What % of America has a place for off-road riding? Imagine how many of that % will want to do it on an expensive, heavy, 750 cc, scooter?
Maybe...maybe there are enough wealthy Americans who will buy this just to finally get a scooter with adequate suspension travel !!
That's spot on !
But they don't ever design these things with the U.S. market in mind. We get what they make for the rest of the world. Nobody will want to off road the thing, here anyway.
That's because you guys are on the side of the country and you do not have all the wonderful public lands (National Forests, OHV areas, National Parks, and BLM land) to explore. There are many a time I've gone out riding someplace and thought wouldn't it be nice if I had my Jeep to go explore that road. I'm not much of a dirt bike person and I suppose all that shifting turns me off a bit also but If I had a dual sport with auto trans and perhaps a seat height better suited to a normal person rather than a stork I'd be game for it.
I can't speak to the smaller scooter but I often here some of the maxi-scoot guys complain about suspension travel yet bikes like the Kawasaki Concours have near the same travel. On scooters I think most of the issue is smaller wheels, too much static sag, and poor dampening.
How many other places in the world do they have as many places to go offroading as in the Western United States? We have deserts, mountains, beaches, etc. Twist and go could be great, look at the explosion in side by sides.