FRESNO, Calif. — Chris Carr is used to people coming into his showroom and kicking the tires of the high gas mileage scooters he has for sale.

But this year's customers at Fresno Motorsports are different, he said.

They're not just looking at scooters, they're actually buying them.

"They say, 'Gas prices are killing me, and I have to do something right now,' " he said.

Carr said his company does pretty big business in regular motorcycles, with a constant stream of traffic.

But he said this is the first year that his showroom is full of people specifically looking at scooters.

With gas prices set to reach record highs this summer, the appeal of motor scooters is also growing, with more and more people viewing them as viable alternatives for commuting, Carr said.

And that trend is being seen across the country, according to the Motorcycle Industry Council, an Irvine, Calif.-based trade group.

The fuel for the phenomenon — outrageous gas prices — may be sputtering a bit, but prices are still higher than drivers would like.

The growing popularity of two-wheeled vehicles is nothing new. Sales of motorcycles and scooters in the United States have increased every year for the past 14 years, the council's statistics show.

But in the past few years, scooters have been taking a larger share of that growth, said Mike Mount, council spokesman.

"I think a lot of what's driving it is fuel prices," he said.

"Really, it first came into play in the summer of 2005," when gasoline prices took a big jump upward in price."

But there are some drawbacks to scooters.

Scooters with engine displacement smaller than 250 cubic centimeters aren't legal to drive on freeways, for example. And scooters aren't exactly the ideal vehicle for grocery shopping or other errands that require moving cargo.

Barney Wolfe, sales manager at Clawson Motorsports in Fresno, has sold some scooters lately but said his main customers are younger people using them for transportation to and from school or college.

Still, Carr said he's seen some less-typical scooter riders entering his dealership recently.

"We're seeing guys come in who drive these giant pickup trucks, and they're getting on these little scooters," Carr said. "That's kind of telling right there."