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poetrywhore posted:Hey invaluable informants. It's time for Baby's First Scooter. I know almost nothing about them and don't want to buy blind. I'm 5'11" and weigh a buck sixty five, so I don't reckon I need anything small. I'm trying to be able to take it up mountains on the weekends or on road trips to beaches, so maybe 150cc is better? But this is my first scooter (lots of bicycle and car experience but automatic not manual transmissions and no motorcycle experience) and I hear lighter bikes are better for the hard part of the test (which one person tells me is going like 30 without putting your feet down, and another says is driving between some narrowly placed poles). So my question is, what sort of scooter (beyond the obvious "second hand") do you reckon I'd need? Actually, I'll take any and all scooter advice, not just what kind but test tips, whatever you got. If you never plan on carrying someone else on the back, a decent 50cc will be okay even in most mountains. A 125-150 however will definitely give you the extra oomph to put a passenger on the back, carry a load of Ikea furniture, or maybe most importantly let you zip out of harm's way when there's a bus bearing down on you. It also just might feel more "right" in your hands than a 50cc; I'm 6'0/185lbs and whenever I drove the 50cc scooters that various friends had they always felt like toys. As far as being legal, if you only drive a 50cc I believe you can just take the written test and health exam and don't need a road test. That info is a few years old though so maybe someone else in the thread can confirm it.
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Feb 13, 2014 19:02
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To go above 50cc, which you'll probably want because like what USDA Choice says 50cc scooters just feel dinky, you'll need to pass the driving test but below it's just the written. The driving test isn't bad though. Your friends are basically right. The test is to drive straight between two lines over a certain distance without having to put a foot on the ground. The trick is that this is a timed test, but you have to drive for a minimum period of time. This forces you to go slowly and use your balance. After that it's just stopping at a red light and trying to remember the turn signal (everyone forgets this part of the test and still passes). I passed it on a 100cc scooter and it wasn't bad. I've driven a 100cc scooter, 150cc motorcycle, and I now have a 125cc scooter. A full motorcycle is pretty cool, but traffic, rain, and parking make them a complete pain in the rear end (though I'm guessing the rain part is less applicable in the south). 125cc fits my needs pretty well. I've taken it up mountains while my friends on real motorcycles stalled out (hi url!) The actual test will license you to drive up to a 250cc motorcycle and learning how to switch gears can be fun, but it's a severe pain in the rear end in stop and go traffic. I'm almost exactly the same dimensions as you and I've never felt oversized on a 125cc bike.
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Feb 14, 2014 03:27
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I'm even taller/heavier than y'all, but I rocked a 50cc for like four years in Tainan. It always worked for me, despite nearly everyone here telling me I was crazy. It's true that for 50cc you just need to take the written test, or if you have a car driving license you can also legally drive a 50cc scooter. I drove without a license for a long time, but finally decided to get legal about 3 years ago, so things possibly could have changed since then, but yeah. Even though I only had a 50cc scooter, it just makes sense to get the full license, since it's kind of future-proofing yourself if you ever do want to upgrade or borrow someone's scooter, etc. The actual driving test is ridiculously easy, here is a pic I just took from my old Driver's Handbook from the Tainan DMV which was chock-full of hilarious Engrish:  The straight-balance test is the only thing that actually requires any skill. 15m long, 40cm wide, bumpers on either side that can detect if you go outside the boundaries. As Atlas Hugged said, it's a minimum time (7 seconds) to make you go slow. You can't put a foot down or bump the rails, that's an instant fail and it also instantly fails you on the overall test, so they do it first. However, you do get two tries at it. I hosed up the first time. The rest is simple, stop at a red light, stop when pedestrians are crossing, and stop at train tracks, that was about it. A guy walked me through the whole test before taking it, despite it being a busy day because I was a foreigner I guess, which was funny and cool. Since I only had my 50cc scooter, I had to use the DMV scooter, which they are required to provide for you if you don't have one of your own. edit: In the end, I finally did upgrade to a bigger scooter. Not because I really felt I need more power (it's nice, though) but more because of the aforementioned passenger issue. Thin Taiwanese people can probably get away with carrying passengers regularly on a tiny 50cc, but for my fat American rear end, carrying another person meant a bigger seat was a plus. POCKET CHOMP fucked around with this message at 04:19 on Feb 14, 2014 |
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Feb 14, 2014 04:15
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Spanish Matlock posted:Anybody interested in catching some pingxi sky lanterns tomorrow night? I'm gonna do the yuanshan one this year, as much as I want to do pingxi, ..., next year http://www.taipei-expopark.tw/MP_19.html
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Feb 14, 2014 04:30
