2008 Comes to an end...

I was just sitting here, looking at the past season's blog, thinking about the year as a whole, and also contemplating what 2009 could bring.

Talks of adding more scooters to the fleet are in progress.
Wondering what the economy will do to my fragile little business.
Thinking about having a National Scooter Rally organized around Estes Park next fall.
And stewing over the fact that I can't make my little scooter zip across a web page yet via FLASH. (so much to learn...)

One thing I do want to say tho, is THANK YOU ESTES PARK! I can't tell you how many times I have been given a break on a meal, tabs on gasoline, not been charged a late fee for something, been helped by a local, or, have had other businesses and locals recommend my scooters.
Oh... you guys...*sniff sniff* you guys are the best!
There's nothing better to restore your faith in humanity, than to have a town, in general, support what you are doing.

..if only I could figure out how to live up there in the winter time... I'd just stay. One day... However, I should say that the job situation where I am isn't much better than up in Estes. Things are tough all over, as everyone knows.

In the past, if I handed out 2 or 3 resumes, I would get 2 or 3 call backs. In the last 2 months, I have handed out over 40 applications and resumes, and have gotten 3 call backs. I took all 3 jobs, and still didn't piece together full time hours.

And I will wade thru it until May, and hope that things won't be horrible this summer.

As usual, I will be optimistic, knowing that I am providing a super cool thing to the area, and people will be back!!

So hey!! Happy Holidays.. Happy New Year!!

5 more months until I open again for another season. #4! #4! #4!

New Website Action! (click here to see it)

It's not perfect yet... and it may never be... but the new ZootScoot Scooter Rental llc website is up and running.
Some new features: THE ABILITY TO TAKE RESERVATIONS ON LINE!!!!!!!!!! Also, purchasing GIFT CERTIFICATES is an option (GIVE THE GIFT OF SCOOTING) , a page on information about riding in Rocky Mountain National Park, and this site is chock full of fotoz!
Over the next few months, I'll be fine tuning it with spell check, some flash animation, and maybe some addition info I may have forgotten about, but check it out now!

This is only my second attempt at building a site, and I submerged myself into the task of it. A whole week with a couple entire days devoted to the completion of it... really, I was obsessed with it.

If you are a previous renter, and think I may have forgotten some helpful information, please let me know!!!

Go on.. Make a reservation today!!

CLOSED FOR THE WINTER

See ya MAY 1st 2009

...aaannd now it's WINTER!

33F, with 90% chance of rain/snow.

Suppose to be a bit of a warm up for next weekend, and I'm planning that to be my last weekend of business.

BRING GLOVES!

Yesterday I had 3 couples go out. One didn't not bring gloves, and rode around for 3.5 hours! One guy had a hard time signing his name because his hands were so cold.

OCTOBER AND STILL OPEN!!

This is a first for ZootScoot Scooter Rental LLC!! The weather has been fantastic for the last few weeks, so we are still open for business. Fall hours are: 11am-6pm. If you would like to go out earlier than that, make a reservation, and I'll be happy to accommodate.
I've had the chance to scoot around quite a bit, thanx to the off season great weather. Roads aren't so congested, and the fall colors are still doing their thing.

I LOVE OCTOBER!

OLD FALL RIVER ROAD...my new favorite ride!

In the 3 years that I have been doing this, I have yet to have the chance to take a run up Old Fall River Road with a Big Ruckus. I was either too busy with the shop, taking visitors up in the truck, or the road was closed due to weather.
Well, yesterday was so darn lovely, I closed up shop at 2pm, and made the run. And what a run it was!



I started up from the 34 access into the park, because I knew there would be an Elk Show. More bugling bulls and harems in groups.
While parked, I overheard a ranger telling a visitor that since the Elk are protected in the park, some of the bulls are so large, and old...and aquire such large harems, that they get so busy "getting busy" that they forget to eat, and sometimes actually starve to death!
Now that's what I call action!

The speed limit up Old Fall River Road is only 15mph, so the trip up is very leisurely. The dirt road itself is fairly compact, making the Big Ruckus easy to handle on the way up.

