Throttle Jockey: More Scooter news -- VAGazette.com

THROTTLE JOCKEY

Scooting around the gas crunch

Harley-Davidson might be wishing it made a scooter about now. In fact, most motorcycle manufacturers without one in their lineups have got to be feeling the pain. Motorcycle sales are down this year. -------------------- More

HIGHWAY 1

Safety courses for scooter riders

Gas prices are fueling scooter sales, but a large part of scooters' appeal is their non-threatening profile and ease of use. You don't swing a leg over a scooter as you would on a motorcycle. You merely step through and sit down. Nor do you need to master a manual transmission. You just twist the grip and go. More

THROTTLE JOCKEY

Three-wheelers have designs on sportiness, safety

Used to be that a three-wheeled motorcycle, or trike, meant one wheel in front, two in back. Then Can-Am sped onto the market with its snowmobile-esque Spyder, a three-wheeler that gave the segment a sporty makeover by putting the two wheels out front. In the year since the Spyder's unveiling, the three-wheeled segment is growing faster than a center fielder on steroids, with a number of new models coming to market throughout 2008. We take a sneak peek at the year's three-wheeled future. More

THROTTLE JOCKEY

Aprilia SportCity 250 scooter doesn't putt putt. It zip zips.

TAKE 15 pound-feet of torque. Factor in 22.5 horsepower. The numbers don't add up to bragging rights, especially for an Italian sport bike manufacturer. More

THROTTLE JOCKEY

Vectrix electric scooter: Just in the nick of time

With interest in alternative-energy vehicles reaching an unprecedented fever pitch, Vectrix couldn't have timed its arrival any more perfectly. Its new Vectrix Maxi Scooter, which has been in the works for more than 10 years, was approved for sale in California just last week and is now officially on the market. More

THROTTLE JOCKEY

Kymco Xciting 500 is maximum on zip, minimal on capacity

I was on Interstate 210 when I saw him. A big guy, his feet kicked out on the floorboards as he sped along in the carpool lane, smoking a cigar and riding ... a scooter. More

THROTTLE JOCKEY

The Can-Am Spyder and Piaggio MP3 are trikes for the big kids

Any rider who's cracked the binding of a motorcycle magazine in recent years knows we're living in the golden age, but if the faithless are looking for more proof, the new three-wheelers would be it. More

Don't give it short shrift: Suzuki Burgman 400 scooter can tour

From the looks I got, you'd think I was riding a unicorn. Not that my bug-splattered two-wheeler was all that, aesthetically. I was riding a scooter, breezing along at a brisk 80 mph on the sort of in-the-sticks stretch of highway with two sorts of signs: the ones that give the speed limit and the ones that say "Next gas 36 miles." More

THROTTLE JOCKEY

The time is right: OK, now scoot!

Whenever I pull up on two wheels, I can count on one comment: "You're crazy," strangers tell me. "Riding is dangerous." The comment is usually accompanied by a horror story about some neighbor's friend's gastroenterologist or other distant acquaintance who had a spectacular crash. More