Three-Wheeled Scooters and the Scoop Behind ‘No Motorcycles’
The latest for the tourist set: Three-wheeled scooters.
We went down to Myrtle Beach, as I mentioned before, and I did ask the property manager why motorcycles are expressly forbidden at this condominium where we stayed. She was very nice, I was not confrontational, and she was not defensive. I just asked why.
They have to go with whatever the homeowner’s association, or HOA, says, and “I think it’s the noise factor or something like that.”
I mentioned that I have three bikes and none of them are any louder than a car. She responded, “Well, they have to go with regardless of what kind of bike it is, if they’re not going to allow one type of bike they can’t allow a different with the association rules.”
(I’ll make note that I was recording this whole conversation. I love my little digital recorder. It’s small, discreet, and has incredible sound quality. And if her answers are kind of choppy, that’s because they’re verbatim and people do talk that way.)
She said there are a lot of condos that do not allow bikes at all, while others allow them only in their overflow parking lots. This is an issue for the property management company she works for because, “We have three bike weeks a year and we can’t rent to them because they can’t bring their bikes there. And a lot of these bikes are 30 and 40 thousand dollar bikes, they don’t want to put them in an overflow that’s not monitored or whatever, but unfortunately . . . Now, your hotels and resorts, because they make their own rules, they allow them but the condominium associations, they go with whatever the HOA . . . whatever they want. A lot of them say no trailers, no boats, and a lot of people would like to bring their little Sea-doos and things like that when they come down and they have to find a safe place where they can park them.”
Their loss is someone else’s gain, however.
“We have the different storage companies, where they have the buildings and stuff . . . they make a killing during bike week because people will rent out one for that week, they can store them out there, and they can enjoy them while they’re here, and they can store them while they’re here, they just can’t park them outside, and they’re probably safer. Because during the bike weeks it’s unbelievable how many bikes get lifted. You’ll see where people have come in trucks–big trucks–and just load them up.”
So that’s the scoop. Now, those condo owners are within their rights saying no bikes. But we’re within ours saying fine, we don’t want to rent from you even when we aren’t in town on our motorcycles. I estimate that along that long stretch of beach, what they call the Grand Strand, there must be at least 5,000 hotels, motels, condos, and whatever that you can stay at. There’s just no reason to give your money to people who don’t want us. Check before you make your reservation, presuming you’re ever going to Myrtle Beach.
Meanwhile, as to that photo above, this seems to be the new thing for the tourist, non-biker set: three-wheeled scooters. I can understand how a lot of people are leery of riding even a scooter but would feel safer on three wheels. What I have to assume, however, is that these little 49cc no-license-necessary scoots are total dogs with the power loss they must incur from that change in the drivetrain. It’s not as if a 49cc scooter was going to be super hot in the first place. But hey, you never know when someone is going to try it out, like it, and get all enthused and go buy a motorcycle. If this gets them over the hump, good deal.
Biker Quote for Today
Some people will tell you that slow is good, and it may be on some days, but I am here to tell you that fast is better… Being shot out of a cannon will always be better than being squeezed out of a tube. That is why God made fast motorcycles, Bubba…. — Hunter S Thompson
Tags: loud motorcycles
