Trust Us, You Need one of these to get around Bali!!
The idea for renting out the Honda Scoopy was riding a regular 300cc-1000cc proper motorcycle in Bali might just not that ideal for a tourist. Imagine a wet and windy morning, complete with the usual traffic jams, and you start to realize an 1000cc sportsbike was just not the best thing to be on in that sort of weather. You didn't and would not get out of second gear. Truly, ask yourself, what's the point?
If I take the most direct route from house to office, it's about 7 kilometer. To be honest 7 kilometer on a 110cc Honda Scoopy-i? That might be entertaining. Or certainly less stressful than riding a big bike loaded with horsepower which I wouldn't use. I'm not a big fan of public transport, I cannot read Thai so have often no clue where a Song Thaew (pickup car which functions as bus) is going to, so I need a daily fix of 'powered two-wheeler', no matter what form it takes. A raining season car hack was always an option, but what's the sense of riding an extra 10 kilometer and a hour in the traffic jam if I can do it so much faster on a two-wheeler. So, I thought, why not try a scooter and join the thousands of untouchables of the Thai roads, those riders who hardly need to stop for anything on the road.
I was at a Honda dealer and hopped on the Honda Scoopy-i. Wow. The stylish Spoopy-i felt like a amazing toy. Tiny and light and, well, lacking in 'grunt' away from the lights. But I enjoyed it, the manic desire to hold on to momentum at all costs, the thrill of zero engine-braking and the evocative whiff of a 110cc small size combustion engine...
Every ride turns into a mini adventure. Will I get the run of the lights at the end of one particular straight? Will I bog down fatally halfway across my first junction of the morning? Will I lock up the front wheel this time? (Very unlikely with the Honda combi-brakes) Will I manage a higher top speed if I tuck my arms behind the fairing?
I suppose, when it boils down to it, this sort of scooter will only work for you if your commute suits it. This'll do somewhere between 50 to 100km/h once it gets going, which is enough for my commuting roads. The question is, is an investment in a small scooter like the Honda Scoopy-i a value for money? At what point would you need to buy something bigger – either a larger-capacity scooter or a 'proper' motorcycle? And some of the bigger scooters are not that much higher in purchase cost compared to the Honda Scoopy-i, so what's the point?
Hmm. After my experience, all I'm saying is that if your commute is on the 'right' roads and is the 'right' distance, you really don't need to spend a load of cash to save your motorcycle from the ravages of the raining season. And this Honda Scoopy-i is a buzzy riot.