Traffic was a bit high yesterday...and that's saying I saw about 40 other vehicles making their way on up, but I was taking my time, stopping often to take pictures of the Ruckus, and the views.


The most annoying thing to deal with, as far as traffic was concerned, was dust. So, after pulling over to take photos, I would just wait until the cars past, and the dust settled, and continue on my way.

I consider my self a semi-pro photographer, since I do sell images when I try, so this trip was not only for the ride, but for the chance to get some nice photos.

At one point, while sitting in the woods on a large rock chock full of lichen, I noticed my lens was a bit dusty. While tending to my lens, out of no where sprung past a heard of deer. I mean out of no where. So fast that I didn't even have time to lift the camera to shoot.
Hooves were hitting the larger rock that was the floor surrounding me, and they bounced by so close, I felt a draft.

Laughing at myself, for missing the opportunity, and also because I remembered that a bear could do the same thing... maybe not so bouncy, but one could easily approach my space without me noticing.


These were taken near on of the Fall River stops along the way up.

When the sun was not obscured by clouds, it was very warm. I brought enough gear for some COLD, but all I needed yesterday was a jacket, vest, long sleeves, long pants, and my helmet. But, it's better to have brought too much warm wear, and not need it, than to have brought to little and freeze my butt off once I got to the top. Wasn't sure if it was going to be super windy or what...




Some people have often asked me, "Do the Big Ruckus actually make it up there?" Yes, and quite nicely I might add. There were times where I would just pull over on a fairly steep incline to take a picture, engage the parking brake, snap the shot, and go.... and was thrilled that the power was there to just take off.
By the time you get the Ruckus to the top of Trail Ridge Road, they do about 35mph. That also happens to be the speed limit up there, so it turns out that the Big Ruckus is PERFECT for this trip!















The best thing of all is being able to pull over ANYWHERE! I've been up this road a bunch in my car, and I saw so very much more behind the handlebars of the Ruckus, and then, something would just catch my eye....hit the brakes, hop off, and snap shots.





























Once I got to the visitor's center, I contemplated putting on a fleece under the jacket I had on, but the temp was boarder line cold, and I had not plans to photograph up top. It was going to be a fast trip down, so I didn't bother. I was still wearing gloves until I got to the Rainbow Curve stop.

After dropping down in elevations some more, I was totally comfortable the rest of the drive down.

Then, when I got into town, I was treated to one more Elk Show in front of Fun City and the Estes Park Brewery. It was a big bull with a small harem. The bull was in the oncoming lane, so I was very close when I took the last series of photos, and here he is...


I'm glad I played hookie for the last part of yesterday. It was a great sunny day, and the ride was amazing! Again.. it's now my favorite ride!

Wanna do it?? Just bring your Motorcycle License to me at the shop, and I'll put you on a Big Ruckus so you can take the ride up OLD FALL RIVER ROAD!

Free Admission Days at All National Parks September 27 and 28

FEE ADMISSION INTO ROCKY MOUNTAIN NATIONAL PARK ON THIS SATURDAY AND SUNDAY!!

This means you can ride the scooters into the park for FREE! Usually, and $10 per scooter fee.

Thank You Mountain Springs Church!

Thanx to Pastor Michael Burwell, Pastor Charles Mattingly, Pastor Josiah Dangers, Pastor James Adam Muse, Pastor Daniel Rolfe, and Pastor Steve Holt who rented with us yesterday! They are with the Mountain Springs Church out of Colorado Springs!
When they came back from the ride, they all said they had a fantastic time on the scooters, and a couple of them expressed that they would like to come up and do it again.

They had great weather, and a great experience, and I hope to see them all again next year when they come back up to Estes Park!

Thanx again guys! It was a pleasure working with you!

FANCY FALL FOLIAGE

FALL COLORS!

TRAIL RIDGE ROAD! Accessed by a Big Ruckus

Drive up Old Fall River Road in my truck.
Tomorrow, I plan to close up a bit early, and take the ride up there myself on a Ruckus. I have yet to take Old Fall River Road by Ruckus, and a few customers have done so this year.. and frankly, I'm jealous. But now I have the time to do so, and the foliage is calling my name.

