#scooters

What makes a scooter a scooter? Is it the step-through frame? The completely hidden engine? The underseat storage? The clutch-free operation? We have here two radically different visions of scooters in the form of the Honda NM4 and the Yamaha TMAX, representing the different design intents of maxi-scooterdom. The NM4 looks like a futuristic scooter but rides like a cruiser. In fact, Honda lists the NM4 in the cruiser category on its website. The TMAX strives to be the sportbike of scooters with its aggressive styling and performance. What the pair do share is a price tag separated by just $509, with the NM4 costing $10,999 to the TMAX’s $10,490.

Once there was a time when scooters were looked down upon in the motorcycling world. Perhaps it was because they were anemic, under-powered, funny-looking things. Well, those days are long gone. The class of scooters has grown beyond the baubles that only a college coed would want to be seen on to include a wide range of price and performance from modest, econo-scoots to what we called Uber Scooters in our 2013 shootout. When readers pointed out that Yamaha had been left out of the mix, our response was that as soon as the tuning fork company decided the United States market was deserving of the TMAX, we’d be happy to include it. Well, Yamaha must have been listening to us, because for 2015 the TMAX is available stateside.

Winning our Reader’s Choice award for top scooter is the same scoot your MO staff picked, the BMW C650… wait, what? You voted for the $10,999 Honda NM4? Wow, we didn’t see that one coming. In fact, the final voting wasn’t even that close, either – the Honda’s 36.3% of the votes gave it a commanding lead over the second-place finisher, BMW’s C650GT, with only 21.4% of the votes. The Suzuki Burgman 650 ABS came in a close third, with 19.6% of the votes.

It really is a fine line between open-minded and cheap, between hip and hopeless, betwixt trending and tanking … and if you ride a scooter, you ride the razor’s edge, my friend. Obviously one has to be secure in one’s man or womanhood to even begin; my male college kid won’t be seen in the same garage with any scooter for fear it will dilute his musk. At the cool end of the scale, there’s our photographer/filmmaker/ballet dancer friend Richard Wright, who also finds time to head up the Bevery Hills Scooter Club and tear up Latigo Canyon on his bored-out Aprilia 250. At the other end, well, there’s yours truly on the Kymco Downtown 300i. How’s that for segue?

As far as scooters go, the Piaggio BV350 i.e. had me pretty excited. The reasoning is simple: its 330cc engine is the largest in this class (I don’t include the Suzuki Burgman 400 due to its maxi-scoot size and price), and Piaggio’s marketing materials highlighted it as being the best of both words – having the power of a bigger scoot with the maneuverability of a smaller one. If I may make this stretch of a comparison, the BV350 has a similar charm as the Suzuki GSX-R750 in that it feels like a hot-rodded version of a smaller bike without the restraint required on a bigger one.

Maybe it’s the Matte Black color that leaves me cold, but I find it hard to get excited about the new SYM Citycom 300i when it’s sitting in my driveway. Its appearance does nothing for me. An old advertising slogan coined for the VW Beetle way back in my youth keeps going through my head: “No style never goes out of style.” However, if I skip over my antipathy for the Citycom’s looks and throw a leg over the saddle – or should I say through the cockpit – the 300i turns from a wallflower into a remarkably competent city scoot.

A little bit of everything. That’s the way Honda wants you to think about its Forza scooter. For those not needing the heft and power of the Silver Wing, but still want to scoot about with a little more gusto than the PCX150, the $5,599 Forza is Honda’s answer. Equipped with a 279cc liquid-cooled Single and plenty of storage space, the Forza is the ideal commuter. For a select few, it could even serve as a person’s only motorized vehicle. Let’s dig deeper into what makes it tick.

In an era where motorcycles are becoming more specialized (sportbike, standard, cruiser, adventure, etc.), scooters are diversifying as well – everything from 50cc city runabouts to the 650cc-plus mileage gobblers capable of serious touring. Striking a balance between them are models like the Kymco Downtown 300i; a middle-of-the-road scoot capable of doing it all.

In a survey of over 600 current scooter owners, Yamaha’s research team discovered that over half of them (55%) said their next two-wheeled purchase would be another scooter. Meanwhile, nearly 70% of those same respondents admitted that the majority of their time spent on their scoots was either for pleasure or commuting to/from work.

We’ve seen a lot of motorcycle stunt riding videos out there, but scooter stunters are relatively rare. And few are as good as Japanese rider Masaru Abe, the star of this week’s video.

In August, we reported on a CARB executive order on a new scooter from Yamaha we suspected would compete with the Honda PCX150. Today at the AIMExpo, Yamaha unveiled to the U.S. market the SMAX sport scooter.

As the popularity of the Honda Grom has shown, people love small-displacement play bikes. The little funsters always seem to make grown riders act like kids. Maybe it’s the lack of power, tiny dimensions, or the fact you can have so much fun around town with them and never break the speed limit. Before the Grom came around, however, the Sachs MadAss was on the scene. In this week’s Church of MO feature, we travel back to 2010, and the Madass’ introduction. Resident scooter expert, Steve Guzman, fills us in on what makes the MadAss such an appealing motorcycle for those who understand big fun can come in small packages.

American motorcyclists have a drinking problem. We drink too much Haterade and not enough Kool-Aid.

One of the coolest scooters to ever grace the streets, Yamaha’s TMax 500 eventually came to the States, but didn’t find the level of popularity it has enjoyed in Europe. It’s too bad, as fans of the TMax 500 (the numeral was later dropped from the name) will tell you the big scoot is a nice blend of motorcycle and scooter. For this week’s Church of MO feature, we travel back to 2000 and recount Glenn Le Santo’s time aboard the then-new TMax 500. Note his cautious yet optimistic approach towards the scoot. With the luxury of hindsight in our favor, we now know Le Santo had nothing to be worried about. At least in Europe.

By Evans Brasfield