Unique scooter paint job

Was looking through old photos of my Key West trip when I came across this awesome shot of a custom painted scooter.

A town in need of a scooter shop

I had the luck to take a spur of the moment trip to the town of Lake Placid in the Adirondacks, N.Y.
It's a former frontier town with its past displayed in its architecture: the Olympic stadium where the 1980 games were held, old german churches with unique square shaped steeples that look like hats, and Queen Anne style buildings that now house a vibrant downtown business district.
It reminded me of Key West, but surrounded by mountains and pine forests. There were outdoor restaurants everywhere and all the hotels had balcony rooms so you could take in the gorgeous view of the mountains surrounding the lake, much like in Key West, though there the view is the aquamarine ocean. But both have towns full of people in love of flowers. Almost every house had windowboxes dripping with them and even the empty storefronts were well-kept and had flowers blossoming all around.
Lush is the perfect word for it.
And the rains can be just as fickle.

As we drove down the main street through Lake Placid, I noticed they had electric cars. Little four seaters with no doors and open roofs, just like in Key West. And while there were many people on their own scooters and motorcycles, I didn't see any scooter rentals.
The towns are close together because you can only build in certain areas since the towns are surrounded by parkland. And there is very little street parking, making it the perfect place for scooters. I was very surprised, therefore, when my boyfriend, who goes up many weekends for work (which was one of these), told me they don't have any scooter rental places in any of the Adirondack towns!
I was very surprised.
With all the empty storefronts and the perfect driving conditions for scooters, Lake Placid is certainly in need of a good scooter rental shop.
There is one setback — the winter. I'm sure there'd be no business in the snow; but why not have a scooter rental place in the summer and a ski rental place in the winter? As it stood, I saw many of the empty storefronts were still decorated with advertisements for skates, skis and other winter sport offerings. I'm guessing they didn't figure out a way to keep the cash flowing. It's plenty touristy in the summer, too. So why not take advantage of the lack of scooters?
After some discussion, my boyfriend and I agreed. If we had the money, we'd certainly relocate and take advantage of the market.
We'd always discussed taking off and living in Key West with a scooter rental store supporting us. But there are so many of them in Key West already.

When crime drives people from what they love

I hate it when criminals force good people to give up something or compromise their lives.
This entry in the Baltimore City Paper's Newshole by Chris Landers ends with this comment by a woman who had her scooter stolen: "I think I'm done with having a scooter," Tomlinson says. "I'm taking the bus to work."
How awful, to give up on what you love because someone's stolen it.
Of course, she may have no money to replace her scooter. According to the article, it was a 2007 Kymco, which goes for more than $2,000 on the high end.
I think, when they find the thiefs, she should be able to take away from something they love. It's only fair.

A little thing called safety

For some reason people think scooters are safer than motorcycles.
Sure, they run a little differently. Most scooters don't have a clutch you worry about and brake handles on both handlebars, but many of them can go just as fast as a car. So why is it people think they are safer and don't require a layer of protection?
I wondered this when I visited Key West for what will probably be the only time.
In that island borough scooters are everywhere, and they aren't to strict about who can rent them. Problem is everyone goes around on them without a helmet or proper shoes.
Maybe it's the laid back element but just because it's a small machine with just enough power to go on a highway doesn't mean it can't lead to a dangerous situation.
Without the proper shoes you can have rocks fly up and cut your feet, or get them run over by an unthinking driver.
Just like a motorcycle, you're exposed to the elements, wind, rain, heat. So you should wear the proper clothing.
And just like a motorcycle, scooters are small, so unwitting drivers are less likely to notice you and more likely to pull out in front of you and cause a deadly accident.
Yet, too many people don't wear helmets when riding them. Don't wear the proper shoes. Don't wear pants that cover their legs and protect their skin from abrasions if they fall. Don't think that yes, it's small and fun to buzz around on, but that SUV following you isn't. And isn't thinking to be very careful.
That's up to the scooter driver.

And there are a lot of people who think anyone can do it. Watch the fool below who doesn't even buckle her helmet before she crashes. (Won't do you any good if it's not on your head!)

