Born to be mild: Meet the moped crew of Sioux Falls

Before you hear the big and angry growl of a hog heading west for Sturgis next month, listen instead for the cute meep meep of a moped tootling through town at 30 miles an hour.

We see a lot of scooters or mini motorcycles promenading Minnesota Avenue this time of year. Maybe you’ve waved at a rider while at a stop light on 41st Street or awed at a parked silver Vespa downtown. How fun! How summery! They’re hard to miss and hard to resist.

Nettie Lawrence has been riding her “girl Stella” for over 15 years. It’s a two-stroke engine motorcycle she first owned while living in Wisconsin before she met her now husband in Sioux Falls. She keeps Stella on the road here but was missing “her people” she used to scoot with back home.

“I love to move, I love to ride,” says Lawrence, who works at Vern Eide Motoplex and Honda PowerSports, both north of town off 60th Street. She likes to “yammer” with customers about scooters and finally met enough to start a Facebook group and regular ride schedule.

What’s more charming than spotting a scooter at Terrace Park? Spotting a dozen scooters zipping by with a friendly honk and wave.

Safety first and fun always

The SuFu Mini Moto Crew meets on Friday nights for a two-hour-ish ride through parks and neighborhoods, stopping for ice cream at Yonutz or pizzas at Remedy Brewing Co. afterward. They bring their mini motorcycles, vintage scooters, retro monkeys and Honda Groms or the all-new, futuristic BMW CE o2 electric that Lawrence rode last time they met.

“You can’t even hear this coming by,” Lawrence said.

This is the crew’s second summer together, and they have over 100 members. Anyone is welcome to join, any night and “just go.”

“You get to take in the city in a whole new way,” said Tony Reiss. He joined the Mini Moto Crew last year and rides a red Honda Trail 125. “People are always watching you, and this one has turned some heads since it’s based off of Honda’s old CT90.”

When Leah Hofer was in her 20s, she often rode on the back of mini motos with friends.

“Short shorts, tank tops, flip flops — it was totally unsafe, but it was all about the look,” says Hofer, who drives her own mid-sized, beginner-friendly Honda Rebel today and will ride around with her son. He’s on a Grom and also in his 20s but leaves the flip flops at home.

“It’s nice to ride on the back and enjoy the scenery, but now I ride myself and go where I want and whenever I want,” Hofer says.

Lawrence had a group of over 600 members back home in Wisconsin. She’s savvy at leading tours and won’t start a ride without a lesson on safety and etiquette.

“Ride at your own pace and ability,” she reads from poster boards she made for the group. “If some people are doing wheelies, you can just not do wheelies if you don’t want to.”

Stay up front with Lawrence if you’re new, don’t assume you have the right of way, ride three seconds apart and avoid potholes.

“Ok, yes, scooter burnouts accepted,” she says to the guy in the back.

Peep the stickers

We are seeing a resurgence in mini bikes, Reiss says. Sure, the Vespa became famous after Audrey Hepburn’s iconic tour through Italy in the 1953 comedy romance “Roman Holiday,” but electric options are appealing today, mopeds are easy to maneuver and the “price points aren’t bad at all,” he says.

Leah Simmons joined the Moto Crew for the first time last month, rolling up in an army green, rugged Honda Ruckus and a black helmet with kitty ears perked on top.

“I just got it and, dammit, I should’ve bought this sooner!” Simmons says. She’s already put 300 miles on it and only $8 worth of gas in the tank.

They’re carefree, playful, and “no windows,” Reiss says, to notice more and hear more around town.

And peep the stickers. Lawrence says whenever she’s at a gas station or parking lot and sees a fellow scooter, she hands ’em a SuFu Mini Moto Crew sticker with the Sioux Falls flag and a buffalo on it — of course himself on a moped.

“I want everyone to know that we have a scooter club!” Lawrence says. “Come ride with us! It’s always a nice day to go for a scoot.”