Scooter girl wanting advice.

[br0kenbutterfly]

Hi, am new to driving anything with a motor (i have my car learners and i usually cycle). Wanting to buy a 50 cc scooter to get me around town (flat-ish, couple decent hills). From looking around kiwibiker and the scootling forum, it seems the way to go is 2stroke with a disc brake?
So the scoots Im looking at are:
Keeway Goccia
Yamaha Jog
Hyosung Super Cab
SYM DD50

What im wondering is - weight limits for these bikes? Im 120kg, am I going to be able to get up hills without looking incredibly silly?
The Keeway is heavy-113kg vs the others 80ish kg. Is this going to be a huge drawback? The whole bike feels bigger and more in proportion to say, the SYM. I do like the feel of the keeway, but the weight and the fact that its a chinese brand (?) put me off a bit. the jog gets glowing reviews everywhere, but ive read that it has a max weight limit of 66kg? is this true, if so, it completely rules it out for me.
Im looking at new, and all of these come from a good dealer, apart from the jog, which id have to get in dunedin. is it still worth it?

finally, are there any other models i should be looking at/things i should know/just plain recommendations?

thanks so much for any advice you can give!

[DangerMice]

Hi br0kenbutterfly, welcome to the forum.

The 66kg limit on the Jog is a bunch of crap. The Yamaha dealer told me they will comfortably carry twice that and more. If you're worried about it, you could get an uprated rear spring or something. My Jog (CV50) has been hauling my fat arse around Auckland (plenty of hills) for a over a year and hasn't skipped a beat. My weight is comparable to yours. Go the Jog, you won't be sorry. Oh, and get some decent riding gear too.

[Slunk]

Jog rulz!

If in doubt take each for a test drive, but I bet you'll go for the jog.

Try and get a newish second hand one, i got mine with 1100kms on it and saved $900 compared to new price. You lose out on the warranty but these are pretty bullet-proof.

Good luck

[DougB]

I suggest you have a look at this site. It may not answer your question but there is alot of good advice in it for a new scooterist.

http://www.scootersurvival.co.nz/index.html

[Spearfish]

+1 on DougB's post. Also do a scooter handling course if you can.

A helpful site is:
http://thescooterreview.com/reviews/...c-super-battle
The site has gone a bit quiet but still has some interesting stuff.

I've gone over 13000kms on a 08 jog and that not that high for a jog, so second hand ones have a lot of life left, the engines are very de-rated to comply with the moped rules.

[davereid]

Avoid Chinese. Japanese and Taiwanese scooters are fine. My TGB has 44,000 km on the dial and goes just fine. There are plenty of chinese scooters written off by 440 km.

[bungbung]

Look out for a PGO pmx50 - it's a taiwanese brand, had no problem towing my 100kgs about

[The Everlasting]

Avoid Chinese. Japanese and Taiwanese scooters are fine. My TGB has 44,000 km on the dial and goes just fine. There are plenty of chinese scooters written off by 440 km.

Ah,I did 1500 on one..

[br0kenbutterfly]

wow, thank you everyone! the scooterreview is where i found out about the jog actually trouble is, closest dealer is 1 and a half hours away, whereas the other bikes are sold in my town.

The 66kg limit on the Jog is a bunch of crap. The Yamaha dealer told me they will comfortably carry twice that and more. If you're worried about it, you could get an uprated rear spring or something

i just dont wanna wear it out or anything!
the guys at the dealership dont seem keen on giving me a test go (especially on 3 different bikes), so does anyone have any experience with the keeway/sym/hyosung? (so i can ride one to compare to a jog)
keeway is chinese, right? i cant seem to find a definite answer anywhere...actually i cant find anything about the keeway goccia anywhere...is that a bad thing?
thanks daveb for the scootersurvival site, it has some awesome tips!

[Spearfish]

Sym or hyo in 2 stroke should be ok
Most if not all with 4 stroke 50s regret not getting a 2 smoker.
You wont be going to the dealer much for servicing probably the first 500km then every 5-6000kms after that, or once a year.

My jog has carried my 90kg, 4l paint and thinners under the seat, a bag on the curry hook full of general painting shyt. The givi box on the back had a big roll of gib joint tape and 4ltrs of +4 plaster. To really overload the two wheeled ute, M10 had a too good to pass price on a 10kg bag of Tux dog nosh that went in the step through.

Now I would be insulting your intelligence to say it was a fast 30km trip home but I was still with the traffic on the flat and not quite flintstoning it up the two hills before home.



Keeway is the European-registered brand of Qianjiang Group of China. Keeway has become a multinational organization incorporating R&D, design, sale, and service of motorcycle and other mechanical products.

Hyosung seem strong in nz now so parts should be ok they were in partnership with suzuki from 1979

Sym were in partnership making engines from 50 to 150cc for Honda in 1962 they are part of the sanyang group building cars with partnership with Hyundai.

[davereid]

Keeway is the European-registered brand of Qianjiang Group of China. Keeway has become a multinational organization incorporating R&D, design, sale, and service of motorcycle and other mechanical products.

Hyosung seem strong in nz now so parts should be ok they were in partnership with suzuki from 1979

Sym were in partnership making engines from 50 to 150cc for Honda in 1962 they are part of the sanyang group building cars with partnership with Hyundai.

