Scooter quick tests

Hello!

Our local Ulysses Club branch has a "cafe late" run every Saturday morning. Yesterday we
had been invited to the official opening of the local scooter shop Letzscoot. This is the second time Letzscoot has hosted us and each time we are "right royally" treated - thanks Jullie!

Letzscoot had a wide range of scooters on hand for their guests
to road test including the Gilera Fuoco 500; unfortunately I did not
get an opportunity to try this "monster". However I was able to try two
scooters during the morning and here are some brief impressions.

Piaggio XEvo 400



This scooter was a bit of a disappointment! First impression is a bike that
is not well made, certainly not up to the standard of Vespas and
Piaggio's MP3s. Fit and finish are Ok but nothing to talk about. The
seat was initially comfortable but by the end of our half hour test
route my butt was beginning to feel sore. The suspension is quite
harsh, and this was over urban main roads not out on the highway. The
most worrying aspect was the breaks; these felt "odd" - sort of
"wooden" and the front break seem to want to pull a little to the
right. None of this felt dangerous; just not up to the standard one
would expect from Piaggio. One last complaint, I'm about 173 cm tall
but at rest I could only put one foot on the ground while sitting on
the seat. This is only an issue at traffic lights I guess, but it
surprised me given this isn't an issue on my 600 SilverWing. Lest I
sound too negative I can comment positively on the performance and the
handling. The pick-up was very good, it seemed a little quicker than
the Gilera which has another 100 cc in engine capacity and the bikes
ability to lane change in reasonably heavy traffic and zip around
several round-abouts was confidence inspiring.

Rating:

Vespa GTS300



I rode one of these at the last Letzscoot open day and when offered a
"test ride" this morning, this was the first bike I chose. The test
bike was Italian racing red which made it look something special. I am
going to sound biased about this bike but right from the "off" it just
felt great. Unlike the Piaggio, fit and finish is first rate (almost as
good as my Honda ). The 300 feels zippy; the steering is light and quick
acting, last time I rode one of these it took me a few kilometres to
get used to the feel but this time I was relaxed from the start. It is
very easy to ride in traffic. Stopping at traffic lights was not a
problem like the Piaggio. Performance was probably not quite as good as
the Piaggio but because it is a "naked" bike it feels much quicker. The
brakes gave no concerns with the bike pulling up straight and true
every time. Handling was very good especially through the several
round-abouts. Was there anything negative about the 300? Well I would
have some concerns about using it for touring, but I guess it would
cope. That's about it! Since moving back into "scooter land" I have
changed my full face helmet for a spivy open face job and SAS style
shades ( );
I can now see why I never rode like this on my old Hornet, even at town
speeds the bugs hit your face quite hard. However, this is not the
300's fault!

Rating:

I think a black Vespa GTS-300 would look quite nice in my garage alongside the SilverWing.

Thanks again the Letzscoot for a great morning and the opportunity for
a lot of folks to try something different. I think more than a few
prejudices were broken this morning, and that can't be bad.

Regards,
Peter

Peter,

Very nice of you to provide us these reviews. And thanks to Letzscoot for their hospitality. I hope they do a roaring business in sales.

I posted my mini-road test piece on the UK SilverWing Forum. However, the moderator has removed it on the grounds that it was advertising. I'm not sure who I was supposed to be advertising about:

1. Piaggio and Vespa for the scooters I rode;
   
2. The dealer, Letzscoot, for providing such a great service to their local two-wheeled community; or
   
3. The Ulysses Club.
   

Obviously on that forum its Ok to mention some products but not others and probably not dealers. This is a very odd attitude.

You have to wonder whether its worth the bother some times!

Regards,
Peter

Nice bit you wrote up Peter. It is good to know that somewhere, there is a dealer who lets you test ride scooters.

As for the other site, well, their site, their rules. Thats why it is nice of JeffR to have this site up.

I also thought you did a good job of writing up your experience on the different scoots.
Maybe the other folks don't like objective reporting.
Good job!

Wes

Hi pja,

Nice write up on the scooters.

I wrote a fictional short story (needs editing) about scooters a while back and one of the main charcters is a Red Vespa 300 GT.

https://www.silverwing600.com/general-chat-f12/scooters-time-for-heroes-t788.htm

Tell me about the other forum. I manufacture Honda Silverwing accessories. I go there and look around from time to time but like it here much better.

DennisB wrote:

Hi pja,

Nice write up on the scooters...

Tell me about the other forum...

Dennis,

Thanks for the support. I think its something about "Poms" (I'm an Australian).

I used to own a text editor that was developed by an UK company. They also have a support forum. In discussing "wish-list" issues for product improvement I mentioned features incorporated into several other competitor's editors (none were as good as this English editor) and I was BANNED from the forum for mentioning these products . Clearly "free and open discussion" is not alive and well in the UK .

Regards,
Peter

Peter, Please keep this in mined...this forum is not to be used as a battle ground, OK!

DennisB wrote:

...I wrote a fictional short story (needs editing) about scooters a while back and one of the main charcters is a Red Vespa 300 GT...

Dennis,

I just had a quick look at your link. Last Saturday morning at the scooter shop function there were a group of Harley riders (leather vests, finger-less gloves, beards, tats, the "real deal"). I'm not sure where they were from but our town does have a local chapter of the Rebels MCC. Any how, they all got into the test rides. The group that went out with me on the Piaggio included this really big bloke on the red Vespa. I spoke to him at several red light stops and he was rapped. He had NEVER ridden a scooter before and had no idea how much fun it was. Probably not going to rush out and sell his Harley but will probably have a kinder attitude towards scooter riders in the future

As I said in my original post - there were many prejudices buried that morning (including in my own Ulysses group). IMHO the dealer did a very good thing and needs to be acknowledged.

Regards,
Peter

DennisB wrote:

Peter, Please keep this in mined...this forum is not to be used as a battle ground, OK!

Dennis,

Its not my intention - I was quite annoyed with them earlier this morning but I'm over it. I just needed somewhere to vent my anger! Its simply not worth the effort.

End of my discussion of the topic

Regards,
Peter

Peter,

Just thought you might like to see my old 1959 Harley. The real deal.

DennisB wrote:

Just thought you might like to see my old 1959 Harley. The real deal.

Dennis,

Very nice!

Peter