I'ts Fall, it's Warm, and it's Beautiful!

Once again the Aspen leaves are turning gold, and shimmer in the wind like a big sequin gown.
The morning air is crisp, and you can see your breath disapate into the air.
The last couple seasons have brought on a more dreary end to the season here at ZootScoot, but this year is wonderful!! Lots of riders taking advantage of nature's fall show and catching it all behind the handle bars of scooters!!

If you are planning a trip up here, come get a scooter and take advantage of what some have been quoted saying, "You are right! This IS the best way to see Rocky Mountain National Park!"

The Elk rut. For those who do not know, it is the mating season. You can witness bulls fighting for the right to mate with the females. Bulls are bugling, grunting, and clashing horns.
Sometimes you can see the mighty bulls with enormous racks of horn with 6 or more points on them and a "harem" of females close by.
Some of the younger bulls come into the territory to put there dibs in on the females, and most time end up losing horns in the fight for the right to mate.
It's a marvelous and dramatic thing to witness!

Bears are also a buzz, doing their best to find more food to fatten up for the winter hybernation. I've seen a big bear in my own back yard in Glen Haven. I've been told by the size of this bear's scat (droppings) that he's to be around a 300lb guy. He's been wreaking HAVOC on the garbage bin that is shared by the surrounding dwellings.

So, this time of year, the Elk and Bear are more aggressive, so remember to keep your distance! Respect their space. Admire their beauty!

Bringing up a scooter from the lowlands???

A couple of visitors came up from California with a brand new Vespa and an Aprilla. I saw them cruise past the shop in the direction of downtown.
A while later, the Aprilla pulls in the lot, and the guy asks if there is a mechanic here who can help, and the new Vespa was broke down at the Safeway. Won't turn over, nothing... and even started to fail as his wife was riding it.
A day later, and after much thought, everyone came to the conclusion that the problem was this.
They left California with full tanks of gas from a much lower altitude, and after trailering the scoots up here, the pressure from the altitude climb forced gas to back up into places it shouldn't be. Vapor Lock? YES!
They've got the thing idling now, and everything should be fine. It was just a head scratcher at first being the thing is brand new.

So.. Anyone bringing scooters to high altitudes should open up that fuel tank a bit to allow for pressure to adjust. When you get here, close it up, and you'll be fine.

What a great season!

Here it is, July 12th, and things are going very well. Other than the Hog Pen incident, no one has dumped a bike, and that is a wonderful thing.
My customers have been great this year, and I have to say, it's been pretty cool meeting people from all over the world.
I've had riders from Japan, Australia, Germany, Africa, Brazil, Canada, and from all over the USA. People who fly planes, scale mountains, run huge companies, one guy who lives in the swamps of Louisiana, and a guy named Wan who drove a 50cc Little Ruckus from North Carolina to California and back. At least I think he's back!?

Wan's Ride.



Question: "Where can we see some elk?"


Answer: "Two days ago, in my parking lot."




This time of year, the female elk have given birth, and the little ones are learning the ropes.
Two days ago, we had the usual random heard of females and young hanging out behind the shop, and then we had the Elk Parade across Big Thompson Ave.
I blogged last year about tourists obstructing the paths of these animals, so I won't do it again. Instead, I will post some photos of the a heard passing by this year, and the stranded young ones left behind because of tourist obstruction.
Give'em room guys!!


Female Elk and Ruckus:
















New born separated from heard because of intrusive hotel guests:






This little guy was reunited with it's ma about a half hour later. None of this is uncommon, however this little guy was wandering near 34, and could easily be hit by a car.
Granted, we do have an over population of these animals, but no one really wants to see them hit by cars.


A customer asked me a very good question the other day. "What do I do if one of these ground squirrels runs out in front of me?"

If I am riding a scooter, and one of these little guys runs out in front of me... well, lets just say I hope the he doesn't get under my tires.

I will not put my own well being at risk to avoid a ground squirrel. These guys dart out into the road, and zigzag all over the place. They stop on a dime and change directions so fast, that even if you tried to swerve out of ones way, it will probably dart in the direction you changed to.

