KymcoForum.com
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Iahawk on June 25, 2025, 02:50:16 PM
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Spending a few days in Southern California for my youngest daughter’s dance competition..Long Beach. Palm trees, gorgeous weather and scenery, a block away from the ocean. One thing that I was surprised by was the almost complete lack of gas powered scooters. Until I spotted 1 this morning (commuting at 6:30 AM and lane splitting/ filtering). Other than that…zero scooters spotted. A few motorcycles but lots and lots of bicycles and especially E bikes. The E bikes are everywhere, along with lots of the stand up electric scooters that you rent.
I thought for sure I’d see our type of scooter here…but no. I wonder if the E bikes are the new sweet spot for urban commuting?
(edit- along with lack of scoots is almost complete lack of giant 4 door full sized pickup trucks)
Would attach pics but don’t have laptop and files are too big from phone.
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They seem to be few and far between here in Syracuse also. Same thing though, the new E bikes are everywhere and most of the riders don't follow any traffic rules or laws.
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e-bikes, no registration no fuel tax
and the freedom from over regulation so far
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I did notice the E bikes rode close to the curb and did not seem to stop for red lights like the cars did.
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I did notice the E bikes rode close to the curb and did not seem to stop for red lights like the cars did.
Wife and daughter flying back in tonight. They've been vacationing in LA for 10 days ---- AND they complained that it is too cool to use the pool at their condo!
Meanwhile the pup and I are enjoying days of heat advisories here in Ohio!
Wife said my daughter never stopped smiling out there. Thinking of moving to SoCal.. I wouldn't blame her for wanting to get out of this one-horse town....and this state. Her hospital job would be easily transferred. 58 yrs ago I bugged out of a little town in Mass to see the Big Sur. Never looked back!
Don't see any scooters down there on Hlwd. Blvd.
(https://i.postimg.cc/x1pB5Pfm/Screenshot-20250626-175539-Messages.jpg)
B. Pitt's new FI movie opening at the Chinese Theatre tomorrow?
(https://i.postimg.cc/br7Xj7Nk/Screenshot-20250626-174826-Messagescc.jpg)
I was in Frisco' and LA in 1967, and Frisco' again in '73.
Stig
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the pictures posted are parts of California I have no interest in visiting, I would like to add CA to my states visited map, take a peek at a couple tall & fat trees and cross the Golden Gate Bridge
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Wife and daughter flying back in tonight. They've been vacationing in LA for 10 days ---- AND they complained that it is too cool to use the pool at their condo!
Meanwhile the pup and I are enjoying days of heat advisories here in Ohio!
Stig
"Too cool"?! In CAL? Whatever happened to global warming? It's been lovely, even here in the UK!
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my girls didn't swim in our outdoor hotel pool, either. Highs ranged from 68 to 75 each day with cloudy mornings and sunny afternoons. There was also a steady breeze blowing off the ocean which I thought was wonderful but would have made it a little chilly if you were wet.
Never too hot and never too cold...would seem like perfect scooter riding weather to me!
We (oldest daughter and me) came back home to Iowa Wed night and about choked when we got off the plane...the high temp and even higher humidity was even more noticeable after being out in dry California!
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"Too cool"?! In CAL? Whatever happened to global warming? It's been lovely, even here in the UK!
I lived in San Diego for 3 1/2 years in the late 80s. My Fiancee (Now wife) came out to visit a couple of months after I moved there. She was shocked that I had no air conditioning and she was coming out in June. She ended up wearing a sweater most of the time. San Diego had nearly perfect riding weather. Typical summer highs were in the high 70 or low 80s as long as you lived reasonably close to the coast. On a typical ride It would be nice and cool leaving my place. Going inland it would get warmer but before long I would be in the mountains where it was nice and cool again. Some of the roads in San Diego county got over 6000 feet in elevation. Sometimes we would continue through the mountains into the desert. In the summer that meant 100+ degrees but at least it was a dry heat! We generally didn't do that but in the winter when it would be cold and sometimes snowed in the mountains it would be warmer in the desert.
Last year I rode Northern California and Oregon in August. Along the coast the temperatures were in the 50s and 60s. Inland the temperatures varied from the 40s to the 90s on our ride.
As for scenery, California is one of the most beautiful states in the USA. Of course there are some ugly parts as well.
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Keep in mind... It's California. Electric powered vehicles are the major push out there. Anything gas powered is being looked down on more and more even though most on the roads are gas powered. ICE is a dying species in that state.
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I have to admit that I'm on the verge of swapping my 15-yr old Kymco for an e-scooter. They're fast, cheap, and easy to maintain. Some of the new Chinese models are REALLY REALLY fast! They only problem with e-machines is they catch fire and burn the house down.
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I can definitely see the appeal of the e-bikes, other than catching on fire, but even then..travel with marshmallows and a stick...+
No licensing on the lower power ones, adequate range for running around town a bit, low maintenance, & those who are interested in such things can easily tweak 'em.
Illegal to do that of course, but hard to catch if you're half smart about it, though I've seen a few articles noting that some European countries are finding ways to curb that.
For my use case though, the range is generally too short, so not yet for me.
I have to admit that I'm on the verge of swapping my 15-yr old Kymco for an e-scooter. They're fast, cheap, and easy to maintain. Some of the new Chinese models are REALLY REALLY fast! They only problem with e-machines is they catch fire and burn the house down.