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Warren
29th July 2005, 11:23
I am thinking of selling my FXR150 to get a scooter.

I have been eying up a brand new sj125t which costs $3000 +orc. The main reasons for swapping are more luggage space (I will probably get a top box as well), more protection from the elements (I have to ride rail hail or snow) and it will also be brand new.

Does anyone else have one and how good are they? what is the actual top speed and any other good/bad points.

Flyingpony
29th July 2005, 14:54
Pass on the build or operational quality.
I do know from experience and by the looks of it, you won't be able to carry much stuff between your legs on the foot area.
And you do appear to want cargo-carrying ability.

texmo
1st August 2005, 18:48
have been on one not sure top speed they arent very good and hard to work and if you want a brand spanker get a et4 but are quite pricy at $6k or get a belladonna for $3800 will do a million km's its realy top speed is 110.

Magua
1st August 2005, 19:36
have been on one not sure top speed they arent very good and hard to work and if you want a brand spanker get a et4 but are quite pricy at $6k or get a belladonna for $3800 will do a million km's its realy top speed is 110.

Texmo dude, whatever happened to you buying a motorcycle?

texmo
2nd August 2005, 17:28
Money happened, I am saving but I cant bring my self to sell my lambretta and my racing scoot is almost done so once I have finnished that I might get a VFR400.

DingDong
2nd August 2005, 17:40
I saw one of those things today and thought (to myself) "who in there right mind would buy goofy scooter like that?" Well... Warren would :rofl:

zooter
14th August 2005, 20:23
I am thinking of selling my FXR150 to get a scooter.

I have been eying up a brand new sj125t which costs $3000 +orc. The main reasons for swapping are more luggage space (I will probably get a top box as well), more protection from the elements (I have to ride rail hail or snow) and it will also be brand new.

Does anyone else have one and how good are they? what is the actual top speed and any other good/bad points.
theres a biggish 150 cc suzuki scoot on trademe with minimal k's on it, absolute bargain

Ghost Lemur
14th August 2005, 21:03
Have a look a the Gilera DNA 180. ~$5k brand new, looks like a streetfighter but is a scooter.

skidMark
14th August 2005, 22:34
i have a feeling u are having a temporary moment of insanity your going to go from a 150 cc sport biike to a err scooter :nuts: but i see your point about the space...you could always buy a cager :rofl:

texmo
15th August 2005, 11:18
3800 for a brand new belladonna its an indian tractor that will do 100,000 km's before needing a rebuild, put a pollini kit on it $350 and a bigger carb $150 and it will be much faster than a FXR150 although its top speed will only be around the 125km/hr mark

Mr. Peanut
24th August 2005, 23:12
I have one of these, top speed is about 100, 90 is hard on the engine and 80 is cruising speed, feels like transmission is limiting top speed rather than the engine. 14hp out of 125cc so it's powerful for its class, probably better acceleration than your fxr150. Pulls pretty hard up to 70kph.

These dont come with the full screens you may have seen on some american or european sites, those are UC125's so im not sure about weather protection vs your fxr.

Space under the seat is enough for a helmet and a bit more, and these scooters look pretty sweet, always getting compliments :ride: (Bias anyone?)

Still you might be better off getting a top box and saving yourself some time.

As for build quality, no complaints yet, plastic body gets on my nerves a bit so keep a bottle of plastic preserver (Turtle wax 2000 is good) otherwise it'll fade/crack etc, but hey easier to replace a $40 plastic panel than it is to get rust out of a bike no?

Handling is adequate, I can't compare it to anything because this is my first bike, haven't seen much in my rear view mirror yet. :scooter: brakes are good, rear drum is a bit of a joke though, needs a lot of pull to lock it.

In terms of value for money it's miles above anything else (compare this to a PGO or a vespa ET4/2 and you'll see what I mean) not to mention the fact that the more expensive scooters out there look naff.

