Thinking of downsizing. 150 to 50cc.

[bluegoatwoods]

Seems counter-intuitive, doesn't it?   Yet I actually have found myself pondering it.

We're fairly new to scooters in this family.  Though I have plenty of experience with other two-wheeled vehicles. (Bicycles and motorcycles).   I can only remember once riding a small scooter a mere couple of hundred feet.  Plus a few Peugeot and Solex mopeds and such back in the late 60s and early 70s.

The first scooter I ever bought was 2015 Honda Metropolitan.




It was meant for my wife.  Though I also had the sneaky notion that I'd do some riding on it myself.  And it worked out fine.  She just loved it and so did I.  Then a few months later I stumbled upon a used Kymco People 150 for sale in my neighborhood.  I didn't know this bike from a hole in the ground.  So I offered $300 because I just wasn't willing to risk more on a bike I had no knowledge of.  I didn't expect my offer to be accepted and it wasn't.  But I looked up this model online and found that this bike has a strong reputation.  So I went back and gave the guy the thousand bucks he was looking for.  Still a good buy.

So, now.......fine.........we've both got scooters.  Looks as though I don't have a good pic of this bike handy. But this pic will do.






And this bike feels as though it's going to live up to it's good reputation.  She's been doing just fine.  But the greater power made the little Honda seem like little more than a toy to us.

So I bought this bike figuring that it would be my wife's new bike.  A Taotao VIP 150.





It hasn't worked out that way, though.  Being a very inexpensive bike it has had a few reliability issues.  That's okay.  I'm willing to work through those.  But I don't want my wife going to work on a bike that might not bring her home.  Plus we've got a daughter who needs transportation.  So I've essentially given this bike to her.  In some ways she's a bit careless about taking care of little problems that poke up their heads.  But she'll also strip the bike down and get her hands dirty on it.  And she's fairly interested in getting to know the bike and being prepared to fix it.  And she certainly loves riding it.  So this is probably going to work out fairly well.

Shortly after buying the red bike I also bought this one for myself. An Icebear Bullet 150.










My plan had been that this bike would be my main bike with my black Kymco as backup and the red Taotao would be my wife's main bike with the blue Honda as backup.  But since this didn't work out I gave my wife the black Kymco.  And she's very happy with it. The Honda is backup bike for both of us until I get another backup.

And the Icebear really is a nice, nice bike.  It's built like a tank and it runs strong.  I'm kinda long and lanky.  But it's got all sorts of leg room for me.  I can sit back almost as if I'm in a recliner.   I could have the "Quadrophenia" look if I'd get one of those long, olive drab, rubberized canvas raincoats.  I don't think I will .  But the fact that I could makes this a pretty cool bike.

Yet lately I've been sitting at red lights and thinking, "This thing is heavy!" 

It's also faster and louder than what I really want.  I could live with that by throttling back, of course.  And I do.  But there's just something about having the very ability to mix with a pack of cars that seems to lead you into doing just that without thinking.  I'd really rather stay away from them and keep speeds in the upper teens. Lower twenties when I'm in a hurry maybe.

This feeling had been growing on me over the last couple of weeks.  So I rode the Honda to work a couple of days. It had been a while.  And I just loved the small foot-print nimbleness of that cute little 50cc.  Light as a feather!  And quiet.  Oh, it was nice.

For a couple of days now I've been going about wondering if I wouldn't rather just sell the Icebear and go back to a 50cc bike.  And the answer was feeling like, "Yes".

So a couple of hours ago I took the Icebear out for a six or seven mile ride.  I throttled back, went kinda slow and asked myself, "Just how much do I like this bike?".  Well.....the answer came back, "Yeah, I like this bike. Quite a bit, really".  It is a nice bike, after all.

So I guess I'm going to have to think about it some more.  And that means that there's not a whole lot of point to this entire post.  Other than the fact that it is fun talking and thinking about our scooters.  Maybe some of you out there have wondered about this matter yourselves.

It could be that bigger ain't necessarily better.

[AtariGuy]

I love to think of this in the terms of tools in the shed. Each one has its purpose, a reason for its existance. Brent commented a short while back that, as much as he loves his Tmax, he still finds pleasure in ol T2. You don't need to settle on just one, they all are wonderful machines to own and tinker with. Enjoy each and every one of them in all the ways they suit their purpose in life.

