who else here would actually prefer a motorcycle over a scooter?

[Stig / Major Tom]

I own a scooter, by default.
12 yrs ago I went looking at motorcycles with my son and came home with a LIKE200i LX.
Because - my wife and 6 children were birthing canaries when they learned that, after 40 yrs - I was thinking of owning another Honda motorcycle.

My family considers scooters to be safer, less red-neck drunken 55 yr old HD riders (who regularly park one against a tree most summer W/E's around here) - and kinda European. Classy.
I understand their thinking - around this town there are only a tiny % of bike riders who ride w/o drawing negative attention to themselves or their motorcycles.
I actually smile when I see a young or old fellow riding sanely, in the proper gear, with a stock exhaust. 

I've owned 3 Honda bikes way in the past. Hondas suit me just fine - they are well-built - reliable - have great dealer support - good looking and I never cared a wit that they were not the fastest of the brands.

I'd prefer to have a 300>350 cc Honda right now - but my family.....etc.
Hey - I thoroughly enjoy riding anything - even a scooter, or a riding mower!

Just wondered why folks here chose a scooter over a motorcycle.

My ride has to be pleasing to my eye - I really don't like top cases for that reason. If I had a motorcycle - I doubt I'd hang a case out there on the rear! I haven't carried groceries in a scooter in 10 years.

Major Tom in a bank window

[mrmike]

  I traded my Harley in back in 2010. At that time, I was 66 and the weight of the Harley got to be too much. I bought a 2010 Kymco People 150. I quickly discovered it was too small (150cc) to keep up on the Interstates. I went to a 2012 GTI300i, and then a 2021 X-Town 300i ABS. Last fall (2023), I set the X-town down in the garage and couldn't pick it back up. Then in March of 2024, I traded it for a 2023 People S 150i ABS. I'm 81 now and love this scooter. I can run 60mph, and it handles easily as a bicycle. Quite frankly old age made me go from a motorcycle to a scooter. That being said I would never go back if I could.

[Iahawk]

hold a gun to my head and make me choose one...and I think I choose the motorcycle...but until then I will enjoy the best of both worlds, motorcycles and a scooter!

[Stig / Major Tom]

hold a gun to my head and make me choose one...and I think I choose the motorcycle...but until then I will enjoy the best of both worlds, motorcycles and a scooter!

I loved the activity of riding a motorcycle. ...the throttling,  clutching - even have to get the right foot involved! Great stuff when out on back roads. Highways were boring, save for those trying to kill me.
Cruised all over New England with my 18yr old wife on the back. Best memories and good times - (interrupted by Vietnam, but I'm not complaining. I came home.)

Stig

[scooterfan]

It all depends on riding conditions. My Boulevard is more stable in strong wind so I usually use the Boulevard on a windy day.
I enjoy the Silverwing  in general and I love the Agility, so I find it difficult to say what I actually prefer.
I’ve spent endless hours riding a bicycle when I was a child and I guess anything with handlebars will keep me happy. Even a bicycle.

[klaviator]

I currently own 2 scooters and 2 motorcycles.  I ride my scooters more than my motorcycles but for some rides my motorcycles just work better than my scooters.  I also enjoy the variety and the contrast of the very different rides I get from each of my bikes.  If I could only keep one of my bikes it would probably be my Vespa but I don't have to do that.

[Neil955i]

Seeing a bit of a pattern emerging here Stig.   I too have both a 'bike and a scooter, have had since 2016 when I bought a 125cc scooter for inexpensive commuting to work.

By the time I had retired, the scooter had morphed into a 300cc X-Town for the extra power.  It's now the 320cc DTX360 and barring mishaps will be so for the foreseeable.  Now, which do I prefer to ride?  Well, that depends.  If I'm lugging shopping or on a trip <50 miles it will almost exclusively be the scooter that I choose for the sheer darned convenience.

A longer trip which can have plenty of twisty roads laced into it?  Definitely the Triumph.  Interestingly the Trumpet has the comfier seat over 100 miles which is a surprise.  If I ever turn the DTX into a mile munching tourer, it'll need some gel seat pads inset into the seat!

Final thought on the topic, as I've got older the body dictates what I ride to a greater degree.  Back & shoulder aches forced me to swap my beloved Daytona 955i for the Street Triple as I get on with the (more upright) riding position far better than the Daytona.  Recently, arthritis in my hips makes throwing a leg over my Triumph a move requiring far more choreography than it ever used to!  Not quite at the needing mounting blocks stage, but it's only a matter of time!  Threading the leg through the DTX's tunnel is far easier.  Maybe I should try yoga?

All that said, I'm still riding at an age my younger self thought I'd never reach; so I don't knock it and give thanks to the Almighty that he's overlooked me so far.

[klaviator]

My ride has to be pleasing to my eye - I really don't like top cases for that reason. If I had a motorcycle - I doubt I'd hang a case out there on the rear! I haven't carried groceries in a scooter in 10 years.

One reason I ride my scooters more is that they are my primary means of transportation unless I am going somewhere with my wife in which case we take her car.  I do most of the grocery shopping and that means i am frequently hauling groceries with my scooters.  I rarely use my motorcycles for grocery shopping or errand running although I do have side cases and a top box on my Versys.  Since I do occasionally go touring on my Versys having luggage on it makes touring much easier.  I don't think a top box detracts from the looks of most bikes and in the case of scooters I think they generally look better with a top box.

