Wife is on a Scooter

[misterprofessionality]

I'm just so darn proud. I got her on a scooter rental finally, after spending about 6 months teaching her to ride a bicycle properly. she kept the bike up, learned to pull away and stop reliably, and learned some turns by looping around culdesacs and taking apex rights and lefts at intersections.

I also got stung by a wasp while following her on my own scooter. good times.

Point being, the lady can now pilot a two-wheeled vehicle in the most basic sense. We're debating getting her her own cheap chinese 50cc that she can ride into the ground before the new Super Cub hits dealerships, but i can see the spark is lit. she's already got "engine eyes" and keeps pulling up information on a Vespa GT250. She's not quite ready to learn transmissions yet, but that's why I want her to get a Super Cub, so she can shift without having to manage a clutch. Am I making a mistake keeping her away from transmissions for a while?

[redbirds_imp]

Sounds like she's starting out right.
A friend made the mistake of starting his wife out by teaching her to ride his 1100cc cruiser. It did not go well.

[misterprofessionality]

Sounds like she's starting out right.
A friend made the mistake of starting his wife out by teaching her to ride his 1100cc cruiser. It did not go well.

You never know. some of us have wives with frighteningly powerful legs.

[KiowaEagle_imp]

I'm just so darn proud. I got her on a scooter rental finally, after spending about 6 months teaching her to ride a bicycle properly. she kept the bike up, learned to pull away and stop reliably, and learned some turns by looping around culdesacs and taking apex rights and lefts at intersections.

I also got stung by a wasp while following her on my own scooter. good times.

Point being, the lady can now pilot a two-wheeled vehicle in the most basic sense. We're debating getting her her own cheap chinese 50cc that she can ride into the ground before the new Super Cub hits dealerships, but i can see the spark is lit. she's already got "engine eyes" and keeps pulling up information on a Vespa GT250. She's not quite ready to learn transmissions yet, but that's why I want her to get a Super Cub, so she can shift without having to manage a clutch. Am I making a mistake keeping her away from transmissions for a while?

Yes, if you teach her with a clutch it will be harder but in the end better for her because it will be much more natural.

I taught my daughter how to drive a car with a manual transmission. She may not always drive a manual but she'll never forget how to.

[PowerDubs_imp]

How old is she? Can she drive a stick?

[misterprofessionality]

How old is she? Can she drive a stick?

she's 30. Sadly, we've got no opportunity to teach her how to drive a manual car. You can't rent them, and we don't exactly have a social circle full of people with manual cars who would let her borrow one. Without the car to drive, there's just no way for her to learn that. I can, so I could teach her if I had the vehicle, but there's just no opportunity. This is actually kind of tragic because she really wants to see if she likes driving a manual Mini (Minis are really meant to be driven manual, and she's got an Automatic now).

I'm just so darn proud. I got her on a scooter rental finally, after spending about 6 months teaching her to ride a bicycle properly. she kept the bike up, learned to pull away and stop reliably, and learned some turns by looping around culdesacs and taking apex rights and lefts at intersections.

I also got stung by a wasp while following her on my own scooter. good times.

Point being, the lady can now pilot a two-wheeled vehicle in the most basic sense. We're debating getting her her own cheap chinese 50cc that she can ride into the ground before the new Super Cub hits dealerships, but i can see the spark is lit. she's already got "engine eyes" and keeps pulling up information on a Vespa GT250. She's not quite ready to learn transmissions yet, but that's why I want her to get a Super Cub, so she can shift without having to manage a clutch. Am I making a mistake keeping her away from transmissions for a while?

Yes, if you teach her with a clutch it will be harder but in the end better for her because it will be much more natural.

I taught my daughter how to drive a car with a manual transmission. She may not always drive a manual but she'll never forget how to.

my fear is that there's too big a difference between learning a bike and learning a car to give her so much to worry about. a car isn't going to fall over on its side while you're distracted with learning how to work the clutch. on top of that, like i said in the OP, she only just learned how to ride a bicycle this year. she'd never ridden one as a child. it might be hard to imagine, but think about how your perception of balance would change if you had never ever learned to ride a bicycle. learning how to ride a motorcycle suddenly becomes much more complicated. I watched this poor girl fall off a ruckus the first time she tried it, and i didn't even think that was possible for an adult. My theory is that once her sense of balance and throttle control are at the place where they're fully natural and engaged, she can start fiddling with her left foot and left hand.

[emptysea]

Full disclosure - I have not read every word of this thread.

Wouldn't having her take the MSF course put her on a bike that she would have to shift? Also, is it possible for her to get her M designation on a scooter and wouldn't she need the M to ride a scooter over 150cc in your state ?

[misterprofessionality]

MSF courses around here are outrageously expensive, and they would put her on a bike that is, by her assessment, too big for her. she's aiming at something like a Super Cub or a little Vespa, not a Rebel or a TU250. She might eventually look that way once she's had a chance to ride a while, but for now she's walled it off in her mind. She's looked at the Vespa 250, but it's really more of a gag than an actual desire to buy one. basically, she's still scared of "real" motorcycles. I figure, i'd rather her play in her comfort zone than try to shove her into something she's unsure about. it would be a tragedy for me to put out this little kindle of desire to learn riding, just because I want her to jump in with both feet.

an MSF course might be more appropriate if she showed an interest in "real" motorcycles.

As far as the M goes, laughably, she can actually ride a 50CC scooter to the road test and use it, and they will let her. stupid, i know. that said, i don't think there's a great deal of difference between brining a 50 and bringing something like a super cub to the exam, and she doesn't need any of that at all if she decides to stick with a 50.

[Houtman_imp]

When I was 16 in Holland I bought a 49 cc Honda Cub and this moped started my long life love for motorcycles and in particular the quality of Honda motor cycles.

[riggies_imp]

Dirt bike. As someone who grew up riding bmx and dirt bikes, I can’t even comprehend not knowing how to ride a bicycle, but if I wanted to learn I’d do it on a dirt bike. On the dirt. Away from traffic.