Depends on what you call a highway. I take mine on local highways where the speed limit is 45MPH when it can’t be avoided, or lightly-travelled roads where it is 55. I can’t do more than 35, and I will stay to the side if possible, but there are some routes where the highway is the only way to get there.
It’s all about speed. A scooter is faster than a bicycle, and speed kills.
Probably not. Again, the bigger cycle is faster, and speed kills.
I did the same thing on my Honda S90. I’d drive two or three miles on a 2 lane highway to a friends house. I never would have taken a 100 mile road trip on that Honda.
I’ve thought seriously about getting a Scooter to drive to work and errands. They seem safe. At 35mph they can keep up with traffic in town.
In my town, in the summer, as long as I don’t have to carry large items or people, my scooter is the best way to get around, much better than a car. No parking problems, 75MPG, and it’s fun, too!
Honda makes a quality scooter. I just sold my 50cc scooter a few weeks ago, a Yamaha Zuma that was that oh so elusive beast, an scooter with a little bit of manliness to it.
I feel less safe on a bicycle because my speed varies so much. I don’t pedal full out. I get tired and slack off. Traffic passing me. I decided against a bicycle commute to work.
Big bikes are a little more visible to drivers. My VFR800 Honda has dual headlights and that makes it a bit more conspicuous. I don’t know if any small scooters are available with ABS, which could come in handy on rain-slicked surfaces.
My first bike was an S90. I’d love to have another one someday- that thing was a fun to ride.
Not to lead the thread too astray, but if the OP is looking at something with a smallish engine, Honda also has this weird (but cool-looking) small bike: the Grom. It’s a 125, so it’s not stupidly-fast to get you in trouble.
First of all, a Honda 650 isn’t a big motorcycle, especially not as a cruiser (which is what the example is). Most cruisers (such as Harleys and the big Japanese cruisers) start at about 800 cc and go up to 1600.
Second, there are scooters that are every bit as big and freeway legal as motorcycles. I have one: a Yamaha TMax, which is a 500. There are scooters that go up to 650 (or maybe even bigger–last I checked the Suzuki Burgman 650was one of the biggest available, at least in the USA). BMWmakes 600 and 650 scoooters as well. They’re quite capable of keeping up with freeway traffic smoothly: my TMax will do about 75-80 before I start feeling a little unsafe.
Scooters are easier to ride in some respects because they don’t require shifting and they have a step-through design which makes them easier to mount and to get both feet down on the ground at stops. Safer? That’s more of a judgment call. They have smaller wheels than motorcycles, which is less safe. Also, I think people who ride them tend to underestimate them (at least the big ones) and think “I don’t need to put on all my safety gear and pay as much attention–it’s just a scooter.”) But that’s just a guess and a feeling based on years of riding.
Yamaha Razz, at least on one side. It says “Riva” on the other, so the manufacturer couldn’t make up their mind.
(That’s a stock photo.) Mine has a rather large, rear clamshell trunk, suitable for carrying quite a bit of groceries or whatever. Couldn’t do without that, but a backpack often augments it. And a windscreen, also a must.
I’ve heard it can take time getting used to scooters. They are lightweight and require more gentle braking than a motorcycle. The smaller tires react badly to potholes. Even a small pothole looks big to a scooter tire.
They tend to split motorcycle crashes into multiple vehicle and single vehicle crashes, and the actual occurrences tend to be around 50-50%. With single vehicle crashes, the rider is (obviously) usually at fault and the cause is usually that they were riding beyond the limits of the bike or their own experience (or the BAC limit). There’s no question that more powerful bikes make up a bigger proportion of fatal single-rider accidents, although a lot of it is that those bikes attract the sorts of riders who tend to push things to the limits.
With multiple rider accidents, though, it’s a lot less clear that smaller displacement bikes are significantly safer. Like Musicat says, speed does indeed kill and there’s no escaping the laws of physics, but on the other hand highway riding is generally a lot safer than riding in urban traffic. The accidents may be more severe on the highway, but they’re a lot less likely to happen.
I think the bottom line is that with a smaller bike or scooter, you’re mostly exempting yourself from the roughly half of accidents that are completely rider caused. But on the other hand, if you’re a trained and somewhat experienced rider who doesn’t take a lot of risks, chances are you wouldn’t be involved with one of those anyways. Urban riding is risky, though, and a smaller engine isn’t going to change that.
Speed kills alright, especially going too slow for traffic, and keeping to the right to encourage people to “take” your lane. This is my opinion is why smaller bikes are more dangerous. They usually travel at their top speed and have nothing left for any type of power moves.
I do drive a Burgman 650 and have had it since 2004. No accidents of any kind.
The first bike I ever owned was a 1948, 80 cu.in. flat head Harley Davidson.
I bought it in 1964. Up until 3 years ago when I got my 1995 EVO, it was the newest bike I had ever bought. Next year it will be 20 years old. I had a 1977 Kaw 1000 that was 17 years old when I traded for it. Spot & JB I made from parts, mostly old parts, They have shovel head engines of the mid 70’s types. Have a 1977 Yamaha 500 XT enduro machine for the dirt.
Rode my BIL’s Honda 90 when he was a kid and got tired of it. About 1975 when I was playing with that. I don’t know how old it was, but it was pretty tired.
The most dangerous thing about riding a mossickle is 3 seconds of stupid between your ears.
I took this model of scooter on highways and freeways all the time. This was during the Mod revival of the 1980s. At speeds above 60mph, the steering was fast (due to the small tires) but still smooth. I was lucky enough to never have a blowout at speed.
At city speeds, the scooter was probably more comfortable than a small motorcycle due to the low seat height and the ridiculously low center of gravity, but the small tire patch meant that it had a habit of slipping out from under me in light rain.
I did spend a month in the hospital after being sideswiped by a drunk driver while riding that Vespa. My main injury was a broken femur, and this might have been a crushed leg or amputation if I was on a conventional bike. That said, I think that the midsized motorcycles (like a Norton or a Yamaha 650, if they still make bikes like that) handle better than a scooter with 8 or 10 inch tires at any speed above 35mph.
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