Scooter Sue finds smaller is better

ROGER MORONEY
For the past six years motorcycle enthusiast Sue Mitchell, of Hastings, cruised the urban streets and rural open roads aboard a Yamaha Dragstar 650.
That was until late April when the pursuit of better fuel economy and practicality around town prompted her to seek something smaller.
Just like a growing number of Hawke's Bay motorists, conscious of the increasing cost of petrol, she set her sights on a brand new scooter.
But while finding a new one may not be such a problem, the second-hand scooter and small bike market had dried up as people snapped them up quickly or hung on to what they had for the sake of economy.
Bay View Ericksen Honda manager Mark Ericksen said the sales boom for small road bikes started about eight months ago.
He said many older people who had not been on two wheels for many years had been buying scooters and small bikes to "run around town" on.
Cars, they said, were becoming too expensive just to run down to the shops in.
He added that the workshop side of the business had also boomed as people had begun "digging out" scooters which had been laid up in their garages for years.
"You see things like Honda Chalys on the roads now and they haven't made them for 15 years."
Craig Guy, of Twin City Suzuki in Napier, said sales of models such as the FJ50 scooter had always been solid, although he had seen an increase in sales of economical single-cylinder motorcycles such as the GN250.
Gary Friis, of Hastings Honda, said he had noticed a clear "nudge" toward small bikes and scooters over the past five months.
He added that sales would be even better if he could get enough of them.
"Second-hand stuff is so hard to get."
Scooters which bore a $700 price tag on the second-hand markets a year ago were now fetching up around $1100 as people recognised their economical attraction.
He said sales of new bike models, both 50cc and 100cc, had been solid.
It was one of the 100cc "Lead" items which caught Sue Mitchell's eye.
"It's a lot of fun, and I'm saving money," she said, adding she'd already put more than 1000km on the clock.
She and partner Paul worked out the fuel usage difference between the scooter and the 650 and reckoned she had effectively halved the cost.
"I get about 100k out of three litres ... the 650 was about five or six."
While Sue said the scooter was economical around town she was also planning to see how it rated on the open road. "I'd love to take it up to Taupo."
Nationally, motorcycle sales are continuing to rise monthly, with 758 new registrations in June - up by a third on sales for June last year.