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poetrywhore posted:Hey invaluable informants. It's time for Baby's First Scooter. I know almost nothing about them and don't want to buy blind. I'm 5'11" and weigh a buck sixty five, so I don't reckon I need anything small. I'm trying to be able to take it up mountains on the weekends or on road trips to beaches, so maybe 150cc is better? But this is my first scooter (lots of bicycle and car experience but automatic not manual transmissions and no motorcycle experience) and I hear lighter bikes are better for the hard part of the test (which one person tells me is going like 30 without putting your feet down, and another says is driving between some narrowly placed poles). So my question is, what sort of scooter (beyond the obvious "second hand") do you reckon I'd need? Actually, I'll take any and all scooter advice, not just what kind but test tips, whatever you got. I'd still recommend getting a 125 though because they end up being way, way nicer than the 50s without major drawbacks. They're definitely heavier, but they give you a much better ride; 50s can kinda chatter on the road and will hurt your rear end when going over a pothole whereas 125s are a lot smoother and take hits better. Acceleration is far more responsive and is useful for getting out of dangerous situations in traffic; going to a 125 from a 50 they felt really jumpy at first, but you learn to finesse the throttle pretty fast. 50s tend to sag when adding a person, but a 125 will take an extra person and a bunch of poo poo in the foot area no problem. Almost all 50s(last I checked) use 2-stroke engines, which means they will burn oil by default, and over time they transform into one of those scooters and it's kinda embarrassing and terrible at the same time.* Last, it's actually kind of hard to find a used 50cc rather than a used 100/125. *and yet they can still pass inspections because the mechanic will just crank it so that it burns all the old poo poo out in a huge cloud of smoke before it can run cleanerishlike As for the test, it's like this:
e: oh look what happens when you don't refresh the page, pocket chomp comes in and puts in the same stuff with a loving diagram even gently caress. Also, I passed mine on the first try on what was probably the sketchiest 7 second wobble ever, seeing as I had never driven a 100/125 before and only found out I had to test on one that day. I think there may be a 10NT fee or something for using their bike too, FYI. duckfarts fucked around with this message at 04:39 on Feb 14, 2014 |
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Feb 14, 2014 04:35
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Also, ffs make sure you get a 3/4 helmet or better with a full face shield. The face shield isn't so much for crash protection as it is keeping smoke and dust and pollution off of your face and out of your eyes. I used one of those dinky helmets for a bit until I noticed I had black soot on my face whenever I got to work.
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Feb 14, 2014 04:43
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I need to figure out how to drive with a facemask at night because either it fogs to hell and I can't see or it gets wet and I can't see. I hate driving with cold wind and rain in my eyes, but at least I'm not blind.
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Feb 14, 2014 05:58
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Atlas Hugged posted:I need to figure out how to drive with a facemask at night because either it fogs to hell and I can't see or it gets wet and I can't see. I hate driving with cold wind and rain in my eyes, but at least I'm not blind. Leave the visor a teeny bit open. Normally the first notch (if it has notches), is that bit stiffer specifically so it will hold position.
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Feb 14, 2014 06:51
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duckfarts posted:The face shield isn't so much for crash protection as it is keeping smoke and dust and pollution off of your face and out of your eyes.  I have no idea who Dietmaar Otte is, but looking at that diagram, the chin bit accounts for nearly 35% of impacts. I'll be honest, a Zeus modular helmet goes for around 2,600NT$.  Weigh that 2.6K against: a dislocated/fractured jaw, teeth poking through your lips, and replacement teeth.
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Feb 14, 2014 07:06
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url posted:Leave the visor a teeny bit open. ^^^ I think a 3/4 is the minimal amount of protection you need, a modular or a full would be best. Those halfsies they sell are worse than even bicycle helmets. Face shield comment was more for "why you want a 3/4 that specifically has a face shield".
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Feb 14, 2014 07:10
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duckfarts posted:
The written test on the website, I say, doesn't prepare you for alot of the questions on the actual test. Like, the practice test only has like 25% of the possible questions you could see. I failed the written test the first time because I just took the online test a couple times, and thought "I got this." And then they throw out these long, double-negative engrish questions at you. Just memorize all the pictures they show on the online test and what they mean, those are mostly the same, or you will know what couldn't be the answer and can guess.
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Feb 14, 2014 07:44
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I think it depends on where you take the test because I think provincial offices can have their own versions of the test. I took the scooter test in Banqiao and the written test was almost completely different from the online one and I couldn't understand most of the questions and I passed by shear luck. I took the car test at the main office downtown and the questions were identical to the ones on the website. Both the car and scooter practice tests are on the same website and I've seen Taiwanese people using it to practice for tests as well.
