Fast Gas Scooters are a popular topic among scooter owners. Everyone wants to know how fast certain models top out at. However, fast gas scooters also serve an important purpose. For many, it allows them the opportunity to use our nation's highways. With this thought in mind, we have put together a list of tips to help you cut down your research time:
1. Determine what is fast enough for your needs.
Trying to pin down what is fast enough will vary from person to person and their own individual uses. For some who only will be driving around on city streets, the top speed they would need would be gas scooters that go anywhere from 30 to 50mph. However, many will be needing a scooter to go on the highways. For a scooter to work here, it will need to reach a top speed of at least 70 to 75mph. To be on the safe side, it may even be better to opt for scooters that can go 75mph or faster. This would give you a little extra speed to help avoid faster traffic. However, if you are interested in going even faster than these ranges, there are a few scooters that can go over 100mph. Therefore, you first need to decide how fast is fast enough.
2. Use the size of the engine as a good beginning point for your research.
Generally speaking, for a scooter to have a chance of going 70 to 75 mph or faster, it will need an engine that is larger than 150cc. Most of the scooters that can go in excess of 75mph have a scooter engine the size of 250cc or larger. You can actually use the scooter engine size as a good rule of thumb to determine its top speeds. For example, a 50cc engine tends to top out at about 40mph, a 150cc engine tends to top out at about 60mph, a 200cc engine tops out at about 65 to 70mph and a 250cc tends to reach 75 to 80mph. In fact, all things being equal, a larger scooter engine results in faster top speeds. This means you can generally expect to see even faster speeds in larger engines like the 400 or 500cc models.
3. Stick with top brands for more consistent and reputable speed results.
One thing you must be careful about when looking at listed scooter top speeds is they may not be the most accurate or even be misleading. One thing you can do to help ensure the numbers listed are correct is to stick with the top companies' information. The top scooter companies (Honda, Vespa, Yamaha, Aprilia, etc.) have a vested interest in providing good customer service for the long haul so they are more inclined to give you accurate numbers on regular road conditions rather than giving you trumped numbers or numbers that could only be achieved in perfect conditions. Another tool that can help confirm posted top speeds is to look at reviews of the scooter model on websites and message boards. The Internet is great for allowing everyday users the opportunity to voice their opinions and they will happily tell you exactly how fast a certain model goes.
4. Factor in your body weight into any top speed performance numbers.
This is one factor that is often forgotten when reviewing scooter speeds. Simply put, the heavier you are the greater an impact this will have on the listed top scooter speed (Most test cases of the scooters use a model weighing anywhere from 135 to 165 pounds). Naturally, you will find the larger engines are able to handle extra weight better than the smaller cc models. For instance a 400cc or 500cc model will handle extra weight a lot better than a 250cc model and thus, will not have as much of a top speed reduction.
Therefore, you should incorporate your own weight and the size of the engine when determining what the scooters true top speed would be for your riding. Also, if you plan on taking along a passenger on your rides, recognize this will knock down the top speed as well.
With the information above, finding fast gas scooters should not be too difficult at all.