I want a 250cc motorcycle, so i'm interested in selling my 2002 SJ125. Its got about 1700k on it for $2100, you'd be saving yourself a lot of money and you wouldnt have to run in the engine (this takes 1600km). Still don't take this into account, I tried to be as unbiased as possible and I hope this helped you.

texmo
25th August 2005, 07:42
miles above an ET4/2 are you mentaly deranged? they are one of the best scooters money can buy, kevin at scooter world has sold over 100 ET2's and you know how many he has had problems with? 1 and thats because the guy put a mallossi kit on it and a mallossi egnition. standard they will do 60-80,000 km's before needing a new crank, $150+$60 (parts+labour). and the ET4 will do about 80,000kms before need an engine recondition. Another good thing about ET's is they keep there price, But thats if you can find one no body sells them even if they stop riding them to work, because they start every time and are no hassel's great if you every feel like jsut going up to the dairy to going for a ride. They are one of the best handling scooters as well, better than anything else I have ever riden, they have under seat storage for your helmet and lunch, and you can buy a front and rear rack and if you so desire a rear topbox. The ET4 will be faster than a FXR150 off the mark till about 80 then it will still do 110 on a flat, The ET2 de-restriced will go 60 and if you have a mallossi, which I highly reccomend it will do 80 and will have enough power to get infront of traffic from the lights. Not fast enough get a gillera Runner with a crusing speed of over 120 and top speed of over 140 and more accelleration than you can poke a stick at faster from 0-100 than a WRX less than 5.1 seconds, with the cumfort of automatic, too big you say? get a typhoon its a 125cc 2stroke and is faster in accelleration than a runner to about 80 because its so light fat tyres gives it heaps of hold and the auto gear box make life easy, Scooter world has one left I belive and will sell it cheep $4300 or something im told. piaggio is unsurpassed in building scooters (apart from Lambretta).
The japs make great motorbikes better than the Italian's some even say but they havent put the effort into scooters yet the Italian's still reign the world of scooter and with the gt250ie about to come out with a top speed over over 150km/hr I cant see it changing anytime soon.

sels1
25th August 2005, 08:15
Still you might be better off getting a top box and saving yourself some time.

My bike came with a topbox and I thought it looked a bit naff to start with but it is just sooo useful I hardly ever take it off.

BTW welcome aboard the site MrPeanut

MisterD
25th August 2005, 09:44
Texmo's being a bit generous about the top speed of an ET4, 100k/60m is what you'll see on the speedo, which I'm more than a bit dubious of....but it is transmission limited I've got a 187 Malossi kit on my ET4 and it's got buckets of power, but didn't go any faster top end until I put a higher final drive in, and I now get 11% more speed.

If anyone's interested, it's got a Malossi var, polini clutch and a PM tuning pipe and sounds like a ducati's baby brother...

Drunken Monkey
25th August 2005, 10:58
i have a feeling u are having a temporary moment of insanity your going to go from a 150 cc sport biike to a err scooter :nuts: but i see your point about the space...you could always buy a cager :rofl:

I'd hardly classify the fxr as a 'sportbike'.

At least the scooter doesn't make a false pretense about being something 'sporty'. And chicks dig scooters (the ones that count, anyway, you evil detractors who have made vocal their opposition to my opinion in a previous scooteria thred :P ).

texmo
25th August 2005, 17:52
it will do 100 just wont do any more... with a kit and such on it done properly it should do 120. Its only a 4 stroke though If you want power get a typhoon put a 180cc mallossi kit on it new pipe, rollers and change the primary drive or get a motorbike if you want to look cool get an itilian Lambretta and put a TS1 on it.

Mr. Peanut
25th August 2005, 18:30
I hardly think you're being impartial texmo, as you seem to have a relationship with a Euro dealer.

Most japanese bike companys were founded on scooters. Honda and Yamaha have most certainly taken the scooter market seriously, the Jog and the Honda 50 are fine examples of this.

