Curious about scooters [Archive]

Curious_AJ

30th January 2007, 20:03

Grub

30th January 2007, 20:08

OK, scooters are great but they do have limitations.

Tell us about where you'll ride, how far are you from work, do you have any experience, do you have a licence of any kind and what is it.

That information helps get an idea of what might be the best thing for you to do

Cheers
Brett

bobsmith

30th January 2007, 20:33

More specifics would be great (such as what you're looking to getting out of riding).

I first started off a 125cc chinese scooter (lifan) which was way too under powered for anything. my fiancee kept that scooter and I moved onto bikes from there.

My fiancee while being able to ride bikes (well I think she can she feels that she needs more practice to ride in auckland rush hour traffic though) just recently sold that scooter to her brother and bought a taiwanese 150cc sccoter which is happy at motorway speeds so that she can commute easier across the harbour bridge everyday. We would have gotten faster scooters but scooter get very expensive as they get faster (about 6700 for gilera runner 250 and around 9000 for a vespa gt250ie) If you want to go fast and take joy in taking fast sweeping corners you'll probably find more joy in motorbikes. (generally bikes with the same speeds as a scooter are much cheaper)

but if you enjoy pulling in/out of busy city traffic and being a complete hoon around the city, you can't beat a small scooter with decent engine. I couldn't begin to tell you how much fun with my fiancee's scooter in auckland while I was there. sure it tops out at about 110-115km/hr but it was a small scooter with short wheelbase and fast pickup from the lights...

However her scooter did cost slightly over 4000 new... on the other hand, you can get decent second hand 250cc inline four around that price which will do 180km/hr... You wouldn't find them as fun as scooter for getting around the city though.

Hmmm I seem to be just rambling on now....

Meanie

30th January 2007, 20:39

Welcome to the mad house Curious
Practice practice and more practice :scooter:

Drum

30th January 2007, 20:44

Step away from the scooter!

Oh and welcome to the site Curious.

Disco Dan

30th January 2007, 20:48

WELCOME :yes: :yes: :yes: :yes:

Chisanga

30th January 2007, 20:49

WELCOME :yes: :yes: :yes: :yes:

Lol Dan :)

Curious_AJ

30th January 2007, 20:58

Disco Dan

30th January 2007, 21:06

well, i want to get started really, looking for something to get me around places without having the stupid bulk of a car, i currently have a learners in my car but im going to get my restricted in a couple of weeks if all goes well!!

im also looking at the smaller bikes etc.. but a few months ago i was dreaming about biking etc but was waaay too scared to do anything about it!!
now that ive had a few little pushes in this direction, i took the step.

my bf recommended a GN250... but it looks scary lol...

anyways, in short.. what i want is something to zip through traffic and get about with ease and then looking to move onto a bit more .

btw thats all for the welcome!! :yes:

OK, seriously now... where abouts in aucks are you?

why dont you come along to AWNMR tomorrow night? (LINKY HERE) (http://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php?t=42967) You can go pillion with a very experienced rider on a short trip to see if its what you want? You may even be able to sit on a few dif learner bikes to see if you like the feel?

Dan.

Curious_AJ

30th January 2007, 21:08

im in the northshore, i'd love to come tomorrow night but im going to be working (damn baby factory and their stocktake) so i dont even know when ill be let go.

Ill check it out anyway for further reference though.

NighthawkNZ

30th January 2007, 21:10

Hey guys,
I was just made able to post (thanks to my gorgeous BF pulling some strings)
and i just wanted to say that i'm curious about taking up riding a scooter and maybe moving onto a motorbike. Once i have my car restricted i plan on looking more into it.

Any advice you can give to a complete newbie (other than one lesson on a bike that was WAY too tall for me), on the subject??

Welcome to the local nut house...

Scooters have there own sense of fun and require different skills, the are lower centre of gravity, shorter wheel base, and smaller wheels, they are very low powered.

So like every one else has said, what are you wanting the scooter for, where do you live and how far are you going to travel... what roads... motorway?...

