Year One On Two Wheels

OK, so I give the fair and lovely Debbie all the money from the sale of our Gold Wing so she can fulfill her life long dreams of travel and adventure. I'd have thought just being married to me would be enough adventure for her but apparently not. Now, what's the first thing she spends my motorcycle money on?? A scooter! Not just any scooter but a 49cc Honda Ruckus. Two wheels and an engine are the basic components for fun most anytime in my world. That's my kind of woman!

Debbie's pretty much never ridden on anything with two wheels and an engine except as a passenger but she's had this lingering interest in having her own scooter. We've looked at them, she's sat on them, learned which controls did what, how to put the scooter on and off the center stand by herself but never actually would commit to buying one. This "scooter dream" has been lingering for a year or so now. Yesterday when I spotted a 2003 Ruckus sitting out front at a local used car lot I mentioned it to her. "Let's go look at it!" she said. Cool, I'm good with that.

So off to the car lot we go. Seems they took it in trade and didn't really want it so they sold it to me cheap, a 2003 Honda Ruckus with just 375 miles on it. Out the door price: $1056 including tax, license, and $299 in phony "doc fees." My first thought of course was that we could flip the Ruckus on Craig's List and make a fast $500. There's that car salesman heritage again. Debbie nixed the idea before the last words of the suggestion left my lips.

Saturday morning arrives. Debbie rounds up her riding gear, I load the mighty Ruckus in the back of the truck and off we go to a local dirt area we've come to call "The Dumpster Highway." Yes, that is a bit of a play on the name of the famous Dempster Highway that runs up to the Arctic Circle. Riding the Dempster Highway is the current "in" adventure for motorcycle riders and riding the Dumpster Highway a couple of miles from our house is still an adventure if you've never ridden solo before. Adventure is where you find it. Sometimes you don't even need to leave town or spend a lot of money. The fact that the field we went to is littered with the usual dumpster dumpings from our local idiots who are too lazy to go to the town dump (for free, yet!) means that dodging a bit of broken glass, old refrigerators, shipping pallets, and about a million empty shotgun shells only adds to the sense of adventure. Fortunately there's still enough clear, flat ground out there to be suitable for some basic riding fun.

After I unloaded the Ruckus we spent a few minutes going over the details of operation again. Debbie has some ATV riding experience so the auto trans of the Ruckus was not too strange to her and she rides a bicycle regularly and pretty well so it was just a case of combining some existing skills along with words of wisdom from the old fahrt. You'll note from the photos that she's geared up the same as if we were heading out on the late, great Gold Wing. Falling off at 12 mph from a scooter is no different than falling off from 12 mph on a Gold Wing. It's the same miles per hour and the same earth that you hit. Of course the scooter won't crush you like a bug if it lands on you but you get my drift.

You might be asking yourself why I didn't sign her up for an MSF course. Trust me, there's a reason for that but we'll save the explanation for another time.


I gave here a simple task to start and set her on her way: Start, ride straight 100 yards or so, and slow to a stop.
Riding straight was a piece of cake. Getting turned around was a little more challenge but was mastered without a tip over.






Later I laid the Ruckus over on it side so she could practice picking it up. I showed her how first. Much easier than picking up the Gold Wing which I may or may not have dropped in our driveway once.








After the straight line practice I set out some cones and we worked on figure eights. Notice the correct helmet position looking ahead into the apex of the turn. If she'd gotten a knee down she'd be another Valentino Rossi for sure.

After she felt comfortable she began wondering around the area as she wished. She's got an independent streak (which I greatly appeciate) so I didn't make anything too regimented except the safety gear issue and she's in total agreement with me on that.

She thought it would be fun to ride through the ditch but changed her mind at the last moment. Good choice for a newbie. Later Debbie would tackle a less angled crossing without a problem.

Next came a high speed pass. The draft from the Ruckus nearly pulled the camera from my hands.



Then came the scary part.


Debbie stopped out at the cones, picked them up, put them on the front of the scooter and rode back over to me. "I want to ride it home!"

Errrk....uh.... hmmm...

I had to ponder that one for a minute or three. She was handling the scooter very well but riding in the dirt isn't riding on the street, not by a long shot. Still we were only two miles from home and we live on the outskirts of a small town so traffic on a Saturday morning would be zilch. No license is need for under 50cc bikes in Arizona so I decided to let her test herself on the road, just a little. No major streets would be crossed and the greatest hazard would likely be the smell as we passed the waste water treatment plant. Various instructions were given and I opted to follow along behind in the pick up. If someone was going to pass her they'd have to get past me and the F250 first. Besides, at 25 mph the 7.3L Ford diesel gets pretty decent mileage.

Not much danger of the Ruckus exceeding the 45 mph speed limit.

You can see what I mean about a small town and empty streets on a Saturday morning.

A quick turn into the neighborhood, down a block or so and...

Safely home!

Whew...

As for me, I didn't ride anything on two wheels today, not even the Ruckus, and truth be told I had about as much fun as I've had all year. It would have been waaaay cooler if she'd bought the H-D Crossbones but of course teaching her to ride it might have been a bit tricky so I'd have had to ride it for her "just to break it in" and I think she would have caught on eventually that she was never going to ride the Crossbones. Debbie is happy with the Ruckus, fairly safe, plus she still has plenty of money left for that cruise thing.