There has always been a rivalry between owners of modern Japanese scooters vs those with their older european counterparts. And I agree, some european designs have been well proved in terms of their reliability, (i.e. the PX200). But this was usually due to their rugged simplicity!

The modern designs coming out of italy are essentially the same product as your generic japanese scooter. (Except of course for 'Sports' scooters, a bizzare concept, especially for men, for that price buy a sports bike FFS! :weird:) but that's another thread.

Take the ET4 for example, a cvt transmission, 11.7hp, air cooled, 150cc engine, disc/drum and a whole lot of plastic. - $6295

SJ125T - cvt transmission, 14hp, water cooled, 125cc engine, disc/drum/plastic. - $3000 :confused:

Do the math, even if an ET4 engine DID last 80000km before a rebuild, how many times could you have rebuilt an SJ engine with the extra $3295 you've saved? Heck just buy another one, or three new engines for parts! :yawn:

Don't get me wrong the ET4 is a very pretty scooter, and it probably is better than an SJ125T, but is it twice as good?... :no:

texmo
25th August 2005, 18:47
no not twice as good ten times, and an ET4 is metal..... My brother has a skyline
GTS-T which has 500BHP and is worth a little under 10,000 thats more HP the a porche boxter but which is worth more money?
The ET's look better by far, I do have relationship with an euro dealer and an indian dealer. But that dosent mean I dont own a jap scooter dose it? Biggest peice of shit bad build quality and hard to fix.
Its all up to what you want really, My Lambretta for example is probly worth $6000 all day long but it wont start every time has about 6000miles on the clock hasnt got a rego or wof and will do about 100km/hr reving the tits off it and has 6.5bhp out of the factory in 1962 so mine will have maby 6.... maby. Now is that lammy worth more than a SJ125T yes, is it better yes.....
Oh and the jog is proberly the worst example of a method of transportaion man have created I mean what kind of a name is jog anyways, Its shitty, slow ugly and if you sit on it and push down you can bend the frame, I wouldnt call that a fine example of a scooter at all.

Mr. Peanut
25th August 2005, 19:04
I think you may have proved my point, just because something is worth more, it does not make it a better product? And the japanese have excellent build quality, thats what killed the british motorcycle industry.

The Japanese manufacturers offer the best value for money, period. It's just a case of that lingering falsehood from the 60's when japanese products were considered inferior. :bs:

You can take your Euro scooter and smoke it, ill be laughing all the way to the bank. :wavey:

Mr. Peanut
25th August 2005, 19:16
slow ugly and if you sit on it and push down you can bend the frame, I wouldnt call that a fine example of a scooter at all.

I doubt that.

Ive swung on one of these scooters while it was suspended to try to unbend the frame after it was pranged, to no effect! it took a lot of work with blocks of wood and mallets to get right! They make em tough! and they do 60kph which is what all an ET2 can do, don't even get me started on price. :oi-grr:

texmo
25th August 2005, 19:55
I own a jog and the is no fucking way it can do 60...... I have seen the internals of many a scooter and the italian bikes are unriveled.
Ok lets compare a SJ125 to a typoon which is also a 125.
sj is $3000 and typoon is $4000 ok one thousday dollars more what do you get for this?
Both bikes are ugly, but one handels better and has better brakes no prizes for which one take the cake, aside from that the typoon has better accelleration and is lighter, The typoon will do over 100 all day long and costs less to service and mantain. It also holds its price better the Sj has more underseat storage and parts are cheeper and easyer to come by. If you want to do up your typoon to go fast get a 210cc fabrizi kit you now have 33hp at the wheel and a top speed over 160km/hr.
Hmmm ok one thousand really laughing all the way to the bank, Not really. It all comes down to personal prefrence I would rather pay more up front and have something better in the long run I dont diss the new SJ125 have ridden one and know someone who owns one by no means is it a good bike but its not as good as a vespa.
I do like italian bikes a lot more, but for the same reason most people prefer an audi to a honda.

