Bob and Nancy Leathers were on holiday on the Greek island of Santorini when the fancy took hold.
They had seen people zipping around on scooters during their travels before, but only as tourists observing what seemed to be a European phenomenon.
Now, here they were — zipping around on them too. Into town, out for dinner, from village to village.
“We had so much fun,” Nancy said.
When they got back to Decatur, Ga., Nancy Leathers became yet another American in love with the two-wheeled, low-powered vehicles.
The proof, said Robert Pandya, a spokesman for the Cycle World International Motorcycle Shows, is in the numbers.
Scooter sales in the United States grew more than 17 percent, to 56,900, from 2004 to 2005, said Pandya. Add to those numbers lower-end bikes from China — which are not reflected in that total — and the numbers double.
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In demand
Fran Ramsey, general manager of Moto Bravo in Atlanta, said it has been hard to keep up with the demand.
“A lot of times we run out, and the showroom is empty until we can get more,” Ramsey said.
While gas prices are falling at the moment, Sher said, people are still buying “because they’re afraid it’s going to go up again.”
Within days of returning from Greece, Bob Leathers began searching for a scooter for his wife. It would be a present for her 61st birthday.
He found it at Scooter Steve not far from their home: a red and silver Urban Sporty 150.
Nancy Leathers avoids rush-hour traffic but rides her scooter all over their neighborhood: to the library, her garden club meetings, to take their son to the bus stop.
“This is fun,” she said. “I’m surprised they’re not more popular.”
Transportation accessory
In the United States, scooters are not limited to college campuses and the courier business, as they once were.
As cities become more congested and gas prices rise, scooters are becoming a transportation accessory that for many people supplements their cars, especially when the weather’s nice and the distance is short.
Two things, Pandya said, draw people to scooters: pragmatism and fun.
They’re known for low cost, high gas mileage, being easy to park and easy to ride. And they’re just a lot of fun and fashionable.
Scooters come in all shapes and sizes. The ones with smaller engines — around 50 cubic centimeters — can cost as little as $1,500 and typically get 50 to 120 miles to the gallon.
But the biggest sales boom is in middle-weight machines, Pandya said, which are highway legal and still deliver around 50 miles to the gallon. The prices range from $4,800 to $7,000.
Mark Etheredge, 41, bought his first scooter six years ago.
“My parents would not allow it when I was growing up,” he said. “So the year I turned 35, I started looking.
“It wasn’t exactly a midlife crisis, just something I always wanted to do,” he said.
It was hard to even find a scooter in Atlanta, but he eventually bought a 1979 Vespa. Since then, he has bought two more.
For his daily travels to work and elsewhere, Etheredge — a member of Imperial Scooter Club and of Scootlanta — uses his 2004 model.
“Unless there is an absolute downpour or I need to haul something,” he said, “my car may sit in my driveway for weeks at a time. I ride my scooter year-round.”
Just for fun, he also bought a 1953 collector’s item, just like the one Audrey Hepburn rode in “Roman Holiday.”
“It’s my parade scooter,” he said. “It’s a showpiece.”
He also thinks scooters are a great vehicle for meeting people.
“It’s a community,” he said.
Nancy Leathers, a retired registered nurse, said she worried about the safety of her new vehicle at first and wondered if she wanted to risk her life.
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She took a three-day riding course and a few weeks ago got her license to drive. She says her scooter is a great way to stay young and keep up with daughter Laura and her thirtysomething friends.
“I can do anything they can do,” Leathers said.