Editorial
Front Page - Friday, June 25, 2010
Scooters roll into spotlight in slow economic times
Erica Tuggle
Jen Obal, co-owner of Scenic City Scooters, sits on one of the many scooters they have for sale in their Dayton Boulevard location. Her father Hugh, husband Stan and she manage the business together, and have on display an impressive row of vintage scooters at their location.
- Erica Tuggle
Hugh Schein, owner of Scenic City Scooters, says some may think of scooters as toys, but with speeds reaching 130 miles per hour, that assumption is blown out of the water. He says even die-hard motorcyclists are making the switch to scooters because they are lighter and more affordable to maintain.
Scooters have been around since the ’40s and reached a boom in popularity in 2007, when gas prices began to climb. Schein predicts days of high scooter popularity are coming for the U.S. and have already gripped Europe and Asia.
Since the store began in 2004, Hugh, his daughter Jen, her husband Stan and the store dog, Stella, have all had a hand (or paw) in running the store. Stan is one of the top scooter mechanics in the country and Stella greets all the customers before demanding a belly-rub, Schein says.
Scooters are demanding a second look with the economy’s downturn, he says. With two active scooter clubs in town, customers are beginning to see the two-fold benefits of financial gain and camaraderie within the scooter culture.
The scooter demographic fits everyone, which makes a fun scooter culture, he says. Scooter rallies are held across the country every year, and in 2008, Scenic City Scooters was the host business that brought Amerivespa to Chattanooga as part of the largest international scooter rally in the world, with over 500 scooters in downtown Chattanooga for three days and nights.
Scenic City Scooters deals in Genuine and Kymco brand scooters from out of Chicago, Ill., and Spartansburg, S.C., that offer two-year unlimited mileage, parts and a labor warranties from the factory. This is not always the case with all scooter dealers, especially product sold over the Internet from Mainland China companies, he says.
Schein says these products are cheaper, and in many cases not compliant with safety and standard regulations. He says the best way to tell if a scooter is safe to buy is ensure that the warranty they offer is factory-based and good for more than 30 days. In general, he says, the rules of car buying can be applied to scooter purchases, since scooter stores are licensed the same as car dealers and their products must also be state licensed.
“Basically, if you save two tanks of gas a month, you ride the scooter for free,” he says. “Maintenance if far less than an automobile, insurance is $100 to $200 a year and purchase price is much less. For most day-to-day running around town, a scooter does a great job; it’s easy to park and fun to ride.”
The owners of Chatt Town Scooters on the Northshore are big fans of scooter culture as well. Owners and Signal Mountain locals Peyton Galbraith, Brent Teeter, and Carter Todd say with the popularity of downtown Chattanooga, renting scooters was a market they knew needed to be addressed.
Galbraith says as boys they had always rented scooters, and so they knew their benefits. He says Todd got a scooter three years ago and couldn’t ride down the street without answering questions about his ride.
“It’s so affordable to maintain and operate, it is a no-brainer even as a second vehicle,” he says.
Chatt Town Scooters chose the John Wayne motorcycle brand scooter for their business because of safety, affordability and durability. Even though these scooters are not locally manufactured, Galbraith says, every scooter is assembled in their Chattanooga shop, every nut and bolt is twisted locally and then the scooters are driven to check for safety in what he calls the “Chattanooga Check.”
Chatt Town Scooters works with any financial situation and offers bikes as low as $500 or as ritzy as $5,000. Even though some of the scooters they offer are considered used, he says, they have less than 15 miles on them and after a clean up and servicing, they are in tip-top condition and sold at a discount.
“You have scooters out there with 12,000 miles on it that haven’t had any work done on them besides an oil change,” he says.
Those who are not completely sold on the idea of scooters have the option of renting them. For this Chatt Town Scooters requires a deposit, 21 or older driver, a valid driver’s license and to sign a waiver after being taken through a 30-point safety checklist by one of the guys, he says. The first three hours of scooter rental are $35, and to rent scooters all day it is $75. The scooters have the power to take the rider up to Ruby Falls, Rock City or pretty much anywhere in town you want to go, he says, and they come with a full tank of gas.
There may still be no such thing as a free ride, but scooters are getting pretty close to proving that slogan wrong.
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