My Two Wheeled Riding experience

My parents would be turning in their graves, that is if hey had not been cremated, knowing I was now riding a vehicle, which would, without any forward motion, topple over. I say this due to my history with bicycles being not the best from the day I first learnt to ride one at the age of 5. It was on that day I broke my two arms and split my head open after using a bus shelter at the bottom of a steep hill as my method of coming to a stop.

A couple of more accidents, which thankfully caused less serious results, had my parents banning me from hopping onto any vehicle with less than 3 wheels. I wasn’t accident prone but, instead, an accident waiting to happen. Thankfully, touch wood, those days are now long gone but one can never be too careful.

 Motorised two wheeled history.

I purchased my first scooter, a little 50cc putt putt, in 2008 however, this was not my original entry into two wheel motorised transportation.  The first being a push bike with a 200 watt electric motor attached. One, by reading, this will very quickly learn I have a habit of naming different items. This particular bike I named "Canardly" for as it can roll down a hill but canardly get back up again. This bike would reach a maximum speed of 28 kph on the flat. While I thought I would like to become a little fitter, it still required more leg work than I liked so, having paid $550 for it, I sold it 6months later for $720.

At that time I bought my first scooter I nicknamed “Ugly” for a very good reason. The most surprising thing about this Vmoto Scooter was the number I have seen with the exact same colour scheme. Honestly, who ever put those three colours together should either have their eyes or sanity checked out. That individual should never be placed in a decision making position again. In retrospect, instead of that "Ugly" nickname, I should have called it "Ugly Ugly Ugly" just to accentuate the fact. Okay, as long as I closed my eyes so I never had to feel nauseous looking at the colour scheme, it was great fun to ride until I got on the main byways of Perth.

I found every other road user either passing me by at very close quarters or blasting their horn while calling out ""get off the road you mug"," this scooter quickly had to go. When I say "go" I mean for it to be no longer mine. I sold Ugly to a lady who surprisingly didn't say anything about it being hideous to look at. Profit of $200 thanks very much.

It was time to buy a new scooter and as it was going to be pushed forward by a 125 cc motor I had to obtain my Motorcycle licence which was gained after a few lessons. The Adly Cougar sat there on the show room floor and appeared to be jumping up at me calling out "Pick me, Pick me" so how could I refuse? Great looks and best of all it was red so instantly I knew it would go faster which it did but not fast enough. Great for normal suburban riding but, without a downhill slope and the wind at your back, it really struggled to reach, let alone, sit on 100 kph on the freeways and highways. Twelve months later, it just had to be replaced.

Then, along came "The Brute"

Okay, I know you are asking the question "how can an aussie bloke call a 250 cc scooter The Brute"? When you look back at the last three rides I had may be you could well understand. Prior to purchasing the Sym, or is it a Bolwell, Firenze, I had wisely viewed many reviews on a number of different makes and models and I didn't need to be Einstein to realise this was the make and model for me although I was yet to go window shopping for one. I found, during my research very few, if any, negatives about this scooter, and I am now, a very proud owner of my Firenze. 

It has not let me down, starts first time every time and have found it to be comfortable enough to ride for many hours without a break. The manufacturers have even allowed for the mirrors to swivel in to enable the scooter to be wheeled through narrow openings such as my side gate. If I have one complaint, it would be the lack of any clip by which you can safely attach a helmet to when parked.

I purchased the Firenze for $3,500 less the trade in on the Adly Cougar of $1,000 leaving me a modest $2,500 to be paid with the Firenze only having 3,200 kilometres on the clock. A GREAT DEAL!