What size scooter are you looking at... a nifty 50??? (which you can ride on a car license if it is under 50cc) anything over a 50cc you must have a bike license. top speed of a nifty is probably 55km going down hill witha tail wind and you probably get speed wobbles... :shutup:

I use to ride my partners nifty... was fun and handy just to go around the corner dairy and quick trips in to town etc... was cheap to run very low maintenance, and realiable... but very limited what you can do on it...

Curious_AJ

30th January 2007, 21:14

yeah, i was looking at something more than 50cc, hence i knew i would need the bike licence, as i have been talking to a friend and my bf about it as well.

i live a few kms away from where i work at the moment, but it would be nice to beable to ride over the bridge to UNITEC as well (where i am studying)

~AJ~

Grub

30th January 2007, 22:34

Cool Aj, now we know a bit more here's some more thoughts. Scooters are great but "nipping in and out of traffic" is not! That gets you run down by people in cars who can't see you.

I would say a scooter is ok if you're just buzzing around the Shore or if you lived in Mt Eden and workled in town for example. As soon as you start talking about motorways and the bridge, things change. You have to start thinking small motorbikes. Scooters aren't that stable, especially at motorway speeds and more so in side winds like you get on the bridge.

At the moment for you, just the idea of getting on two wheels is exciting and enough to fulfil your lust for the freedom. But every day after you start you'll be expanding your horizons every time you go out. Sooner than you think you'll want to go further, go exploring, make a trip. A scooter will clip your wings because they just don't take your to far or interesting places.

My partner Nasty(on KB) wanted a scooter, *really* wanted a scooter. Really really. We live 30km down the motorway from her work. I used all the above arguments because I didn't think the scooter was the right choice for the motorway and I knew how compulsive the riding bug is. She got a Suzuki FXR150 instead. Now look at her! She has a 500cc cruiser and we have been all over the country and ride to distant places at least once a week and its not even a year since she got the FXR. I was able to ride the FXR from Gisborne to Wellington and it handled the motorway with stability and safety (even if it didn't handle the headwinds that well).

The ultimate decision is yours of course, all I can say is that we probably can see further into your motorcycling future than you at this point ... lol

Brett

xwhatsit

30th January 2007, 22:37

Scooters are great! Much easier to learn to ride than a bike -- for a start, no gears or clutch. Hillstarts become much easier when you don't have to worry about holding the clutch in as well as the brake while grabbing the throttle -- you get the hang of those basic parts of riding a bike quickly enough, but on a scooter it's completely straightforward. Cornering is easy and lots of fun. And, most importantly, you're on two wheels, so then you're on your way to transportation nirvana :D

One thing about scooters... I don't know about you, but I have no arse -- and for that reason I find scooters very uncomfortable for anything more than the shortest ride. On a bike, the weight is spread out around your thighs and legs, whereas on a scooter every bump just goes straight up your arse and I find it quite uncomfortable. But that might just be me.

Yeah, go for it! After you ride one of those around, bikes won't look so scary anymore anyway, and you might be tempted onto one of those after a while -- but scooters have their own je ne sais quoi and you might be having too much of a ball on one to want to leave it.

crash harry

30th January 2007, 23:23

Hi AJ (good initials by the way...)

I've just been doing the "first bike" excersize with 2 of my friends and we came to some conclusions that may be of help to you.

1) Scooters are scooters, bikes are bikes. Riding a scooter is quite a lot easier than riding a bike, although it may not be a bad first step. Think of it as being somewhat like learning to drive in an automatic. You still don't know how to drive a manual properly, but you know some of it.

2) Friends don't let friends buy GN250s. I know heaps of people ride them and think that they like them, but seriously, if you try something else, anything else, you will prefer it. The FXR150 on the other hand is so much fun, I couldn't believe it.

3) Look at heaps of different models of bike. If you don't know much about bikes/engines have someone who does come with you, but tell them that you only want their opinion about the condition of the bikes. It's important that you make up your own mind what style of bike (Sport bike, scooter, cruiser, etc) suits you. No-one else can make that decision for you, but most experienced bikers will have a fairly strong opinion about what is "best" or "worst" (for example see my previous comments about GNs...).

