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| Her name is Mesha. My daughter named here that. :) |
I recently owned an automatic scooter just this January of this year. It's a 110cc (108 technically) scooter with a retro look, Honda Scoopy. I have always wanted to own a motorcycle or a multicab so I (or we) can easily navigate around the city or have some trips to the countryside.
Admittedly, I wasn't a fan of scooters because back then, scooters are loud and slow. I was talking about those 50cc scooters like the Yamaha Chappy in my teen days. This is not meant to belittle those scooters but I just don't like them. So, I started to look at motorcycle forums and see what people's most choices are.
Then I stumbled upon MCP (motorcylephilippines.com). It probably is the largest motorcycle forum in the Philippines. Big sports bikes are popular in that forum but because I am still a newbie, I opted to look at the smaller displacement ones. Yamaha's Mio is so popular in that forum (and even in the streets). Then there is Suzuki's Skydrive, Kawasaki's Curve and Yamaha's Fino. Some forumers religiously defend their bikes during heated debates. I quickly adore the design of Fino, a retro-looking scooter but I was still looking at underbone motorcycles because that was my first choice and I am not yet inclined to choose a scooter.
Eventually, I was very intrigued why the scooters are gaining so much popularity because I still don't like them at that point. Until I watched some videos on YouTube, actually observe them closely in the streets and based on the reviews on those scooters at different forums that I realized they are not bad after all. Modern scooters are not loud and slow. They are even competing with those underbone motorcycles in terms of displacement. In fact, I was beginning to like them, especially the Yamaha Fino.
And so, I began to deepen my research more on Yamaha's Fino. Most reviews are good. A cruising type scooter which should be perfect for me. What happened next was I stumbled upon Honda's answer to Yamaha's Fino, the Honda Scoopy. Just like Fino, I quickly adored its design because it is another retro-looking scooter and I especially like its tail light design.
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| Back view of Mesha. Love the tail light design? |
So I was torn between Yamaha's Fino and Honda's Scoopy. Both scooters have that retro design that I like. Both are priced around 70K. Incidentally, at that time, Honda has made their Scoopy so affordable by bringing down the price from the original 69K down to 54K. Other dealers were still using the original price but all Honda Motorworld, Inc. (HMW) made this promo until supplies last. That was a really good news to me. So it doesn't take a rocket scientist which one I chose. :)
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| Young odo reading. :) |
Although I haven't owned a motorcycle or scooter before, I will still say that it's a really good scooter to own. I am still a satisfied customer and I use it everyday from home to work and vice versa and some errands. I have also used it on long rides, the longest one (so far) is from Mandaue City to Dumaguete City, a sponsored ride by Honda.
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| Front disc brake. |
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| Rear drum brake. |
I am not a speed freak but I was able to test its limit during that ride to Dumaguete City. Because we were catching up the ship to take us from Santander, Cebu to Negros, the group was doing 80-90 kph. I had my wife as a back ride also during that ride. Additionally, I was still a newbie and so I was slow on curves and twisties so when it comes to straight roads, I went full throttle in order for me to catch them up (which is not a good thing, more on this on later blogs :) ). I did around 95-100kph with a back ride and some luggage. Not bad for a 110cc scooter. I will blog more about that Dumaguete City ride sometime in the future.
For the mean time, Ride Safe! Ride Scoopy!
