Outstanding machine

This is my 4th scooter, plus 4 'real' motorcycles and it is so far my favorite of all 8. After selling my 2009 Yamaha R6 this spring because it was too much of a chore to use for mundane trips around town and quite punishing on my nearly 40 y/o body I decided to go back to the scooter side. Initia...lly I was set on a 2013 Honda PCX 150, that bike is just flat out the best looking modern style scooter ever built. Instead I opted to wait a month and get a look at the new Forza even though I didn't really think a 'maxi' style bike was what I wanted. So glad I waited, it was true love. I've been on Burgmans and they are fine but lousy at what I want a scooter to do which is be light, nimble and easy to move around town on and not my cup of tea for big bike touring since the smallish wheels and billboard size cross section means big bumps and wind on the highway are spooky. The Forza is my Goldilocks zone scooter, big enough to ride with my girlfriend around town and rural 40-55mph roads in total comfort and small enough to never feel like a burden sneaking through snarled traffic or busy parking lots. The ride is quite good solo but 2 up it actually rides BETTER. It is never straining for power with 2 riders when kept on the sub 55 roads, and really its not well suited for interstate travel anyway so thats just fine. The throttle and fuel injection feel very well tuned, no starting lurches which seem so common in scooters. The solo ride position is top notch, you feel like you are sitting IN the bike instead of on it but as a word of warning I am only 5'5". I can imagine this being a less than great cockpit for anyone over 5'9" as you will be really cramped for leg room if you try to use the forward footboards. Its as close to riding the Akira anime cycles as I have yet to experience.
Ergonomically the bike is excellent with ONE problem. Nearly everything is so well laid out that you can open any storage box or have the seat raised fully with the handle bars in any position and nothing collides or blocks anything else. The dash is well done and feels a few notches in quality above the price point. The fuel econ guage is a nice touch, not sure how accurate yet but I do wish they had included an ambient temp thermometer. The hatch buttons for the storage are well done and the ignition has its own feature to cover the key hole to prevent people screwing with it (gum, etc) which was a nice touch. The storage itself is excellent, the locking left side is deep, forearm length deep and includes a tray that holds a phone in place while riding next to the 12v outlet. The right side box is small, wallet or sunglasses size, not both. Under seat holds 2 full face helmets plus space for a jacket and gloves, it also will hold itself up when raised. The one real problem I have with the whole bike is the horn placement. It just falls very easily under your thumb when going for the turn signals and the button is BIG. If you like to honk at intersections this will be a feature, I'm not so impressed but I did train myself to not hit it as often.

My initial trepidation with this bike was that it was going to possibly be just a bit wrong in every respect, a little too big around town and not big enough to leave it but those fears are miles behind. Its just as perfect a blend of scooter as I could hope for. Might even do some backroad touring next summer, I can ride this bike all day.

If there are any things that need tweaking its really only the Horn button and of course I would not say no to having it be an actual 300 instead of a 279, I'm sure that a little bump in torque and HP couldn't hurt. Read Full Review