4)Despite what you may read on KB, hondas are not inherantly gay. Mostly. Well not all of them anyway.

Lastly, if you go here (http://www.motorcycletrader.co.nz/) and search under "News and Reviews" -> "Bike Reviews Search" for the word "Commuter" or "Scooter" you'll find a few reviews of some models you may be interested in, particularly the Vespa models.

Good luck in finding something you like!
AJ

bobsmith

31st January 2007, 07:43

2) Friends don't let friends buy GN250s. I know heaps of people ride them and think that they like them, but seriously, if you try something else, anything else, you will prefer it. The FXR150 on the other hand is so much fun, I couldn't believe it.

I concur..........

Disco Dan

31st January 2007, 09:15

I concur..........

GeyeNanna250

davereid

31st January 2007, 12:38

Most motorcycle learners have a massive amount of their attention concentrated on the bike itself - balance, steering, clutch, gears... and none on the road.

Scooters are a great way to learn to ride, as they virtually ride themselves, being fully automatic, and having a nice low center of gravity.

This means you can quickly get on with the important job of keeping yourself safe in the traffic.

If you never intend to get a motorcycle licence (bad) then you must ride a moped rated scooter. Advantages include no WOFs and $67 annual rego.

But look at some of the larger scooters if you wish to commute on motorways ;

Cheap end - Chinese unknown brands, up to Lifan.

Good Asian - TGB, PGO all good and 150cc bike around $4200.
Not sure about the PGO, never riden one, but I have a TGB moped of my own, and its very very good, high quality suspension and disk brakes.

European - Great bikes, can now get some of the Peugeot range too, including the supercharged Jetforce 125 coming soon.. (I want one !)

bobsmith

31st January 2007, 12:58

Good Asian - TGB, PGO all good and 150cc bike around $4200.
Not sure about the PGO, never riden one, but I have a TGB moped of my own, and its very very good, high quality suspension and disk brakes.

My fiancee just bought the TGB 150cc scooter.

The decision was between that and the honda Dylan 150cc. The dylan was slightly faster and had immobiliser etc... but otherwise handling was similar and so was the braking. Since the honda was almost 2000 more (it is 6000) we went for the TGB. Not much different from the honda except that honda has a bit more power due to its water cooling.

She's been commuting on it over the bridge on it everyday and is very happy with it.

Chickadee

31st January 2007, 13:33

I think personally a small motorbikes a better choice in the long run. I had a thing for scooters in my teens - never bought one (it would have been a nifty 50 and I'd of been road kill). Love my RG150 two smoker, low seat, plenty of grunt (fast as most 250 bikes) and it's got bags of personality. I'll be moving to a bigger bike eventually but love my Suzuki RG150.

Why not go look at bike shops and sit on bikes and scooters and see what you like the feel of more, then put a post up if people have bikes/scooters in your cc you'd like to consider. You're welcome to sit on my bike by the way and see how it suits you.

Cheers
Chickadee/Christine

KATWYN

31st January 2007, 13:44

Hey guys,
Any advice you can give to a complete newbie (other than one lesson on a bike that was WAY too tall for me), on the subject??

thanks
~AJ~:innocent:

Why don't you try a bit of off roading motorcycling first? to maybe get the feel of a bike and some skills......before you progress to the road....

The Wop

31st January 2007, 19:19

Hi AJ. I ride a scooter, in fact, I have 3 Vespas at the moment and am selling one. One is an auto and the other two are manuals.

These guys are correct that not all scooters are capable of going far or fast, but once again, some are quite capable. I have ridden all over the upper North Island on my PX200 (although not ideal) and hope to go further afield at some point too. Having said that, touring on a scooter is more for the fanatics.

