So what should I do now? Consign my $450 helmet to the Attic of Poor Decisions?

Yep. And go out and spend all that cash you're saving on petrol on a pair of armoured kevlar jeans, a pair of shoes/boots with ankle support, a cordura or leather jacket with shoulder…

To answer a few questions:

1. I got the 2007…

You should head over to the SUV thread & have a go at me. :)

For those Aucklanders considering a scooter, I heartily recommend Retro Scooters

While I won't disagree with the sentiment Paul as I certainly received excellent service from Michael and Miles, I do regret buying the 50cc Motofino (US model).

Not that I don't enjoy the travel, but I've had more than…

I wants a MP3

I did too until I saw one in the flesh, seriously large butt. Lots of storage and comfy for a passenger I guess but will make it hard to slip through traffic and not good for parking in tight spaces.

Also, here in Melbourne the 400…

Now all I need to do is find a better quality full face helmet that doesn't bend my glasses out of shape. Anyone got any recommendations?

I find my Suomi Dark Metal really good on that front, although it fogs up at night a bit easily, and I'll probably make…

I wants a MP3

two front wheels? that's about as uncool as a full face helmet.

practical though. no more losing the front wheel under braking

I only kept my teeth because the ambulance driver plugged them back in & they healed (he straightened a few up I think)

cool

It that had been his chin... I shudder to think.

So do I – at age 11 I came off my pushbike on a (quite gentle) hill, couldn't have been doing much in the way of speed.

I remember the tarmac coming up to meet me – 25 stitches to…

Of course, while it always starts out nicely it's not long before caring carbon neutral yoof turn to Vespa inspired violence:

What was THAT Nick? I'm old and I'm in shock!

people who are reluctant to wear gloves et al should be encouraged to walk down the footpath dragging their knuckles on the concrete, the try the same thing running, and then asked if they still think they don't need gear at 50 km/h

Quite. How about this: I'll tow you…

Biting through both your lips is not fun and you look like an idiot for MONTHS.

My "always wear a full-face" came via helping a guy who'd come off his bike on a back road. He was OK, but the chin bar of his full-face helmet was mostly worn through…

boots with the steel toe caps

I hear negative opinions about steel caps – mostly from people who've seen poorly anchord caps detach from the sole and leave you with a chunk of metal that helps the car or road amputate a few bits of foot more effectively. Certainly all…

Biting through both your lips…

Elsewhere, a carjacker in Los Angeles stole a tank of gas but left the Mercedes.

What about electric scooters though?

hills. the nemesis of electric scooters. just. not. enough. grunt.

"we didn't move out of the stone age because we ran out of rocks"

and d, d, d.

1965 HD Holden Special

and

muscle car

shouldn't be used in the same thought... beautiful, classic car, but muscle it is not.

I'm glad to hear that, Bart. I have an elderly but very reliable Legacy that I plan on driving until it rusts or petrol goes to $100/l, whichever happens first.

It'll be forced off the road because of the incandescant headlights.

The short summary is there is a point at which you are better to continue driving your old car than replacing it with a new(er) more fuel efficient car.

I've been coming to the same conclusion – and after reading the piece in the Listener (Julia Hartley Moore really wasn't…

Senor Christie, may I ask what sort of dosh you have to hand over for a machine like yours?

Retail prices range from ~$4300 + ORC for the ET2 model up to ~$7700 + ORC for the GT200.
Prices taken from ScooterWorld. No association, just found them via Google.

www.kero.co.nz – these are electric scooters, the 2000w one seems to be the most practical one for N.Z. If you are keen on an electric scooter though, and you have an agent in China, these scooters are manufactured here http://erato.en.ec21.com/. I am looking into the…

I've thought about a scooter but feel that rather than using it instead of my car I'd use it instead of walking.

Actually this is a very good point. Given I walk to work in 20-odd mins at the moment, I wouldn't be saving much with a scooter. However I…

i'm not a big fan of open-face helmets though. even doing snowboard jumps at snowplanet, i tend to remove face skin with my inverted landings. god knows what would happen when you…

I've taken to walking anywhere that I can reach in less than a roughly two hour round trip. You would be amazed at how far you can get. From where I…

You can't take a scooter over the Auckland harbour bridge

Actually, to clarify this a little, you can. As long as it can keep up with the flow of traffic. Which de facto rules out 50cc scoots – the largest engine size available without a motorcycle licence of some sort.…

Vespas, however,…

You might appreciate a full-face helmet more when you inevitably arse off. But perhaps that's just me.

By buying a wasp (Vespa), Damian has already shown that he values style over value. Style over safety comes as no surprise. In all the Vespa advertising I have ever seen, the riders…

I do like the Sachs Madass 125. It's…

I learnt that driving rain is even more aptly named when you're driving into it with your face exposed,

You might appreciate a full-face helmet more when you inevitably arse off. But perhaps that's just me.

There's one thing I did not expect to get from this thread, and that's a Zager and Evans earworm.

If that's all you got, consider yourself lucky. I got a Jennifer Sky flashback...

maybe humans will be able to do this in the year 2525, if man is still alive, if woman can survive.

There's one thing I did not expect to get from this thread, and that's a Zager and Evans earworm. Curse you! :)

Then again, maybe humans will be able to…

Oil isn't running out? I thought the fact that oil was formed in the past means that it's finite... you know, has a beginning and an end...

yes, at human time scales, petroleum is finite. new stuff will not form to replace the stuff we've used up in just over…

oil is going to run out.

nah.

Oil isn't running out? I thought the fact that oil was formed in the past means that it's finite... you know, has a beginning and an end...

but you're right, it probably is the end of the halcyon days of cheap oil -…

i wonder if they make them in pink?

oil is going to run out

nah.

living in the last days of oil

you missed an important word: CHEAP

"living in the last days of cheap oil"

so, if you've got the cash, they've got the oil.
free market, and all that. supply, demand, blah, blah, blah.

so a…

Having spent a bit of time in countries where scooters are the rule rather than the exception, the downside is inner-city air thick with two-stroke [engine emissions]...

As long as they're like your scooter then this won't be a problem. I assume you have the Vespa GT200? That's a four-stroke…