In other words, don't put yourself in danger for this little guy. The odds of you actually running him over with the scooter's small tires VS. the squirrel's ability to change direction are pretty darn slim.

Stay the course! Just hang on to those handle bars and and yell "RUN LITTLE SQUIRREL! RUN!!!"

A few words about Chinese scooters

I am getting bombarded with questions about 49cc scooters, what to buy, and what to beware of. Chinese scooters are the thing to beware of. It's all hit or miss. Generally, if a scooter is offered brand new, delivered to your door for under $1200, stay clear of it.
Inferior batteries (some with a 2 week warranty), poorly machined carburetors and engines, substandard hoses, cheap tires, and hard to come by parts are only a few issues these bikes have.
I've gotten word that most dealerships who carry these bikes don't honor the warranties that come with them, and trying to deal with a Chinese manufacturer makes things even harder to deal with.
One of the locals here in Estes Park picked up a used Roketa scooter for $500. Brand new it was $950. The thing is a little over a year old, and we can't tell how many miles are on it because the speedometer broke a long time ago. As a matter of fact, it quit working at mile 15. This gentleman bought it for his wife as a birthday gift, and brought it to me to fix up a bit before he gave it to her.
I opened up the carburetor and was stunned to see all rough edges to the machine work, like a dog chewed on it. The needle jet inside was very cheaply made with some sort of plastic part on top of the needle that will surely deteriorate fast with the gasoline in there with it.
The hoses already had signs of deterioration, and the brakes were completely worn out. Now, let me say that Estes Park spans maybe a 5 mile radius, so it's not like this bike had a few thousand miles on it.
From my rental mileage, I would guess that this scooter MAYBE has 2,000. Far too few to be showing this sort of wear and malfunctioning.
Other brands like Tank, Roadrunner etc. have had mixed reviews. Mainly dealers giving good reviews, and customers giving bad.
Some customers have said that the scooter shows up in a crate, and they never get it started.
Some get them started, but with in 500 miles have repairs to contend with, and no source for parts or service.
My advice, pay the extra money for a Honda, Yamaha, Kymco, Derbi, etc... What you get are reliable brands, little maintenance, machine longevity, and something any mechanic can work on.

Some websites say, "Why pay twice as much...?" Because you want it to work the first time, and every time.

THANX DONUT HAUS!!

The gals over at the Donut Haus here in Estes Park came by today to present me with the Vespa tribute donut!

As you see, the sprinkles on the donut are the colors of my Vespa 150 Sprint that is for sale out here at the shop.
It is reported that the Vespa tribute donut is a great seller amongst the children!
My guess is that the orange and green sprinkles together make for a better tasting donut.

So, to the ladys over at the Donut Haus on Moraine Ave.. THANX!

Stay out of the HOG PEN!

Sounds like a funny title for this blog post, but there are reasons. Today was a gorgeous day, and luckily, I had a family come rent a bunch of scooters from me.
The told me all about their business, The Hog Pen in Leakey, Texas. They are a BBQ family, and we chatted it up about how great Texas BBQ is. Very friendly people.
They all had rider's experience, as they kept telling me. So off they went... all 7 scooters.
Upon their return, I was inspecting the bikes loosely, as no one alerted me to an accident or spill, and then I was distracted with more southern charm.
They left the lot, and I went to the bikes to line them up properly.

Well guess what! One of them *name withheld* wrecked a scooter, and did not point it out to me.
They left the lot after saying things like "come see us in Tx." and "We'll set you up with great BBQ".

So there is the damaged scooter. Of course, thru the power of Credit Card Machines, and the legalities of my contracts, I went back and adjusted their account to reflect the damages.

Why do people lie?
It's frustrating beyond a financial and mechanical level.

You go thru life thinking people are generally honest, but in reality, most are shady and sneeky, and will try to get away with as much as they can.

So, if you are anywhere near Leakey, Texas... make sure to stop in at THE HOG PEN BBQ. Tell'em ZootScoot sent you, and then walk out. Maybe buy some BBQ somewhere else.
If they are willing to skimp out on their vacation rental, I wonder what they skimp on in the quality of their establishment.