I would recommend that, if you are going to buy a scooter, to not cut corners. Any two-wheeled vehicle will place you are more risk than four, so I would suggest that you choose something that can get you out of trouble (so more than 50cc) but that also has decent suspension, steering and the like. There are loads of really poor quality, cheap scooters so please avoid those!

crash harry

31st January 2007, 19:50

I agree with The Wop that not all scooters are created equal. FWIW, the italians seem to know what makes a good scooter! (Piaggio, Gilera)

And don't let anyone put ideas in your head about scooters being safer than "Real" motorbikes. They are much the same, and as such you still need to wear gear just as much as if you were riding a "real" bike. How much safety gear you wear is up to you, all I am saying is that I would encourage you to think about it. (please nobody use this as an excuse to start ANOTHER safety gear thread...)

Whynot

31st January 2007, 21:48

(please nobody use this as an excuse to start ANOTHER safety gear thread...)

but the last one was soooooo much fun :yes:

Curious_AJ

31st January 2007, 21:51

all i have to say is that im really confused now .. maybe thats just my 12 hours of work talking!! umm... but all i really want to say is that im going to look into the GN250 ... and maybe the FXR ... and then also look at a few scooters as well from 150cc group...

saying that, im getting ALOT of differing views... so im rather:gob: confused lol

bobsmith

31st January 2007, 22:05

Just remember, as DD said. GN250 stands for GeyeNana250...

If it's out the two get the fxr instead. (of course I am biased since I used to have a fxr).

If you want a scooter and don't mind manual, those PX200 look bloody nice... Mmmmm....

Curious_AJ

31st January 2007, 22:08

very true...
well i guess ill have to ask Indy to come looking with me...
help get the confusion cut down to a minimum etc... yah know..

MisterD

1st February 2007, 10:47

If you want a scooter and don't mind manual, those PX200 look bloody nice... Mmmmm....

Only get a PoX if you really want retro style and respect from "real" scooterists, it's pretty much 1950s technology under there and a motor hanging off the side of your rear wheel doesn't make for the easiest beginners ride.

That said, if you want one The Wop's is a good 'un well looked after and not too thrashed.:dodge:

Personnally, I'd recommend an Vespa LX150, bullet-proof engine (there's an ET4 locally that has done 100k) twist and go, low centre of gravity handling, metal body...best place in Akld is Scooter Emotion.

Flatcap

1st February 2007, 11:25

Only get a PoX if you really want retro style and respect from "real" scooterists, it's pretty much 1950s technology under there and a motor hanging off the side of your rear wheel doesn't make for the easiest beginners ride.

.

Don't listen to MisterD - Buy the PX and ride on an angle like the rest of us.

It's all part of the charm of the old technology

MisterD

1st February 2007, 11:34

Don't listen to MisterD - Buy the PX and ride on an angle like the rest of us.

It's all part of the charm of the old technology

Yeah, but as a first bike? You nearly pooed yourself and you'd been hooning around on the ET for a while and had dirt bikes as a kid.:shutup:

Flatcap

1st February 2007, 12:02

Yeah, but as a first bike? You nearly pooed yourself and you'd been hooning around on the ET for a while and had dirt bikes as a kid.:shutup:

Rubbish! It was numbers ones...

Yes the set up on the PX is "odd". If you do want a scoot that handles properly a Vespa LX or ET would be the go. Far superior suspension, brakes, handling etc. Not as much fun to ride though....

Curious_AJ

1st February 2007, 15:20

ah thanks... yeah i ws thinking about a vespa if i do in fact get a scooter, but now i may be thinking more towards a GN250 (no matter how much you guys hate them)

Disco Dan

1st February 2007, 15:24

but now i may be thinking more towards a GN250

:spanking: :spanking: :spanking: :spanking: :spanking:

Curious_AJ

1st February 2007, 15:34

HEY! that stick gave me splinters!

im stubborn too, you'd have to show me something REALLY crappy about the GN before i'd believe you... besides, im not looking for flash at this point, i dont want to ruin anything pretty and something easy to handle etc would be a great start...

Disco Dan

1st February 2007, 15:37

REALLY crappy GN

what was that you said?? ;) methinks you answered your question :innocent: :dodge: :dodge: :dodge:

Indiana_Jones

1st February 2007, 15:45

what was that you said?? ;) methinks you answered your question :innocent: :dodge: :dodge: :dodge:

Dan, she's like 5' 3" or something lol, I think the GN would be good to learn on, and that's about it. If you want fun and speed, then she's gonna have to get a better bike.