Mr. Peanut
25th August 2005, 20:38
The piaggio is an air cooled 2-stroke, I hope the service costs are cheaper!
As for the handling, its not anything amazing for a scooter. 2 strokes are noisy, inefficient and less reliable than their four stroke counterparts. They're also a lot of fun.

But the SJ125 has the most powerful engine in its class and its watercooled.

4 strokes cost more to manufacture, and the piaggio looks pretty ratty for $4G.

Sorry the suzuki is still better value for money. Even if the Piaggo was $3000 it still wouldn't be any better.

You dont get better value for money than the japanese bikes, that's the whole point.

And as for parts being easier to come by? Get real! the SJ125 is the second most popular new scooter in New Zealand (SJ50 is #1) with far more new regos being issued than anything else.

Can somebody help me out here?

texmo
25th August 2005, 20:51
The piaggio is an air cooled 2-stroke, I hope the service costs are cheaper!
As for the handling, its not anything amazing for a scooter. 2 strokes are noisy, inefficient and less reliable than their four stroke counterparts. They're also a lot of fun. 2-stroke's are better in a bike with a capacity of 250cc or less.


the Sj has more underseat storage and parts are cheeper and easyer to come by.... when I said that I ment SJ parts are easy to come by.

The typhoon.
a)better build quilty.
b)Its faster.
c)Cost less to run.
d)More efficent.
e)better handling

The Sj.
a)Cheeper to buy.
b)Do more km's.
c)More storage.
d)easyer to get parts for.

MisterD
26th August 2005, 13:50
I'm with Googie all the way on this one, Piaggio make far far far superior products. There's more Jap scooters on the road, so big deal, the biggest selling car ever is the corolla but would you seriously say it's a better product than a VW Golf?

The kicker is that scooters are all about style, and your jog (or whatever) simply doesn't have any.

PS Googie, I know your opinion, but I'm putting an Imola on my GP, so there!

SPman
26th August 2005, 14:44
SJ125 - from yesterdays effort (had one as a loner) - flat out 103 indicated into a moderate headwind, with full leathers on the motorway - might hit 110 indicated downhill with a tailwind! Great for around town - had a barrell of laughs!

texmo
26th August 2005, 18:40
I'm with Googie all the way on this one, Piaggio make far far far superior products. There's more Jap scooters on the road, so big deal, the biggest selling car ever is the corolla but would you seriously say it's a better product than a VW Golf?

The kicker is that scooters are all about style, and your jog (or whatever) simply doesn't have any.

PS Googie, I know your opinion, but I'm putting an Imola on my GP, so there!
Whats my opinon?

Mr. Peanut
26th August 2005, 20:37
But you would say that owning two Euro scooters yourself? You'd never admit to yourself let alone anyone else that you spent a ridiculous sum on an inferior piece of kit?

Think Law of diminishing returns, for $6295 you could get a suzuki burgman 400 which would absolutely destroy an ET4!


I'm with Googie all the way on this one, Piaggio make far far far superior products. There's more Jap scooters on the road, so big deal, the biggest selling car ever is the corolla but would you seriously say it's a better product than a VW Golf?
I absolutely would, look at what each product is trying to achieve. The toyota corolla is cheap transport for the masses and does a brilliant job of it. A corolla can do 300000km before anything major occurs!.

A vw golf wishes it was as good as a toyota corolla, vw has a terrible reputation for build quality and reliablity! :laugh:

Anyway The golf looks pretty japanese to me.

Haven't you ever read the Dog and Lemon Guide?

And Ive got an SJ125 which cost me less than 2k with 1300km on the clock. :niceone:

See my previous posts as to why its better value than any euro rival!

Mr. Peanut
26th August 2005, 20:54
Oh and what was that about style? That typhoon has the lines of a brick :sleep: Where is the pillion supposed to go? The epicuro was actually designed to carry a passenger!

