Scooter and Motorbike my early comparison today!

I have two, 2 wheels units. The Sym 125 Megalo and an AJS 125 Motorbike.

I have been out today on the bike when it eventually stopped raining.

According to the figures they have very similar power/weight ratios, the scooter is winning at the moment with speed and ease of use. But, the bike is better at ride comfort, especially over our typical roads.

The scooter can certainly make things easy with the twist and go, variator driving the back wheels, get the revs up on the engine and it just pulls away and builds it speed up quite quickly. The bike you have to certainly put more effort in clutch with left hand, gear change with left foot so now braking also done with right foot. So for the time being a lot more thinking ahead on my part, I know it is not that difficult, but for now it needs thought to keep it all together smoothly.

One area where the bike is a lot better is the larger wheel diameters and lower seating. the wheels ride over the ruts better, do not drop in the holes as much, I don't have the centre stand clattering underneath the bike when hitting
some pot holes and I think the larger wheels make the bike more stable in side winds as possibly more of a gyro effect?

The lower seating means less weight on the wrists as I am not leaning forward, longer fork travel gives less impact up my arms. No where to put any luggage is a pain.

For ease, then the scooter would probably win at the moment, but to pass the test later, has to be the bike. I suspect things will get easier!

I needs to adjust the speedo needle so it does not over read as much, typical Chinese thing makes you think you are doing well when your not.

Adrian

 

I honestly do prefer clutch and gear bikes over scooters but theres something about scooters that I just love so much.
I have the 2014 Yamaha yzf-r125 and a older Suzuki dr125, both a absolute blast to ride. I have to say I like the dr125 more. I can be a bit more of a hooligan on it whereas I cant really do that with the yzf-r125 because its so new. I think being able to choose what revs and what gear your in on a bike is the best thing about them.
but clutch and gear bikes are just for fun for me, scooters are everything else.

 

Had another run out this morning on the bike using a GPS app to announce my speed, back home and just worked out my clock reads 16.5% above the true reading, so at 40 mph I was showing over 46 mph. Needle moved after a lot of faffing with the case.

Just goes to show that when people say on these scoots they can do 70 ! yea wright.

Adrian

 

always ride with gps atleast once. then youll know roughly what speed your doing. that way if your clock says your doing less than you are (very rare but possible) you know what speed your really doing when you hit speed cameras.

 

If you are good on the tools and know about 4 strokes then have a go with a Chinese unit, they are very cheep second hand, if you can get one that has MOT then even better, that is if you are restricted to 125cc as there is also a power restriction as well. As to more power, not sure on that for sub 125's learner bike anyway. For instance my Megalo is net weight of 105Kg and is 7.1 KW. The DD125E I have is supposedly 8 KW and is 145 Kg.

If you work out Watts per Kg then the Megalo is higher. I think my motorbike needs to go on a diet. If you start adding the weight of the fuel then the difference between 5 litres and 14 litres also adds up.

I have thrashed it today keeping the revs between 7,000 and 9,000to keep my speed up, It will do 50 to 60 mph on the level, but any hills soon takes it toll. But on the Scooter I did not bother about top end, on storage, I can carry a small tool kit chain lock, tyre weld and some water proofs under the seat. I still needed a rucksack on my back when travelling to work and back.

Adrian