It says on the koozy they gave me that "Bikers Welcome".
Well, the bikers who own the Hog Pen are not welcome back here.

Gummy gas for the start of the season

After getting all the scooters up and running, I realized that 3 of them were just acting poorly. Throttle seemed to stick, and they just weren't performing right.

Got into the carburetor with a simple couple sprays of Carb Cleaner, and now the things are running like tops again.

This season, when it's time to winterize and store the scoots, I'll just drain them all of gas, and save the trouble of this messing round with carbs.

Yippie for warmer weather!!

The last few weeks have been up and down for rentals. Memorial weekend started out OK, but then Mem Monday rained and rained all day.
And just as things seemed as tho the month would go out with a whimper, the last weekend rallied and we had a spectacular finish to May!!
May 31st was the 2nd best day ZootScoot has seen yet in terms of rentals, and that was just ever so shy of the best day which was 4th of July 2007.

What does this all mean? In theory, it seems like we could have a very busy summer.

http://www.estesparknews.com/?p=135 I had an article posted in the Estes Park News. Tips on buy a 49cc scooter. Check it out!!

WE ARE OPEN WE ARE OPEN!!!

Last year I opened to freezing rains and snow the first two weeks of May. This year.. very mild warm sunny weather for the most part.
Reservations are being made, and people are renting scooters!!

If you plan to go into Rocky Mountain National Park with your scooter, keep in mind that all the roads are covered with lots and lots of sand and gravel from winter yet.
The roads up there aren't clear of sand ever, but it's much better after Memorial Weekend. Best bet is to keep it slow when you think you should be flying!! Curves especially!

Keep it safe, slow, and ride well!

Almost there...

HEY HEY!!! 5 more days until ZootScoot Scooter Rental officially opens for the season!! Make those reservations for summer time scooting fun now.

A lite flurry of reservations for May!!

It's a though suddenly everyone is thinking about getting away in May. Since I have received many emails this week about May reservations, I'd like to bring up "attire" during this very unpredictable month.
It can snow, rain, sleet, be cold, be nice, be sunny... so everyone needs to be prepared for it all.

Once temps dip below 58F, it starts to get very cold on a scooter. Even around 60f, folks usually wished they had gloves with them.

Here's how you will get cold.

1. Fingers. They are just out front there, in the cold, clinging to those handlebar grips.

2. Ears (and face) My helmets don't really cover your ears, and your face is exposed.

3. Torso. It's the wind blocker.

And this brings me to the list. The list of things to wear to be warm on a scooter.
If you are generally an outdoorsy person, you probably have most of this anyhow.

(Of course, if you have regular motorcycle wear, that is pefect)

1.) Gortex or Windstopper everything: Gloves, Jacket and even pants are helpful.
2.) Ear coverage with out a metal band going over your head.
3.) Fleece.

Personally, I use: Fleece with a windstopper shell over that. Windstopper gloves. Ear Bags.

Anything to keep you warm is good. I've had riders show up with their own helmets, and in snow suits. :)

Also, keep in mind that the colder it gets, the worse the engines will perform. Once it gets below 55F, I will do my best to discourage from going out to ride, especially in Rocky Mountain National Park.

HELP WANTED

ZootScoot Scooter Rental is looking is looking for two part time employees to help run the shop this summer. Positions would start the week before Memorial Weekend, and run till Labor Day Weekend. Must be at least 18 years of age, clean driver's license, and able to work all weekends thru the summer as well as major holidays.
Benefits include: Free use of scooters. To inquire or apply, zip an email over to zootscoot@gmail.com

Closer to season 3!

It's been a fun winter, but I am ready to get back to business. Weather pending, the doors of ZootScoot Scooter Rental will be open May 1st.
I'm anxious to dust the snow off the scooters, and get them all running smooth for another great summer.

Back half of the winter season

4 more months until I open up for business again. With in minutes of the clock striking midnight on NYE I was thinking about the scooters 3rd season.

A new sign for the store front, better maps, and hopefully less wrecks are on the slate for this year.