What makes
a touring bike?
Some miles on the road either on or with some scooters has Guido wondering who
changed the rules when it came to touring bikes…
Blame the wife.
I know this borders on being a national sport, but for once I have good reason.
You see the MT crew and others were travelling up to beautiful downtown Tintaldra
for an overnight frolic, which is usually a signal to haul out the biggest and
most comfortable thing in your possession – other than the bed. In my case
Mac the Valk Interstate got left behind in favour of a test Goldwing (which
was far more comfortable than my bed, mostly because the mattress on the latter
was made when Nelson was a cabin boy), while I expected to see Ms M loading
the panniers on to her faithful CBX550.
Nup. She was eyeing off the Piaggio X9 250 scooter that sister publication Bikepoint.com.au
has been scuttling around on for the last few months. She’s kidding, right?
An 1100km round trip, on one of the world’s great tourers – an 1800
at that – with a scooter in tow. Someone show me where the hidden camera
is…
What the heck, at least it would be something to write about. Because we were
running late, we dodged the back roads and stuck to the freeway, which meant
holding a steady 120-ish, preferably for at least 300km in the first stint so
we could make decent time.
We knew the scoot was super economical around town (about 25km/lt) but holding
it flat on the freeway might prove to be a different bucket of ferrets. Not
so.
For a start, Madam’s overnight bag disappeared into the bowels of the underseat
storage, so she had nothing to strap down. Second, the X9 had no trouble holding
120-plus the whole way, and still scored a better than 320km range from the
14.5 litre tank. She also reported being perfectly comfortable.
Okay, so let’s get this straight: This alleged city commuter will hold
120 on the freeway, has a full fairing with adjustable windscreen, lockable
luggage and a range well in excess of 300km. It sounds suspiciously like a tourer
to me. Would somebody please mind explaining what the hell is going on?
Maybe that trip was a freak incident. Not so. We took the X9 and a 500 Nexus
on another (albeit shorter) jaunt into the country recently. The 250 backed
up its earlier performances by holding 120-130, while the Nexus (tested on the
scooter page this issue) would cruise at considerably higher speeds and had
very sharp handling.
Now this might be the clincher for some people – I’m convinced scooters
are invisible to police. Both Ms M and I have had the weird experience of being
sprung doing something less than legal right in front of a cop car, and I swear
they see what’s happening, think “that can’t be right” and
continue on as if they haven’t seen a thing. People see scooters and think
“harmless” regardless of the fact that you’re using the footpath
as a freeway.
Despite all that, and the fact I could get five X9s for the price of a Goldwing,
I’m not quite ready to give up on the big chaps. But don’t be surprised
to see a few more of what Ms M is now calling urban tourers out on the highways.
They’re pretty good at it…
Guy "Guido" Allen
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