My Favorite Top 5 Motor Scooters for 2011 Here in the United States

Here in North America, using Motor Scooters as your primary means of transportation may never be more than a tiny percentage of the whole population, but over time scooters have begun to find niche markets in areas all over - especially wherever it is safe to drive these machines in traffic. Of course your particular driving situation will be covered by state and local laws but typically a motor scooter that is 125 cc or larger can be driven on most roads, including the interstate although I would probably want something at least 250 cc or larger for that kind of travel. Some areas are not scooter friendly like out here in farm country where the roads are sometimes narrow and full of curves.

There are some newer motor scooter models which have more horsepower and can maintain high enough speeds to safely navigate our rural back roads. Typically though scooter use is pretty much confined to the cities where people live work and play within only a small radius of only a few miles on a day to day basis.

Using Scooters as primary transportation has been widespread across other parts of the world where the economy of such a vehicle is an absolute necessity for the people who depend on these two and three wheeled workhorses to get them through their daily activities. In major cities across the globe these scooters seem to be even more prevalent than even bicycles.

With the cost of goods such as automobiles and trucks going higher each year and the major expense to operate them being fuel it is hard to ignore the fact that scooters can get you there on a fraction of the fuel as compared to other motorized transportation. In fact some scooters boast fuel mileage well over 100 mpg with a new "Hybrid Drive System" on their 2010 and 2011 models.

So which five scooter companies are going to be making a scene with their offerings in 2011?

1) Piaggio has been working on some upgrades to their scooters and I feel that the wildest scooter on the market today is their MP3 line of three wheeled scooters. They have a few versions ranging from 50 cc engine to 125 cc and a 250 cc motor. Piaggio is also offering a Hybrid scooter which is getting some technical improvements in 2011 to give riders even better mileage.

2) Vespa is synonymous with scooters and there are plenty of reasons why this is one of the worlds most popular scooters. There is a long history of innovations that have come from the Vespa company and 2011 should be a good year for creativity at Vespa as well. The Vespa that I would like to own would be the GTV 300 model. This scooter is right in the middle of the road offering a 278 cc engine with a top speed of 76 mph! The 300 is expected to achieve 65 to 70 mpg. This is a classic looking Vespa with all the good looks that we have come to expect from Vespa over the years.

3) Contrary to popular opinion Schwinn does not just make bicycles anymore, in fact they make some of the worlds most reliable scooters. They have a few technological surprises for 2011 model year one of which is a new 150 cc Motor Scooter called "Newport 150" this is a taller and longer scooter which enables Schwinn to fit four stroke engines in place of the two cycle motors of their previous models. This change definitely gives this scooter more power than its older two cycle cousins. The other obvious advantage is that you never have to worry about mixing gas and special two stroke oil again! Their design intention was to offer a scooter that has enough power to get into traffic easily on the busiest urban thoroughfares. The Newport offers the same classic styling you expect of Schwinn and this unit has disc brakes alloy wheels and telescoping front suspension for a smooth and comfortable ride.

4) Honda scooters are one of the more expensive brands but they are also some of the most reliable and Honda has typically been more innovative than some of their competition. Ordinarily I would not showcase anything that I would not want to own so this list in itself gives you some idea as to what I like in terms of styling and power and this next scooter took me by surprise. I am in love with this goofy looking little scooter called the Honda Ruckus. The problem is they only offer it in a 49 cc version for now. Hopefully they will find a way to make it at least 125 cc really soon. Although I do not doubt that some creative owners will find a way to do this on their own. The main reason I like the Ruckus besides its really cool name is the fact that it looks so retro back towards the mini bikes that were popular when I was growing up. In fact the fatter tires do remind me of the Honda 50 from back in the mid to late seventies that had these fatter tires.

5) Yamaha scooters have been getting bigger and faster over the past few years and the TMAX is no exception. This "Super Sport" scooter offers a generous 500 cc engine which puts it in the high end class of scooters. This fuel efficient yet powerful machine gets you onto the interstate easily and at 47 mpg it saves you a lot of fuel doing it! Talk is that there will definitely be a 750 cc version of the TMAX scooter in 2011.

I have been to various cities in China including Hong Kong, and also places like Manila in the Philippines and there i witnessed the incredible amount of scooter and bicycle traffic there which was just astounding to me. The thing I found most curious was just how fluid the movements of each scooter rider was in the mass of traffic trundling along all together mixed up with cars buses trucks pedestrians bicycles and scooters. It was amazing to me that there were rarely any traffic incidents that I ever witnessed. I was actually quite mesmerized and would sit at any corner and watch this living snake of moving humanity slide past pretty much at full throttle in both directions. I could watch this traffic go on for hours and it was always a different scene each time you looked around. Point is people overseas know a lot about scooters and they love them!

Websites for Scooters in this article:

www.piaggiousa.com

www.vespausa.com

www.schwinnmotorsports.com

http://powersports.honda.com

www.yamaha-motor.com