Well it took a while and funny enough not even constantly rising gas prices will make the US take a look sensible motorcycles. I've ridden all sorts of bikes from mopeds, scooters and big displacement sport bikes and cruisers.
But one thing they all had in common was horrible upkeep costs and overall they're difficult to work with and maintain.
This one's different. Scooters chew through tires like crazy because they're small diameter and the real hidden cost is constant variator maintenance. You've got variator weights that need to be replaced often, belts too, and eventually the rear pulley for them goes out. After replacing those then you still have valves that need adjusting which sometimes like with the Piaggio Fly you have to take practically the whole scooter apart to do something as simple as change the belt.
Motorcycles, well we're familiar with those, expensive tires, expensive chains, expensive parts, and expensive service.
But I really like my Sym Wolf that I just got. It's super light, unbelievably so, it has a centerstand, I don't know why more bikes don't come with them. It's really funny when people ask well aren't you afraid of scraping the centerstand? And I point to the chicken strips on their tires, and the lack of them on mine.
But here's what people are really interested in, I changed to a +1 front sprocket to lower RPM's and I get 90 mpg! Day in day out, no special hypermiling techniques. And if I try really hard like keeping speeds below 45 mph I managed 96 mpg. Oh and it's no slough either, I can go up to 70 mph, gps confirmed. Freeways it can do if you're careful and stay in the slow lane, but it's a bit buzzy. It works fine in Los Angeles freeway congestion though.
What I like too is the service parts are easily accessible and built to be easily servicable and everything is light weight so I can change tires myself too.
Here's my bike on the highest elevation on Angeles Crest Hwy.
Today
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