Two strokes is about as much as an old man like me can handle

I drive a 1986 Honda Spree. It looks like an old Vespa, only smaller. The body is made out of cheap, pliable plastic. It has a 49cc 2-stroke engine. The transmission has no gears. It has essentially two speeds, stop and 26 mph. It gets around 90 mpg. I use a gallon of gas a week or less. It costs $40 a year to insure and $40 dollars a year to register. If you tried to ride it in traffic, you'd be dead in a week. Where I live, all the streets have bike lanes. Nobody much uses them, so I do. It's illegal but the cops don't bother me. Works out well for both of us. It has a little rack on the back. When I go to the store, I bungee a plastic milk crate to the rack. That and the little backpack I habitually wear, holds everything I'm ever likely to purchase. I paid $300 for it. In three years, it's never given me any mechanical problems and doesn't seem like it's likely to soon.

For the size of the engine, it's not fuel efficient, or low emission. I don't care. Honda currently makes some really nice small urban motorbikes in Southeast Asia. They are fuel efficient, 4-stroke, water cooled, fuel injected. They are clean burning and FAST! I'd love to buy one of them. They won't sell them here. They would certainly cut into the sales of the larger bikes that they do sell here. You can't even pay to have one shipped over, it's illegal. You wouldn't want to anyway, no parts, no service would be available. When government and corporations tell us that they are working hard to provide clean, fuel efficient vehicles for us, they are lying through their teeth.

I don't care about global warming or the depletion of fossil fuels. Why should I? I'll be dead in 20 years or 76 years old, which, let's face it, is the same as. I just want to get around town in the cheapest most fun way possible. I'll just keep ridin' the Spree.