Ok, so it’s still an automatic scooter. But it hit an indicated 105 mph today (clearly the speedo is out, am guessing it was 90-95 real speed), so I can use it reasonably on the motorway. And the engine sounds so much better ;-). It’ll do me until whenever I pass a proper manual test and get a “fun” bike for the weekends! Will take some decent pictures later…
-simon
Is it a silverwing?
I assume you mean 70mph maximum, unless you were on a track 
damn that’s some overreading… I’m sure the most you were doing was 70 :Whistling:
No no, this was done on a test track (of course), why on earth would you think otherwise? I had to test it out!
No, it’s a Piaggio Xevo 400ie. It was bought at the Honda dealer I got my S-Wing from (because they gave me the best part exchange - I still got screwed, but I blame the government and VAT for that, and the fact that I didn’t listen to people who said “don’t buy a new 125, buy a used one, you’ll want to upgrade in a month or two” when I should have listened!).
-simon
:hehe: I guess the Piaggio badge should have been a clue
The engine is a sleaved down version of the engine in my bike. Power is about 7% down to hit the restricted licence limit, but torque is nearly the same.
It’s a whole lot of fun :-). I was surprised though as to how it is much slower at a standing start than the S-Wing. The acceleration is significantly better at anything over 10mph, but the standing start is very slow indeed. I guess your X9 is better at that?
-simon
how long did you have the S-Wing?
Hah. Seven weeks. Yeah, I did the wrong thing. Live and learn!
lol, so it cost the best part of £4k new? would love to know what you got back for it… go on tell us…
It may just seem slower as the new bike is using about half the revs to pull away than the 125 did. 125 autos tend to be designed to hit high revs as soon as you open the throttle as it is the only way they can pull away at any speed at all. Your bike has over three times the torque at about 2/3rd the revs so I would be very surprised if it was slower pulling away than the 125. The X9 500 is not notieably fast pulling away (get a Vespa 300 if that is what you want) but can’t say I have noticed 125s beating me away from the lights.
I would just live with it. The traffic light grand prix was never what maxi scooters were built for. However, there are loads of things people do to try and get a faster tak-off - you can spend hundreds of pounds on Malossi and Joe Costa Variators and clutches etc. But the best thing to do if it is important to you if to change the weight of the variator rollers. That will allow the revs to rise faster and give you more launch at the cost of poorer fuel economy. There will be discussions of this on the X9 Owners which you are a member of. Changing Variators etc does much the same as changing the weights, allowing higher revs to be reached early, at the cost of fuel economy. The difference in performance is usually minor as these autos are designed for the gearing to allow you to reach maximum torque and not rev higher unless road speed demands it. The different gearing you get by changing variators and weights simply changes how quickly revs rise, and the revs you are using at cruising speeds.
Do you still have the 125? Get the missus to drag race you down the local supermarket car park to compare them 
get a geared bike, 7k rpm, drop clutch. Winner!!! :laugh:
Stop playing pizza boy and get a proper bike 
Sure. I paid £3470 new for the S-Wing. I traded the S-Wing plus £150 for a bike that was up for sale at £3000. Net loss over eight weeks is £620. Basically I rented a brand new 125 maxi-scoot with ABS and top box for eight weeks at a rate of £77.50 per week.
On top of this, I did have to pay £200 towards fixing the damage to the S-Wing from my off a while back, but that’s something I would have had to do anyway. The quotes I had previously to repair the damage ranged from £250 (via chipsaway) to £650 (from Honda Chiswick), I did have a cheaper quote from a couple of guys in Southall but when I took it to them the price doubled because “they didn’t realise from the photos it was pearlescent paint”. So I consider the £200 to be very good value.
-simon
tbf, £600 odd quid isn’t the end of the world. I lost that on my cbr over 3 months, although I did buy from main dealer, add 8k miles and sell privately.
Agreed. And I did almost 2000 miles on mine in the nearly 8 weeks, not quite as much as you but close! And now I have a 400cc that I’m liking more and more the more I ride it…
-simon
Congrats on the new scoot . No manananana yet then ?
No Mana No Cry. For now. The way I figure it, I’ll winter down on the 400, and look at getting a separate “fun” bike in the future. That might be the Mana, or I might actually get off my lazy ass and do a proper test :-P. Either way I’m gonna need a scoot as well as a fun bike (can’t go away for work for the whole week on a sports bike!).
-simon