Warren
27th August 2005, 12:18
I brought one a few days ago after buying another one for my mother (she wanted to upgrade from a 50cc) and there was another one that I might be able to get reasonably cheap.

The scooter does not acclerate as fast as the FXR and does not have the same top end speed but it still leaves traffic in the dust at traffic lights and handles 80kph zones well (All I need it to do). Having the storage really helps, I used to wear my motorcycle jacket around with me and when shopping at two supermarkets would just stick the groceries from one supermarket in a backpack and padlock it to the bike while I went to the other store. Now I have somewhere to put it. I know scooters are more of a hassle when they need fixing and to do simple things requires a lot dis-assembly of panels and other parts, but I am already a amatuer scooter machanic from way back.

turning the key a little past the steering lock would leave the park lights on and I did not realise this and got a flat battery. They decided not to put kickstart leavers on the sj125's (and being a scooter it cannot be pust started). It took three hours and being transported in the back of a van before getting it going again (that battery is hard to find and hard to get to)

Mr. Peanut
27th August 2005, 21:08
turning the key a little past the steering lock would leave the park lights on and I did not realise this and got a flat battery. They decided not to put kickstart leavers on the sj125's (and being a scooter it cannot be pust started). It took three hours and being transported in the back of a van before getting it going again (that battery is hard to find and hard to get to)

Yeah I got Caught out with that steering lock thing, its for when you park your bike on the road side, probably not the best configuration. Sounds like the owners manual would have saved you a lot of grief!

Mr. Peanut
27th August 2005, 21:13
Could you tell me about your experience with the FXR? Im looking at buying one of these, scooter to motorbike :spudbooge

froggyfrenchman
27th August 2005, 21:45
if you do dedcide to trade down... pm me, i might wanna buy a fx150. my answer to huge fuel prices, keep big bike for weekends

Ixion
27th August 2005, 22:22
Yeah I got Caught out with that steering lock thing, its for when you park your bike on the road side, probably not the best configuration. Sounds like the owners manual would have saved you a lot of grief!

Heh, I've been caught by that on the BMW which has exactly the same setup. So you're in good company!

MisterD
29th August 2005, 13:15
I absolutely would, look at what each product is trying to achieve. The toyota corolla is cheap transport for the masses and does a brilliant job of it. A corolla can do 300000km before anything major occurs!.

A vw golf wishes it was as good as a toyota corolla, vw has a terrible reputation for build quality and reliablity! :laugh:



So, ok Jap drivetrains last a long time, but the car appears to be made from recycled biscuit tins. VW / Audi group motors are all laser seam welded and a waay better guage of steel. I know where I'd rather I was in any kind of accident...see how Jap motors fly to pieces when Hamilton boyracers drive them into trees.

I'm glad you're happy with your choice of scoot (the world needs more people on them) but I'm quite secure in saying the ET is the best modern scooter. You don't see many Suzukis in Sicily, you're just miffed about paying for the shipping costs.

MisterD
29th August 2005, 13:19
Whats my opinon?

If I remember rightly, after the One Tree Hill run, you said they were sh1t (or words to that effect).

Seems to have been quite a bit of dev work done though, my reed cage is metal not the rubber that Alan has on his Li.

texmo
29th August 2005, 17:16
No no his one is shit, its a peice of cack, have you seen how much his costs in fuel?
If it was me I would have brought a new 200 motor and done andrews tune or left it standard, you casings arent in the best of nick, but it will be fine with andrew doing all the work, alwase good to see another lammy on the road.

MisterD
30th August 2005, 16:43
No no his one is shit, its a peice of cack, have you seen how much his costs in fuel?


I thought that was more his habit of riding everywhere in 3rd gear with the throttle wide open? He's ridden a fair few k's with no problems.

The motor that was in my scoot has been ditched and I've got a better matched 150, all the right numbers etc. Looks pretty good now it's been bead-blasted...

texmo
30th August 2005, 16:53
the sx150 casings?