Shopping on Your Scooter,

Ultimate Errand Machine,

This little machine of beauty is so useful, even when you think it would be quite limited from its size, it can surprise you. Today I headed out to shop for tonight’s dinner and ended up with my lightest load yet, to transport home. I once tended to be one of those shoppers who bought a week’s worth of groceries at once instead of a more urban approach of going daily for the things you need. Or course my habits have had to change with the move here to Israel and not having a car’s ample space to utilize. Although, I have been very happy with my resourcefulness and the storage space offered with my Vespa. I have drove before with the [white] bag full and felt a little uncomfortable, so it is just about what you know you are comfy with and staying with those limits on your shopping errands.

 

So, first, you have your storage box (under your seat) as your main storage space. It has a good depth, but isn’t necessarily that wide. It will hold a good amount of items though and those items won’t get hot from the motor on your short ride home. (Although if you are worried and indeed have a longer ride before arriving home, just put all of your perishables in your backpack on your person.) The best idea is to always carry a few extra grocery bags in your storage case, so that you can reuse those bags when you need them and also have an idea how much your limits are with the bags. I have been using my messenger bag as my main grocery bag when all the items do not fit in the storage case.

Then you have the bag clip at the very front of the seat that you can use to hold your main re-usable grocery bag. I do suggest using a re-usable bag here because it is more stable and durable than those plastic bags they give you at the store. (And those plastic bags tear really easily- something else you can bypass worrying about when driving home.) Safely carrying one bag in this space is pretty easy to do, but adding more bags means increasing your odds of something going wrong.

You also have your glove box to work with, but I find little can fit in that space or wants to stay put there. I only have the basics on my Vespa and haven’t added any bells nor whistles to her yet. I don’t really need any of those extras for what I use it for and want to keep it as is.  Depending on your model and what you’ve bought for it, you may have more storage space to use. (Scooterlust’s link at the bottom might have more information for you.)

You can do a number of errands and use only the storage under the seat and the space in your bag, leaving your last errand for bigger and heavier items. I just hang my helmet off my bag, when there isn’t space anymore in the case for it in between rides. You have to think about what you are buying when you take your vespa on these shopping sprees, since there isn’t room for everything, so it helps you limit the items to what you really need. Another way owning a scooter saves you money!
Running errands on your scooter takes a lot of stress away from the tasks at hand because you can easy flow in and out of traffic, parking lots and still do everything you need to do with such ease. Oh yeah.

Links with awesome advise for ‘shopping on two wheels’,

• http://www.scooterlust.com/scooter-cargo-space/, Scooterlust for the win, again!
• http://scootinoldskool.wordpress.com/2009/08/17/to-market-to-market/