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Your Opinion: Should scooters come with big wheels?
I have been a motorcycle rider all my life. Sometime last year I was compelled to sell of my Karizma for some personal reasons. Since then I am mostly travelling on my car and since i can not really leave without a two wheeler I bought a Suzuki Access scooter.
I really like the scooter. It is amazingly peppy and could easily outrun any 100CC motorcycles as well as some lower end 125CCs. The torque distribution is fantastic and it pulls cleanly even when loaded with two heavy adults with combined weight of 170+ KGs. I have seen speedo needle touching 90kmpg mark (actual speed would be lower) with such weight on the expressway and the engine did not seem to be overstressed. The variable drive make life easy particularly in heavy traffic and negotiating through thick crowed is cakewalk given the flickability of the scooter combined with the ease of twist and go drive. The luggage space is adequate. I have mounted a spare wheel hence I am not afraid of punctures in the middle of nowhere.
But despite all these goodies there is a catch.
The 10 inch wheels of the scooter is grossly inadequate to tackle the lunar surface which we call roads in Kolkata. The going is good while the road is smooth but as soon the scooter is met with undulations and bad road surface it is pure hell for your back. The scooter bounces off vigorously threatning to throw the rider off. This is something I never experienced on motorcycles. I am already having lower back pain. As you sit straight on the scooter the jarring reaches your backbone. All the comfort of automatic drive goes away with this and after a 40 km drive in the city I feel completely drained and reach home with back pain. Even the telescopic suspensions of this scooter which i presume one of the best in business does not really help. I have ridden scooters in my early days in my twenties. It did not seem so bad then. But with age (I am thirty Nine) this is taking a toll on me.
The real culprit are the small wheels. If scooters would come with say 15 or 16 inch wheels I am sure this would have been a much better proposition in terms of ride comfort. Specially in a country like India where 90% of the roads that you travel on comes with poor surface. That is also why scooters are never favoured in rural areas.
Maybe it'stime manufacturers put their brains behind this idea. Till they do let's hear your opinions too.
I really like the scooter. It is amazingly peppy and could easily outrun any 100CC motorcycles as well as some lower end 125CCs. The torque distribution is fantastic and it pulls cleanly even when loaded with two heavy adults with combined weight of 170+ KGs. I have seen speedo needle touching 90kmpg mark (actual speed would be lower) with such weight on the expressway and the engine did not seem to be overstressed. The variable drive make life easy particularly in heavy traffic and negotiating through thick crowed is cakewalk given the flickability of the scooter combined with the ease of twist and go drive. The luggage space is adequate. I have mounted a spare wheel hence I am not afraid of punctures in the middle of nowhere.
But despite all these goodies there is a catch.
The 10 inch wheels of the scooter is grossly inadequate to tackle the lunar surface which we call roads in Kolkata. The going is good while the road is smooth but as soon the scooter is met with undulations and bad road surface it is pure hell for your back. The scooter bounces off vigorously threatning to throw the rider off. This is something I never experienced on motorcycles. I am already having lower back pain. As you sit straight on the scooter the jarring reaches your backbone. All the comfort of automatic drive goes away with this and after a 40 km drive in the city I feel completely drained and reach home with back pain. Even the telescopic suspensions of this scooter which i presume one of the best in business does not really help. I have ridden scooters in my early days in my twenties. It did not seem so bad then. But with age (I am thirty Nine) this is taking a toll on me.
The real culprit are the small wheels. If scooters would come with say 15 or 16 inch wheels I am sure this would have been a much better proposition in terms of ride comfort. Specially in a country like India where 90% of the roads that you travel on comes with poor surface. That is also why scooters are never favoured in rural areas.
Maybe it'stime manufacturers put their brains behind this idea. Till they do let's hear your opinions too.
I am not even comparing Karizma with a scooter. But since I am using a scooter I felt that small wheels are a concern area. I wanted to have views of the other XBHPans whether they think in the same line or not. This is a strong forum. May be... just may be strong public opinion will force a manufacturer to rethink. 
). this machines requirement is to be light, decent power, good mileage, nimble in city traffic, etc.
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