Which Scooter to buy to commute to Central London?

Hi, I am planning to buy a scooter to commute to work, 13 miles each way in London, 2-3 days a week (weather dependent!). I have read great reviews about Honda PCX 125 (everyone seem to like it!) but I just wanted to check if Yamaha NMAX 125 or XMAX 125 are any good? I am almost discounting Yamaha NMAX 125 due to 13" wheels but the XMAX 125 looks great with all the gadgets i can think of. Is it really worth spending £1300 more on XMAX125 compared to PCX125? any comments/advise will be much appreciated.

 

Firstly as for cost that is down to you but if you haven't had a lot of experience possibly a cheaper one to start with would be better in case you drop it.
As for make a lot depends on your nearest dealers i.e. what brand do they sell, do they have a good reputation and how convenient will it be for you to get it serviced/repaired??
Any of the major makers will be fine with possibly Honda just out in front for reliability.
Visit some showrooms and check the scooters out and see how they feel for size as you may prefer a less bulky model for the London traffic?

 

Thanks, both Honda and Yamaha dealers are 15 mins drive (or ride!) and I will be visiting them tomorrow.

 

Good, if buying new there may be some offers on clothing/helmets etc. or a top box/screen??
Always worth asking lol

 

if I was starting out on scooters in London I would buy a Chinese for the summer two reasons they get nicked and they get knocked about , try a cheap,o see how it goes

 

Well you can add a good chain/lock to the ask list lol

 

wheel size

most of us guys run on 12 inch wheels , very few scoots had 10 inch wheels but those that did were very twitchy, saying that a 12 inch wheel is still small when you compare them to say something like a honda cub or a road going sporty type bike or even something like a honda CG commuter. a 13inch wheel is a little bigger but its still small compared to the other bikes i mentioned.

Gear : yes see if the dealer will throw in a helmet or maybe a good armoured jacket into the deal its going to then leave you with less pennys to fork out on gear. we are always telling new riders NEVER skimp , if its a baking hot day you wanna be wearing all your gear what ever happens, thats the only thing between your skin and a nasty road surface

scooters : hmmm hard to say, to be honest we cant tell you to buy a certain scooter, my advice go to the two dealers you like, sit on EVERY SCOOTER in the store, one is going to chose you and you choose it. its like a pair of boots if they are comfy and keep your feet warm and dry you tend to get those more so the cheap sandals , same with a scooter out of them all theres going to be a couple you will perch your butt on and say " hmmm now i can envisage me on this alot ", then your numbers are cut down between a couple of scoots. after that its weighing up pros and cons .

does one come with a top box but te other does not , the pro here would be extra added carry space , but the other comes with a good decent jacket but no box again its a pro as your gaining protective wear and not having to purchase that as well.
TANK SIZE : yes ask about how much fuel they can hold , bigger tank = longer miles you can travel , that means less filling if your doing short run travels.

Take the scooter of the main stand, why ? for judgement on weight how heavy does it feel when your astride do you feel comfy, can you get your feet down , then put it back onto main stand did you struggle because of the weight, was it easy or did you struggle . all key areas when choosing your new two wheels.

 

A second hand pcx would be the best option. You don't want to buy a brand new one and have it nicked on day one which is probably will in central London. Bikes thieves are out in force these days.
The cheaper the better but of course you will need reliability for 13 miles there and 13 back and park it next to an expensive bike because then that bike will get nicked rather than yours.

 

Thanks, very useful!

 

Thanks, I had a quick look at the nearest dealers websites for the used bikes and it seems that I should be able to get a 5-6 years old PCX for £1500 or so.

 

A silly question, when your scooter get stolen and if your insurance covers theft, do you need to pay insurance excess?? Most of the insurance policies I have looked that have compulsory excess from £900-£2000 and voluntary excess between £150 to £300.

 

yes that's why I recommend a cheap chinese

 

Yes paying the excess and the increased cost of fire and theft means its rarely worth getting that coverage so I just get a cheap bike take precautions and only insure via 3rd party, no fire and theft.

 

Most of they guys around my office are generally on Vespas, PCXs or SH125s.

 

So I visited both Yamaha and Honda dealers today. Yamaha xMax is out of the game as it's massive! Probably not ideal for London commuting. Yamaha NMax and Honda PCx had very similar feel but I would say pcx was slightly more comfortable. The Honda dealership guy was keen on selling SH125i ( 16 inch wheels, ABS and better acceleration than pcx). Also the salesman mentioned that most of the PCxs get nicked whilst it's less likely that someone would like to nick SH125 ( read that it's a little bit traditional look). I am now considering PCX vs SH125i and more inclined towards SH125i. Any thoughts please?

Ps: there seems to be a shortage of used 125cc scooters in London! They are selling 2 to 3 years old scooters for the same price as new so I have decided to go for new!

 

In that case you'd be better off with Comprehensive insurance,

 

Compulsory excess of £900 upwards sounds wrong? I've never known excess to be more than a few hundred. What was your full insurance quote for that?

 

Hi Buzz, The latest quote shows the Total Premium: £227.03, Use: Private & Commuting, Compulsory Policy excess: £1675, Type of Cover: Comprehensive