keith

So my wife Rebecca is getting a scooter tonight -- an '07 TN'G Milano. It's a 49cc 2-stroke, so it'll top out at about 40mph, but it'll be nice for her to ride for her 2.5 mile, non-highway commute since it gets about 90 miles to the gallon! (Also the liability insurance is $9 a month! ha!) Already bought her a helmet and some gloves. I doubt I could convince her to wear a full set of gear and boots just for that distance at that speed, but she will be getting at least a textile or half-leather jacket as soon as we can possibly afford a good one. She wanted one of those adorable open-face "scooter" helmets you see trendy people wearing, but I convinced her that she didn't want an asphalt facelift even at 35mph. Pictures of the helmet and the scooter are here.

I'm also looking at getting a motorcycle in the near future. It just makes way more sense than the <20 mpg Taurus we're lugging around. Even a 35 or 40mpg car would be wasteful when 99% of the time we drive we're just going back and forth to work, alone, while hauling nothing. I don't want anything really fast or fancy, just a used 250-500cc cruiser-style is what I want. I'd love a Yamaha V-Star 250 or Honda Rebel, but I'm not sure either of those could safely haul my big, tall ass on the 12 miles (roundtrip) or so I'd have to go on the highway every day. You wouldn't ever catch me even going around the block without full gear on, though -- not that I don't trust myself, but people who drive cars are insane when it comes to anyone else on the road who isn't also driving a car.