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| photos by | Steven Hertzog |
Put-put-put. Bzzzzzz. Pilbt-pilbt.
Chip Davis rides his ‘Creamsicle’ down a rural road near Stull
The hum of scooters and mopeds is almost as much a part of the soundscape of Lawrence as the tolling of the Campanile and the whoosh of the steam whistle. Of course, many KU students cruise to class on scooters, but Lawrence townies enjoy commuting to work and zooming around for errands just as much.
Dylan Medina works in his LF Scooter shop
Kij Johnson, Chip Davis and Beth Whittaker ride their scooters year-round for work and play. And relatively new on the local scene, the LF Scooter store sells scooters and accessories, and repairs all makes and models of scooters.
Before we go any further, though, we need to answer the pressing question: Is it called a moped or a scooter? A moped, short for motor-pedal, is generally defined as a motorized bike equipped with pedals to start the motor. Mopeds are less common in the United States. A scooter, more specifically for our purposes here, a motor scooter (as opposed to the kids’ Razor-style, foot-propelled scooters), is a two-wheel vehicle that has a platform for feet and an engine for propulsion, ranging from 50 cubic capacity (cc) to 250cc.
To further confuse things, leave it to the state of Kansas to have its own definitions of the words for licensing drivers. In Kansas, a moped is any vehicle with or without pedals that has a motor and travels at a maximum speed of 30 miles per hour (mph). Anyone with a valid driver’s license can operate a moped, no motorcycle test or license required. A scooter in Kansas is anything between a moped and an engine up to 5 horsepower (hp), and scooter drivers must have a valid motorcycle license to operate one.
Dylan Medina opened LF Scooter Sales & Service in September 2018. The “LF” stands for what you think it stands for—the same “LF” in the abbreviation LFK: Lawrence F*cking Kansas. Already the store has built a loyal following, and scooter aficionados appreciate having Medina as a resource for all their scooter needs and wants. LF Scooter services all scooters, from minor repairs to complete rebuilds and restorations of vintage scooters. The store also sells used scooters and brand-new Bintelli and Icebear scooters, which generally retail for between $1,000 and $2,000, Medina says.
He became interested in scooters in the early 2000s when he was stationed for the Air Force at the Presidio of Monterey, in California, and he and a friend rented vintage mopeds for a weekend tour of Monterey Bay. Medina has ridden scooters “anywhere I go” in multiple states and even Bangkok, Thailand. He moved to Lawrence 10 years ago, and his brother lives here, so they rode mopeds together and joined a local riding group called Cold Trailers moped club, which still rides together.
LF Scooter opened as a repair shop that sold used scooters, Medina says. Because there is no local source for new scooters, he researched lower-priced brands that he could sell new hoping to attract both locals and students as customers.
“The majority of students want a scooter that is a fairly low price to use for three to four years while they’re here. Also, the majority of the other customers who have a short commute to work or to run local errands want to ride them a few hundred miles per year,” he explains.
Kij Johnson rides her Kymco People 150 through an alley east of Mass St
Happy Days
There is a reason Kij Johnson has a sticker on her scooter that says: “This machine conquers sadness.”
“Every time I get on that scooter, I feel better. It cheers me up. It’s like going out and playing,” she says.
Although she also owns a car, Johnson, an associate professor of English at the University of Kansas (KU) and a science fiction author, rides her scooter everywhere she goes in Lawrence. Her Kymco People 150 has 17,000 miles on it. She has mastered carrying a week’s worth of groceries stacked on the foot platform, so cargo space isn’t an issue for her, pretty much no matter what she buys—even a 4-foot-tall stuffed monkey.
“I ride pretty much anywhere in town. I take the back streets because it’s more fun anyway—it’s more fun to go 30 [mph]on a scooter than to go 50,” she says.
It’s hard to argue with the economic aspects of the scooter. Johnson says she gets about 70 miles to the gallon, and in the 10 years she has owned it, she has spent only $250 on it, apart from gas. Her taxes and insurance run less than $250 per year.
