#scooters

We’ve seen some pretty crazy looking patents, but this one probably tops them all. Ford has filed a patent for a car with a motorcycle built into it that can be deployed as a separate vehicle. It’s kind of like the Batpod that shoots out of the Batmobile in Christopher Nolan’s Batman films, but with a Ford C-Max.

American Honda announced a revamped PCX150 scooter for the 2019 model year with a new chassis, a revised engine and an ABS option. The 2019 Honda PCX150 will be offered for $3,699, a $100 increase over the 2018 model, while the ABS version is priced at $3,999.

Kymco announced a new swappable battery system and electric charging architecture that will be used for ten electric scooters to be launched over the next three years.

Honda has revised its Forza 300 scooter for Europe, introducing traction control, a redesigned chassis and a 26-pound weight reduction. Unfortunately, it doesn’t look like the 2018 Honda Forza 300 is coming to the U.S., where it was last offered in 2016.

Almost 70 years after the creation of its first model, the Lambretta scooter has returned in the form of the 2018 Lambretta V-Special. Shown in public for the first time at EICMA on November 7, 2017, the scooter company, which is known for its cult following despite only being in production for 24 years, has teamed up with Austrian design studio KISKA (known to MO readers for the design of KTM and Husqvarna model lines) to produce a thoroughly modern Lambretta in three variations: V50 Special, V125 Special and V200 Special.

BMW Motorrad raised some eyebrows when it introduced a new middleweight scooter at the 2017 EICMA show in Milan on November 7th. The new scoot, the C400X, is designed to stand apart from its competition with interesting features, higher build quality and high-fashion styling.

After first announcing the Vespa Elettrica project at EICMA a year ago, the electric Vespa is now ready for production, with Piaggio confirming it will be available worldwide, with orders being accepted in the spring.

Honda announced new electric and hybrid versions of its PCX scooters at the Tokyo Motor Show. Both are scheduled to go on sale as 2018 models in Asia, including Japan. For now, the only PCX in North America remains the PCX 150.

Vespa is proud to introduce a new model to their scooter lineup, The Sei Giorni. The new release from the famed Italian scooter company is designed to pay homage to the 1951 Vespa Sport Squadra Corse that won a gold medal, not once, but nine individual times in that year’s International Six Days Enduro (ISDE) held in Varese. The ISDE is a grueling test of the limits of both man and machine in an off-road environment. The completion awards bronze for merely completing the event in the allotted time. The more elusive silver is awarded to riders that finish within 25% of the class-winning time and the gold is awarded only to those that finish within the top 10%.

Now that AIMExpo 2017 is complete, we’ve compiled our choices for the coolest stuff we saw while perusing the show. While the number of new 2018 model-year motorcycles was limited because of the show’s early date, that didn’t prevent the show from reflecting a vital motorcycle industry. So, as we reflect on last week’s show, here’s a list – in no particular order – of the top 10 products that we saw at the 2017 AIMExpo in Columbus, Ohio.

Yamaha is bringing the 292cc version of the XMax scooter to the U.S., topping its 2018 scooter lineup which also includes the 155cc SMax, the Zuma 125 and the 49cc Zuma 50F, Zuma 50FX and Vino Classic. The 2018 Yamaha XMax will arrive in dealerships in October with an MSRP of $5,599.

While it seems like such a small task, we often fail to forget that explaining things like a twist throttle and “balance” can be a lot for a first timer to grasp. Clearly this guy was struggling with the concept. “Just accelerate” evidently wasn’t good enough advice.

If this has been a hard year for scooters (sales are down in the category and there were but a few new models), it’s a harder year for me, the sole self-proclaimed scooter expert here at MO. I’ve ridden a lot of scooters – maybe too many – but if you ask me what’s the best scooter on the market, I’m going to try to find a gap in the conversation so I can slink unnoticed from the room. Editor Duke tried to spear me by demanding a direct answer – I responded with some wishy-washy gibberish about how great a job the Taiwanese scooter industry is doing in this market, so they should all get the prize, but he wants one specific scooter. This job was fun until it got hard.

Yamaha Motor Europe announced announced a model refresh for its X-Max 400 scooter. American scooter aficionados, however, will likely be disappointed as the 2018 Yamaha X-Max 400 is not expected to come to the U.S. , which is a shame, as Yamaha’s American scooter lineup offers no intermediate model between the 530cc TMax and the 155cc SMax.

With a scooter market of less than 30,000 units from major manufacturers a year*, the USA isn’t much of a thing for scooters, and medium-displacement scoots like Kymco’s new $3,999 Xtown are even less of a thing since Honda dropped its PCX 300 and Suzuki fired its Burgman 400. I got to ride the new Kymco Xtown 300i ABS last week, a scooter that replaces two similar-sized models in the Taiwanese company’s line and offers solid value to the scooter rider that wants comfort, convenience and freeway-friendly power.