Motor scooters & small bikes

Motor Scooters that Work On and Off Road.

Although it is a great experience to convert motor scooters to off road transportation, there are various requirements for keeping them street legal. The convenience of being able to take a short cut over rugged terrain to a road across the way is something riders have been requesting for decades.

The response from manufacturers has been quite passive. Economics may have something to do with that, as it is easier to sell a 450cc bike with power and flashy style.

Creating a different image while maintaining the easy handling of motor scooters appears to be one method of increasing sales. Accompanying that train of thought is finding out where actual users of this mode of transportation are.

Typically, those are countries where roads are primarily unpaved. In many cases, they are often little more than paths created by locals to get from one place to another. In addition, daily use of motorbikes encourages acceptance of smaller styles of transport.

Quite a few Asian countries fit that model, such as Malaysia, the Philippines and Thailand. Riding on two wheels allows riders to weave in and out of congested travel lanes and skip huge traffic jams by cutting across town on smaller paths. Imagine how much easier it would be if riders could count on better handling over unimproved trails.

Heavy flooding in much of Asia pointed out the need for motorized vehicles that could use alternative roadways if the major ones were covered with water. Yamaha Motor Asian Center Co., Ltd (YMAC), Thailand took a hard look at the situation and ways to address it.

The answer is the Yamaha TTX 115i, far different than motor scooters presented in years past. Off road capability is one prime feature.

Riders and drivers enjoy transportation that reflects their unique style, such as color and tires. A rugged scooter with better suspension and a more durable frame accepts off road travel. Equipped with an automatic fuel injected motor and wide rear tire, the TTX 115i will be an interesting commuter vehicle experiment. It might prove to be a better on and off road experience than expected.

Tried and tested, useable rides.

Motor scooters have been a popular choice for riders that have little money to buy and run a bike. They don’t go too quickly and if you’re not comfortable with a regular motor bike, they are great to begin with.

As a scooter normally only has a flat bed for your feet, if you do need to stop quickly, you can normally stop yourself easily, which when riding a normal bike is harder to do. The familiar scooter has been popular for many decades due to its classic lines, and affordable fuel consumption.

Scooter Parts are available for most popular models and scooter shops are in every major city.

In the current economic environment you might be tempted to buy second hand dirtbikes. But being cheap to run, have you thought about a scooter with the addition of off road tires? Well if you have you won’t have been the first.

Kids and adults that like something a bit different and a bit quirky might consider the offroad scooter for some cheap thrills come the weekend.

A dealer might also suggest some additions to your scooter, and even pitbikes can be called scooters in different regional areas.

Online we found a few motorcycle and scooter stores that sell bikes for any environment.

We went to scooterdomain.com first, which is a cool motorcycle shop, and specialises in scooter models. But they did sell a Coolster 90cc Dirt Bike on sale at $549.95 saving you $50! This mini racing dirtbike has a 4-stroke, air cooled motor, and can go up to 30mph. This item comes with a toolkit, free shipping and even a free helmet for a limited time only.

The Chinese contingent

Next we took a look at xiongtaivehicle.com. This motocycle store, sells motor scooter mini bikes, ATV’s and some rather forgettable named pit bikes.

The first "motor scooters" model was called the XTQY16-D200F. A great looking bike, that has a 4-stroke, single cylinder, air cooled engine. Plus electric & kick start, a top speed of 90 (km/h), and a manual 5 speed clutch. Also it should be kinder to the environment due to an upgraded engine.

Then they had more bikes among their pages; with a model called a XTQY3-D200FB-2. This motorbike had a single cylinder, 4 stroke, air-cooled chain driven engine. With a kick & electric start it was available in a good range of colours. This ride should be fine for the remote dusty trail or an urban environment.

Sadly however we couldn’t see any prices, in the motorbike ads on the site? So we are not sure if they were trade only – or all prices were POA?

The economy these days does make motor scooters and pit bike motocycles – (that can be ridden on the road) a fine investment.

Only a few pitbikes will be street legal, but most motor scooters will be legal! If you then adapt your scooter for the dirtbike circuit you have a cycle you can ride day in day out. Of course a scooter won’t handle anything like a real motocross bike – they are built specifically for one purpose.

Do pick a scooter that has a darn strong frame and has a common size of wheel, that way it’ll be easier to find chunky tyres for it.

But if you’re on a budget AND you’re ok with a bit of compromise, they make an ideal solution for those riders that like to do things differently.

If you look at this vid below you’ll see that an off-road scooter can be amazing fun as well.

Off Road Scooters

Dirt bike 150 vs an offroad scooter

You say scooters…i say.....

Small dirt bikes (like pitbikes) can be referred to as scooters depending which part of the world you’re from. Yep it can be confusing…..

Also you can have scooter-like bikes with chunky off-road tires that can handle rough terrain, but not really designed for off roading as such – like a real dirt bike would be.

Manufacturers produce cross-overs all the time. Seeing if markets can absorb another “type” of bike.

Motor scooters seem to fall in this category. Particularly off road scooters. SO...Don’t get hung up on the name alone, look at a pic first - and you’ll know instantly if that “scooter” is what you’re searching for.

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