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COPYRIGHT 2005 Ehlert Publishing Group
Many of us on this side of the pond tend to think of scooters as a Continental thing: Stylishly dressed riders zipping through the cobblestoned streets of Paris or Rome, or parked in front of a chic sidewalk cafe in Cannes. But with the price of premium gasoline hovering near $3 per gallon in many places--and no sign of it going down significantly in the near future--many Americans are taking another look at their everyday mode of transport. At this opportune time, some of the fastest, most powerful motor scooters ever built have arrived on the United States market.
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Thanks to their twist-and-go automatic shifting, step-through chassis, smooth, quiet powerplants, lively performance, capacious storage and extensive weather protection, scooters offer a practical, yet more exciting alternative to boring econo-box automobiles--while rivaling the real-world fuel economy of costly hybrid vehicles.
THE CONTENDERS
We managed to round up a half-dozen of these top-of-the-line machines--the Aprilia Atlantic and Scarabeo, Honda Silver Wing, Piaggio BV500, Suzuki Burgman 650 and Yamaha Majesty--for a head-to-head comparison.
All of the companies represented here have extensive experience in building scooters. Piaggio of Italy (which already owned the Vespa brand) recently acquired Aprilia, thereby combining the two biggest European scooter manufacturers. We doubt that Honda, Suzuki or Yamaha need any introduction to most of our readers.
While similar in overall design, each has its own distinct blend of personality and attributes. The Piaggio BV500 is by far the most compact in this group, with a tiny flyscreen, styling that's sort of an update of traditional Euro scooters and limited storage space. Aprilia's Atlantic--which is already quite popular in Europe--has a modern, motorcycle-inspired front end style with a bit of the sharpedge design that's currently popular. Aprilia's Scarabeo has taken a different approach with taller wheels and a roomy top trunk, and it's the only one in this group with detachable side cases. All three Italians are powered by identical 500cc single-cylinder engines.
From across the Pacific Ocean come the other three contenders. Yamaha's Majesty, powered by the smallest-displacement engine in the bunch--a 400cc single--combines sportbike frontend styling and a current Japanese-scooter side view with a slightly lower profile than the others. The Honda Silver Wing's name is not a coincidence. With its twin-cylinder 600cc engine and long wheelbase, it promises higher-speed capability along with roomy storage space. Suzuki's Burgman puts the largest engine, a 650cc twin, into the largest chassis, one that nearly rivals touring motorcycles in size.
From a rider's vantage point, once you experience the step-through chassis and knees-together stance, the biggest difference between these scooters and traditional motorcycles is the automatic-drive system. Newcomers who may be switching over from an automatic-transmission car and have little or no motorcycle experience are likely to find scooters less intimidating and the learning curve shorter. However, after many years of riding motorcycles, we found it took a while to adjust to not having a clutch lever at the left hand and to using the "south paw" for braking instead, Likewise, it feels odd to let the "shifter" foot sit idly by. It also takes some getting accustomed to braking with both hands and leaving both feet flat on the floor.
All of the scooters use some variation of a continuously variable transmission (CVT) that offers stepless shifting that keeps the engine at pretty much one speed, based on throttle opening, as the scooter accelerates. Unique among this batch of scooters, the Burgman has a switch that allows you to toggle from fully automatic to manual control of shifting. It's especially welcome on twisty roads where you want to hold it in one gear through a corner. The Burgie actually uses a controller to choose ratios that simulate gears. It will hold a "gear" right up until you hit the rev limiter, but will "downshift" as you slow and stop, even if you don't press the downshift button. There's also a...
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