page_title: Scooter (motorcycle)
section_title: In popular culture
hierarchical_section_title: Scooter (motorcycle) / Popularity / In popular culture
caption_attribution_description: English: Scooter rally at Smallbrook Stadium, Isle of Wight, UK
context_page_description: A scooter or motor scooter is a type of motorcycle with a step-through frame and a platform for the rider's feet. Elements of scooter design were present in some of the earliest motorcycles, and scooters have been made since at least 1914. Scooter development continued in Europe and the United States between the World Wars.
  The global popularity of motor scooters dates from the post-World War II introductions of the Vespa and Lambretta models in Italy. These scooters were intended to provide economical personal transportation. The original layout is still widely used in this application. Maxi-scooters, with larger engines from 250 to 850 cc have been developed for Western markets.
  Scooters are popular for personal transportation partly due to being more affordable, easier to operate, and more convenient to park and store than a car. Licensing requirements for scooters are easier and cheaper than for cars in most parts of the world, and insurance is usually cheaper. The term motor scooter is sometimes used to avoid confusion with kick scooter, but can then be confused with motorized scooters, another distinct kind of scooter.
context_section_description: A common reference for the glamorous image of scooters is Roman Holiday, a 1953 romantic comedy in which Gregory Peck carries Audrey Hepburn around Rome on a Vespa.
  In the 1960s mod subculture, some members of this British youth cult used motorscooters for transportation, usually Vespas or Lambrettas. Scooters had provided inexpensive transportation for decades before the development of the mod subculture, but the mods stood out in the way that they treated the vehicle as a fashion accessory, expressed through clubs such as the Ace of Herts. Italian scooters were preferred for their cleanlined, curving shapes and gleaming chrome. For young mods, Italian scooters were the "embodiment of continental style and a way to escape the working-class row houses of their upbringing". They customized their scooters by painting them in "two-tone and candyflake and overaccessorized [them] with luggage racks, crash bars, and scores of mirrors and fog lights", and they often put their names on the small windscreen. Engine side panels and front bumpers were taken to local electroplating workshops and plated with highly reflective chrome.
  Scooters were also a practical and accessible form of transportation for 1960s teens. In the early 1960s, public transport stopped relatively early in the night, and so having scooters allowed mods to stay out all night at dance clubs. To keep their expensive suits clean and keep warm while riding, mods often wore long army parkas. For teens with low-end jobs, scooters were cheaper than cars, and they could be bought on a payment plan through newly available hire purchase plans. After a law was passed requiring at least one mirror be attached to every motorcycle, mods were known to add four, ten, or as many as 30 mirrors to their scooters. The cover of The Who's album Quadrophenia, which includes themes related to mods and rockers, depicts a young man on a Vespa GS with four mirrors attached. The album spawned a 1979 motion picture of the same name.
  Scooterboy magazines include the British monthly magazine Scootering 
  and the American quarterly magazine Scoot!.
caption: Scooter rally at Smallbrook Stadium, Isle of Wight
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