TGB are component manufacturers for Peugeot.

Peugeot also make a range of scooters, they are very nice bikes. I had assumed that you were looking at chinese due to budget constraints so I hadn't suggested european brands, all of which deserve consideration if you are not financially constrained.

http://www.scooterazzi.co.nz/ has a good range of bikes.

(Confession - I used to be a Peugeot and TGB dealer so I have a soft spot for them)

[br0kenbutterfly]

thanks, unfortunately i am raaather budget restrained! otherwise id be all for getting a bigger bike (or a vespa, i am a girl, i like things to look pretty)
yup definitely looking at a 2 stroke.
sorry if im being incredibly blonde, but are you saying keeway is a chinese/shitty brand? or is it quite reliable?
does de-restricting void warranty/make it un-insurable/make the engines run out faster? is it worth it?
spearfish, sounds like you wouldve been quite an interesting sight to see!
thanks again everyone!

[Gibbo89]

keeway is endorsed by triumph, i think they are taiwanese.

look at http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Mo...-314853247.htm

its a 2 stroke suzuki.

for what its worth, i have owned a chinese scooter, did 2500 k's before i moved up to a 250.

be careful on what chinese scooters you look at though.

this scooter looks quite pretty

http://www.trademe.co.nz/Trade-Me-Mo...-316774239.htm

you mention that you are looking at scooters because of your budget, some bigger cc bikes are nearly as cheap to run as a wee scooter i.e a gn125 must not cost alot to run.
but i 1st learnt on to ride on a wee suzuki sepia and don't regret it, except that it went like 49kph!

the dealer or mechanic might de restrict teh bike for you. if so, then ride her gently to start off with.

i knew a girl that had a nifty fifty (an older scooter now), she was 120kg+ and rode it for years.

i see a big bloke here in chch on a sj50, it seems to go alright... he looks like he is nearer 150kg

150kg is normally the max weight for a rider on a scooter

it suprises me the person is a bit anti test drive though

[geoffm]

I recommend the scooterreviews site mentioned above - they are on the mark with their reviews.

I have a Keeway Flash, and before a car driver nailed it, I had a Hyosung SF50 Fast (also known as the Prima.) The Prima has the same motor as the Rally version they sell now, but has 2 small round headlights.
In both cases, a good thing they have is that the fuel filler is in the front by your feet, which means when you fill up, you won't spill it into the storage space under the seat, and a top box doesn't get in the way as in the case of the ones in the tail section
A top box is a must have I have a cheap Cnell one from Trademe - works fine and much cheaper than a Givi one Make sure your helmet fits in it.
Make sure your helmet will fit under the seat - some the storage areas are to tight or poorly shaped and they won't take a full face helmet.

The Hyo was 2nd hand and I did 4000km on it before it was totalled with 5000km on it.
The good - did around 60-65kph when you remove the black wire in the CDI which will keep up with traffic. Economy was around 30km/l. Has a pillion seat (although 2 up on a 50 would be slow). A helmet will fit under the seat but it is tight.
The bad - the Prima headlights were useless - 2 x 15w glowworms in a jar. So poor it was dangerous. I think the Rally ones are better. It didn't come standard with a carry rack but one from a Rally will fit. Fuel tank could be bigger as well.
I was going to buy another one, but no dough and the Keeway came up.
If you get one, there is some info ont he koriders.com site, and i have the workshop manual.

TH Keeway was a replacement - $800 second hand. Chinese made, and although the paintwork and finish isn't too bad and has stood up well to 3.5 years of neglect, the details aren't as good as the hyo. The fuel cap cover is a flimsy plastic piece which doesn't fit tightly, etc. The chrome on the forks has rust spots - typical of Chinese chrome.
It has been reliable and economical, comes with a rack (that you can't fit a top box easily to without some mods) but...
It is slow, like really, really slow. For some reason the ones they brought in are restricted to 45kmh - that is low enough to be a menace. Taking the speed restriction ring out of the variator helps but not enough. Helmet doesn't fit under the seat (but will in the top box)
I would buy another Keeway - at $2k new they are good value - but only if it could be really de restricted properly.
Geoff

[Spearfish]

thanks, unfortunately i am raaather budget restrained! otherwise id be all for getting a bigger bike (or a vespa, i am a girl, i like things to look pretty)
yup definitely looking at a 2 stroke.
sorry if im being incredibly blonde, but are you saying keeway is a chinese/shitty brand? or is it quite reliable?
does de-restricting void warranty/make it un-insurable/make the engines run out faster? is it worth it?
spearfish, sounds like you wouldve been quite an interesting sight to see!
thanks again everyone!

I think china are in a place Taiwan were when they started to flood the world, personally I wouldnt buy a chinese scoot for anything other than a one off event.

As far as de-restricting goes my dealer did the job as part of the PDI when I brought it. (just a washer in the exhaust pipe restricting flow) so very minor work like that is fine.
So is changing the gearing, but your starting to go down a modifying path that has no end and starts a process where one part leads to another part to support the first part but it needs another part to get the best of the second part but interfears with the very first part without a fourth part .......on and on it goes.....

Standard jogs or jog type engines are around 3.5 to 4.5 hp, the top end racing scoots competing in Italy and the BSSO in England are up to 33hp (for just a few hours lifespan) so its almost endless how far you can push it.