Bonnie's Scooter Made The Newspaper

Rising Gas Prices Have Boosted Sales of More Fuel-Efficient Motorcycles And Scooters
By STEVEN ALFORD
The Lufkin Daily News; Monday, July 14, 2008

The image of the burly, tattooed biker cruising down the freeway on a motorcycle may become a thing of the past as Americans from all walks of life embrace two-wheeled transportation.

With constantly increasing gas prices, modern day drivers are being forced to think harder about where and what they're driving. Motorcycle and scooters sales are up across the board and it's apparent that consumers are thinking with their wallets, opting for smaller, more fuel-efficient choices.

Bonnie Shows of Lufkin and her husband bought two new scooters to save on gas.
In fact, it might not be too long before the next biker seen on the freeway is your neighbor, a co-worker or even you.

Bonnie Shows, a friendly, middle-aged woman from Lufkin, had never ridden a scooter before she and her and her husband bought two new ones a week ago, but she says that it was one of the best decisions they ever made.

"We were spending almost $300 a month on gas between us," said Shows. "Now, I spend about $3.65 a week. That's to and from work, Monday through Friday, with lunch breaks."
Shows said that she pays about $10 a month in insurance and that the couple has an SUV, a camper and a jet ski "just sitting" in their backyard.

"It's too expensive to use 'em so we just park them all at the house," she said.
With almost triple the amount of miles per gallon as most cars, scooters have seen record sales in the last few years and continue to sell out faster than manufacturers can handle. Trey Cluck, head sales manager at Ross Motorsports in Lufkin, said that he has seen all kinds of people coming into his store looking for bikes.

"Gas prices are the greatest excuse for husbands to get a bike now, wives too," he said jokingly. "We've seen loads of first-time riders."

Cluck said that scooters, which don't require a motorcycle license, can get up to 90 miles a gallon on roads and are selling like crazy. Compare that to a Ford F-150 which gets 14mpg.
"We're seeing a lot of first-time riders in our store," Cluck said. "But we're also seeing a lot of people bringing in their older motorcycles in to be repaired so they can start riding them again."

As expected, all of the new riders on the roads have led to sharp rises in motorcycles accidents and deaths throughout Texas. Just last weekend, two bikes collided on a road near Sam Rayburn lake. The men were both with groups of bikers, who all collided, sending several people to the hospital and killing two.

"I was riding with those guys, we were a group from the biker church," said Cluck, brandishing cuts and road rash from the wreck. "It was crazy. Two bikes hitting head-on is unheard of."

Whatever your experience, Cluck recommends taking a motorcycle safety course, which is available at Angelina College in conjunction with the Department of Public Safety, for a little more than $150.

In fact, the courses have reported record numbers of students and continue to fill up. The waiting list to sign up in Lufkin is long and the classes are full through September, said one employee, but you don't need to take the course to get a license.

"A lot of people told me horror stories about riding a bike," said Shows while perched on her silver scooter. "But if you follow the laws and drive defensively, you'll be fine."

Shows says that she drives to work in downtown Lufkin every morning without any trouble and that the biggest problem is looking good afterwards for her job.

"It takes me about an extra 15 minutes when I get to work to fix my helmet hair," she said. "But that's a small price to pay."