Red Lantern: Scooter shopping

With Macklemore’s tune downtown, we storm out after work for another eventful evening. This time we have B’s Chinese girlfriend with us who will help negotiating. She takes us in her car and drives us to a street with many scooter shops. The original plan was to drive to a shop called X-Union, but the traffic to that area is too heavy, that’s why we’ve decided to try the X shop at the weekend.

The area we drive to, is quite close to the place we live. After a short drive, we arrive and park in front of the first shop we see. Then A, B his girlfriend and me (no puppy today) start the hunt. We enter the first shop, see nothing we like and go out again. We enter the second shop and as we look around, Macklemore’s Downtown comes through the PA of the shop next door.

I'm headed downtown, cruising through the alley

Tip-toeing in the street like Dally

Pulled up, moped to the valley

Whitewalls on the wheels like mayonnaise

Dope, my crew is ill, and all we need is two good wheels

Got gas in the tank, cash in the bank

And a bad little mama with her ass in my face

I'm a lick that, stick that, break her off (Kit-Kat)

Snuck her in backstage, you don't need a wristband

Dope

Here we see some scooters we like, but it’s all 60 Volt and one or two have 64V batteries. We want 72V with at least 20 Amps and 1000 Watt. I’ve done my research and know that a 60V won’t take us downtown and back that easily. Besides the low range, the speed is also low. 25 mp/h is really low and can be dangerous on some roads. Especially on the expressway you risk your life. And if you travel at night and have your headlights on, you’ll drain the batteries even quicker and run out of juice in the middle of nowhere.

We try a third shop. Here we find some nice ones with the power we want and need and start negotiations. The shop owner is not really willing to go down in price and we leave the shop. In the next one the shop owner goes down in price, but not as much as we would like. Colleague A tries to haggle as much as he can, but like last night, the most we get is 20 Pounds each, which for A is nothing. Well, looking at the price of 300 - 350 Pounds, 20 off is something. I have to say that they throw in a helmet and a rain coat (both cheap items made in China).

The other problem is that colleague B insists on going to the X-Union shop, because according to him, they have to most stylish scooters, and is not willing to buy anything today. I am intrigued to see those stylish machines and am not really bothered to buy today. But A has had already enough and wants to buy, but he wants to buy cheap. And here lies the problem. My project manager from Ar’ar in the Saudi desert would say: Don’t use your thinking! But colleague A uses his (western) thinking and doesn’t understand that things in this country don’t work like home. I can imagine that due to the communist regime, the state takes care of everything and people are not really bothered about making profit. I don’t see competition either. There are the same prices everywhere and if they don’t sell, they’re fine with it.

After the sixth or seventh shop, A gets tired and sick of haggling and searching and negotiating, and says to the shop owner: I’ve got 300 pounds to spend and would like a 72V scooter. What can you offer me? The owner points at a few that cost less than 300 and A chooses one. He makes a downpayment and crosses the street to go to the bank. In the meantime the shop owner and his people roll the scooter out of the shop and install the batteries. It’s six 12V batteries that need to be connected, so it takes a while. In addition to that, the brakes, lights, etc are checked too. While we wait, I see a scooter I like and ask through B’s girlfriend a few questions. Then the smell of grilled meat waves over and tickles our noses. I turn around and see a street kitchen. Walk there and see what’s on the menu. Various skewers with beef, chicken, tofu, vegetables, etc. I go for a sausage (how German!) and veggies. Both are delicious. While eating the skewers, Mum appears in a bubble above me, shaking her hear, giving me a speech on health and hygiene standards. But then Saki appears in another speech bubble and scares her away. He approves and nods with his head. So I eat my skewers peacefully.

After having finished eating, I want to go back to the shop and the others, but a lady appears out of nowhere with a toddler in her arms. She says something incomprehensible and places her little bugger in my arms. Then she and all the people around her take their mobile phones and the photo session begins. An eternity later, the scooter is ready and my friends shout my name. So I pass on the baby to her mother, say ‘thank you’ and leave. All the people thank me and nod and bow in respect. I guess it was their first encounter with a westerner.

My colleague A got a red helmet that has the form of a nutshell and a blue raincoat as presents and bought some sort of blanket to keep him warm in winter. The people from the shop explain to him how the scooter works and what all the buttons and switches mean and are and then he and us are good to go.

Macklemore's Downtown (opens in a new window)

I like this one (330 Pounds, 72V, 20Amps)