The Prodigal Scoot

Like most two-wheel enthusiasts, i first learned to ride on a scooter. It was my cousin's Honda dio 50cc two stroker. In those days, you can only ride an underbone if you're: a. Mikee Cojuangco b. wearing a turban. I was responsible for retiring two reliable workhorses, Yamaha Target 90cc and Hyosung EZ 100, before i got myself tangled in the corporate mess. It wasn't appropriate to ride a motorbike in your business attire....or so i thought.

Having a career(yeah, right!) and starting a family needed private transportation. My first few months as a cager were such an ordeal because my cognitive abilities weren't meant for three wheels and above. After a while i was able to drive like a human being but gas price hikes, terrible traffic conditions, ridiculous parking fees and early mid-life crisis prompted me to become what others call a re-entry rider. Naturally, a scooter was the top of mind and i opted for for a higher displacement(150cc) to compensate for the lack of "oomph" that four strokers now offer. Sure, many scooter brands in the market today have 150cc variants but most have already evolved the nature of scoot riding from utility to sporty. Thus, having tiny(or none at all) floor boards. I needed a large floor space to accommodate my laptop bag and my (ahem!) size 11 feet.

And so i went for design and comfort rather than reliability and quality. Now, my 8 month old Ultima Whistler 150cc scoot idles like an 8 year old. It consumes gas like there's a leak(maybe there is) in the fuel system. It consumes flyballs as well(i'm on my 4th set now). You can run it to 80kph if you're lucky and riding it in the rain will give you all sorts of problems. I guess that's how it is if you patronage china made products. Cant blame the guys in the assembly line though. Its difficult to do a good job when your supervisor motivates you with a whip. Atleast i get enough acceleration to overtake smoke belching jeepneys. Because it is heavier that your average pantra (including the side car), it's quite stable at high speeds. It holds it place even when a ten-wheeler passes you by. Spare parts are also cheap and are available everywhere. But servicing should only be done by the dealer's mechanic. I brought it to a different mechanic once and he just gave me a can of gasoline and some matches.