Scooters

In the wake of the ?5 a gallon of fuel misery, I know of a couple of people who have just bought a couple of Scoots to get to work on. 100mpg and about ?15 tax its mighty cheap motoring (even if their insurance was as much as the SV).

Now would you ride a scooter? Does the depreciation costs offset any saving on running costs?

I haven't put this in the Bike subforum as a lot of bike riders probably dont consider Scooter riders to be in the same category. Bike snobbery I guess considering we're all on 2 wheels.

I had a Gilera Runner for a couple of years and used it for commuting and pleasure. It was good fun, very practcal and nippy enough. It would do an indicated 80-85 and I had no problems doing Heathrow to Halifax, even though it pi55ed down for the 200+ miles.
I would cetainly not rule scooters out if it was just for commuting.

as much as i totaly agree with you i couldn't ride a scoot. lets face it we've all spent a lot of money in cbt's, lessons, das, and insurance. why would anybody go through all that then jump on a scoot.

[Wideboy]

for me the answer is no, the lack of power to me is just dangerous you've got nothing to pull away if you get in trouble.

i had ago on spike1105's TZR50 a few weeks ago and i couldn't even pull away and when i asked why he said you had to give it loads to get away

like you said it might just be snobbery because i ride a bigger bike.

I was thinking more about 125 scooters than the 50s, theyre a bit dangerous if you ask me. It wouldnt be to give up the bike, it would be to give up the car (for summer at least)

i started off on a 50 cc at just under 17 that was 1999 got it from new and still have it.

i used it for 2 years as thats all i had to use then got the car and bike full licence and it didnt get used until i changed jobs last year and started to use it again, but after coming from a cbr 400 and going back down was not good i now have the sv to get back and forward to work and its not much more and im saving time

moped to work 40 mins
sv to work under 20 mins

Sometimes the cheapest bike, is the one you're riding already. Saying that, if I needed a cheap 125cc runabout I'd rather have a vanvan or a tw125. Still 80MPG or so.

Van Vans are very cool, but theyre pretty hard to source 2nd hand.

Scooters........sooooooo underestimated

I started riding on a Vespa 125 - would do 60mph and run forever
Upgraded to a Vespa 200 with disc brake - would do 80 and run forever
Restored a 1978 Vespa SS50 that now has a 125cc engine and will do 90

Gilera Runner 180 is a superb scooter! Goes really fast and if you tweak it ooooohhhhhh the joys! The 125 is good as well

Wideboy the 125cc or 180cc will take off from stationery leaving your SV standing....for the first few meters till you get into 2nd.

I would check though.....how much would buying one set you back? The extra road tax+extra insurance? Would that mean it costs roughly the same as the SV and you have 1 bike less to worry about?

I had a burgman 125 as a loan bike again last week for the day, and it did most of the things I'd need in a commute - runs on a thimbleful of petrol, and does 55mph with it. You also get a bit of a better view around, so it filtered much more effectively than I could get the SV to do. Its not exciting, but most practical things aren't.