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
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Subject: Scooter quick tests 
. Clearly "free and open discussion" is not alive and well in the UK 
.
