Scooters for sale!

So we were 2 months away from leaving Taiwan, and it came time for us to start advertising our scooters for sale.

I was very saddened by the prospect of having to part with Excalibur and the Juggernaut. They had both served Amanda and I well. We’d had a mix of great adventures and terrifying near misses on both scooters. Nevertheless, Amanda and I would both miss the freedom, independence and convenience that they provided us while we were in Taiwan.

When we first arrived, friends advised us to “get a scooter as soon as you can, it opens up the city and makes life so much more enjoyable.” They were absolutely right, and I would absolutely pass on the same advice to anyone new to the Island.

As it happened, we ended up selling the Juggernaut to an ESL teacher that had been in Taiwan for a while and was looking to upgrade. I hope he’s still enjoying it!

Excalibur met a less fortunate ending. I did find an ESL teacher that was new to Taiwan and wanted to buy the bike, but unfortunately when I went to the motor vehicle bureau to get the bike transferred into her name, it did not pass some kind of inspection. The inspector tried to communicate with me through a series of hand gestures, grunts and repeating the words “light, no good, must change”. I tried exchanging hand gestures, grunts and showing him that the headlight was in perfect working order, but didn’t seem to have any success getting my point across, or understanding the point he was trying to make. I think maybe it was the wrong type of headlight for that bike. Transfer of title unsuccessful, I ended up having to give the scooter back to the shop from which I bought it and I pretty much just got scrap value for it. More than likely the whole issue of it not passing the inspection as well it only getting scrap value from the bike shop had to do with us having been in an accident where a taxi t-boned us by doing a u-turn in the middle of the road and quite badly damaging the scooter. Given that we came out of that incident unscathed, I’m not too bitter that the only consequence was us losing out a few thousand NTD when it came time to get rid of the bike.

Excalibur: Rest in peace. She might not have had a very high top speed, but swift and nimble, she could get going off the stop line with one heck of a kick! 

The Juggernaut: Strong and sturdy. Many an adventure had we t'gether. May ye serve well your new master and carry them safe t'wherever tis they go.