Why are so many companies upping the CC of scooters? BMW might bring out an 800cc scooter . At what point does it just become something like the automatic honda of the 1978-82? If it goes 69 MPH LIKE a good lady , sorry I mean scooter what's the point?
Fat people need fat scooters...:eek1 It's following the trends of the last 30 years or so as to what is considered a full-size bike. 30 years ago, my 1200cc Sportster would have been considered huge. Now we have Triumphs with the engine displacement that matches my wife's old Nissan Altima...
I love both my bike and my scooter (650cc bike, 125cc scooter), but more and more the bike gets on my nerves when I need to be smooth 2up around town, and the scooter when I need to be fast outside of the town. The solution would be a big scooter, since I've got no reason to go beyond 70hp that I got now in my bike (more then enough), I would gladly swap both my bikes for a single Gilera GP800 with ABS. Who knows, maybe even a T-max would do. :eek1
If I could have many bikes one would be something in the 175/200 cc range and one would be my Burgman 650. However I can't afford a third bike (I also have a Royal Enfield) so I have a maxi-scoot. That is what I use when I tour and I need a bike over 300CCs to haul me and my luggage on the superhighways and over the mountains. It is more than I need for commuting or running errands but that's the compromize. Personally I don't see why people need more that about 650ccs for anybike unless you are hauling a trailer or a sidecar. I can load up the 650 and cruise at 70.
I love scoots, little ones, big ones, doesn't matter. But the 50cc daughter's bike took me 43mins to travel out to the farm where I used to work from town where I live (40km). I also dragrace the Vmax, coz I love dragracing. I'd love a maxiscoot coz then I could ride the thing on highways, keep up with the trucks out here, and still have the scoot benefits of very low CofG, excellent steering, ease of operation, and amazing storage space, something bikes don't have. I even figured out how to tow a 80kg dragbike (2stroke, methanol, alloy, etc) on a trailer behind a maxiscoot down to the drags..........then I have the perfect set-up!
In my perfect garage of 2 or 3 bikes, one would without a doubt always be a scoot. In a garage of 4 or 5 bikes, I'd have 2 scooters. Something in the 200cc fuel injected ballpark, and something at 500cc+ for touring, when/if I want to tour on a scoot, and not on a geared bike. Just today I spoke with a guy who's got a Kymco Xciting 500 (2007) with like 3k miles on it and is selling it. I could see myself selling both my Agility 125 and my Kawa ER6F and getting that bike as a replacement for both. I know I would miss the agility of the Agility :huh around town, and the thrill of the ER6F when not in town, but I would NOT miss a lot of things that those 2 bikes don't do well. Since I need my small scoot for courier work, I can't get rid of it now, but in the end, this just might be the route I'll take. I could probably be happy with a scoot at anything above 400cc (I've ridden a lot of them), but I'd want ABS. Anyone want a 650R abs + agility 125 for a T-max?
Potential factors? Aging rider population wanting a step through that can hold highway speeds? Lazy people who don't want to shift/use a clutch smoother/less smelly engines? I'm personally not a big fan but I still need a cage fairly often, I would swap caging for a decent scoot but i'd still need the cage.
The addage I hear is "Bigger is better". But I still can't figure out why. That concept seems to be used mainly in North America. Myself, I prefer to use what will get the job done. That is why my cage is a small car that gets 45MPG and transport my lard a$$ around just fine. My Bike is an old airhead because I enjoy it and I don't need over 100HP and to be able to go 150MPH. I am seriously looking into a scooter and think that a 250cc will be more than able to propel me around just fine for what I want to do with it.
I've owned a lot of bikes and my favorite of all time is/was my ST2, being everything in one package that I thought a real motorcycle was supposed to be. Now it sits in the corner, Tendered, my TW200 and Helix are two of the currently insured and see by far the majority of my riding. I use them "at capacity" and there's just something about that I'm finding especially satisfying.
For me a scooter needs to be small, light weight and stupid easy to ride in traffic or tight spots all while getting 90 mpg making 2-10 mile trips. A 50cc doesn't have quite enough kick IMO but my Buddy 125 is spot on perfect. It goes plenty fast for everything except extended freeway usage and feels nice and small. The really big maxi scooters are pointless for what I need a scooter to do and be. Saying that if my space and money were unlimited it would be fun to have a big Maxi. Sadly neither are unlimited in my case and I'll never own one.
A large displacement scooter is a practical thing really. A few motorcycles are coming with "auto" modes, a trend I think will continue. For people who commute on there bikes, it gets to be a pain in the rear when stuck in traffic with a clutch. And on a scooter you generally have a plethora of built in storage available right off the bat, before you invest in top boxes and bags. We tour on our 250 SYM's and dont miss the shifting at all, twist-n-go is the way to go if you ask me. Has nothing to do with fat and lazy, or lack of riding skills. Get to enjoy the ride more if you ask me. There will be more automatic motorcycles and large displacement scooters coming in the future, with the aging population in the USA it just makes sense to make things more accessable to a bigger demographic.
+1 As much as I enjoy my manual bike, I enjoy the scoot sometimes even more for it's smoothness and ease of use. Just focus on the 'perfect lines' and twist! I'm probably going on a 1k mile+ trip next month and since my scoot can hardly do 60mph, I'm taking the Ninja 650. But if the scoot was a 250cc.. it probably would have been a different story.
I rode the Helix to AR last summer, put 2500 miles on in a week and it was marvelous on those roads. I'm especially sensitive to holding other traffic back and it just never happened since I was able to keep up with or exceed prevailing traffic, on every road I was on. For me it really boils down to where and how you ride. Last summer I had the ST2 down in SW Wisconsin for a long weekend, using a small town as the center of loops in every direction. I strung a bunch of small, tight but paved roads together using larger and smoother County roads to connect them. 2nd, 3rd, 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 2nd, etc. A few weeks later I went back and did essentially the same thing, only on the Helix. Speeds and roads equivalent, as fun, less work, overall more enjoyable. The Helix won't run to Seattle like the ST2 would but it would get there. I'm taking slower roads on the smaller machines and enjoying them but surprisingly, can still do ~500 mile days on any of them that will do 'traffic' speeds. I just don't really need anything more. We've got a fantastic bunch of choices!
Pretty much the same story as me - my Versys 650 sits unused, and my KLR250 and Helix get used regularly. I also have a CRF230L and an Elite 150, to complete the "Two enduro, two scooter" package.
IMO it all boils down to our Interstate highway system and all the freeways around cities. Traffic on these roads typically moves at 75mph or so, and so most folks seem to want bikes or scooters capable of sustaining those speeds. That pretty much sets about 400cc as the absolute bottom limit, and bigger is better. Most bikes/scooters in the 125-250 cc range can keep up with the slower speeds on 2-lane roads and in town, so if that's all you'll do why go bigger? The smaller bikes are more nimble and economical to buy and maintain, too. I find traveling 4-lane roads boring, although they are an efficient way to cover long distances. If I've got to use them I'd just as soon take a car. But if you're out to see the sights and get a feel for the country rather just making time, the 2-lanes and back roads are a lot more relaxed and fun to travel.