Of course beauty is in the eye of the beholder. 

[Stig / Major Tom]

We had a member here who owned a LIKE200i and the lucky guy would ride it on the PCH!
Then he stopped by to say he like riding is Kymco so much that he'd sold the LIKE and bought a new H.D.

I know that my riding my LIKE early mornings, all weathers - through the neighborhood - inspired a neighbor to by a pair of new LIKE200i's for he and his wife! I know this because he stopped by my house one day to share this with me.
Later he stopped by to tell me that, after a few tries, he'd finally passed the riding test!
I doubt I had something to do with it - but within a month or two or three, 4 of my neighbors bought H.D.s.
Suddenly you could hear HD's barking in garages.
Stig

[rjs987]

When I rode my Gold Wing I decided that bike was way too bulky for what I wanted to mess with. Great on the highways but a monster in parking lots and slower roads and in the garage. So I switched to a Burgman 650. That was in 2006. After 3 years I was THINKING that maybe I downsized too much and replaced the Burgman with a Honda ST1100. That was good for another 5 years but I was starting to find the ST a bit too top heavy. Not that it really was all that much but more than I wanted. So the Honda CTX1300 entered the stable. Much lower CG than the ST1300 from which it came but still just as heavy. Lighter than the GW. But as I was getting into my 60s I didn't want that bulk. Besides, the hips were starting to complain about swinging a leg over the seat. I could still pick it up from horizontal but even that was getting harder. I only ever needed to do that for practice and not because I dropped it. I realized the Burgman was the most fun I ever had on a bike and with a step through I figured I'd save my hip joints. So I returned to a newer Burgman 650. I stayed with bigger bore bikes and Super Scooters since I was still traveling by bike on occasion. The AK 550 turns out to have even better performance than the Burgman and is significantly lighter without sacrificing any highway capability. Other than the engine size and overall weight the AK is every bit the highway ride that the Burgman, and even all my other bikes, were. Maybe even better than the Burgman.

So at this point in my life and age and condition, I have no desire to return to a traditional motorcycle. To be honest, both the Burgman 650 and the AK 550 (and other Super Scooters that are similar) ARE more motorcycle than scooter. They are built the same with a frame mounted engine but a CVT and the gas tank relocated but otherwise the same as any other mc. Even more so now with so many motorcycles coming out with DCT and a large-ish storage box where the gas tank used to be. I actually got rather tired of manually shifting but mainly it's about keeping the bulk down, and not stressing my hips just to climb on, and keeping the performance of almost any other bike on the road (ps- I have NO need to easily go faster than 90 mph so any more than that is irrelevant). All the good points that I consider important to me I have with the AK. Someday, when I am older and less able to travel on the bike I'll likely consider something smaller. Maybe something like a 150 since I wouldn't be traveling much if at all.

[Neil955i]

I don't think a top box detracts from the looks of most bikes and in the case of scooters I think they generally look better with a top box.

Of course beauty is in the eye of the beholder. 

See Klav, I love the look of your Versys there, but how on earth could I throw a leg over that?!  I could just see me falling over backwards whilst trying!  I know all about the "use the foot peg to mount" school of thought, but always fear my weight would cause problems for the prop stand?  Maybe I'll try it again.

Edit:  This shows how from 1:20 onwards...

[Hornblower]

How about this...scooter for short errands and being the ultimate grocery getter but a motorcycle for longer trips and faster riding and just for the sheer pleasure of riding.

[Ruffus]

Ha what an echo to this topic, wooouw!
@Neil, LOL!
how on earth could I throw a leg over that?!  I could just see me falling over backwards whilst trying!

To handle such 300kg beasts I would have to be in this video fellers age, thirty years younger.

Set my Guzzis 10cm lower to be able to swing over my leg, not to twist out my left femure and scratch side boxes all over.

Sometimes I think in a world without mirrors I would be way younger, maybe!

But on behalf of topic:
Scooters, particular maxi-scoots with a lil bit of punch are great rides and for suboptimal weather conditions ideal, but then I walk into my garage, see my V2 motors, pull choke, press start button....
hear this bubbling, hear this suction sound of carbs....
Jacket, gear and off on the Guzzi it goes.

[randyo]

real mixed feelings

I like my AK550,, but on the other hand, the CVT can be boring, kind sounds like a motor boat, the seat ain't that comfortable either, contemplating springing for a RDL

then it comes to motorcycle, shifting, getting revs up, occasional wheelies, but my body is getting old, throwing my leg over a 30"+ seat height has become a tough task, even my K-Pipe is a leg stretch, my V-Stom is impossible without a step up, I can manage to slide my leg off, using the peg as a step ain't good fer the side stand, my Vee leans about 10° more than it should

and I won't devolve to a trike or other 3 wheeler, leaning is part of the thrill, although a friend took me for a ride in a Campagna T-Rex one time, totally awesome, capable of 1.3g in the corners, wear your seatbelt

[Stig / Major Tom]

My daughter asked, "if someone were to steal your scooter's, what then?"
I'd buy a red Honda motorcycle.  But, sadly, people around here steal scooters about as often as they eat family pets.
Stig