[bluegoatwoods]

Jun 17, 2017 16:14:53 GMT -5 AtariGuy said:

I love to think of this in the terms of tools in the shed. Each one has its purpose.........

                                                     ....................each and every one of them in all the ways they suit their purpose in life.

A good point.

Since writing the original post I've taken both bikes out for little spins around town to see how they feel.  Both felt good and at the moment I don't want to give up either of them.

And something like what you said above came to mind during those rides.  I might consider putting some good four season tires on the Honda or some other 50cc bike that I add later.  Heidenau K58 tires or some other definite snow tire that's out there somewhere.  A 50cc would be a good winter bike.  There'd be times when it slipped no matter what the tire. But with such a small bike I could certainly catch it with my feet.  Most times, anyway.  Particularly if I wore cleats on my boots. I'd have to stay out of traffic and go slow, of course. But that's what I want to do anyway.

So it could be that the Icebear 150 is my summer cruiser while the 50cc is my winter bike. So far the Honda will start in any temp above single digits.

[aeroxbud]

Interesting dilemma. Sometimes it's just the way we look at things that's wrong. Both great scooters, just better at different things.
I am getting my 50cc on the road just to use for work. It's mainly 30 and 40 mph limits, and five miles. Great for this sort of traveling. Anything more and I would buy something a bit bigger.

[90GTVert]

My recently active scooter speed food chain has been :

TMAX 500
T2 103cc 2T (49cc based)
Roketa 150
TaoTao 50

I enjoy taking the TMAX out on pretty much any kind of ride. I can ride it around town and the near 500lb weight doesn't bother me; unless I have to back it up a hill or something like that. It does things the others just can't do.

I love riding T2 on short or long trips. It's more of an adventure than the TMAX, because who knows what will blow up next and I have to plan longer rides to avoid areas I'm not allowed on a 49cc. It's ugly and mostly fairing-less, so I don't worry about it. Dirt roads, gravel, bumpy, covered in water... whatever. It's fairly light and nimble with 12" wheels, but plenty stable for 50-60MPH cruising. Being a 49cc in MD, I can ride the shoulder. Sometimes that's a detriment, but in areas like the beach where traffic is heavy I can scoot along while cars and motorcycles are stuck. I get to the front of red lights there too so I'm free to try to race any cars or other scooters. lol If I get annoyed with the shoulder, it's fast enough that I can ride the speed limit and take my chances.

The 150 was a total flop for me. It was great to take the motorcycle test on. Beyond that, I was mostly disappointed. The small 2Ts are quicker and faster. I'd curse it to no end in a headwind trying to ride on a 50MPH road because I don't like feeling like a roadblock... even if it was still managing the speed limit if I was lucky. I took it on the highway, but it was out of place there. I took it to the beach on a few occasions and I was stuck in traffic wishing I was on a smaller scooter passing everyone instead. My opinion of 150s remains that they are OK if you want to ride on roads no faster than 50MPH and great if you want to use them around town or on 40MPH roads. They don't work for me as a motorcycle tagged ride.

The TaoTao is slow as can be. If feels super light and kinda sketchy at speeds over 40MPH (tailwind/hill) at times. It's cheap and ugly enough again that I don't worry about it so much. Like the 2T, it has the perks of sometimes beating traffic. Gas mileage is amazing. Even heavy me got 110MPG on one tank when I tried, and average around 80MPG. For comparison the TMAX gets 50MPG, the 150 gets 50-55MPG, the 2T gets 30-50MPG (usually 35MPG because I don't ride it easy). Honestly though, I wouldn't ride it if I didn't want to use it as a project scooter... at least not without a big bore kit. 2Ts win the small scooter war for me. They're just badass.


An awful lot of this is personal preference. Some people don't care about riding at even the speed limit, some want to go fast (or fast relative to what they're riding). Some people think scooters are ruined with big bore kits and so on. Some people love to modify scooters, not just for speed or appearance, but as a learning experience or to have something different. Some people want to ride for recreation and some just want to get to work as cheaply as possible. There are so many reasons that there isn't always one scoot for everyone.

