This past week and a half I have been holidaying in Rarotonga. It was everything the travel brochures show and more. I wish I was still there but I'm back to normal now which sucks because normal is tedious.
I am fundamentally opposed to scooters after the first time I rode one, way back in the early 90s. I felt the way you sat created an awkward and unbalanced position which turned you into a lever with your body being the method of instigating a turn rather than your arms and hips. That first time saw me almost get sucked into a milk tanker and I refused to ever consider riding a scooter ever again.
But then I came to a predicament. The island of Rarotonga is very bike friendly but the top speed limit on the entire island is 50km/h. There is literally no point in getting a big motorcycle for this island. But that meant riding a scooter or a Honda XR 125. I would have loved to rent the XR but then I also didn't want the hassle of riding with shoes on a hot day, so scooter it was. That being said, it was a 125cc scooter so nothing like the first one I rode which was only a 50cc scooter.
The scooter was in fact the best way of getting around the island. I had Little Wookie on the back with me most of the time and we explored all sorts of areas. He had a blast.
I still don't like scooters. I still feel that the ride position is all wrong for safety purposes. But I also feel that for every bike there is a reason to exist. If all you do is around town riding then a scooter is a pretty decent way around. I wouldn't go for anything less than 125cc because I feel anything less is not safe. You have no power to get yourself out of danger if you need to. I personally would prefer a step through to a scooter though because you sit better with your feet to the side of the bike rather than in front of you. The obvious problem is that here in New Zealand that means you need to have a motorcycle licence to ride it. That's not a bad idea and I encourage it over getting an 80cc or less and riding that on a car licence.
Obviously, if you're riding on the open road, then a scooter is the dumbest idea ever, and the big 650cc scooters are even more of a joke. The wheels are the wrong size, we keep coming back to seating position, and frankly a 650cc scooter has no reason to exist. There's many more bikes that are better for that type of riding with the same engines.
As a postie we used to ride Honda NBC110 SuperCubs but that would be the smallest I would ride open road. They are an awesome bike for the role we do but I wouldn't use it as a daily commuter outside of a township. We currently use Honda CT125s but we are moving to UBCO "Duty"s for our fleet. The latter will do 95 for about 100km. More than enough for our needs.
And this basically ends up bringing me back to my point of having a bike that suits your needs.
I keep seeing Threads and Facebook posts etc asking what bike I should ride and the truthful answer is what type of riding are you wanting to do?
Do you just want a little commuter to get you to and from work each day? Then any bike will do that but you're most likely better off with something like a SuperCub. Do you want to go for a ride on the weekends then any bike other than a scooter will be fine. Do you want to go back country roads where they degrade to dirt roads and goat tracks? Adventure bike's the way to go. Do you want to road race? Sports bike. Do you want to race dirt track? Dirt bike.
Coming to a motorcycle site an asking what is the best bike for you while giving no detail is just engagement trawling and not productive. It's like asking "how long a piece of string do I need?".
I will say this though, I still hate scooters... but I do love them for getting around Rarotonga.