Bills quest for the perfect scooter 

Bill was kind enough to supply the following narrative and I find it especially interesting as hes owned quite a few different scooters. He brings up a number of good points prospective scooter owners should consider when shopping for the "perfect scooter".  DS July, 2002

After a couple of months of very enjoyable riding, I started getting thoughts about what a bigger scooter might be
like.  So I started looking around again.  This time I found a like new red Honda Elite 150.  After taking it out on a test
ride, I said to myself, ahaa, this is it, I'm now in the big time!  I bought it and used it a lot for about a year and had a
lot of enjoyment from it.  Then, I started having those thoughts again.  What would an Elite 250 be like?  Well,
needless to say, I found one and after taking it out for a road test, I said to myself, "this is the ultimate".  I could
actually take this out on the highway.  So I bought the 250 (which was black by the way) and sold my Elite 150.  I
really enjoyed the extra power and acceleration the 250 gave me and I actually did take it out on the highway several
times.  After about a year and a half of great riding, the thoughts started coming back.  Is there a Honda Helix out
there just waiting for me.  As it turned out, there wasn't.  They are very rare in my part of the country and there were
none even to look at, much less for sale.

I decided to get adventurous and look further afield.  I found several available on eBay motors auction site.  And I
came across one that seemed in pretty good condition and wasn't priced thru the roof.  It was a red '93 Honda Helix.  I
decided to go for it.  I went to Canada Customs to find out what I needed to do to import it.  They were actually quite
helpful in telling me what needed to be done and what paper work was required.  The hardest part of it all was finding
a shipping company that would ship it up to me without it costing an arm and a leg.  I found one that would ship it for
$300 US and they didn't require the scooter to be crated up.  The big day finally came and it arrived.  I went to
Canada Customs with my papers in hand, they cleared it...after I paid the GST and the only thing left to do was get a
Transport Canada inspection OK.  There are designated inspection sites in each area and you choose which one to go
to.  The inspection took 10 minutes and 50 bucks.  The inspection site gave me a temporary certificate and a
permanent one was later mailed to me which gets stuck on the scooter.

I was now official and glad all the paperwork stuff was out of the way.  I started riding my Helix in earnest, offering
everyone I knew a ride.  I couldn't understand why most just looked at me in a strange way and shook their head.  I
rode the Helix quite a lot, but you know what, it wasn't as easy for me to ride as the Eiites were.  For one thing,
because you sit so low, sitting in it was not as comfortable...at least for a tall person.  I found that my legs were not
straight out but had to be bent upwards and this caused discomfort in my lower back area.  The other thing I found is
that it is not as maneuverable as the Elites and just wheeling it around in my driveway was quite difficult.  And I had a
hard time parking it on sidewalks which I did quite easily with the Elites I had.  So now what?  I decided to cut my
losses and sell the Helix.  This was last fall.  This summer, the scooter bug came back with a vengeance.  After some
very helpful hints from Doug, I found another Elite 250 (white this time) for sale which was in very fine condition and
with a new windshield.  As you might have guessed, I snapped it up and  am now having the time of my life on those
nice warm summer evenings.  In the end, I also found an incredible motorized bicycle, but that's another story.