SCOOTERS

Scooters are for sale here. You don't see too many on the road, I think mostly because of the driving conditions and the safety issue. This topic comes up fairly often. Use the search option for scooters, and you will find various opinions, some from experienced riders and some from people such as myself, who are just too chicken to consider it!;)

a friend of mine was hit by a car on Thursday and is still in the hospital ..............I personally would never ride one here on STX.........

If you don't have a decent amount of experience riding stateside, don't do it here. But if you insist get one with a big enough motor at least 200cc and take a motorcycle class stateside before you come, just like drivers ed for cars.

Betty is spot-on with her advice about scooters: "If you don't have a decent amount of experience riding stateside, don't do it here."

Amen. A scooter is just a motorcycle that's harder to tip over, which is why they're popular among people with no riding experience. Unfortunately, the laws of physics apply pretty much the same way to scooter riders as to motorcyclists.

If you the idea of driving a motorcycle up and down a mountain in torrential rain frightens you at all, you should not drive a scooter in the USVI.

If you have no experience riding on dirt or gravel, you should not drive a scooter here, either.

And even if you are a skilled, cautious, conservative, experienced motorcyclist, you still gotta watch out for the tourists driving on the wrong side of the road!

All that said, I have a scooter on St John, but it is NOT for everybody. And there is no substitute for good safety gear, which adds hundreds of dollars to the cost of bike ownership. ($10 helmets are fine ... for $10 heads.)

You will find vehicles to purchase on the island; check the Crucian Trader (cruciantrader.vidaily.com) for some idea of prices.

back to the original question of "are scooters for sale on STX" -- yes.

http://caribbean.craigslist.org/mcy/848439236.html

yeah theres a guy from canada here over in princess somewhere that just open a scooter/.atv shop over there,i waited on him about a month ago

Are ATVs street-legal?

off road only..........not legal for the public on streets or highways.............but police and rangers can drive on the streets with them....

You waited on him a month ago, was he injured or what, THANKS FOR THE ADVISE EVERYONE, ITS VERY HELPFULL,

yes, a couple guys just opened a scooter shop in La Grande Princesse, south side of northside road. I met them at Zebo's also last Friday.

Of the guys that opened the scooter shop in Princesse, one of them gave me his card. It's called STX Motorsports , and the email is stxmotorsports@gmail.com and the site, per the card, is www.stxmotorsports.com ( I haven't checked it). The owner's name is Douglas Annan. That's pretty much all I know about it, but I agree that driving a scooter here seems very dangerous.

Does anyone know if STX Motorsports is still in business? Their website and phone number are both dead. Thanks.

Nope - they're done. I think they were merging with another store or something but haven't heard anything so far.

SO few scooters here, the business moved off... better off with a beater car...

DO NOT buy a chinese scooter (garbage & parts problems).
FYI the chineese scoots are $500 new from Ebay, so, much $ can be made importing a 20' container full.
My quess,they sell `em here for $2000/ea. & rake it in...
I agree, Betty`s reply was accurate.

Last time I was at the nissian dealership they were selling the big scooters and they said they also did maintenance. But this was at least a year ago, maybe more. Don't remember which brand either. That's probably the only place I would consider buying a scooter from. All the rest I see on island are poor quality. Better to learn how to ride a real bike, but only if you are handy as well. Because getting them fixed here can be a pill. Motorcycles are like boats and require a fair amount of upkeep.

How much to ship a harley there?

@nforbes - thanks for the info. Boy, they had a short run.

@DUN - yeah, the Chinese scooters have a limited shelf life. Some brands can be good machines if looked after, but most of them are total junk start to finish. I'm sure it's quite a profit to sell them on island.

@Betty - interesting about the Nissan dealer. I'm actually looking for a dual-sport motorcycle myself, not a scooter; will probably have to ship one. $$$... You're right about repairs, too -- someone good at fixing bikes and scoots could make good money on island. Though I'm more comfortable repairing my own bike than paying someone else to do it and hoping they got it right, when it's my neck that could break if they didn't! 😮

Thanks everyone!

@newstart2009, I just talked to Top of the Line Transport about bike shipping from Florida to STT. There are two options - uncrated from Jacksonville, FL costs a few hundred bucks but NOT a recommended option (due to sea spray, possibility of damage, etc.). Freight for a crated bike from West Palm Beach, FL costs $800, not including any transport costs to West Palm Beach or the cost of the crate, which can be $200-$500.