Very Un-European Motorcycling Habits
Thursday, April 25th, 2019
An evening tour getting prepped, despite a drizzle.
As we continued our European travels the motorcycle scene just got stranger. Through Hungary, western Croatia, Serbia, Bulgaria, and Romania there were very few motorcycles on the streets and not even very many scooters.
This was especially puzzling because we heard repeatedly how much lower salaries are there in Eastern Europe than they are in Western Europe, such that those countries are losing population as all their young people head to Western Europe and higher salaries. Plus, gas is very expensive. Isn’t this the perfect environment to encourage scooters?
We did see some two-wheel transport, although there really weren’t even many bicycles. One thing we saw first in Budapest were these stand-up scooters that you see all over American cities now, except these had much bigger, fatter tires that, I presume, provide greater stability and the ability to absorb bumps rather than throw you off head first. These mega scooters, it turns out, seem to be almost exclusively used for tours.
Then there were the standard delivery scooters for items such as pizza. They’re all over Europe.
And then there were a bunch of what looked like standard motorcycles in front with the rear chopped off and two-wheeled delivery boxes mounted on back. Very much like those old Harley service vehicles except these were a complete mish-mash, suggesting people were just taking any old bike and converting it.
Anyway, this was all very puzzling. Where were all the motorcycles? And for Pete’s sake, where were the scooters? I mean, this is Europe!
So I asked our guide in Bucharest and he cleared it all up. It turns out that the Eastern Europeans are exceedingly status conscious. And to them, two wheels means “poor.” The Eastern Europeans are poor compared to the Western Europeans and they’re still overcoming the effects of 50 years of Communism. And they’re sensitive about this.
So they drive expensive cars they can’t afford while barely being able to put food on the table. And there is no way on this planet they’re going to be seen on a scooter, no matter how sensible that might be.
Maybe this is going to change soon. Coming into Bucharest I noticed a shiny, new, four-story glass-sided Ducati dealership. OK, nobody is going to confuse “Ducati” with “poor.” Maybe once Ducati wedges its way into the market the connection between poor and two wheels will fade. It could be interesting to go back to Bucharest in about 10 years.
Biker Quote for Today
The wheels act as gyroscopes, so the faster you go the less likely you are to fall over.
