Stares and glares: Driving through towns & cities & your experiences.

[BoltsMissing]

I have had no trouble and did not mind answering questions at first.
Funniest thing I thought was one Sunday morning at a eastern leafy suburb where they all go for coffee and cakes, dressed up as if they are going to church.
It's usually quiet and there are roundabouts at the intersections, lots of shade,BMW's, Mercs, and designer clothers.

Coffee and carrot cake costs about $9.00, not sure if it's tap water though for the coffee and I think the cake ingredients are organic flour,sugar and all the rest of it.
Anyway, I was cross-urbaning it ( cross country, cross urban, right ?) and there are some speed humps I did not have to slow down for if I had the wheels closer to the kerb and really picking up speed.

All of a sudden I was approaching the crowd sipping coffee or having bacon and eggs for breakfast, and had to slow down a bit, not much, but enough to make the engine noise disturb their next sip of tap water coffee and organic carrot cake, it was as if time stood still for a split moment, as if some alien or some sound they all at the same time tried to figure out what it was.
I get a finger pointed at me, that, "WOW, what is it ?" look.
I Just twisted the accelarator and kept going wishing I could have taken off the exahaust pipe just for that moment and shatter some wine glasses.

Now I have the motoredbikes.com sticker on the tank and if I get 20 questions I just point to the sticker and get on my way, but it may depend if I have time to take a break and talk about the bike.

The only trouble I do have is the drunken yobos on late Friday and Saturday nights. They have tried to swerve and clip my bike twice, just need to be carefull.
Some drunks have walked up to the bike while waiting at the lights. Other than that everything is well recepted.

 

[bolton75]

Every time I have taken the bike out around the neighbourhood people stare and ask questions etc. Kids love it as well. I also like it when I have taken it to work as it does not attract attention then; you can't really hear the engine above all the other traffic noise. It's nice to ride it without the attention as well.

No problems with the police but I'm only doing 25 - 30 km/hr on it. I ride about the same speed or slightly faster on my normal bicycle anyway. I don't think the police will bother with me as I'm riding it in the same manner as a normal bike.

 

[eltatertoto]

i was at the bike shop the other day, asking a question for my friend, and we were talking about his friend's whizzer and i was like hey look at this! (i keep a pic in my wallet for friends who dont know wtf im talkin about) and he was like oooooooooo cool! i might consider stocking those! bring yours down to the shop sometime!pleasnt change for me. my other shop is like the lance armstong wannabees and theyre like thats not real biking! lol, he was real cool about it that would be soooo cool, just drive off the bike path, and go to the bike shop, and get the parts for my broke bike!

 

[BoltsMissing]

cool idea eltatertoto about having a pic of a Whizzer in wallet. That way I don't have to explain myself that this motoredbike idea has been around for ages.
Since alll the people who have commented on the bikes, I would say about 3 in total have mentioned having seen or heard of the idea, AGES ago.
2 of them are from Holland, and one was a spare parts dealer who said there are bikes called Whizzers. I never knew of Whizzer till then.
It's also just as baffling, Whizzer was not mention in any old movies ( that I know of) or even in Happy Days, I am sure The Fonz would have had one stashed somewhere.
Point is, Hollywood movies did not include in the settings any indication of Whizzers or motoredbikes as part of the sets, like you often see a Volskwagon drive past or parked, ther has never been a Whizzer.
I am also surprised they ( Whizzer ) did not seem to have made a impression on Australian shores,we as kids, most of our uncles had Vespas and FJ Holdens, but nothing about bicycles with motors was ever mentioned.

 

[Large Filipino]

All I know is that the first Harley Davidson was a motoredbike thru and thru.

 

[eltatertoto]

yep!

 

[capturedbyrobots]

Usually when I ride, I keep my head down, and don't look around too much
because of all the negative comments I've gotten here in SF.
I don't want to start another argument.
MBs: I guess ya love em' or ya hate em'.

But... Yesterday, I was crossing an intersection,
and an older lady (50's or 60s) was on her bike, crossing perpendicular to me.
As I passed, she smiled SOOO wide. It made my day.

 

[Skyliner70cc]

Usually when I ride, I keep my head down, and don't look around too much
because of all the negative comments I've gotten here in SF.
I don't want to start another argument.
MBs: I guess ya love em' or ya hate em'.

But... Yesterday, I was crossing an intersection,
and an older lady (50's or 60s) was on her bike, crossing perpendicular to me.
As I passed, she smiled SOOO wide. It made my day.

SF? With so many hills in SF, you need a motorbike just to get around! Do you have to pedal at all to help your engine?

 

[Large Filipino]

They're just @#%$# off cause they have to pedal and you don't.

 

[capturedbyrobots]

SF? With so many hills in SF, you need a motorbike just to get around! Do you have to pedal at all to help your engine?

I don't have to pedal up normal SF hills.
I wouldn't even attempt the very very steep ones.
I am squeezing a lot out of that 40cc Tanaka. I worked that motor.