When she needs a mood booster, Johnson has some favorite routes through town to tour, especially through older parts of Lawrence and neighborhoods with big trees.
“Something about a scooter makes you look in the backs of things,” she says.
Johnson likes to go behind stores and through empty parking lots. “I see all kinds of cool things. You’re going 20, and you stop and take a picture with your phone,” she says.
Being in the open air and able to see the sky while she rides are part of the appeal, she says. There is no windshield to obscure the view. The downside?
“Taking a bug in the face. It hits like somebody’s shooting you with a pea shooter—it hurts!” she says.
Chip Davis poses with his ‘Creamsicle’ by the side of the road in Stull
Cruising the Countryside
Chip Davis loves his orange Bintelli scooter called Creamsicle, which is easily identifiable by the custom white decal on the side; and he refers to himself as the “town crier of scooters” in Lawrence.
Davis goes on long rides on his scooter as often as he can, leaving town to travel around the countryside to Stull and around Clinton Lake.
“It’s therapeutic after you’ve had a long, stressful day. Just going for a ride in the evening is perfect. When I go in the backcountry, the thing I love most is the smells,” he says.
Davis has physical disabilities and ongoing health issues from an accident in 2007. Being on the scooter is relaxing and “puts me in a better frame of mind,” he says.
He has had three different scooters, and he says he took his previous scooter to Medina for repairs and advice. “I like his honesty.”
Davis enjoys having an orange scooter, because he knows he stands out in a crowd, much like his magnetic personality. Also, he likes Creamsicle, which he bought from Medina, because he thinks the bright flash of orange makes him more visible to cars.
“It’s comfortable; it has a back rest so I can stretch out. It also has a charger for my phone, with a built-in USB port,” he explains.
His only regret about Creamsicle is that he doesn’t have a sidecar for his dog, Kc, to come along for rides.
“The scooter gives you a sense of freedom. In the pandemic, for the sake of people’s mental health, think about getting a scooter,” he says. Town crier of scooters, indeed.
Beth Whitaker sits on her green Honda Metropolitan scooter in front of Strong Hall
Practical Magic
Beth Whittaker’s scooter, a green Honda Metropolitan, has been a loyal companion for about the past five years, and she says riding it is something she dreamed about since she was a student at KU in the ’80s. She rides it to work as often as she can—she is the director of KU’s Spencer Research Library—and takes it for errands.
“The nice thing about it is that it gets like 80 miles per gallon, so I don’t feel like I need to be concerned about the number of errands I’m doing or gas consumption. It’s so much fun that running errands is enjoyable, and parking is never a problem,” she says.
Whittaker mostly prefers to stay east of Iowa Street, she says, and she tries to stay off the busiest streets, mapping routes that take her sometimes roundabout ways to her destinations.
“The first time I was driving on a road, and I got the ‘motorcycle wave,’ I had no idea what that was. When I realized it was a greeting, I was so excited. I thought, ‘I’ve made it!’ ” she says.
The only negative to riding the scooter for Whittaker is that she says it climbs Mount Oread rather slowly when driving to work.
“Otherwise, it has been exactly everything I dreamed and hoped for. When I first started riding, I said, ‘Why didn’t I do this years and years ago?’ ” she exclaims.
This fall, Whittaker has added a speedier, more powerful Vespa to her garage alongside the Honda. Her children are older now, and the Vespa allows her to transport a passenger.
Although she bought the used Vespa elsewhere, Whittaker shopped with Medina at LF Scooter to upgrade her helmet and personal safety gear for the bigger scooter.
Sometimes, she still needs to drive one of the family cars if, for instance, she is taking both children somewhere or requires more cargo space. But she is happiest on the scooter.
“People smile at me at stoplights and say things like, ‘Great scooter!’ That makes me want to ride it more. I will ride it whenever I can,” she says.
Article Updated 2020-12-21