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Feb 14, 2014 08:06
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Some gems from the written test question set: Multiple choice
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Feb 14, 2014 08:36
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url posted:
Everyone I have talked to with a serious motorcycle has warned against modular helmets. They are cool, but they are not as safe as traditional, full-face motorcycle helmets. If you think about it, if a little upward force exerted by your hand can lift the front up, then what is a collision with some asphalt at the right angle going to do? After being given this juicy bit of information, I have always recommended the traditional variant. I paid $3,000 for mine, and I have been using it for like four years. Protecting your entire head is definitely worth some more NTD.
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Feb 14, 2014 09:12
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Pandemonium posted:Everyone I have talked to with a serious motorcycle has warned against modular helmets. They are cool, but they are not as safe as traditional, full-face motorcycle helmets. If you think about it, if a little upward force exerted by your hand can lift the front up, then what is a collision with some asphalt at the right angle going to do?
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Feb 14, 2014 09:22
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Pandemonium posted:Everyone I have talked to with a serious motorcycle has warned against modular helmets. They are cool, but they are not as safe as traditional, full-face motorcycle helmets. If you think about it, if a little upward force exerted by your hand can lift the front up, then what is a collision with some asphalt at the right angle going to do? Like if you flew off your bike backwards and landed face first somehow? Edit: In other news, I guess we're going to try to be around the zoo getting on a pingxi bus at around 7:30ish. Spanish Matlock fucked around with this message at 09:29 on Feb 14, 2014 |
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Feb 14, 2014 09:25
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I bought a full helmet when I got a motorcycle a few years back. It was like 3000nt or less. But then I bought the 125cc scooter and the real helmet doesn't fit inside the seat so I switched to the freebie I got with the scooter. Am I doing Taiwan wrong? 
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Feb 14, 2014 09:57
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Atlas Hugged posted:I bought a full helmet when I got a motorcycle a few years back. It was like 3000nt or less. But then I bought the 125cc scooter and the real helmet doesn't fit inside the seat so I switched to the freebie I got with the scooter. Am I doing Taiwan wrong?  Does your scooter not have little pieces of up-raised metal along the lining under the seat to hang the strap of your helmet off? My scooter is from like 1999 or something and it has two of these. (This is not the hook-thing between your legs.) I may be doing a poor job explaining what they are, but they allow the helmet to hang off the side of your scooter and because the metal pieces are inside/under the seat, part of the strap remains inside/under the seat. It makes stealing the helmet a little trickier. You can't just walk off with it; you have to cut the strap off. Again, I've had the same helmet for four-ish years. No one has stolen it...yet.Spanish Matlock posted:Like if you flew off your bike backwards and landed face first somehow? Spanish Matlock, did you not see the picture url posted? The statistical majority of accidents end up with your chin / jaw hitting the ground first. Not sure why you think going backwards would cause you to land first...going forward 才會.
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Feb 14, 2014 10:18
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Pandemonium posted:
 Spanish Matlock's point is that getting the "right angle" is kinda difficult because you'd have to hit the ground with force against the chin pushing upwards(like flipping off backwards and catching the chin while moving backwards); otherwise, the impact is going into the helmet pushing it closed. You have to do some weird stuff to try to catch your helmet and have it push upwards, and at that point, I'd be more worried about your neck. Disclaimer: I don't have any solid evidence other than playing Truck Dismount many, many, many times as ways to simulate crashes, so I deem myself an expert in this respect.
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Feb 14, 2014 10:27
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duckfarts posted:Hanging your helmet sucks if it rains. The secret is to hang it on its side with the visor down, sealed up nice and tight. If you hang full helmets that way, they should get minimally wet. If you hang it upside down, then of course it's going to get wet. And the whole issue for me with helmets is "better safe than sorry". If there is a chance a modular helmet will be ineffective in protecting me, however slight it may be, then I am going to always use a traditional motorcycle helmet.
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Feb 14, 2014 10:37
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Are there any benefits to having a 125 instead of a 150 or vice versa?
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Feb 14, 2014 10:45
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poetrywhore posted:Are there any benefits to having a 125 instead of a 150 or vice versa?
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Feb 14, 2014 10:52
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Pandemonium posted:
I'm just super lazy.
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Feb 14, 2014 12:18
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duckfarts posted:125s are more plentiful and should be cheaper. I don't think you'll get the same kind of price/performance from a 150, and I see those as being "the most powerful ones you can get before you have to get a 250cc license". Wait so which one's better on price/performance, then? I'm confused.
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Feb 14, 2014 13:52
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poetrywhore posted:Wait so which one's better on price/performance, then? I'm confused. 150cc jumps in size significantly, so any advantage a scooter would have over a full motorcycle is minimized. Plus, there's not really anything you can do with a 150cc that you can't with a 125cc.
