How much total passenger weight is too much weight for a 50cc motor scooter? 200 lbs? 250 ? 300?

In My Humble Opinion
1

For a tooling around town 50cc class scooter what’s the max safe total passenger weight?

2

Although my 50s ***will ***move me down the road somewhat, 300 lbs is way too much.

200 is pushing it, especially if there are any hills. 50cc scooters are for secondary roads where the speed limit is 35mph, generally speaking. Most states group scooters with/as mopeds, and set a maximum speed of 30mph for them, though any scooter mechanic or owner worth their salt will mod them to run 45 or 50 with a 100 to 180lb rider. You want to be able to accelerate comfortably and keep 35 or 45 to minimize the assholes riding up behind you. I like to throw rocks and spark plugs at them, but use your imagination!
Virtually every state requires a motorcycle license to operate any bike over 50cc, so you have a couple of options.

  1. Get a bigger scooter. 150 and 250cc are common, and are available up to 500 and 600 cc sizes. You’ll need license.

  2. Find a good scooter shop and have them upgrade your 50 to a 70 or 80cc. This requires replacing the cylinder, variator, exhaust, and final drive gear, and can run $800 to $1,000.
    That’s the difference between a 50 and a 150, but since only you and your mechanic will know, no motorcycle license needed. You didn’t hear that from me, John Doe.

If you’re not going far, and there are no hills, 1 or 2 small/young folks can ride reasonably, but safety is paramount. Your community and geography play a big role in whether or not a scooter is the answer to your transportation needs.

Have Fun!

3

If it’s just around town, I can vouch for a 50cc if you’re around 200 lbs. Unless you’re dealing with SF-grade hills, that thing should do fine (although if you are talking hills that size, you’re gonna have some “will this thing make it?” moments). They have governors on them in Japan which restrict the speed to about 55kph, but I imagine they’d be fine getting up to the speeds ducati mentions were that not the case.

4

Quick Google seems to suggest that 200# is acceptable on level grade but struggles with hills. There also seems to be a lot of variation depending on the make/model. If you’ve got your eye on a specific scooter, the best suggestion would be to search for weight capacity and reviews of that specific model.

5

I have a Yamaha Zuma and big brother (@ 450+/-) has been running around on it for 5 years. Not far, but on an every other day basis.

6

Which model? There’s a 49cc version and a 150cc version of that scooter. They also went to 4-stroke engines recently and subsequently lost a lot of power, which is especially noticable on the 49cc version.

That does bring up a good point, though. 2-stroke engines produce more power for the displacement than a 4-stroke. So a 49cc 2-stroke scooter still gets you in without needing a motorcycle license, but is a lot faster bike (although definitely less efficient) than a 49cc 4-stroke scooter.

However, 2-stroke scooters are in a bit of legal limbo at the moment. The EPA has been slowly bringing up the air quality standards scooters are supposed to meet to be street legal, to the point that pretty much all 2-stroke ones aren’t. However, they can still be imported for off road use and in most states you can ride a 49cc scooter on the street without registering it. So, well, who’s going to know? Depending on where you live, it might be pretty easy to find a place that sells them. It’s also still perfectly legal to buy an older used 2-stroke scooter, like an older Zuma, and drive it on the street.