Businessman Jeff Gregory doesn't drive his fuel-efficient Honda Civic anymore; he's found transportation that's easier on his wallet.
The marketing specialist bought his second motorized scooter in eight months Thursday, upgrading to a more powerful Vespa model that still gets 72 mpg. He lives in Charlotte but often drives a scooter to the Triangle, where most of his marketing clients are, he said.
"Do the math. I filled up (my old scooter) the other day and it was $4.58," he said.
As gas prices reach record highs in Charlotte and people look for ways to save, motorized scooters are all the rage.
N.C. registration of motor bikes with engines larger than 150 cc, which includes scooters, have been climbing, up 46 percent in five years and reaching nearly 200,000 last year, according to the Division of Motor Vehicles. Nationally, new scooter sales have been increasing steadily, particularly since gas prices spiked in the summer of 2005, according to the nonprofit Motorcycle Industry Council, an industry group based in Irvine, Calif.
Sales at Vespa of Charlotte, an area outlet dedicated to scooter sales, are up nearly fourfold from this time last year, said owner Stephen Speer. A year ago, business was up only 10 percent, he said.
Gregory -- who bought his new Vespa from Speer's shop -- gets most everywhere on a scooter. With a larger tank on his new bike, it costs about $8 to fill up. But the 250-cc engine can top 80 mph, and he can make it to Durham on one tank.
At Vespa of Charlotte on Thursday, customer traffic was brisk. The shop floor held an inventory of about 50 brightly colored bikes, representing five foreign brands. The United States doesn't produce one, Speer said. Two businessmen picked up a teal MotoFina brand scooter for their company. The green matches the official color of their business, they said.
Scooter prices at the South End shop range from about $2,000 to $8,000. The gas mileage stretches from 60 mpg to more than 100 mpg, and speed for different models ranges from 30 mph to more than 80 mph.
Scooters are characterized by their step-through design, unlike a motorcycle which requires mounting, like getting on a horse.
The upward trend in sales is tied to gas prices, said Mike Mount of the Motorcycle Industry Council. But it's also about a changing culture, he said.
Once a niche fetish of clubs romanticizing British rock culture, scooters have gained acceptance among workers and professionals who live near their jobs. They want quick, dependable, fuel-efficient transportation that's easily secured with a bike chain.
"Scooters are an easy entree into the world of two-wheeling," Mount said. "They're possibly a little less intimidating than a motorcycle."
Scooters are not for everyone: You can't carry a family on one and when it rains or snows, it might not be as much fun. And they are easily stolen, if not secured to a sturdy pole.
"Two strong guys can pick one up with a locked steering wheel and carry it away," said Shelby Kennard, a scooter technician who works at Vespa of Charlotte.
That concern has led Speer and others to push the city to install more anchors and designate more parking spots for scooters around the city, Speer said.
Scooters also have found a niche because they're small enough to park anywhere, usually for free, said Deanna VanTassel, a food server at Ratcliffe on the Green in uptown. She chains her Vespa, dark blue and only a month old, to an iron pole near the curb outside her work on South Tryon Street. She can watch it through the front window. Her last one was stolen.
She drives to work in 12 minutes. Her less powerful model tops out at 30 mph but gets 100 mpg, she said." If you're running to the grocery store or to a friend's, it's so much easier than getting into a car," said VanTassel, who also owns a Mazda Miata car. "More condominiums are going up and people want to live where they work."
Pain at the pump
Gas prices reached a new national high Thursday at $3.445 a gallon, according to a survey of stations by AAA and the Oil Price Information Service. Charlotte-area prices also hit a new record at $3.401 a gallon Thursday, according to AAA. A year ago, Charlotte's average was $2.838.
