A few things about scooters.
Most folk imagine scooters to be small capacity 2-stroke machines, cheap to run, easy to maintain, eays to handle in traffic stalled cities.
Nowadays there is a much broader range, but they fall into 2 main engine types, 2-stroke and 4-stroke, in the US the 2-strokes are all but outlawed by emissions regulations and increasingly in Europe too, and although there is an injected 2-stroke which keep the crankcase seperate from the compression process and results in not needing to have 2-stroke lubricating oil added to the fuel, these machines are of very small cpacacity and are not really worth considering just yet.
Scooters traditionally have had a cpacity of around 125cc, they usually have a certain amount of bodywork that protect the riders from the elements to a small degree, and the engine in mounted on the swingarm to the back wheel. This last point makes for easier maintenance, and cheaper manufacture but it affects the handling as this significant weight sits below the suspension and adds to the unsprung weight.
This is important because the performance of suspension is determined by a ratio of rates of change of momentum between the sprung and unsprung weight, the lower the unsprung weight compared to sprung wieght, the better.
On small light scooters, on low power and on town roads, this is not hugely important, but modern superscooters have much higher power and so may be epected to undertake cross country journeys.
The Japanese have designed their superscoots so that the engine sits within the chassis and improves the handling at higher speed no end, but this adds to the overall weight and affects the low speed handling required in their most common environment - the crowded city streets.
Here is a sample of what is available.
The Honda Silverwing
Not to be mistaken for a “conventional” bike of that name that Honda sold in the 1970’s
http://www.honda.co.uk/motorcycles/DispatcherServlet?hidAction=Lookup&hidActionDetail=viewproductspec&hidMSGID=6&hidMSGCode=SCOOTERS&hidMSGName=Scooters&hidProductID=34&hidSelectedProductCode=SILVER_WING&hidProductName=Silver+Wing
First thing to note is that this is heavy, 600cc water cooled 4 stroke, it can get along quite nicely at around 100mph and being Honda it will be very quiet.
Next up is the Suzuki Burgman
http://www.motorcycledaily.com/22october02suzukiburgman650.html
Pretty much all that applies to the Honda applies to this, except that it is even heavier.
Now for Yamaha and the 500cc TMAX
http://www.yamaha-motor.com.au/motor/index.htm?motor_detail.asp?MD_ID=57
This is probably the best ahndling of all the Japanese super scoots but it is very expensive, even moreso thant the other two, but this is not such bad news as you would think.
The TMAX is way overpriced so that franchised dealers who are forced to stock them under their supply agreements with Yamaha cannot sell them, this means that whenever the registration year is about to change, they are stuck with machines they have to get rid of or take a large hit on valuation, as they would be last years machine. The result is that I’ve seen dealers offering them at around two thirds of list price, and that is just the sticker price, a canny purchaser could extract more value and maybe get kit thrown in at cost too.
All these are also expensive to buy, insure, and run, they can consume gas at a good old rate if you use the available performance.
They are dead easy to ride, no gear worries, you can get ABS, there is plenty of stowage space for crash hats, laptops or even a modest amount of shopping.
The is nothing on four wheels that can get away from the lights as fast as these, and plenty of conventional machines would struggle at first to keep up because of that auto box.
I think that the Japanese have missed the point of scooters somewhat by concentrating on outright power and long distance ability, the reality is that such machines will spend most of their lives in towns and cities, fighting to squeeze through small gaps, turning in tiny spaces and ripping away from the lights and through roadwork reduced roads.
I think perhaps Piaggio is nearer the mark with its X9.
http://www.ppscooters.co.uk/x9.html
This is a 250cc machine and is plenty quick enough for the job, it is much lighter, it is cheaper to buy, run and maintain etc.
There will be a 500cc version available soon which will be able to take on the large Japanese capacity models but it will still be better suited to town riding, being smaller physically and slightly lighter.
http://uk.cars.yahoo.com/020405/7/wpes.html
There are several other 250cc scoots such as the Foresight, Majesty so you could take a look at those as well but they are overpriced.
