When I was a lad living in Adelaide in the late 50’s, scooters were all the rage. The streets of the City of Churches buzzed to the sound of angry Lambrettas and Vespas and every street corner was awash with the fragrant aroma of two stroke smoke.
But, then something happened. As one pendulum swung down, another began to swing up. The scooters of the 50’s were noisy, smelly, required pre-mixing of the oil and petrol and had, at best, marginal brakes and handling. And, as scooter accidents and the human toll of these started to climb, the scooter bubble burst. At the same time the first truly modern motorcycles started to appear, led by Honda’s Cub and a host of imitators.
First introduced in 1958, the Cub was and remains, the highest selling and longest-lasting motorcycle ever made. And it basically killed off the scooter. At Teachers College in the late 1960’s the car park was crammed with them as impoverished students made use of their astounding economy and cheap price to get on wheels. It had all the advantages of a scooter and none of its disadvantages.
But Honda and then the other Japanese manufacturers realised that, if the Cub was so successful, then surely there was a market for REAL motorcycles as well. And the Japanese domination of the market began.
However, swings and roundabouts are a pattern of life and, as real motorcycles became more and more expensive, less commuter-oriented and more sports-oriented, the scooter underwent a revival that is continuing to the present day. Every city is again abuzz with them, mostly quieter, mostly 4 stroke powered and mostly safer. Last year, while we were visiting Adelaide (for the first time since I left in 1959), every street had some dedicated motorcycle parking bays and almost all of them were again filled with scooters. It was a serious case of deja vu.
Scooters are great for the urban jungle, but, as before, once bitten by the bug, scooter riders start looking for a little bit more. More power, more handling, more features and so the market has spawned the so-called “super scooters” like the Suzuki Burgmann.
650cc, proper suspension, proper disk brakes and still with the scooter advantages of weather protection and luggage-carrying capability. The line between the scooter and the motorcycle is being blurred as we speak.
Now, comes news of the Honda Mid.
The exact details of this bike/scooter are not known as yet but it is tipped to have a 700cc engine and Honda’s Dual Clutch Transmission, pioneered on the VFR1200F. I’m not sure quite what to call this machine because I think it’s going to blur that line between motorcycle and scooter even more. Progress? I think so.