Well it all started one day when my friend and I were day dreaming of what would be the best Scooter Ride that we could do without breaking the bank and without having to travel to far to get there. We tossed around a few ideas of what would be a great place to go and ride our scooters. We wanted a place that had a lot to offer with a variety of different roads (i.e hills, curvy, flat, etc.). I have always thought in the back of my mind that the ultiment Scooter Ride would be a weekend trip to Gatlinburg Tennessee. I toosed the idea at my friend and he said" when do we leave"! The first thing to work out was how were we going to get the scooters to Gatlinburg (aprox 250 miles from where I live.). I have a homemade scooter rack that I made myself but it would only carry (1) scooter. I surfed the web and found a "Double Scooter Rack" that fits in the receiver hitch of any 2" square receiver. The rack I decided to buy was made by a company called "Versa Haul"(more on the rack in a minute). I ordered the rack by phone and go it in (2) days delivered to my door. I assambled it in about a hour.
Now that I had my scooter rack we we all set to go all we needed was a place to stay. I looked up on the web for places to stay and found a great place that could accomadate 4 adults and 2 scooters with room to spare. The place we decided on was nesteled in the mountaind and was about 3 miles from downtown gatlinburg. We loaded the scooters up on Friday morning and loaded all are goodies in the back of my 97 Ford Expedition. It was going to be a graet scooter trip that we would share with 2 others my wife, and his new girlfriend. Both my wife and his girlfried had never been on a motorcycle much less a scooter so we new we would for sure get a chance to scare the heck out of them! I was a little anxious that my Aprilia would have it's work cut out for it in the Great Smokie Mountains! All the way there I was thinking in the back of my mind (will my Aprilia make it to the top of the mountain carring 400 lbs? This was a tall order to ask to say the least!
After a long 5 hour drive we finally arrived in downtown Gatlinburg about right at dark. We found are way to the Chalet we were staying at and then began to unload the scooters as well as all the other stuff we took along for the trip. The next morning we got up about 7:00 am and started getting ready for the ride of our life! The first thing to do was find a place to eat breakfast! We fired up the scooters put on our our ridding cloths saddled up and we were off. We decided after seeing all the long lines at the local Gatlinburg eating places that a quick ride to Pigen Forge was in need. We rode about 10 miles to Pigen Forge and found a great little Pancake House to eat at., After eating we made a few stops at some local gift shops (the girls were getting restless seeing all the neat stuff glaring at them from all those gift shops. After the gift shops we decided it's time to put the Scooters to the ultimate test (Go to the highest peak in the Great Smokie Mountains)! We fueled up the scooter just before entering are climb up the mountain. I was so anxious to see just how the scooter would do with so many things unknown.
The scooter surpassed all the tests the mountain had to offer. The scooters never got over heated but I did pull over and give the clutch a quick rest every 5-6 miles (we took some really neat pictures overlooking the mountains). The clutch did very good considering it was set up more for a flat ridding with much less weight. After about 13 miles of uphill climbs we got to the 5082 ft evelation mark! This location was not the top of the mountain but it was the TN /NC state line. We started experiencing a big change in temp and a clod rain started to fall just before reaching the 5082 ft mark. We did manage to take some pictures while at the 5082 ft mark. The top of the mountain was another 7 miles away and the girls were not real happy with the weather conditions to say the least. So, this being the case we said we would head back to the Chalet and we vowed to come back another time and finish the climb to the highest peak of the mountain like we originally planed.
The ride back down the mountain was a wet cold slick ride that made my hands feel like two chunks of ice! I was not expecting the weather to be so much like winter on the mountain, (I guess I worried so much about the scooter making it I didn't really prepare for me makintg it!) I'm glad now the girls insisted we turn back even though I'd never admait it to them. The brakes held up with zero problems on the ride down. I never even worried about them after a mile or so because they were not being used very much (the scooter holds back throught the transmishion better than you think it would.). By the time we arrived back at the Chalet we all were very very very wet and cold! I was glad to have had the chance to experience the mountains on a scooter though I wish the weather could have been better. I will no doubt go back when it warms up this spring. This time I will make it to the highest peak and I can only hope the weather will be much improved! I would say this had to be the best scooter ride yet even though it was a little wet on the way down from the mountain ride. I would recommend this scooter ride to anyone that wants a ride that has a lot to offer. The scooters did pass all the test of being reliable and only a air screw adjustment was needed (1/2 turn in).
We did see a local rental place where you could rent scooters and ride them for $20 a hour. The scooters they had were said to be unrestricted and could acheive 40-45 mph on the flat. Most of the rentals were a combination of Honda Elete 50's and a scooter call "Hysung" or something like that. I saw quite a few people renting scooters while visiting the rental shop. The downtown Gatlinburg traffic was rather heavy later that Satuarday so we mostly stuck to the side roads and let me tell ya some of those roads get very steep! We had a real good time ridding the side roads because they were the twisty with lots of really nice curves that gave the scooters a real test in the handling department. The scooters managed to hit 60 mph (400 lbs or passengers) between the Gatlinburg Pegin Forge Strech of road. Overall the trip was a lot of fun and I can't wait to go back!! |
