HERE"S MY SCOOTERIST PERSPECTIVE ON THE NEW ONE .... (
a cross-post on Modern Vespa, but here for yoru amusement)
I still wasn't sure the Vespa GTS250ie was the right scoot ... I toodled over the Harbour Bridge and Spit Bridge to Scooter Central on my 125 cc Piaggio Fly, thinking that the trade-in wasn't really that much money, and nor was rego / TPI, so maybe it would be better to keep it for tight city work ... after all, I can have as many scoots as I want, can't I?
A bit of paper work, lotsa gear matching (I think I've single handedly guaranteed Corazzo's profitability) and it's crunch time.
A bit nervous wiggling across the pavement and out onto Pittwater Road to head up to a get-to-know-you ride around McCarr's Creek Rd (etc) before I dared try the citylanes wiggle ... I know it won't flick about like the Fly and I know its very tail-heavy, and, and ..... geepers - I wouldn't be this nervous on my R1200R!
So I try a few wiggles to wear the coating off the new tyres and warm up the new brakes when it's safe to do so. Hmmm. even at low-ish speeds, this thing changes direction as easily as the Fly, and with an extra 40kg, it feels more planted on the road. Hmmm again. I get a few real wiggles in dodging the "mirrors - what mirrors" northern beaches soccermums out to kill their quota of two-wheelers on a sunny Saturday - hmmm again, even. I know the GTS' 1370mm wheelbase is only 40mm longer than the Fly, and front tyre is the same 120/70 12 ... so maybe that's why it feels almost as chuckable ... and the 130/70 12 on the rear feels less skittich than the 120/70 12 of the Fly ... and these Pirellis, once the slippery protective coating is a bit worn, do stick waaaay better ... so I wiggle around Church Point's bumpy corners and head into the bends of Kuringai Chase. A little slip on the new tyre warns me not to over-cook it but this is starting to feel like a great combination of flickability and capability.
Whooo - wee!
Calmness prevails on Mona Vale Rd, toodling along at 80-ish with the traffic and winding through S'n'Ives / Pymble in a way the Fly just couldn't. It seems a bright red Vespa makes more kids smile and wave than even my old electric blue K1100LT did ... so lotsa waving back. A more traffic'd run down the nice-but-choked bends of Lady Game Drive, Fuller's Bridge and Field of Mars takes me to the Rozelle back streets to get a helmet etc to go and show off to the cute one.
This is the acid test.
I knew a more competent scoot would be good at the longer city / bends and 'burbs trips I didn't need a scooter for (the R1200R does them quite OK). I knew it's suspension would make relatively light work of the speed humps and manhole covers the Fly stumbled and bashed over. The big question was, would it do the inner-city stuff I do want a scoot for? Would I feel as relaxed as I did on the Fly? The answer seemed to be "yes" ... well, with the proviso that you can't treat a 250 scoot like a toy, unlike a 125 (all the articles I'd read said a fella has to grow up just a bit on these Vespas - coz if you chuck 'em about like toys, they just might bite ). OK, let's try some tighter stuff with tricky cambers ... hmmm - still OK. It isn't the 110kg Fly, and I can see that if I misjudge steepness, off-camber or tight turns I can't simply stick a foot down and kick it upright, but it's not that shabby at the back-lane boogie, after all. Definite hmmm.
I skip around and into my one-and-a-bit car width street and park. Maybe .. just maybe .. I won't miss the Fly as much.
Trepidation.
Tomorrow I plan to take the cute one on the red GTS to Bronte. I haven't taken a pillion in a decade, mostly coz of my hestiation and jerky throttle control on a sweet-but-old BMW twin. Still, this is why I up-sized (after all, the Fly was perfect for solo city work) - so today's plan is to take a short shakedown run in the noonday sun to get her and me and big red acquainted.
I've got a matching white Nolan N41 helmet, matcghing red-and-white Corazzo gloves and a Corazzo Tempeste jacket in what looks to be the right size. Big red is all shiny and come-hither in the winter sun ... but the jacket is too big. Oops - cardinal sin! A fella will usually be forgiven buying a size too small, but too big ... ? I push and pull at the armour, but it's obvious the Medium is not a good enough fit. To my suprise - and greater trepidation - she suggests we scoot over to Brookvale to see if the smaller size is a fit. A quick chat with Scopoter Central - yes, they'll take it back even if she rides over in it, provided it's pristine - and we start out.
Oh, dear. Not only will I have to pillion in traffic at speed, I'll have to start with tight Leichhart / Annandale streets first.
