You meet the nicest people...

...On a scooter.

Of course, the original quote was "You meet the nicest people on a Honda," which was an add campaign run in the 60's. It worked brilliantly for them at the time, and sold them tons of Honda 50's.

In the early 60's, Honda was faced with selling motorcycles to an American public for whom the image of a motorcycle was the outlaw biker. They came up with an ingenious add campaign which painted the Honda 50 as the common people's motorcycle upon which the friendliest people in the world could be found. Honda has a little blurb about this campaign here.

What I've found to be true, more than fifty years later, is that the nicest people in the world seem to be drawn to scooters. Of course, this is a subjective opinion, but then, that's what blogging is all about.

I can't think of any scooter rider I've met who did not give the first impression of being a friendly individual. Scooters do not have the stigma attached to motorcycles, which helps nudge the perception along that scootsters, such as myself, are friendly folk.

I get lots of smiles from people, and two days ago, I even had a lady intentionally set off a traffic light sensor for me even though she could have made a right turn rather than sitting on the sensor in the turning lane.

Sure, there are folks who look at those of us who ride scooters as dorky, effeminate (except for those scootsters who are already female of course), socially inept, etc., but those folks are shallow and not worth heeding. The vast majority of people I've come across, whilst riding my scoot, return my smile and exchange friendly smalltalk, if the situation allows.

Now, if only I could find an old Honda 50 in decent condition and not pay a mint for it...