Kyle's new transportation

We sold our gas hog SUV about a month ago now, then we got Kyle a bike for commuting, but we still needed a vehicle replacement that would be suitable for work on the days when he has to cover a lot of ground. There are times when Kyle has to get out of the office and visit local businesses all over the valley, we needed his vehicle to be as economical as possible.  We came up with the idea of a moped and found quite a few on Craigslist, obviously we didn't have a way of picking one up other than by bicycle so I tried to keep my search local. When that didn't come up with anything we could afford we searched surrounding areas and found a nice scooter that was relatively close but too far for us to cycle (60 miles). After emailing back and forth a few times the sellers were nice enough to deliver it for us for a little extra charge, so yesterday Kyle got his new wheels!

We picked this scooter up for about the same cost as my Yuba Mundo (it's about the same length too). It has a one gallon tank and gets 80-90 miles to the gallon, and with gas prices going up this will be a nice savings. Kyle has a friend who has a scooter too so he invited him over and they both went for a rural drive, Kyle was able to get some pointers and practice in before Monday when he returns to work.

The people that sold it to us were a very nice family and even threw in a helmet for Kyle, interestingly they we're selling it to buy a bicycle, so that was pretty cool!

Kyle is really happy with his scooter and I think he'll like it even more when summer rolls around.  Compared to last year when we both drove the SUV we are probably saving about $120-$140 in gasoline (petrol) plus another $60 a month in insurance. So that's  total of $180-$200 a month which does not include oil changes and maintenance, and trust me that vehicle was a constant source of headaches.  The scooter in comparison is only a few years old and has less than 900 miles on it, has two locking storage areas and I have to repeat- gets 80-90 miles to the gallon!

It didn't feel right to have a post without a picture of a "real" bicycle, so here's an update on Jack's little one. I peeled off most of the stickers and removed the plastic shroud, today I intend on delivering it to some friends from my local bike group who will be chopping the seat post off and putting the clamp below the top tube, rather than above it.  This will give me about a 4.5" drop which should make it about perfect for Jack's little legs. Having the bike unfinished in the spare room has been a source of tension because Jack can't get it off his mind and keeps taking me by the hand and leading me to the door of the spare room where he say's "door" and motions for me to open it. As he can't ride it yet I have to say "no" and he immediately throws himself sobbing to the ground!  Poor little guy, I feel so bad.  His birthday is just a month away now but the "terrible twos" arrived early!