I took a few moments to share my thoughts with a member on ADV on a comparison between my two scoots that he asked. I thought it was noteworthy enough that I would post it here.

By the way, there's one of st.o's own lurking in battle scooters on ADV checking out scooter threads. He shall remain nameless but we have a closet scooterist in the closet.

My vote is definitely to amend your 946 thread to include the Xmax. I'll be interested to hear how the Xmax compares to your 946 and how you'll use it vs the 946.

Jim

Jim,

I didn't reply to you remark in the Xmax thread as I needed to put some thought into it. I'm abut 400 or 500 miles into the Xmax and have a somewhat better feel for this scoot and I'll share my thoughts on the it vs. the 946 which are polar opposites of each other in the scooting world.

I view the world through a different lens than most so please take my remarks lightly.

Let's start with the ups and downs of both.

Vespa 946 <---- see what I did there, text is the same color as my scoot
+ Single cylinder 4 stroke, air cooled, SOHC - 3 valve
+ Style, just a beautiful scoot (subjective)
+ Air cooled, may be a benefit to some folks for simplicity
+ Fit and finish is amazing
+ Reliability? I put mine through the wringer and she stood tall, many others swear by them on this front, time will tell
+ Seat on the 946 is awesome
+ Handling and suspension is right decent
+ ABS & traction control
+ LED lights except DOT winkers (modified by me)
+ up to 100 mpg (U.S. gallon)
+ Brakes are incredible
+ 2 year factory warranty
- Dealer network is very lack luster
- Mine is slooooow but when it gets there it holds like a freight train
- Cost of parts
- Air cooled, may be a negative to other folks
- Service intervals are sooner
- Not much real estate for a passenger
- Minimal gauges
- Price
- Fuel filler is a major PITA, sprays gas when topping off 100% of the time
- Have to pop the seat to fill with fuel

Yamaha Xmax
+ 292cc liquid-cooled 4-stroke, SOHC single cylinder; 4 valves
+ HUGE storage at 45L
+ Yamaha reliability
+ Room for a tall person
+ ABS & traction control
+ Fit and finish decent
+ Seat is actually not bad, no hump-ectomy necessary
+ LED lights except DOT winkers (will be modified by me)
+ 70 to 80 mpg (U.S. gallon)
+ Excellent real estate for a passenger
+ Gauges are a stand out feature
+ Adjustable windshield and handlebars
+ Very good stock OEM winshield
+ Top speed around 100, cruising at 75 to 85 mph is effortless
+ The perfect size for a maxi scoot (to me)
+ Brakes are incredible
- Looks like every other Japanese scoot
- 1 year factory warranty
- Typical tabs everywhere that are easy to snap when removing bodywork

So there's a few of my thoughts regarding real world experience on these two scoots. Now which one would I choose to keep if I could only have one? The 946 hands down despite my lengthy list of negatives listed above.

The Xmax does it all flawlessly. I do mean all, 2 up, utilitarian, storage, rack & topbox if you wish, etc. The 946 does it with grace and style to me. Wherever I go, people young and old walk up to me and just want to chat about the Vespa. The smile I have on my face every time I ride it is hard to explain.

The 946 and I have been on a huge adventure starting the day I bought her. Honestly, in all my riding decades I have never been hit with so much bad weather literally for days. She marched through it 12 to 14 hours a day and kept me safe. So to be fair, I have a bond with this scoot that no other scooter can dethrone.

In closing I suggested that I view the world through a different lens then most at the beginning of this post. Theretically let's say I had my choice of a 2018 BMW R1200RT with all the goodies or a 2018 Yamaha TW200 or Suzuki VanVan and a little money to prep it to take a trip from VA to AK. I would take the TW200 all day long! To me the adventure starts by just having just enough to get the job done, not 10 times the amount of what it takes to get there. I would have more fun setting up a TW with nav, making racks and attaching hard bags, where to store the gas can, etc. etc. I promise you I would have an epic journey to share on my ride report/day tripp'n.

When I'm on my last legs laying there in bed and my life is coming to an end, I will not be reminiscing the many times I've ridden across country on 1,000+cc m/c. I will be laying there remembering the epic journey on my 946 or if I chose the TW like mentioned above.

So I am most definitely the wrong person to ask advice or opinions on pretty much anything. I always seem to take the hard road and take a beating along the way. My father used to say, "the definition of an adventure is a disaster that worked out."

Pops and I after we dared each other to go to Seattle for a cup of coffee. Stopped at Luguna Seca to see my favorite racer John Kocinski, bought my first ever pair of riding boots there, had nothing but  a backpack with a couple changes of clothes, none of my gear was waterproof back then, performance awards for both of us in Carmel, what a freak'n adventure that was...

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Thanks for reading,

Eric

As long as you remember to look right!

And mind the gap.

Finished getting a kubernetes cluster up and running. Had to do a bit of troubleshooting and script editing due to changes between documentation examples and my servers but it was very satisfying.

Carl

Shipping is free on Prime

that's what I'm thinking. they rarely fail when they get into racing, maybe KTM and Zarco will both get their first win next year???