How I Learned to Ride A Scooter: 20 Tips For Beginners (Complete Guide!)
I learned how to ride a scooter last year during my travels in South America and Southeast Asia, where motorized scooters like Honda Scoopys and other mopeds are the most common method of transportation. Now I live in Bali and I drive a scooter every day, in all weather!
Is Learning To Ride A Scooter Easy?
Yes and no. Learning to ride an automatic scooter, like a Scoopy, is about as easy as learning to ride a bicycle – It can be done in one day. The main difference between learning how to ride a scooter and a bicycle is a scooter can go much faster, making it more dangerous. Urban riding, whether you’re driving a scooter, bicycle, or even a car, is also a totally different beast. Riding your scooter in a busy area with traffic from cars, trucks, and other scooters is very tricky.
Not that easy: I learned how to drive a car when I was 16, and then when I was 22 I started riding eBikes to work on the packed streets of New York City. Even with 10 years of driving experience, it took me months of driving scooters to feel confident driving my scooter on the road with cars and other bikes.
Riding A Scooter If You Do Not Know How To Drive A Car
In most places, you need at least an active driver’s license to drive scooters and mopeds, and in some countries, you even need a specialized motorcycle license for driving scooters above 50cc. If you have never driven a car before, it will likely take longer for you to get the hang of propelling a scooter because you need to obey the same traffic laws as cars do.
My Top 20 Tips For Learning To Ride A Scooter
1. Learn About The Different Types Of Scooters
“Scooter” is a non-descriptive phrase that kinda means anything from eBikes, mopeds, and cutesy Vespas, all the way to motorcycles that can reach high speeds. Scooters are usually classified by “CCs”. CC stands for “Cubic Centimeters”, which is the size of the scooter engine. The classifications are loose, but generally 50 ccs and under are “mopeds”, over 50ccs – 250ccs are “scooters”, and 250ccs + are motorcycles. CC engine classifications vary by country. As an example of CCs to engine power, my Honda Scoopy scooter that I’m currently driving is 109 CCs, and I rarely drive it faster than 40 KMPH (25 MPH).
2. Know How To Turn On Your Scooter
Turning on a scooter is much more complicated than turning on your car, you need to press the brake (located on your right handlebar) while pressing the ignition starter.
Here’s The Process Of Turning On Your Scooter:
- Sit down on your bike and lift the kickstand. This is very important, your engine won’t start if your kickstand is down.
- Turn your key all the way to the right.
- With your right hand, clutch your brake.
- Using your thumb on your right hand, press the ignition while still clutching the brakes.
- Ease up on the brakes & with your right hand, use your palm to start the gas.
- Ease up on the brakes, now you’re driving!
This movement to turn on your scooter is kinda complex, but you get the hang of it very fast! 👉 Note! For some scooters, you need to hold both front brakes (right & left side), and also sometimes use your palm to start the gas a bit while the engine is starting.
3. Watch Out For Exhaust Pipe Burns
Most new scooters will have a plastic cover over the exhaust pipe, but even with this safety measure, people get burned while riding frequently. The exhaust pipe gets extremely hot while you’re driving, and getting burned is more common when you’re pillion-driving (riding as a passenger). I met a girl on the island of Siargao who was riding Pillion on her partner’s scooter and was burned so badly by the exhaust pipe she needed burn treatment -> so watch out!
4. Know The Difference Between Your Left & Right Hand Brake
Your scooter will have two hand brakes, one on the left and right handlebar sides. The left-hand brake frequently controls the back tire, and is the less powerful of the two, while the right-hand brake controls the front tire and most of your braking power. It’s important to never slam the brakes, as this can cause a skid! When I crashed my bike in Bali, it did so because I clutched my front-hand brake too hard, coming down from too high of speeds, which caused my tire to slip out. You want to ease into a brake, always, rather than attempt a sudden stop.
5. Don’t Start Out Riding A Scooter With More Than One Person
You can drive most scooters with a Pellion (passenger), but if you’re just starting out I wouldn’t advise it. It’s much harder to balance on your scooter with two people!
💡Tip! If you do progress to riding two people at a time on a scooter, know that the heavier/larger person should always be the driver due to weight distribution.
6. Learn How To Ride In Remote Locations Before Venturing Onto The Street
It’s better to do your first few sessions on your scooter in a large empty parking lot, and then later in an uncrowded (not urban) area while you’re getting the hang of street driving.
7. ALWAYS Wear Your Helmet!
This goes without saying but you need to wear a full-coverage helmet if you’re going to be riding scooters and mopes. Get into the habit of putting it on every time you put your key in the ignition, especially if you’re going to be driving your scooter on streets with other bikers and cars. Also, if you’re just learning you might want to consider wearing elbow and knee pads as well as a helmet. When I first started riding scooters I actually was pinned under my scooter going uphill and suffered a very nasty gash down my arm which elbow pads would have protected me from.
8. Know Not All Helmets Are Made The Same
For driving a scooter you will want a full-coverage helmet that has a plastic shield over the eyes and pads your entire head. Scooters and mopeds occupy a space between bicycles and motorcycles, and I frequently see scooter drivers with bicycle helmets driving around. I’ve even gotten scooter rentals before that have given me bicycle helmets! For driving a scooter, you will want to err on the side of caution and get a motorcycle helmet.