[spaz12]

Jun 17, 2017 18:46:06 GMT -5 90GTVert said:

My recently active scooter speed food chain has been :

TMAX 500
T2 103cc 2T (49cc based)
Roketa 150
TaoTao 50

I enjoy taking the TMAX out on pretty much any kind of ride. I can ride it around town and the near 500lb weight doesn't bother me; unless I have to back it up a hill or something like that. It does things the others just can't do.

I love riding T2 on short or long trips. It's more of an adventure than the TMAX, because who knows what will blow up next and I have to plan longer rides to avoid areas I'm not allowed on a 49cc. It's ugly and mostly fairing-less, so I don't worry about it. Dirt roads, gravel, bumpy, covered in water... whatever. It's fairly light and nimble with 12" wheels, but plenty stable for 50-60MPH cruising. Being a 49cc in MD, I can ride the shoulder. Sometimes that's a detriment, but in areas like the beach where traffic is heavy I can scoot along while cars and motorcycles are stuck. I get to the front of red lights there too so I'm free to try to race any cars or other scooters. lol If I get annoyed with the shoulder, it's fast enough that I can ride the speed limit and take my chances.

The 150 was a total flop for me. It was great to take the motorcycle test on. Beyond that, I was mostly disappointed. The small 2Ts are quicker and faster. I'd curse it to no end in a headwind trying to ride on a 50MPH road because I don't like feeling like a roadblock... even if it was still managing the speed limit if I was lucky. I took it on the highway, but it was out of place there. I took it to the beach on a few occasions and I was stuck in traffic wishing I was on a smaller scooter passing everyone instead. My opinion of 150s remains that they are OK if you want to ride on roads no faster than 50MPH and great if you want to use them around town or on 40MPH roads. They don't work for me as a motorcycle tagged ride.

The TaoTao is slow as can be. If feels super light and kinda sketchy at speeds over 40MPH (tailwind/hill) at times. It's cheap and ugly enough again that I don't worry about it so much. Like the 2T, it has the perks of sometimes beating traffic. Gas mileage is amazing. Even heavy me got 110MPG on one tank when I tried, and average around 80MPG. For comparison the TMAX gets 50MPG, the 150 gets 50-55MPG, the 2T gets 30-50MPG (usually 35MPG because I don't ride it easy). Honestly though, I wouldn't ride it if I didn't want to use it as a project scooter... at least not without a big bore kit. 2Ts win the small scooter war for me. They're just badass.


An awful lot of this is personal preference. Some people don't care about riding at even the speed limit, some want to go fast (or fast relative to what they're riding). Some people think scooters are ruined with big bore kits and so on. Some people love to modify scooters, not just for speed or appearance, but as a learning experience or to have something different. Some people want to ride for recreation and some just want to get to work as cheaply as possible. There are so many reasons that there isn't always one scoot for everyone.

[AtariGuy]

Jun 17, 2017 18:46:06 GMT -5 90GTVert said:

An awful lot of this is personal preference. Some people don't care about riding at even the speed limit, some want to go fast (or fast relative to what they're riding). Some people think scooters are ruined with big bore kits and so on. Some people love to modify scooters, not just for speed or appearance, but as a learning experience or to have something different. Some people want to ride for recreation and some just want to get to work as cheaply as possible. There are so many reasons that there isn't always one scoot for everyone.

90GTVert, I couldn't have ever expressed this so well in my whole life, this right here should be shared with everyone! Purely poetic perfection!

My personal experience is in learning about these neat machines. I've learned such a brief, yet deep understanding of the internal combustion engine. I know that i will never truly -know- everything about an engine. I've probably chipped that proverbial iceberg to the water level. And in the mean time, i ride them for enjoyment, for stress relief, for travel to work and back, or to test my own modifications. Speaking of, i have a teardown to do...

[eclark5483]

I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my slow ass Spree!! Well, slow compared to most any given modern day 49cc class scooter with a BBK. Brent put it perfectly.

Got one that is prone to breaking all the damn time?? Meh, keep it, fix it, learn on it for easy troubleshooting the better rides.

If I wanna REALLY romp, I hop on the Scout and enjoy the day. I see no real thrill in scooters, just twist and go convenience.

But they do have their fun points and experience in small engines for most novice users.

I'm really enjoying 2 stroke science myself. 4 stroke all day gets to be mind numbing.