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Feb 14, 2014 14:00
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poetrywhore posted:Wait so which one's better on price/performance, then? I'm confused.
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Feb 14, 2014 15:02
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Pandemonium you should join us in the Line chat.
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Feb 14, 2014 15:13
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How negotiable are prices here? My daddy raised a horse trader.
poetrywhore fucked around with this message at 17:17 on Feb 14, 2014 |
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Feb 14, 2014 15:29
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I've heard of trading horses, but houses?
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Feb 14, 2014 15:45
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I've always used lovely helmets that I knew wouldn't do jack poo poo in an accident. It's kind of weird, because I'm totally anal about cycling with a really nice bike helmet, but on scooters it's just too inconvenient to have a big rear end helmet. I'd actually love to rock one but when you can fit two of those tiny lame ones inside your scooter at all times...meh.
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Feb 14, 2014 16:46
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Atlas Hugged posted:I've heard of trading horses, but houses? Dang. Typos is a motherfucker.
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Feb 14, 2014 17:16
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You are also invited to the Line chat.
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Feb 14, 2014 17:38
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poetrywhore posted:Wait so which one's better on price/performance, then? I'm confused. With scooters your better off getting a 125cc because the performance difference is negligible for scooters of that size, and 125's are way more common (thus cheaper) as Atlas said. With motorcycles it's a different story because they are much heavier than scooters. Though a 125cc motorcycle is generally as fast as the 150cc models, what your really getting with the larger engine is more torque, and that is important with a heavy motorcycle when your going up hills. POCKET CHOMP posted:I've always used lovely helmets that I knew wouldn't do jack poo poo in an accident. It's kind of weird, because I'm totally anal about cycling with a really nice bike helmet, but on scooters it's just too inconvenient to have a big rear end helmet. I'd actually love to rock one but when you can fit two of those tiny lame ones inside your scooter at all times...meh. It's really not that much trouble dealing with a larger helmet. At least not enough trouble that it's worth it to risk serious face injury for a bit of convenience not having one.
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Feb 14, 2014 21:21
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125cc scooters are pretty cheap too. I got mine new for like 70,000nt or less. I don't even remember, but it was on sale because they were clearing out the models for the next year. They'll usually have different prices based on buying it in payments or just paying it upfront in cash. I love giving businesses unmarked envelopes full of 1000nt bills.
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Feb 15, 2014 04:21
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70,000 NTD for 125cc? You can get a new basic scooter (50cc I think) for 2500 RMB (~= 12,000NTD) Pandemonium, is this person's Mandarin really bad? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eZOoVVX8Cd4&t=39s caberham fucked around with this message at 04:45 on Feb 15, 2014 |
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Feb 15, 2014 04:42
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caberham posted:70,000 NTD for 125cc? You can get a new basic scooter (50cc I think) for 2500 RMB (~= 12,000NTD) Her Chinese is pretty good! What a cute story But so 宅...
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Feb 15, 2014 04:56
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 Someone needs to tell that lady that although 很 may be spelled hen in pinyin it should sound like Attila, not a female chicken.
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Feb 15, 2014 05:41
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caberham posted:70,000 NTD for 125cc? You can get a new basic scooter (50cc I think) for 2500 RMB (~= 12,000NTD) Her Chinese is fine...for a foreigner! Her pronunciation of 心 and 說 were pretty awful, like her brain turned off and forgot they were first tone. But she's understandable. As one would hope a person with a Taiwanese spouse who isn't a stupid 自視甚高 too good for Chinese foreigner guy would be. Edit: Oh poo poo, this is the Youtube Channel where every video there are like five foreigners interviewed on lovely topics like "gee whiz Taiwanese go to school a lot" or the one I just watched "what's up with Taiwanese people having English names, isn't that so cray cray?!" Yeah, this channel is stupid as hell. Also, always has the same EXACT background music. Edit 2: I found the education one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJznEitHqlY That is a better example of a foreigner massacaring Chinese. It's just brutal what that British girl does to words like 電影. Pandemonium fucked around with this message at 05:52 on Feb 15, 2014 |
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Feb 15, 2014 05:44
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caberham posted:70,000 NTD for 125cc? You can get a new basic scooter (50cc I think) for 2500 RMB (~= 12,000NTD) Well, it was a Kymco bike, which are slightly more expensive, and probably closer to 65,000. I forget exactly. I'm not surprised that it's significantly more expensive than a 50cc scooter in the mainland though. People spend a ton on their vehicles here. I've known plenty of guys who bought cars just to have a car and basically ate ramen every day and lived in a cardboard box.
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Feb 15, 2014 05:51
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That girl has a half-taiwanese accent so that's pretty funny. I don't think she pronounced a single retroflex.
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Feb 15, 2014 06:03
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