Ok. So. Help me decide.

the uk ones have other colors.. dunno why honda stuck to two for the grom.



joe

Hi Bill,

Never rode a Ruckus, they appeared in the UK then disappeared just as quickly - I always liked the "I'm different" look but never saw one in the flesh. I suppose if I had made a bigger effort, I could have found one, but at 50cc, I knew I would be unhappy with the performance. That was one design that cried out for a bigger engine!

Yes, Euro3 / Euro4 is our pollution control requirements. Unfortunately, Euro4 is sooo tough, it will mean manufacturers having to completely redesign engines, so a cost of a car, for example, will mean that it will add at least USD1500 to the price of a "mid size car" and that, in Europe, means the everyday size car for us.

Euro3 can be achieved by cat converters, fuel management, down-performance of engine management systems etc. but Euro4 is a whole different kettle of fish. Koyoto Agreement ring a bell?

Difference for me driving a scooter vs a motorcycle was that a bike has a tank between your knees which you can use as part of the steering of the bike by applying pressure and lean, I felt that a scooter needed to be physically leaned over, almost steered with the handlebars, whilst the rider didn't lean as far as he does on a bike. Hard to explain, but I hope you get the idea.

Because the Ruckus and the MSX are compromises, I wont use the expression "not proper bikes", but they probably both steer / handle like a one legged duck if you compared them to a road-going commuter machine of either breed. I am buying the MSX because I have retired the motorcycle but still want to run around on a machine and have a little fun at the same time.

I could have got a Yam 125 or a Honda 125 and been part of the crowd of 1.5 million commuter riders in the world that have the same machine. Instead, I expect where I live there may only be one or two others in the whole county and in my 1,000 miles a year (if I am lucky) that I ride on sunny days, I will be out there enjoying myself on a bike that looks good!

Jeff

As per the "what age" poll - the family had an agreement that I would look to retiring the bike when I hit 60. I kind of know it's not a bad decision. M/C fatalities and accidents are increasing even though the age of getting a m/c licence has increased and getting a licence is challenging (i.e. Govt making it very difficult). They would basically like it if there were no m/c's. Our roads are very crowded too, and car drivers (and I am one) often don't see bikes, even though we have "Think Bike" signs all over the place. One change in regulation a few years ago helped - banning twin headlights. Believe it or not, a driver making a quick glace before pulling out saw twin headlights but the brain says "its a car 500 yards away" when in reality, its a bike 50 yards away. You can guess the rest.

We still have MPH and still drive on the correct side of the road as well. But what is weird is that plumming pipe is metric (mm) but fittings are imperial. Same with wood. I was building a new internal door, so went to order the wood for skirting and frame. Same wood, but skirting was in mm and the doorway was in inches as doors are still 72" high as standard. FFS if we went metric why not go the whole hog in one go?

EXCEPT - We can still buy a PINT OF BEER which is as it should be.

Ours is 20 fl oz, yours is 16 so . . . . . . we get drunk quicker!

Jeff

p.s. I am raising a glass in a few minutes with my supper as it is the Queen's Ceremonial Birthday today.