Scooter or bike?

[Reece_1]

A 125 bike or scooter is ideal for short commutes - I used to have a Honda CB125 twin and did 10 miles round trip commute every day. A scooter will give you a bit more protection around the legs when it rains. For something longer distance and dual carriage roads etc then a 250 is ideal.

[apd007]

I'd say you need a bike.

I don't know if it's still the case but insurance for a scooter wasn't much less than a bike when I used to ride a few years ago cause all the kids could nick a scooter and ride it easily. A motorbike with gears stopped a lot of the kids and hence insurance premiums stayed comparatively low (IIRC my dad insured a 250cc motorbike for less than he was paying for a Honda 90 for that reason).

The CB500 mentioned above would be a good choice and was one I was looking at buying new, but had to give up on that idea as I had no where to keep it at night :(.

Scooters are a great for a few weeks, then the realities of getting overtaken by everyone, getting pushed around by other vehicles and not having the power to get clear get on your nerves.

[ric04vrs]

contemplating a scooter myself when i start my new job

current job (until tomorrow) is 17.5 miles ,all motorway and NSL , new job is 10.5 miles and mainly 30-40 mph with lots of stop/starts

makes sense not to kill the clutch in the Fabia by sitting in traffic

thinking about the Peugeot speedfight 100 , some on Ebay at £1699 , £82 a year to insure

[yashicamat]

I vote a bike for similar reasons to those already stated, but also a bike had larger wheels than an ickle scooter which will deal with potholes / ruts in the road better. One of the things I can't get my head around is how scooter riders manage to last so long with potholes about - the little wheels would surely drop straight into them. :eek:

[matt_theforce]

browsing u-tube tonight and came accross a supercharged peugeot scooter with 20bhp, didnt take the URL down for it but it was part of a shootout on 5th gear against the new suzuki swift. I must say the scooter with a supercharger sounded sweet.

[Aspman]

Bikes are not expensive to insure if you stay clear of 600cc+ sports bikes.

My ZXR400 was group 12 but I was only £80 TPFT and it was kept outside.

Tax and MOT were very low too.

My neighbour has a BMW F650GS not that fast but very comfy and he loves it. He thinks he was getting 70mpg on the motorway on his last trip. His is a few years old and looks like new. Should hold it's money well too. Dearer than a Jap 500 though.

I's quite like to get another bike after the deal on the Octy is over. SWMBO can have the car.

[vRS19TD]

I agree... a Vespa all the way

Que comments about what Vespa ownership could do for your helmet

I can't see a Vespa in this picture!! :confused:

[robmawer]

Bike. Triumph Sprint. Not the cheapest option, but cheaper than running a car. Probably.

Rob.

[Kentish]

Do what my brother did...buy a 12 yr old Harley, 1200cc and cost him £2k. Runs, sounds and looks a dream. Not back economy either. Big plus is that everyone hears it coming which makes it safer... well a bit anyway.

[Dr Zoidberg]

I'd recommend a 125cc 4 stroke scooter - something like a Gilera Runner.

You'll get 80mpg , about 65mph and won't get caught in traffic jams.

At 125cc size there isn't any real advantage to a geared bike and several disadvantages.

I used to use a scooter to commute into Birmingham and it was fine , and the under-seat storage was very handy indeed.

Oh , and I'm 6ft1 and fit on a Runner just fine as it's a fair bit taller than most scooters.

[ric04vrs]

deleted

[ric04vrs]

browsing u-tube tonight and came accross a supercharged peugeot scooter with 20bhp,

Peugeot Satelis 125 compressor

its in this years Peugeot scooter brochure , but not on their website :confused:

[Xavier]

Hi Jon

I think the end decision will depend really on how much you expect out of it. I would be inclined to go towards a bike. Something like a GS500 or CB500. They are great commuter bikes and will go on forever. I had a CB500 as my first bike and it was immensly fun when you wound it up. Cheap to run as there are loads about.

My father had a 125cc scooter (already had full bike licence). It was pretty pokey as it was 2-stroke and would do 70mph as it's unrestricted. The biggest issue I can see with scooters is that depending on where you're living, they're theif magnets. Either you have the crappiest scooter which won't be practical, have enough power, be big enough to cover your large frame (:P), or you have something nice like what Alex mentioned, but then you're constantly worried about it getting knicked :(

Sure, the 50cc would be more swmbo friendly, but how much would she really use it? If it's just for the weekend 'cos you use it during the week, would it be to go to the shops in which case storage limitaton is a big problem for women on shopping sprees - hang on, that's probably a plus point

The alternative compromise is get something like a small bike. When I went to uni in the UK (the CB500 was before when I lived in France), I bought a Kawa GSX-250 I think. It was a grey import - 250cc but four stroke. Didn't have most guts ever, but revved to around 15000rpm and I did get it up to around 110mph so not that slow. Oh and I did something like 250 miles on 10 litres of fuel so pretty economical as a commuter.

If you did get your full motorcycle licence, it would open up other possibilities, and someone of you're driving skill would pick it up very easily. The trickiest bit I found when passing my test is the importance they make on road awareness and safety as you're that much more vulnerable. Obviously, you're already very aware of all that so would be a piece of cake I reckon