First scooter

[phantom]

My 16 year old daughter has decided she must have a scooter to get to and from school and a myriad of social activities. My only experience of scooters was a Zundap in the 70's and a Honda Melody in the 90's. What should we be looking out for , models to avoid etc.

[bobsmith]

Is she looking at a 50cc scooter to ride on car licence or a proper scooter to ride on a bike licence?

If she goes for a proper scooter (which I hope she does since it makes me shiver everytime I see those people on 50cc scooters riding along cycle lane in palmy.....) I suggest you avoid the chinese imports.... I personally have one (lifan 125cc) while the price is tempting the quality is substandard and I wouldn't do it again if I had another chance.

Gilera runners I hear are great scooters and comfortable on open road speed so they say and much better quality. Otherwise honda is the only one I know among japanese companies who makes brand new scooters under 250cc at the moment with their honda lead 100cc which looks nice. I've seen some suzuki 125cc scooters around and I hear they aren't too bad either.

[Warren]

My 16 year old daughter has decided she must have a scooter to get to and from school and a myriad of social activities. My only experience of scooters was a Zundap in the 70's and a Honda Melody in the 90's. What should we be looking out for , models to avoid etc.

Stick to the known brand names, I think the yamaha 50cc was supposed to be one of the fastest. The newer 2-strokes when de-restricted can keep up with city traffic and have a top speed of 60-70 km/h depending on conditions, so are much safer .

If you are going above 50cc and have more money then there the Italian piaggio's and gilera's but they are quite expensive, but built better and there are loads of performance parts available from Europe. I have never been on the Honda Lead 100cc but it does have a front drum brake which is a bit suprising, but they are $2500 new. My Suzuki SJ125 has had a few build/quality problems but it goes 100 km/h and I have passed a few cars on the motorway with it.

[Warren]

And make sure that she reads the motorcycle road code (?You and your motorcycle?) and has some protective gear.

[Street Gerbil]

Suzuki Street Magic is hot-looking, reliable, stable, and inexpensive. Invest $200 in an aftermarket CDI (scootling has them) and it will easily cruise at safe 65kph.
Just ask WINJA, he is a Street Magic guru around here.

[Fred50]

Well I have a 33 year old daughter just to put it into perspective. I gave up riding for a few years to avoid having her trying to follow me into a "real bike".

I'd go for a 50cc scoot for a 16 yr old. Yes they don't go too fast but that is a bonus. Avoid Chinese but Taiwanese or Japanese or European ok, base that upon your local supplier, how long have they been there etc.

At 50kmph you can almost step off them in an emergency, at 80kmph you start to change the dynamics!! Teach her well or get someone else to as she may not listen to you!! Track days are good. All that good stuff like look where you want to go, not at what you are about to hit etc. It works. Who wants their prize possession (in a nice way) mangled because they crashed a scoot you bought for them!! Really teach front brake not rear, heaps of young kids lay bikes down using the rear brake.

Anyway enough from this old coot.

[Edbear]

I agree to a point about the Chinese ones, there is a lot of variation in quality. However we have been selling a good brand for some time now and I would recommend checking them out. You would be buying from a large established NZ company with proper service and back-up by a recognised local dealer. We deal with the largest manufacturer in China as well as a top quality Taiwanese manufacturer and the Taiwan made bikes are the equal of anywhere.
PM me for details if interested.

PS. A lot of the small scooters of the mainstream brands are manufactured in China anyway. Honda use the Jailing-Hondas Motor Co. for all their small engines nowadays, apparently.

[davereid]

Hi EdBear - what brand are you talking about ?

[Motoracer]

Keep your 16 year old daughter well away from this site.

That's the best advise I can give you.

[davereid]

For what its worth, I ride a $1695 Lifan 50cc 2 stroke scooter to work. Its not amazing build quality, and certainly not high performance. But its reliable, economical, and good fun. I think that if your daughter is on a tight budget it would be a good choice, as it has good dealer and spare parts support. And it has a 5000km warranty, so Lifan have confidence in them. If you are not so worried about the loot, a TGB or similar Taiwanese scoot would be a better bike, they cost at least a $1000 more, but are at least as good as the euros.

[phantom]

There is no way in hell she is going on this site till she's as old as me. Anza here in Palmie are selling "euro " as in make not origin scooters. Anyone have any idea what they are like. There is a guy here selling "vmoto" scooters too. My sister has one in Wellingyon and loves it but she is more interested in looks than substance so don't know what they are like

[The Wop]

If you are not so worried about the loot, a TGB or similar Taiwanese scoot would be a better bike, they cost at least a $1000 more, but are at least as good as the euros.

I wouldn't say that Taiwanese are as good as Euro. However, you do get what you pay for. Chinese is cheap, Taiwanese is better and the European scooters are clearly the best. It depends on what you want to spend.
However, it is worth thinking that if you spend too little, you can risk safety, you will not have any such problems with spending more!

[SwanTiger]

There is no way in hell she is going on this site till she's as old as me. Anza here in Palmie are selling "euro " as in make not origin scooters. Anyone have any idea what they are like. There is a guy here selling "vmoto" scooters too. My sister has one in Wellingyon and loves it but she is more interested in looks than substance so don't know what they are like

Hey, we aren't that bad, how about I pillion your daughter to school every day

Scooter - http://www.honda-motorcycles.co.nz - reliability with a choice of retro style or modern appeal.

My first ever ride was a 47cc Honda Moped with no clutch and 3 gears IIRC, that bike was bullet proof and fun.

[davereid]

Agreed - you never regret buying quality, if I had the dosh I'd get the Peugeot Jetforce with the supercharger.

But for a 16 year old chick, she may ride for a while and decide she needs a subaru ! Then again she may ride for a while and decide she needs a bigger bike.

The licence laws are crazy - on an L plate you can buy a 200km/hr 2 stroke race replica, but you cant buy a sedate 883 sporty.

It just puts a financial barrier in the way of bike ownwership IMHO.