Maxi-Scooters

[gavroche]

I know some of you on here also ride motorbikes but do any of you also ride maxi-scooters? I used to have a Suzuki Burgman 400 many years ago and loved it until an idiot rear ended me when I was stationary, ending this side of my life as my wife wouldn't let me get another one. The good thing about it is that it started me cycling instead although the danger of being on two wheels remains but at a slower speed.
I loved my Burgman as it was very comfortable to ride and gave you protection against the weather. I managed to take it up to 100mph once , just to see ( on the Speedo). I much preferred it to a motorbike.
So, to get back to my opening sentence, anybody on here has or had a maxi-scooter?

 

[Aravis]

I had a Yamaha X-MAX 250 for a few years, and loved riding it. In the end, I had to accept that the reason for having it in the first place no longer existed, and if I wanted to carrying on going out on two wheels, I'd do myself a lot more good by providing the power myself. Because it's an outdoor activity, and after a lengthy ride you usually feel a bit knocked about, motorcycling often creates an illusion of physical activity.

If I ever needed a motorbike again, I'd probably spent many hours agonising over all the options, and then get something very similar to the Yamaha.

The maxi-scooter is a brilliant and much under-estimated form of transport.

 

[Eribiste]

Me, I had one, a Suzuki Burman 650. I used to ride a Vespa 300GTS, but on my commute of the time of 35 miles I was starting to get a little lower back pain after twenty-five miles or so. I had a go on a burger, and that insignificant looking little bum rest on the saddle made such a difference that I rushed out and bought a second hand big burger. A really comfortable ride, plenty of luggage capacity and I wasn't getting in the way of other traffic.

It was a heavy old bus though; I spilled it once when I stopped, kicked out the side rest but slightly mis-kicked it so it didn't fully deploy. Of course, like I'd done countless times before, I was starting to lean the bike as I kicked the stand out. As the stand touched the floor and folded back up there was no stopping the bike from its leftward lean and burger and I found ourselves lying on our side. I don't know who was more embarrassed, the bike or me. There was no-one around to witness this farrago, so my blushes were unseen, but this also meant that I had to lift the bike up myself. I looked in the toolkit, but there was no hoist or foldaway crane included so main force was the order of the day, what a sweat. I suppose that's the maxi-scooter equivalent of a clipless moment.

 

[Drago]

Have been tempted to get a Burgervan, but I'd get the full fat 650 if I ever did. I'd want a maxi, not a mini-maxi.

 

[PhilDawson8270]

I'd love one for commuting, the trouble is the price. Because they're so capable they hold their value well. For the money you can get much more fun bikes.

 

[ColinJ]

I'm confused ...

You were astride a 2-wheeled vehicle and were stationary, and some idiot ran into the back of you. Your wife was worried about you so you replaced your 2-wheeled vehicle with a different 2-wheeled vehicle.

The new 2-wheeled vehicle is also sometimes stationary and can also be run into by idiot drivers, but your wife isn't worried now ...

I don't understand!

 

[raleighnut]

I used to have a Honda 90 cub.

 

[PaulSecteur]

I had one as a curtesy bike while mine was serviced - very comfy.

Though i preferred the piaggio typhoon 180 at the next service.

 

[jefmcg]

I'm confused ...

You were astride a 2-wheeled vehicle and were stationary, and some idiot ran into the back of you. Your wife was worried about you so you replaced your 2-wheeled vehicle with a different 2-wheeled vehicle.

The new 2-wheeled vehicle is also sometimes stationary and can also be run into by idiot drivers, but your wife isn't worried now ...

I don't understand!

Maybe she understands statistics and the accident just reminded her how dangerous motorcycles are.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/467465/rrcgb-2014.pdf

71 deaths/billion motorcycle kilometres in 2013 compared with 22 for cyclists. And of course, the per hour rate would be much higher again.

 

[ColinJ]

Maybe she understands statistics and the accident just reminded her how dangerous motorcycles are.

Well-maintained motorcycles are not dangerous - motorcyclists who ride dangerously are!

I know riders who crashed their motorbikes numerous times. I also know motorcyclists who have never had an accident. Interestingly, the same riders who crashed their motorbikes also seem to fall off their pushbikes many times more often than the rest! One of my friends, a former serial motorcycle-crasher fell off his pushbike 3 times in one 2-week Spanish holiday!

Anyway, I was just commenting that it seems odd that the accident which pushed Mrs gavroche over the edge was caused by someone else and when the scooter was stationary. It sounds like she never liked the scooter-riding and was waiting for a reason to veto it. If gavroche had crashed while doing his 100 mph-staring-at-speedo thing then it would make more sense.

 

[Electric_Andy]

Well-maintained motorcycles are not dangerous - motorcyclists who ride dangerously are!

I would agree. Trouble with those stats is, they don't take into account the age and experience of the rider. I'd say a good deal of 16 - 25 year olds are pushing the accident stats up for the rest of us! Yes you could say the same about cars and their drivers, but you can't drive a car at 16. Also a car is much harder to slide down the road than a bike.

 

[jonny jeez]

Owned a few bikes of different size and ridden a few more.

I've tried a burg and found it ok but not as nippy or manoeuvrable through stationary traffic.

So, in the end I now commute on a 125 Vespa GT( when not on the pushbike).

Light
Cheap to run
Flickable
Storage
HEATING!

(the heating is the big attraction for me, I have a little toucano leg blanket thingy and underneath that...its toasty and warm)

 

[gavroche]

I'm confused ...

You were astride a 2-wheeled vehicle and were stationary, and some idiot ran into the back of you. Your wife was worried about you so you replaced your 2-wheeled vehicle with a different 2-wheeled vehicle.

The new 2-wheeled vehicle is also sometimes stationary and can also be run into by idiot drivers, but your wife isn't worried now ...

I don't understand!

I think she was more worried about accidents to happen at speed . My bicycle is a lot slower so she thinks it is safer. By the way, when the idiot wrote off my Burgman, I was waiting to turn right at the time. it still plays on my mind, even on my bike when I want to turn right.

 

[Smokin Joe]

My last motorcycling spells lasted nine years and then after a gap another two years. Never came off in all that time and on the seven previous machines I had I only kissed tarmac twice and never sustained an injury. Of course you can be unlucky, but it's how you ride (Or pedal or drive), not what you ride.

 

[ColinJ]

I think she was more worried about accidents to happen at speed . My bicycle is a lot slower so she thinks it is safer. By the way, when the idiot wrote off my Burgman, I was waiting to turn right at the time. it still plays on my mind, even on my bike when I want to turn right.

I sometimes get a bit nervous doing right turns in traffic. I cycled down to the local Lidl during the evening rush hour and felt quite vulnerable being stationary in the middle of the road waiting to turn right and having streams of traffic going by either side of me. Fortunately, a nice van driver slowed down and gave me a gap to cross the oncoming traffic.

I had seriously considered dismounting and using the pedestrian crossing to get to the car park.