trying to learn to ride my new scooter on my own!!

[djchelle]

hya everyone.. my names chelle and two weeks ago i did a very impulsive crazy thing somthing i never usually do.. after hearing u cud ride a 50cc without doing a cbt..i started looking for a little scooter..i came across a 1986 vespa douglas small frame way outa my price bracket.. my daughter n son in law were sat with me and i said thats what id really like and it was first registerd in the year when i was starting hanging a round with the scooter boys and fell in love with the whole scene!! well they talked me into buying it.. even lending me the £s i was short and my sonin law promised to teach me to ride it!!! well to cut a long story short ive now had my scooter home and insured for 3 wks and no lessons have been forthcomig!! so ive started to teach myself.. mad or what.. ive read the manual watched u tube vids on how to ride a scooter..ive got the setting off down too a T.. and how to stop..but am losing my confidence as i start gathering speed ready to change up to 2nd gear...i know what i need too do.. but everything is seperate in my mind instead of a fluid movent..has anyone got any tips too help me move on from the 1st gear stage and build my confidence... because im starting too lose sight of my goal-to ride my scooter daily n enjoy it..n im close to quitting n selling it...please help??? if u can?? thanx cheller xx

[sbwnik]

Go for it.... It's not going to be that quick, you'll probably be faster walking!

Where are you? There's probably someone on here that can give you a hand with it? We've all been in that situation, my first ride involved hitting a wall

[kru251]

We had a new chap come out on one of our mid week scooter evening rides recently. Bought himself an slightly battered automatic Vespa ET4 (T & G) to get started; luckily it was not a new one. Goes well enough but after a quick pub stop-off he managed to get it to climb a low wall after a sort of "roll off stand wheelie" and "BANG". That was the top box knocked off! It actually looks better that way!

If teaching yourself some wide open spaces with tarmac can be useful. Old airfield in New Forest etc was good for me many years ago. Not sure where you are but I would advocate some sort of basic training after you master the riding, going, stopping basics as they can advise how to stay alive!!!!!

[blacksheep]

I firstly need to say, I've never ridden a scooter, I do however ride a motorcycle, I don't know if its the same but I was taught to do things one bit at a time until I got the hang of it.

close throttle
pull clutch
gear
release clutch
roll on the throttle

[Lucia]

Just do a CBT - it's only one day

[blacksheep]

I would second Lucia's suggestion.

I had my motorbike for a week before I did my CBT and it was very tempting to hop on it and have a pootle round the grounds of our flat since it was a private road and so legal to do so.

I'm glad I didn't as I'd probably have been tempted to just nip round the corner etc.

on your CBT you get taught how to ride on the road safely, half of it is about bike control (useful for manoeuvring) the other half is how to avoid getting splatted.

the advantage of a 50cc and not needing the CBT is that you won't need to re-take it every two years once you've got going.

may also be cheaper as you're using your own scoot.

[jakeh333]

i did a CBT on a 50cc automatic twist and go, i then bought a px 125, a friend of mine came on his vespa and we went out for a ride at about 8pm at night which was great because nobody was about!, after a 2 hour ride and then riding to work and taking it steady the confidence grew! now i dont really even think about it , after about 20-40 miles it becomes second nature.