Now for the technical bit (thanks for waiting, guys) - how rear-heavy will the GTS be two-up, even though the cute one is well under 60kg? How will it steer? And will it lift up over the innumerable speed humps? Well, the front does get light - as expected - so steering inputs need to be stronger. But it's not terminal - merely a little more judicious oomph in initiating counter-steer, and a little "out" lean in roundabouts to keep those Pirellis on their side "cone". We dodge the tightest, most speed-bumped lanes I used to bounce the Fly through, and it's disconcertingly effortless. The brakes are juts fine - they're a quantum leap better than the Fly, and will pull us up with easy confidence, even if they aren't the amazing ABS wonders of my road bike (why, why, don't Vespa offer its ABS option here?)
Out onto the Westlink and over the Bridge. It is a 16Kw, 20Nm 244cc single, so I'm not expecting serious oomph two-up - but the power is adequate and we can pull cleanly ahead of traffic after lane-splitting to the front (if you're gonna filter up, courtesy demands you don't hold everyone up at the green!). It's very easy to maintain 70-80 in traffic over the Bridge and up the freeway - it ain't my 80Kw / 115Nm bike, but we're doin' OK! The 50kmh wiggle around the back run and over the Spit is despatched with applomb - the GTS' variator is keeping good torque for cornering on throttle and the Pirellis are now clean of gunk and gripping well. The cute one is kept busy waving back at kids in Mosman tractors ..
We've got more than enough two-up oomph to weave through the kerbside lanes and back into traffic easily and safely - a little courtesy and a lot of big-red cuteness even get us some grown-up waves ... well, it's one of those glorious Sydney-by-the-sea winter days. We've got sufficient torque to motor confidently up the steep hills at traffic pace, with a decent amount in reserve.
John and Murray at Scooter Central are their charming, full-of-good-advice selves and the jacket changeover goes swimmingly. The small Tempeste fits very fecthingly (oh, my) and the cute one is feeling very good about the scootering experience. The seat and backrest (top case) get the thumbs-up as comfortable - not merely "not uncomfortable" and the whole experience is a bit of a buzz. Whooo-wee, indeed!
Back via Roseville Bridge - as good a test as any. Two steep hills the Fly couldn't hold more than 60kmh on, solo ... the GTS does notice, but responds with a solid torque urge that has us weaving through traffic with confidence. At almost any city speed (so up to 90, given we're still running in) the GTS feels "planted" and you're aware it has torque and power in reserve - where the Fly felt "nimble" at up to about 80, then "breathless".
Even before the planned first big outing, the GTS has answered both questions. One, it'll do any amount of distance, climbing and trafffic with sufficient competence to ride, corner and brake with confidence solo or two-up. Two, it can still handle tight city work - even if it doesn't quite "dance" the way the Fly could.
DAY TWO
A winter morning jaunt to Bronte beach cafes for brekky (sunny if @ 10 deg celcius) is still lotsa fun. The GTS is getting to feel even better, and the cute one is definitely enjoying the pillion experience. Home via Redfern / Chippendale lanes and inner city coffee is fine too.
I head off solo to get some more running-in done, and at 170km the motor is feeling a bit looser and more willing. I haul a 94kg mate uphill to the Woolwich Pier pub for lunch .. this does almost upset the GTS' balance and the steering is going from "light" to "iffy" on some uphill bends. A last wind around the tight wharf streets along the Lane Cove River proves the GTS truly isn't too much of a handfull, and it's a quick blat home across a very blustery Gladesville Bridge to establsh the GST is OK in wind, even with that sail of a topcase.
Parked - 220km up and one hell of a grin! The GTS is definitely a winner for me - it's known minus is that it is not quite nimble as was the Fly, but the surprise is it does quite OK in the tight stuff, with not too much drama to wheel it around. Its "planted" feel on the road, solo or two-up (a slight reservation for 90+kg pillions!) makes it an all-over-town machine. The upright ride position does have its limitations, but that's so for all scoots - at least the seat is good fro an hour (the fly was good for only 20 minutes). Yes, it's obvious you can take a country run or tour a bit on these, but I'll keep my road bike for those uses. The GTS is a real grin-widener aroudn town.
For those who read to here -
it's OK - I've just spent waaay too much moolah on the R12R and I'll be out of town on it very soon ... in fact, the Vespa experience shoudl pre-condition the cute one for some weekend trips .. at the cost of a low comfort seat ...
). The GTS250 will command more respect - a long-ish test drive in tricky streets (steep, cambered, tight, bumpy) tells me I'll have to grow up or come a cropper (and I've read similar gotta-grow-up comments from longtime bikers who test scooters for magazines).
