#TouringScooter

If you’re looking for an inexpensive, lightweight vehicle for riding around town or completing short errands, scooters are an excellent choice. If you want something with a bit more performance and versatility, you might want to consider a maxi-scooter instead. Maxi-scooters, or touring scooters, offer larger engines and typically better wind protection, making a good choice as an everyday commuter or for longer distance rides.

The Beverly’s been around the block more than once, starting way back in 2001, but it retains its place at the head of the world’s largest scooter manufacturer’s table. Piaggio showed three versions of the latest Beverly at EICMA – Beverly, Beverly S and Beverly 350 Tourer – but only the Tourer will be coming to America, complete with a sporty smoked windshield and a capacious 36-liter top box. And make no mistake: With its 30-horsepower 330 cc single and 16/14-inch tires, these scooters can scoot. 

The Yamaha TMax is getitng a displacement bump up to 560cc, and a new Tech Max variant. Unfortunately, the new TMax does not appear to be coming to the U.S., which isn’t entirely as surprise as it has only made sporadic appearances here since it first debuted in 2001. In Europe, however, the TMax has been immensely popular, with Yamaha selling more than 275,000 units in total.

We were snuggled into a conference room in the upscale Aloft hotel in Asheville, North Carolina, when PR man Peter Jones kicked off Kymco’s 2018 new-product launch by telling us that scooters in the U.S. market are “such a small thing, they’re not even really a thing… scooters and soccer, they’re just not a part of our culture.”

Occasionally, a bike will capture the collective fancy of the MO staffers to such a degree that we actively seek out new opportunities to ride it again. The BMW C650GT is one of those motorcycles, as it redefines what we expect and what is possible with a scooter. It’s so broadly capable that it has the potential to lure motorcycle enthusiasts to the scooter world.

Here at MO we like scooters, especially big ones. Laugh if you want, but when it comes to practical, versatile, comfortable, and fun two-wheeled transportation, scooters often get overlooked. Well, we’re here to give them their fair share. What other motorcycle will take you to the grocery store, have room for the box of cereal, gallon of milk and six-pack of beer you just bought, then welcome the chance to take the twisty road back home – all while having your left hand free to sip a latte?

“Wow.” I caught myself uttering that exclamation numerous times over the last few days. Bemused or befuddled, the 2013 Suzuki Burgman 650 ABS sure left me gaping.