Scooter stop-Pair of Sentinel High School teachers opens downtown Missoula dealership

Around Sentinel High School these days, longtime teachers Dan Kucera and Gary Stein are known as "the scooter guys."

By DARYL GADBOW of the Missoulian

Kucera and Stein recently opened Scooterville Montana, the state’s first full-service motor scooter shop, at 138 W. Broadway, just across Ryman Street from the Missoula County Courthouse.

The shop is the exclusive western Montana dealer for Derbi and Bajaj motor scooters, two leaders in a resurgent American scooter market.

A trip to Europe a couple of years ago opened Kucera’s eyes to the popularity of scooters.

"I spent a week in Italy," Kucera said. "All over Europe it seemed like places had motor scooters. But in Italy, it was profound. I was telling Stein it’s amazing how many scooters are around. It turned out he had one and really liked them, too. Two years ago we said jokingly ‘We should open a

shop.’ "

The two teachers looked into Vespa, the popular Italian motor scooters that have established almost a cult following around the world. But they discovered that opening a Vespa dealership also meant opening an associated boutique that carries an expensive array of Vespa accessories.

"There was a $100,000 startup cost for all this inventory," Kucera said. "Last summer, we started seriously looking into other scooters, because we couldn’t afford Vespa."

During the Christmas holidays, Kucera and Stein took a trip out to Portland, Ore., to visit scooter dealerships.

They checked out the Derbi, manufactured in Barcelona, Spain, and the Bajaj, made in India.

"We said, ‘That’s it. That’s Missoula,’ " Kucera said of the two brands. "There are plenty of scooters out there, including some that are cheaper. But the quality isn’t there. We didn’t feel comfortable with scooters that we felt we’d make more money on in service than on sales. These are great products."

Bajaj is the largest manufacturer of two-wheeled vehicles in the world, Kucera said. The two models available in the U.S. are four-stroke, 145-cc scooters with a classic design. They have a four-speed manual transmission.

"The Bajaj actually is a Vespa," Kucera said. "Vespa started the company and then backed out of Asian sales. The Bajaj is essentially the same body style as the 1971 Vespa. Bajaj kept making it with a Kawasaki engine."

Derbi scooters are two-stroke models, using the same engines as Vespa, ranging in size from 50 cc to the deluxe 150-cc Boulevard model. All Derbi scooters have an automatic transmission.

"The Derbi has sportier, European lines," Kucera said. "They’re more for the younger customer. The Bajaj has the traditional scooter look."

The dual appeals of motor scooters, he said, are fun and economy.

The 50-cc Derbi has achieved 250 miles per gallon of gas in controlled tests, Kucera said.

"But we tell people they’ll get 100 miles per gallon," he added.

Despite that miserly fuel economy, the small Derbi models will zip 50 to 55 mph, Kucera said. The racy Boulevard, which can reach speeds of 75 miles an hour, will still eke out 70 miles on a gallon of gas.

The scooters’ purchase price ranges from $2,200 to $3,500.

Scooters also are environmentally friendly, Kucera said.

In the 1970s, tough, new federal emissions standards put an end to the scooter fad in the United States. But technology has solved those problems, Kucera said.

"The concern about two-cycle engines has been answered because we have smokeless oil now," he said. "Not only is it clean, it’s strawberry scented."

Bajaj’s four-cycle engines also are efficient and clean-burning.

Scooters would be practical vehicles for many Missoula residents, Kucera said.

With the limited parking situation at the University of Montana, its students, faculty and staff are obvious candidates for scooter transportation, he said.

Scooters are classified in Montana as motorcycles and require a drivers license with a motorcycle endorsement to operate legally in the state.

A helmet is not mandatory for scooter riders over the age of 18. But Kucera said the goal at Scooterville Montana is to sell a helmet with every scooter.

Their Sentinel High School connection proved beneficial for Kucera and Stein in starting their new business.

In his marketing class last year, Kucera assigned his students to do an entrepreneurial business plan. Three students did their project on starting up a scooter shop.

"They gave us some good ideas," he said.

The shop’s head mechanic is Travis Schramm, a senior at Sentinel, who is a student in Stein’s social studies class as well as Kucera’s marketing class.

"He’s a great, responsible kid," Kucera said of Schramm, who is planning to attend UM part time in the fall while managing Scooterville Montana. His experience racing and working on snowmobiles and assorted other recreational and racing vehicles made him a valuable addition to the business, Kucera said.

Kucera and Stein also are working with Sentinel’s welding class students to help them develop a scooter mount to carry a variety of items, from groceries to golf clubs.

"We’re utilizing the resources we have with the students at Sentinel," Kucera said.

The business also received significant financial and planning assistance, including a startup loan, from the Montana Community Development Corp., the partners said.

"Gary and I have been driving the scooters home and taking the kids for rides," said Kucera. "They really are comfortable. And we’re getting lots of thumbs up from people who see us. People think it’s neat. I think Missoula is wanting something like this."

http://missoulian.com/articles/2003/05/20/business/bus01.txt