Scooter reviews

[Steve_D]

When I was looking for a scooter and considered getting a SH 300i Honda, I read various reviews and it was, according to the reviews, the best thing since sliced bread so I bought one. Same story when I wanted to buy a maxi scooter and read up on the Burgman exec - I bought one of those too. Now it's looking like my SH is going to be written off, I'm looking at the Piaggio BV350 sports tourer and guess what, it's damn near perfect!

Have I just been lucky in that all 3 scoots I have looked at are good scoots or are ALL scooter reviews similarly glowing? Are there any reviews out there that say "This scooter is crap - don't buy it"?

[gn2]

One report I read on the BV350 said that there was a lot of vibration through the seat at low speeds.
To find the negative reviews you have to read between the lines, it is highly unlikely for a review to flat out say that a scooter is total crap.
It's what they don't say that can be more telling.

[abitmad]

That is absolute nonsense about low speed vibration through the seat, I've got a Bev 350 so I know. Or at least it doesn't happen on mine, which doesn't vibrate more than any other machine I've tried, including the Honda SH300, and indeed it is much smoother than many.

When I wrote my review of the Bev on this site recently, I tried to be wholly honest, warts and all. The reason it came out so good overall is simply that it actually is so good overall, in my view. There is though a tendency for some existing owners to play up the good points and play down the bad. People often don't like to admit that having spent a lot of money on it, their own bike is poor. But personally I tried not to fall victim to that attitude.

The reason that most reviews are quite good is just that most modern bikes are quite good. Hugely improved in quality control over the old days when there really was a lot of poor quality machinery around. So very few scooters or motorcycles will be bad in the sense of having lousy reliability etc. Some will handle better or worse than others, look better or worse, be more or less comfortable. But there are very few machines I'd guess which are actually genuinely bad items, at least from the major manufacturers.

Before anyone comes with personal examples, I'm talking in generalities. Nothing is perfect and there will always be the odd poor quality machine that some unlucky buyer has ended up with but that doesn't change my argument.

Ultimately though, every buyer has to make up their own mind. Reviews, whether pro or on amateur forums like this, can only give you so much information but they are always going to be biased by the reviewers' personal attitudes. There is a lot of subjectivity in judging a machine. Before I bought my Bev, I tried to find every review I could online. There aren't many. But when I sat on one at the dealer, it just felt right for me in a way that the Honda SH300 for example didn't.

It's always a bit of a risk buying a new bike because you can't have one long term beforehand. Even a test ride can give a false impression because it has to be fairly short and you are using it only in the prevailing weather conditions, traffic and roads. But it's a risk you have to take.

[StephenC]

To be honest, I really don't think there is much to worry about when buying new maxi scoots nowadays. They all have their plus and minus points and so really it is down to what you fancy or what meets your needs.

As for the ownership experience, I guess a lot of it comes down to your dealer - do they care about scooters, are their grease monkeys any good, did they do the pre-delivery stuff properly? Things like that.

Scooter reviews in mags seem to fall into 2 types - love all scooters or hate all scooters. Certainly, TAG (Twist n Go or whatever) never writes a bad review of anything, yet MCN are often pretty damning. Or just wrong.

It also seems to me that private reviews will often depend on the character, attitude and expectations of the writer more so than the scooter itself.

My advice? Stick to major manufacturers and when you find a good dealer, stick with them.

[abitmad]

Yup, agree with all that and you also make a good point about having a reputable dealer. Unfortunately that can limit choice if the good dealers within the range you are prepared to travel don't sell the particular make you are after.

[MrGrumpy]

The other thing is that most scoots seem pretty good on a brief ride...you only get to find the flaws after a few weeks or months of riding in all conditions. I quite liked the SH300 to begin with, but gradually grew to dislike it, ditto Burger, though that was a gradual falling out of love thing.

Most journos only ride things at launch events, and they often only ride for a very short time, at locations and routes that are hand picked to show up the strong points of whatever the manufacturers are flogging this week. The extreme of this is Sportsbike launches where journos ride round nice smooth racetracks, often using special sports tyres rather than the standard road tyres the bike comes with - so of course, it feels fabulous to ride......

[Steve_D]

Went and looked at the BV this afternoon. Gorgeous, and just the right size I was looking for. I can have a test ride, just got to take my licence back. The shop owner said he could even do me a deal on the demonstrator if I was interested - it'a a 12 reg with just 13 miles on the clock. As soon as I hear from the insurance about whether my SH is repairable or not I'm going to have a fucker of a decision to make!

[DougL]

The BV is a far nicer scooter than the SH. Not a Honda though if that bothers you!