Scooters in St. Thomas??

A 50cc wont even handle the hills in stx. Leave it behind or sell it. It will not do you much good in stt. Would not be worth the cost of shipping it or walking it up the hills.

This question comes up on a regular basis. Most people will tell you it's not a good idea. Just too dangerous. I tend to agree! However, if you don't live too far from where you work (assume you will be working), and you don't ride at night, maybe....just maybe.

I don't know about the shipping, reg., etc. I'm sure other posters will help you with that info. In the meantime, you can use the search option on here and find a lot of conversations about this very thing.

Just read Betty's post. I didn't realize a 50cc was weak. What's the Suzuki?

50cc is a very small scooter engine. I figured that it might be worthless down there. Are motorcycles in general pretty perilous to ride down there?

I have a suzuki samarai which is basically like a small Japanese Jeep. I got it for cheap--$1800 and its a total little beater car, but it runs pretty well. I definitely wouldn't have to worry about rust spots with this car 🙂 Trying to decide whether to sell or ship, which would be about $2000.

I'm thinking total liquidation is probably my best option at this point.

Some will claim a 50cc will do 45mph but its really about 30 and more like 20 up a hill. Stt isnt as bad as stj but you've got some steep roads there as well. Any bike without some horsepower is a serious death wish no matter where you live. If you can't drive offensively you are fairly screwed as the only other ploy (defensive) is to stay the hell away from everything and thats just not possible.

The Suzuki is exactly the kind of car you need here, but somehow it just seems wrong to spend more on shipping than the car's worth. You can pick up something similar here for reasonable money. On the other hand, you know what you've got, and you're not buying someone else's problems.

I think there is some restriction on the age a car can be when shipping it here. Search for that too. There was a thread a while back about that.

I have a 150cc and it gets my wife and I (320 lbs) up the hills just fine. I pass cars even. You need experience riding. I have been riding for years and feel completely comfortable compared to some places, but I'm a watchful, thoughtful, cautious, but a non-hesitant driver. 1/2 the island is flat on the main roads though. St John USVI, or San Francisco CA are worse. People don't know much about what they are talking about when it comes to riding here, unless they have riden for a long time in many places. I assume, people just see and read about past tourists or locals that had probably been drinking (100% can't do it on a bike) and think it's the roads and traffic. India, Thailand, China, etc are worse and their are not a lot of problems. Take a class and ride for 6 months before riding here, or take a class and limit your driving.

You have to be comfortable reading roads, intersections, traffic, loose gravel washed onto roads, wet roads, bad drivers that don't turn on their blinkers, tourists that could turn into your lane (drive on left here), getting cut off, pedestrians walking and cars that might not see you. Classes and practice teach you to read and know all of this.

Bikes and scooters relieve traffic congestion, lower gas usage, thus lowering pollution (especially with new 4 strokes), make drivers more aware and on top of their toes, and is more enjoyable when you need to get from East to west. It takes me 20 to 25 minutes from red hook to the airport during the worst traffic. The Safari took me 45 to 75 minutes depending on traffic times. FOR A HALF DOZEN MILES.

I hear there is a scooter club on St. Croix who modify their scooters and cruise around. It will be more popular when people realize spending $5 for a full tank and $40 a month on gas is better, and a car is not feasible any longer. Gas was $4.79 on 9/4/08 after it's been going down for weeks now. I spent $3 to top of my tank 🙂 AWSOME!

St thomas is not the Flat Bahamas or the Florida Keys. The is Island of St thomas is a Mountain follow by slopes and hills , streets are very winding and there is allot of traffic within them. The Virgin islands in general are no place for any motorcycle if you want to survive a month here.

Thanks some guy. I have been riding a scooter for about 3 years now, but I have never ridden in lefty traffic. I too hate the idea of filling up a car every week when I'm used to getting 100 miles to the gallon on my scooter.

Would it be hard to buy a motorcycle/bigger scooter down there? Or is this something I should consider buying here and shipping?

I know a guy who recently had a rather nasty accident on a small motorcycle on STT due to a stupid car driver (not his fault); and I have 2 friends who work in hospital emergency room that would never own a bike or scooter due to the accidents they have seen. Just something to think about. The Suzuki Samurai which is beat but runs goon might be the best bet. They are popular on STT due to the small size and parking shortages in town.