Scooters is arranged logically, from history to extreme scootering, and the “Contents at a Glance” pages at the front of the book make it easy to jump to the section that interests you. The end of each chapter lists “The Least You Need to Know,” in case you’re reading up on a subject as you run out the door to the scooter shop to buy an armored jacket.
TCIGMS, as we’ll call it for brevity, is an excellent resource for newbies, especially if you haven’t bought your scooter yet and are overwhelmed by the choices. It helps potential buyers decide between vintage and new; 50 cc, 150 cc, or larger engines; two-stroke or four-stroke; and more. It lists necessary gear and has pages and pages of optional gear, including decals and the like for customization (I prefer punk-rock stickers myself).
The book also deals with common questions about getting started, like registration and motorcycle endorsements on your driver’s license. It does not deal with the more advanced stuff, like scooter repair (see Part I of this post for my recent success with taking scootering to a new level), though it does have some pretty in-depth maintenance how-tos. It also includes a section in the back with tech specs for just about every scooter on the market today, which is helpful for buyers and owners alike.
The authors speak with authority. Bev Brinson is the founder of Scooter World magazine, and Bryce Ludwig is a longtime writer for the mag. They’ve written a guide to getting a scooter, riding it safely, and maintaining it. Anything beyond that is entirely up to you, scooter commuter. Armed with this kind of information, there’s nothing you and your scooter can’t do.
Greetings from the land of scooter commuters! After two months of sitting under the carport, alone but for the spiders weaving their webs all over her, my scooter, a 2002 Kymco People 50, is finally operational again, thanks to my first-ever at-home repair!
The summer saga began when I took the Kymco out for the first time, in May. I drove it a few miles and parked it while I volunteered at my local humane society. While I was volunteering, the entire contents of the gas tank leaked out onto the pavement. The maintenance guy stood watch to make sure it didn’t burst into flames, then used his forklift to put it in the back of a pickup truck to drive me home.
(Eco-recap: gas on the ground and running into a nearby rainwater grate is absolutely not good for the earth. Neither is strapping a scooter to the bed of a half-ton pickup truck.)
The guy at the shop where I bought my scooter in 2002, which by now has 4,500 miles on the odometer, said that Kymcos of a certain age can have leaky fuel filters. I asked if I could repair it myself, and he said, “You can do anything yourself, just be sure not to strip the rubber gasket when you tighten the filter.”
Cool, I thought, I can do this myself. Except that I’d never repaired anything mechanical before, and I was intimidated by the very idea.
Until last Sunday. I downloaded the repair manual for ten bucks, got out the socket wrenches, and took pictures as I went — kind of like digital breadcrumbs, in case I got lost. I found out that the hose was cracked, not the fuel filter, and bought a replacement part at the scooter shop for another ten bucks. All in all, from start to finish, it took a grand total of about two hours, three tools (socket wrench, allen wrench, and pliers), and $20.
So, if gas prices have you considering a scooter, go for it! They get great mileage (mine gets about 80 mpg) and are simple to repair — by you or your local shop.
In Sioux Falls, South Dakota — just up the road from this week’s Sturgis Motorcycle Rally — one Harley-Davidson dealership has taken a bold step in the future of bikes. J&L Harley-Davidson has added Vectrix electric motorscooters to the mix on its showroom floor.
A recent story in the Argus Leader said Harley riders were open to the idea of an electric bike. The browsers quoted in the story didn’t say they were ready to give up their hardtails and ape-hangers for a 60-mph electric scooter, but they did like that the Vectrix was a zero-emissions vehicle.
Keep in mind, though, that Harleys are no slouch in the mileage department themselves. The 2009 Sportster 883 Low, to pick a model at random, gets 54 mpg in the city and 60 when you get your motor runnin’ and head out on the highway. But what comes out the other end, while hard to pin down with exact numbers, is apparently bad enough to warrant a California emissions fee of a couple hundred bucks.