9. Always Wear AGATT – All Gear All The Time
It’s important to be fully protected while driving your scooter. The common saying for this is “AGATT” – or “All Gear All The Time”. This means full pants, a long-sleeve shirt, closed-toed shoes, and a helmet. The first time I crashed my scooter I suffered from Road Rash all over my left leg, ending where my jean shorts started. If I had been wearing pants, I would have had very few (if any) injuries from that accident. The easiest way to do this is to keep your gear, like a motorcycle jacket and possibly closed-toed shoes, in your scooter well so you’ll always have it.
10. Know Where Your Turn Signal Is
Your turn signal is a switch on the left side of your scooter, next to your lights. You can flick it right or left depending on which signal you wish to turn on, and after you’ve made your turn you can press the switch like a button to stop your turn signal from blinking.
11. Know How To Accelerate
You can accelerate your scooter by turning your palm on the gas handle on the right side towards yourself. The more you turn it, the more gasoline is dumped into the engine. If you’re driving a higher-powered scooter, 150 CC or above, it will pick up and accelerate very quickly, so please be careful when accelerating on your scooter!
12. Learn How To Turn
You turn a scooter the same way as a bicycle, by gently turning the handlebars left and right. If you already know how to ride a bicycle, this motion will come naturally to you!
13. Be Wary Going UP Hills
That’s right – I said UP hills! The first time I truly wiped out on my scooter I wasn’t even moving. I was driving up a steep hill and I stopped for one second to right my sunglasses – the steep incline caused my scooter to come unbalanced and topple over on top of me. These scooters can weigh like 200 pounds +, so even though I wasn’t even moving I suffered a nasty gash on my arm from the weight of the scooter digging me into the asphalt. Falling while driving uphill is much more common than you would think! Be very careful because steep angles make it harder to balance on your scooter.
💡 Tip! I’ve also seen people fall or get stuck on hills if they’re trying to ride with more than one person, your scooter might just not have the power to accelerate up a hill with the weight of two people!
14. Adjust Your Mirrors, Just Like If You Were Driving A Car!
Your side mirrors are just as important on scooters as they are when you’re driving a car. Make sure to adjust your side mirrors before starting your engine every time so you can see when people are behind you or trying to pass!
15. Watch Out For Gravel and sand On The Road!
Gravel and sand in the road make it very slippery for your scooter. If you see any dirt in the road, be wary & cautious.
16. Make Sure You’re Driving Your Scooter Legally
It’s important to know if you have the right license to drive your scooter. In many countries, this goes by CCs – for example, some countries/states say that you can use your general driver’s license for scooters of 50 CCs or below, and anything above needs a special license. Other countries require you to register your scooter above a certain CC, like you would a car. Make sure to look into the requirements for your country/state so you’re driving your scooter legally.
17. Get An International Driver’s Permit If You Plan On Driving Scooters Abroad
Many countries I’ve traveled in, like Bali and Thailand, where driving scooters are popular with foreign tourists also require an International Driver’s Permit in addition to an active driver’s license. If you plan on driving scooters during your travels abroad, you can apply for an International Driver’s Permit before you leave your home country. It’s usually an easy online process and costs around $50, and you should be able to do it all online.
While driving abroad you will always need to have your International Driver’s Permit physically on your person, so I recommend keeping it in your scooter well or wallet at all times.
18. Make Sure You’re Properly Insured
I use Safety Wing Travel Insurance while driving scooters abroad, and I recommend it to anyone looking to drive scooters while traveling. If you’re not traveling, you can depend on your home insurance to cover you – but do know insurance is infamous for being voided in cases of people driving scooters illegally. Usually, this is because they’re either not driving their scooter with the correct license, they’re not wearing a helmet, or they’re driving under the influence.
19. Learn How To Kick-Start Your Engine
This is a tricky one for new scooter drivers! If your engine dies, you will need to kick-start it using the lever located on the left side of your scooter. This isn’t a problem that comes up often, in the past year I’ve maybe had to do this 4-5 times, but you need to learn how to start your engine with the kick-start lever so you don’t get stranded in a remote location if your scooter won’t start! I felt ridiculously awkward the first few times I had to kick-start my engine, but eventually, I got the hang of it.
20. Be Wary Of Over-Confidence
The first time I truly crashed my scooter, which I wrote about in my post on driving a scooter in Bali, was when I felt like I knew what I was doing, and I started driving more recklessly because of it. Be careful! Even if you feel like you know what you’re doing, there’s almost no reason to ever speed or “gun it” (accelerate all the way), while driving your scooter.
That was utterly boring to read lol Please make your writing entertaining in future
I’m sorry Fred, I will give this a re-read and an edit! Hopefully some of the tips were still helpful? haha
I’ll be riding in Paramaribo, Suriname for the first time to and from work for the next couple months. I’m also hoping to visit Taiwan sometime soon. This article along with a few other videos I’ve watched have been quite helpful. Thank you posting, Katie. Stay safe and keep up the good work.
Hello Ryan, thank you so much for your kind words 🙂 I hope you stay safe out there! Happy travels
Explained step by step for beginners how to start with bike or scooty…