Scooter club raises money for the Children's House of NWA

By: Diana K. Frieberg

Posted: 10/5/07

The Fayetteville Revolution Scooter Club will raffle off a Lindhai Aeolus 150 scooter for the Children's House charity, a center for child abuse and neglect victims.

The raffle tickets are available for $2 and the drawing will be held at Ryleigh's Boom Boom Room on Dickson Street Saturday, Oct. 6.

All of the profits go to the Children's House and you can purchase the tickets at Romance Diamond, Ryleigh's or from the Scooter Club itself. One of the club's goals is to promote community involvement. "I want people to recognize the group as more than just scooter-riders. I want us to be active contributors in the community," said David Chacon the club's founder.

A pale blue and white vintage Torpedo stands proudly next to a Vespa-inspired three-wheeler with shiny black leather seats and a windshield the size of a Volkswagen's. The sky, brightened by the oranges and reds of a Northwest Arkansas sunset, is the perfect backdrop for the rainbow of colors cruising into the parking lot one by one. A smaller, simpler red and white character with a matching flag on the back joins the others in the parking lot. The Fayetteville Revolution Scooter Club's weekly meeting at the Arsaga's Café on Gregg is underway.

The club, which is sponsored by Ozark Natural Foods and local handyman (and scooter rider) Ron Hollingshead, got its start when founder David Chacon bought his blue 2007 Honda Metropolitan and wanted to find a way to connect with other scooter riders around the city.

"The NWA Rollergirls were a big influence on me," he said. "I watched them turn nothing into something…amazing." After printing a few flyers and creating a MySpace page, Chacon's dream became a reality.

The scene is not unlike a typical Thursday Bike Nite on Dickson, minus the leather and noise. Men and women ranging from their 20's to their 70's, stand around sipping their drink of choice and checking out each other's rides. After allowing enough time for everyone to arrive, the gang of twenty or so enthusiasts hop on their scooters to cruise the streets of Fayetteville before rendezvousing at Hogwild Pizzeria for food and drink.

The club's first ride featured some special guests including the Razorback's one-and-only Darren McFadden. Felix Jones, Robert Johnson, Jonathan Luigs and Ernest Mitchell also joined in helping to generate interest in the club and even landed a few minutes on the evening news.

Chacon plans the route for each ride, which lasts around 45 minutes, and leads the riders around Fayetteville. Mt. Sequoyah is a frequented maze of scooter-friendly trails. The lack of traffic and stop lights enables the group to stay together, enjoy the scenery and relax.

Of course it wouldn't be a real Fayetteville riding club without a visit to the infamous Dickson Street.

The short cruise can be a lot of fun for the crew "especially when there are a lot of drunk, amped-up people whooping and hollering at us," Chacon said.

Although, Dickson Street is motorcycle territory, there is only one word to describe the dynamic between fellow two-wheelers: respect. "Many of them give a wave to the scooters. The crotch-rocket guys are a little too cool and probably think we are dorky, but the Harley road bike guys are cool with us," Chacon said.

SCOOTER BASIC 101

With gas prices continuing to rise, a scooter might be a worthwhile investment. Scooters get 100 miles per gallon-- that's roughly 10 dollars a month for the average rider.

Scooters might be environmentally and financially practical, but they aren't risk-free. This past week, Professor Dale Warren, was riding a scooter on Highway 265, when he was rear-ended by a Toyota 4Runner moving at 70 miles per hour. Warren is still recovering and will have surgery on his hand next week.

A college town with a lot of inexperienced young drivers is prime scooter danger zone.

"I felt safer in the summer just by pure volume of cars, though I think you pay much better attention to what's going on around you on a scooter than in a car," Chacon said.

Arkansas regulations concerning scooters state that a two-wheeled motor vehicle with an engine under 50 cc does not require a vehicle license and you must be at least 10 years old to drive one.

A typical motorcycle has 500 cc or more. But scooter drivers are responsible for obeying all traffic laws and there are additional rules on campus. A permit is required; scooters can't be parked in motorcycle spaces and they cannot be ridden on sidewalks. These rules apply to scooters under 50 cc while anything more powerful is classified as a motorcycle. When parking at a bike rack, the scooter must be pushed along the sidewalk, not ridden. Some "scooterers" have taken up issue with the sidewalk rule, referencing the bicycle riders and the UAPD's use of segues.

As the scooter trend is taking off, the Fayetteville club isn't alone. Almost every state has one (or more) and most are open to anyone with a scooter. They meet monthly or weekly, hold annual events and day trips and tend to take a hiatus during the colder months.

The Oklahoma City Curiosity Scooter Club holds monthly rides and an annual three-day rally every fall. The Baltimore Bombshells is an all-girl scooter club while the Incriminators Scooter Club of Chapel Hill, N. C. is dedicated to keeping vintage scooters on the roads. The Secret Society Scooter Club, based out of Boston, Chicago, San Francisco and San Diego, is putting on its 11th Annual Skutoberfest in October. Many of the clubs have Web sites and MySpace pages that allow them to keep in touch with each other, share photos and stories and meet up for combined events and rides.

Enthusiasts looking for more than a group ride can find additional scooter delight in films, apparel and even a magazine dedicated to scooters. Scoot! Magazine is a scooter aficionado periodical issued quarterly and contains articles such as "How to host a scooter rally" and a calendar centerfold. At scootquarterly.com, readers can submit their own pictures and stories and buy scooter merchandise.

Fayetteville's own scooter club also has plans for a Scootoberfest scheduled tentatively for the second to last weekend of October. Chacon expects this year's event, which will inlcude a night on the town, a scavenger hunt and food and drink, to be a low-key preliminary blueprint for the event in years to come

SCOOTERS GIVE TO CHARITY

The Benjamin Del Shreve band, which won the Northwest Arkansas "Modern Rock Band of the Year" is also hosting a benefit in conjunction with the Fayetteville Revolution Scooter Club.

In addition to the charity raffle, the club also has working plans for a cancer awareness ride in which they will wear pink tee-shirts on the ride around the city. Chacon also said he hopes to get his plans for a toy drive underway as another method of promoting community involvement.

As the nights get cooler in October and those all-to familiar Ozark lows set in, the club will have to cease their riding. But fear not, Hogwild has heat and the club members will continue to meet weekly. Until November, when the night rides will end, the club will meet at 6 p.m. to ride (instead of 7). After that, it is pizza and beer until April and maybe the occasional Saturday daytime ride.