If you keep your ears open for a sort of familiar buzz, you may have a shot at catching at least part of the 2021 Scooter Cannonball, a cross-country dash by nearly a hundred riders on Vespas, Hondas, Cushmans and other two-wheelers.
The semi-annual event—this one is actually the postponed 2020 run—follows a a route from Bar Harbor, Maine, on Mount Desert Island all the way west to Eureka, California, with arrival, for the survivors at least, on July 21. The route totals 4,350 miles. Try if you can to imagine 435 miles a day on a low-power device meant originally for scooting around the streets of European cities.
And these are not hopped-up or modified scooters; the rules are strict. Engine under 280cc, maximum wheel size 10 inches, single-cylinder engine, and a step-through frame. Most are from the past twenty years, but organizers say there are still some veterans of the 1960s out there. Scoring uses a handicap system that takes into account age and displacement.
