Manufacturers: Aprilia Honda Kymco Piaggio Suzuki Vespa Yamaha
Until the advent of the Vespa and Lambretta, most motorcycles were essentially heavyweight bicycles with an engine mounted in the middle of the frame. While perhaps the optimal arrangement from an engineering standpoint (the basic concept remains unchanged to this day), it left something to be desired in ergonomic terms. The rider was required to straddle...
Aprilia’s 500cc model, the Atlantic, is impressive. Its modern looks and great performance convinced me I could easily go on tour with a scooter. I like the old-fashioned look of scooters and so I was really excited about getting to test Aprilia’s latest retro- styled scooter, the Scarebeo 500, and to see how it stacks up against the...
It took some doing to find out where Salina is. Now I know. It's in the middle of Kansas, and after a 14-hour drive, we finally arrived at Salina Powersport. Robert Bohm, the owner, welcomed us heartily and set about explaining the operation of two Italian scooters, Aprilia's Scarabeo and the luxury liner I'm scheduled to cruise upon, the Atlantic...
As I rattled over the fir-plank bridge to Westham Island, a vast flock of snow geese swept overhead, darkening the sky and filling the air with surround-sound honking. In the filtered sunlight, their feathers took on a lustrous gray color, almost silvered. Silver Wing. What a great name for a scooter, I thought....
I'd be lying if I said working for RoadRUNNER wasn't a great gig. Riding motorcycles for a living is a terrific way to make a buck. But the traveling and great events are only part of the equation. I'm still expected to meet deadlines and show up at the office. And though the routine there isn't at all exceptional, nonetheless I feel fortunate because,...
Remember the original Silver Wing? It wasn't a scooter; it was a motorcycle. Honda used the CX 500 transverse-mounted V-twin platform to launch their version of a slenderized touring machine, the GL500 Silver Wing Interstate. A sort of Gold Wing "lite" if you will. After all, it was the early '80s then, and Diet Coke, Bud Light, and Richard Simmons...
The Kwang Yang Motor Company's roots in the powersports industry can be traced back to the Taiwanese company's founding in 1963. Today, it manufactures over 500,000 motor scooters, motorcycles and ATVs each year at five plants in Asia, and exports products to over 70 countries. KYMCO USA, headquartered in Spartanburg, South Carolina, serves over 600...
Let's see, my driveway is right at ten miles from the parking lot here at the palatial RoadRUNNER towers. Simple math indicates that I'll ride Kymco's People 250 right at 100 miles every week just to get to my keyboard. Throw in a couple of errands and an occasional long-way-home jaunt and I may actually burn close to an entire tank of high test in...
Still kind of new to this scooter thing, I have to constantly remind myself to temper my skepticism. I know for a fact that 250cc motorcycles do just fine as commuter machines and can hold their own on the open road. Why, then, am I so quick to scoff at a 250cc scooter? It's called ignorance, and the cure for that is education. Come on, let's go to...
It takes a lot to catch the jaded eye of a typical New Yorker. But here we are in the metropolis astride Piaggio’s second wave of funky 3-wheeled MP3 scooters, drawing long stares everywhere we go. One urban hipster eyeing the passel of Piaggios exclaims, with just the right amount of mock irony, “Are you guys from the future?”...
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