Bike Show By kz1000st (Read 566 times)

[kz1000st]

The usual report drooling over Italian motorcycles but he has some caustic things to say about high priced scooters...much of it true.

What’s certain is that anyone with a grain of brain can refuse the new generation of super scooters. Honda, Aprilia, Yamaha and Suzuki are offering scoots with price tags of over $10,000. The new Honda Integra super scooter is a thing of beauty but at over $11,000. You must be joking!

For this price, there is a plethora of virtually new cars available. I am looking out of my office window now and the rain is lashing down in biblical proportions and there is a howling gale. Tomorrow, we are promised temperatures hovering around freezing.


The Honda Integra scooter is impressive, but costs as much as a lightly used car. Hardcore bike nut that I am, would I rather commute 30 miles to work in these conditions on a scooter or in a car? The manufacturers have to forget about performance, and the latest technical gizmos, and get these big scooters out into the market place, and into the hands of commuters, at a price less than a car - and with car beating fuel consumption.

www.motorcycle-usa.com/304/15023/Motorcycle-Article/2012-Birmingham-Bike-Show.aspx

[jct842]

Have said it before and will again....10k "scooters" are just a vehicle for those who are too damn dumb to learn how to shift but have a sack of money. And a "touring scooter" is a oxymoron. The whole scooter thing was "some thing to scoot here and to scoot there" and a completely different idea than a motor cycle.

[helix803]

I think the Integra is blurring the definition of a scooter. IMO, it is closer to an automatic motorcycle.

I really want to try out a Honda NC700X with the autoshift. They go for a little over $8,000

[jct842]

Any thing that it is easier to lift your leg to get on rather than to slide your foot through is not a scooter, period no matter what they call it.

[kz1000st]

I think the Integra is just the first volley in the Big 4 new definition of a scooter. DCT is going through its teething period and will eventually find its way down to 250 and 300cc size creations. Variators serve their purpose for now but belt drive isn't an efficient way to transmit power. Keep in mind that not all scooter owners need step through frames (can you say T-Max). Creating motorcycle-like auto shifting bikes that mimic scooter characteristics can help with the bottom line. The NC700X modified to be an Integra is cheaper to stock and update than a Silver Wing. Ask yourselves how many people who ride scooters now would ride a bike if it didn't require shifting and dealing with a clutch?

[scooter12]

I agree that lifting a leg verses sliding a foot across, is more difficult on some people. I had a severe stroke at age 16 and it would be harder on me. But I have riden a motorbike- hi and low gear with neutral in the middle. Clutch.. Went 30 mph.. I used the rear brake under the right foot. That was back in 2000 to 2001..