Decked out scooter seats

Should a scooter seat be garish and standout? Is it a requirement?
I have been told that it's the standard for the seat to contrast with the rest of the scooter.
Some businesses have arisen around this fact, most notably scooterseatcovers.com.
Colored leopard prints and fuzzy seats seem to be big. I don't know why since they must feel kind of slimy when hot, like most synthetics.
The scooter my boyfriend is putting together will be green and silver, but he wanted a totally crazy seat, made to look like a Japanese flag (as a send up to Yamaha). While I thought that could look classy if done right, I'm not sure if it would be taken well by the WWII vets in town. I don't need people throwing their canes at me as I drive by.
There's still a backlash amongst people 50 and over against any country the U.S. has warred against, at least in small towns like Pottstown.
So what should the seat look like?
I don't want to keep it the way it is, with a nice track across it from the former owner's bike laying on top of it for years, but leopard print, un uh.
I don't mind a normal looking new seat, but will that make me look like an obvious scooter novice?
I've seen a lot more scooters around town since gas prices have been skyrocketing and none with tricked out seats or bodies, but I think most people are just desperate at this point, not really into scooters.

Eurotrash — The group

This is not me by the way. And yes, I know it's not a scooter.

When I first drove into Pottstown it struck me as a microcosm of a city.

Rather tall buildings for a little town.

There was also a European flavor about it. Everything was walkable, there were parks everywhere, one with a flowing fountain downtown. The garden club keeps up the flowers hanging from lampposts and giant flowerpots in the business areas. There are also wooden park benches everywhere.

The buildings are mostly brick and dating from the 1800s. A lot of them could use fixing up and some have crappy vinyl and aluminum siding hiding them that dates to the 60s and 70s. But it has potential.

It now has an awesome coffee shop, Churchill's, that opened a year after I moved here. It's technically a chocolatier's, which is very European. How many towns can boast a chocolatier?

And it finally has a wine shop downtown, though it could use some asthetic improvements.

Which brings me round to the Eurotrash concept.

My boyfriend loves everything Euro: cafe racers, cool mini cars and coffee shops. So when the scooter became a reality he wanted to start a scooter club for all those folks who love everything Euro but were American. He wanted to call it the Eurotrash scooter club.

I guess the idea of it being "trash" is because we're American and really don't have the "Euro" thing down, but love the style. But we dumb down a cool pair of graphic but sexy shorts with flat sandals, which really doesn't look good, but hey, we're American and we love comfort.

Plus you really can't comfortably stop a scooter in high heels. Though I'm sure Italian women have figured it out.

What have I got myself into

  This is not what girls my age do. 

   It all started with a simple statement from my boyfriend after he moved in.

  "We should go get my cousin's scooter for you."

  One of those statements I disregard because it came out of the blue. It was a whim, surely. Wasn't it. 

  He asked a couple of more times, obviously intent on getting it fo

r me whether I responded or not. 

  I was very hesitant to want it. First, where were we going to put it?

  We live in a tiny apartment over a garage, and while I'm allowed half of it, my mini cooper and his sport bike just about fit — along with all his junk from his old apartment. 

  Second, the only time I've ever ridden a scooter, I

 almost s

mashed head-on into an SUV as I attempted to turn a corner in Key West. 

  Nightmare.

 

  Let's face it, 

motorized versions of the bicy

cle aren't good for everyone. Most people can't figure out how to handle a clutch in a car. (I have and I like it.)

  But most scooters don't have clutches, so I can't let it out too fast and crash, right?

  But I still wasn't sure.

  I didn't want to get hit by an SUV and die just tooling down the street. But I guess that could also happen while I'm walking ...

  Then one weekend my boyfriend announces that he's borrowing his coworker's truck and running down to get it.

  I'd already had plans and this was out of the blue, and when I came home that night, it was in the garage, in pieces. 

  I still have no visual concept of what this Geely will look like once he gets the pieces together, but the body has been sanded and sent out to be painted. And my boyfriend has dedicated a lot of time to fixing it mechanically, so I can't really say no at this point. 

  But what there is of it here looks so small. Almost like it belongs to a child. Which makes me a little nervous. 

  Check back. Hopefully I'll have  a video of my successful ride down the back alley.