[r_nairtvm]

Contemporary Scooters/Super Scooters – A Photolouge

This is just photos of scooters photographed during a recent visit to Milan and Bologna. The sheer verity of scooters including some machines with serious horses in them (like above 300 cc) was really mind boggling and the ease of ridding them specially in city streets – like a run-about made me realise what we are really missing back in India.

In the land of “Kitna deta hai ?” probably it wouldn’t make sense for any sensible manufacturer to go down this route, however brave they may be

I am sure even hardcore bikers amongst us would wish to ride some of these machines.

I did not get an opportunity to get the details of each of them due to paucity of time - but I am sure the more knowledgible bros here could fill in with the details for those so inclined.

I don't know if any other thread exists, if not if any one wishes to post their scooter photors (other than the models available in India) you are welcome to do so

Hope you do enjoy these pictures - and a few more to follow.

Best Regards & Ride Safe

Ram

[r_nairtvm]

The Second lot of photos







(seriously !!! I was shooting the schooter)






Regards

Ram

[r_nairtvm]

More Scooters.



The following pictures are from the "employee parking area" of the stables of the prancing horse

[r_nairtvm]

Some more scooters !!

The one below reminds you of one of the "stealth war planes" doesn't it.




The one above is actually parked in front of a building that has been asssociated with motorsports for long, though indirectly, and the door way seen behind is the same one through which a "legend" walked out on what would turn out to be the last morning of his life (will post about this latter in a different and more appropriate thread).

The stable mates of the one below are very well known in both 4 wheelers and 2 wheelers. But not may of us would be familiar with this category from the stables

[r_nairtvm]

The final batch of photos - scooters

Hope you would enjoy them as much as I enjoyed bringing them to you

Best Regards & Ride safe

Ram

[GTO]

Thread moved from the Assembly Line to Motorbikes. Thanks for sharing!

[Viju]

Dear Ram-sir

Really nice compilation there!! (I couldn't find any scooters in one of the pictures though no matter how hard I looked, you know which one!)

These big scooters seem to be the rage with the young crowd in Japan also. I remember seeing crazily modified ones with loud exhausts racing around on the streets well past midnight! Recently I had a chance to ride around on the Piaggio MP3 (the biggest one, though it is technically not a 'scooter') and it was fun!

I think it will take at least 4 - 5 years more for our market to reach a level of maturity where people would appreciate and be ready to spend 1.5 Lakhs and above for a powerful scooter.

And if there is one big scooter I really really want, it is this:

[jacs]

Never knew the concept of Cross over in Scooters. Most of them are really bikes made to be scooters?

Looks like Japanese scooters outnumber the Italians in Milan

Very interesting. Thanks for sharing.

[vinair]

Super pics!! I personally consider scooters to be best real cheap alternative to a car in real congested cities. They are easy to ride, immensely practical and pretty wallet friendly too.

Hope the Japs in India take the lead and launch a proper affordable 'super scooter' in India soon!!

[KPS]

Thanks Ram for sharing.

The scooter which fascinates me the most is the Piaggio MP3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piaggio_MP3. These scooters are expensive and cost Euro 5500 to 9000+. The front is has two wheels which are articulated by a parallelogram, the scooter is very stable. Seeing the French ride these bikes at high speed, weaving their way through traffic in Paris is facinating, but very irritating to the locals

Here are pictures from the Piaggio France Site





Cheers

KPS

[soonya]

I have modified two bikes - Pulsar and a Yamaha into delta trikes. I fantasized of the parallelogram suspension, and fun in driving but the handling is way below par :(

Long ago Kinetic Honda folks showcased in some exhibition a super scooter from Honda and when I enquired they said they were not roadworthy then. Possibly with better roads that we have at least some parts of the cities now, I guess it is high time the Japs gave us some sexy scooters.

They can start from 200/250 cc!

Thanks Ram for giving us such a feast to our eyes! However some of them look like Chinese, may be I am mistaken. They make these aggressive looking ones with puny engines!

[r_nairtvm]

Originally Posted by soonya

However some of them look like Chinese, may be I am mistaken. They make these aggressive looking ones with puny engines!

I don't think there were any chinese ones in there. Can you point out. Most of the little ones I suspect were the "Made in Thailand" products from the big names like Honda/Yamaha etc

Best Regards & Ride Safe

Ram

[alpha1]

Originally Posted by Viju

Dear Ram-sir

And if there is one big scooter I really really want, it is this:

I think Vespa 946 is one the best looking scooters I have set my sights on ...
Thanks to you, now I am reading up about it here: http://www.team-bhp.com/forum/superb...spa-946-a.html

Not much has been talked about in team-bhp :(

[Viju]

Originally Posted by KPS

Thanks Ram for sharing.

The scooter which fascinates me the most is the Piaggio MP3 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piaggio_MP3. These scooters are expensive and cost Euro 5500 to 9000+. The front is has two wheels which are articulated by a parallelogram, the scooter is very stable. Seeing the French ride these bikes at high speed, weaving their way through traffic in Paris is facinating, but very irritating to the locals.

Cheers

KPS

Hello KPS

I had the opportunity to ride the MP3 500 touring version for around a week on a closed test-track recently.

Before I rode it, even I liked the idea of riding something with so much more stability than a normal 2 wheeler. And it is definitely stable and you can lean it a lot. It is powerful too!

But to be honest, as a biker, I really did not enjoy it at all. The handling is too heavy for my liking and the whole 'parallelogram' set-up at the front which is really well engineered, actually makes the handling very artificial. You never really feel like riding a good scooter / motorcycle on the MP3.

The reason why it sells in Europe is that older riders who have had a car license for long (but no 2 wheeler license) can ride the MP3 without taking a 2 wheeler license. That is because it has a foot pedal also which actuates both the brakes.

Cheers!

[BigCat]

Thanks for sharing Ram. Great Eye Candy & for your snippet " (seriously !!! I was shooting the schooter) " He! He! I Totally Agree.

Thanks Once Again.