4 • THE UNIVERSITY DAILY KANSAN
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TRANSPORTATION
Lawrence ideal town for scooter invasion
By Richard Gintowt
rgintowt@ku.edu
Kansan staff writer
Joseph Pinter has a vision for Lawrence.
"It needs to look like Europe," he said. "Scooters lined down every sidewalk."
Pinter and Michael DeGraw, his business partner, opened Subsonic Scooters, 19 W. Ninth St., because they thought scooters could catch on in Lawrence. The early returns four to five sales a week since opening May 23 seem to indicate they were right.
"It's already exceeded our expectations," Pinter said.
Pinter and DeGraw are betting that Lawrence will be a scooter mecca because the city's roads rarely demand more than 50 mph most scooters' top speed.Add to that a large student population and frequent parking problems downtown, and Subsonic
Zach Straus/Kansan
Michael DeGraw stands inside Subsonic Scooters, 19W. Ninth St. among the scooter selection. DeGraw and partner Joseph Pinter opened the scooter and mo-ped shop on May 23rd.
has the ingredients for a successful business.
"We think scooters are the perfect vehicle for campus," DeGraw said.
All of Subsonic's scooters have engines that are less than 50 cubic centimeters, the size at which a motorbike becomes a motorcycle and a driver is required to buy insurance and pass a drivers' test. Bikes with less than 50-cc engines are allowed on campus.
Pinter's vision of scooter-lined sidewalks won't be fulfilled until one detail is resolved: Scooters are not allowed on Lawrence sidewalks.
DeGraw said he thought people should be allowed to park scooters and mo-peds on Lawrence bike racks. He plans to join the newly formed KU Scooter and Moped Club to petition the city commission to allow this.
Falestine Afani Ruzik, Minneapolis, Kan., senior and scooter club president, said she looked forward to working with Subsonic on the petition.
"I think we'll have a stronger case working together," she said.
Subsonic's opening marks a return to the scooter business for DeGraw, who owned The Metcalf Cyclery in Overland Park from 1977 to 1982 before selling his business and spending the next 29 years as a police officer in Kansas City, Kan.
His timing could not be better. According to the Motorcycle Industry Council, scooter sales in the United States have increased from 12,000 in 1997 to 69,000 in 2002.
The store offers seven scooter brands, which range from $1,300 to $4,000, and Tomos mo-peds, which cost between $1,100 and $1,800.
Scooters will be even more popular if gas prices continue to increase, DeGraw said. Scooters get 80-110 miles to the gallon. Mo-peds, which allow the rider to pedal, can stretch up to 130 miles to the gallon.
— Edited by Kevin Wiggs