Motorbike to scooter

[texmo]

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]

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! ) 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

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!

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?...

[texmo]

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]

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.

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

[Mr. Peanut]

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.

[texmo]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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]

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!

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.

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

[Mr. Peanut]

Oh and what was that about style? That typhoon has the lines of a brick Where is the pillion supposed to go? The epicuro was actually designed to carry a passenger!

[Warren]

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]

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!