-Indy

mstriumph

1st February 2007, 15:49

..........., im not looking for flash at this point, i dont want to ruin anything pretty and something easy to handle etc would be a great start...

light has just dawned .......... you are with Indy, right?? :innocent:

Curious_AJ

1st February 2007, 16:44

im 5 ft 2 actually *doh* ... and yes i am with indy lolz!

MisterD

1st February 2007, 20:01

im 5 ft 2 actually *doh* ... and yes i am with indy lolz!

In that case, get a PX. That 50s technology and retro styling is just the influence Indy needs to drag him out of the 1980s

Curious_AJ

1st February 2007, 20:08

hey the 80s rule!!!
*blocks ears* nananananananannaaaa!!!

NotaGoth

1st February 2007, 21:19

but now i may be thinking more towards a GN250 (no matter how much you guys hate them)

You need to remember that what may be comfortable for one person may not be comfortable for another... Just like with anything you'll have you're likes and dislikes that others may not agree with...

My RG150 that I got is comfortable for me and I do think its perfect.. The GN250 for me was extremely uncomfortable... Yet my old lady thinks my RG is absolutely horrible...

Depending what you're looking at make a list of bikes that may be appropriate CC rating wise.. Go check them out... List which ones would be appropriate size wise... And make a decision then...

Remember that one persons opinion can be helpful... But it ain't gonna neccesarily be whats appropriate for YOU personally..

I'm 5'4"... And after much recomendation I did look at a GN250.. And it was too wide and too high for me... All up I thought the bike was absolutely horrible... Yet there are people who are proud owners of a GN, and they absolutely love their bike...

Browse for a while... Theres no rush...

Then again what would I know.. I'm just a no0b..

Curious_AJ

1st February 2007, 21:23

thanks .. thats good advice.. i will definately take it in mind

so far its some of the most useful here

bobsmith

1st February 2007, 21:27

If you're short CBR250R is the perfect bike...

It's the only bike I've sat on where I can firmly plant both my feet down. (i'm 165cm tall so I don't know what it is in feet and inches...) besides girls tend to have longer legs than guys for the same height anyway.

Curious_AJ

1st February 2007, 21:31

yeah im about... 158 or something of the sort ...

ill add that to the list as well thanks again

Mr. Peanut

1st February 2007, 21:58

Pogo2

2nd February 2007, 08:18

Hi AJ and welcome to the scootering pages.

There are 6000+ KBers and not doubt 6000+ opinions on what bike/scoot to get. Regrettabley there is not one size that fits all. What is most important is what works for you.

There will also always be the bike vs bike, bike vs scoot and scoot vs scoot brigade amongst us.

I went from a BMW to a scoot (some cynics will no doubt say "whats the difference") and I really enjoy it. Yes I miss the power etc but my Beemer cost me $1000 a year regardless if I rode it or not in insurance etc. Scoot was originally brought for commuting but I find myself just riding it for the fun of it.

There are alot of scoots out there to choose from and no doubt there are some cheap and nasty ones as well. Seariously look at PGO, TGB and Peugeot, I brought a PGO as it was middle of the road pricewise (and I am really pleased with it as well). It was hard to justify (but some will) the price between my one and a "similar" italian one at $2000 extra. Despite what I just said I really would prefer a Gilera VRX or Nexus!

IMHO get at least a 150 or bigger for real world transport. It's not really about what you ride, getting out there and doing it is the main thing.

Remember it all about YOU

Happy scootering (or biking)!:yes:

Curious_AJ

5th February 2007, 19:12

thanks, i know its all about me really, its what i think wil be good.
i dont really mind that other people have opinions either, its just the fact that im new at this and would like a little bit of pro's and cons from lots of different people on the matter.I ts just good to see what people think, but thank you for your opinion, i shall take it into consideration when looking around.

:yes: