Brooklynne humored me yesterday and drove me out to north Raleigh to check out this Allstate Scooter. The thing is more like a miniature motorcyle than a scooter. It has a kick start and foot shifter, and even though it feature a knee guard and foot board, the frame is not the typical step-through design like what you would normally expect on a scooter. The brand is Allstate (Sears), who sold re-branded vespas during the same period, but this model is a Austrian Puch model. The ad said it was missing the carburetor, but in reality it was missing or in need of many, many parts. In another life, if I were rich and leisurely, I would buy a bike like this for $300, but right now the search continues for something that will run after a more reasonable amount of work.

In other scooter news....

The mechanic at the gas station around the corner from my house has started selling "Redstreak" scooters in the parking lot. I stopped in and talked to him for a while. I told him I had never heard of redstreak to which he replied (unsolicited and I'm not kidding), "they're
made in occupied China, which is a developed country just like us, so they're not made by slaves or anything." Where is "occupied" China, and was I supposed to be suspicious of slave llabor?

Also, I check into what kind of Honda scooter I could get by trading in my Civic. Turns out I would still need $400 to buy a stripped-down Metropolitan II!