"...I'm wondering the same kinds of things, mainly due to gas prices..."

I don't know about the little scooters, but back in one of the '70's gas crunches I considered a smaller (500cc or so) full sized murdercycle, only for saving money. I had an 18 mile commute to work, one way. I was looking at a used bike from a friend. I don't recall the actual numbers now, but after figuring out the mileage of the bike as opposed to my Toyota P/U, additional insurance cost, helmet cost, etc etc etc, I would have had to ride that thing to work every day, night and day, rain or shine, eight months of the year for something like five years before I started to break even. Assuming that I lived that long...