The little engine buzzed frantically, slipping me through queues of static traffic. The roof kept the stinging afternoon sun off my shoulders while the radio churned out some of my favourite golden oldies.
Commuters stared, some with envy, others in disbelief. A roof and a radio, yes, though not in some designer micro-car, but rather in a little roofed scooter! No ordinary scooter, the Jonway Galaxy 150 joins the ranks of the roofed scooter fraternity along with the BMW C1, Benelli Adiva, and a few others.
The (now discontinued) BMW is the most recognisable in the class, boasting a fixed roof that offers crash protection, which, along with a seatbelt, eliminates the need for a helmet. Jonway and Benelli's offerings, however, are convertibles with roofs that can be folded up into the boot. This offers no crash protection, and since there are also no seatbelts, the wearing of a helmet is mandatory. With the roof up, you climb into, rather that onto, the scooter, and entering and exiting the cockpit comes with a fair amount of helmet bashing. The Galaxy has a general clumsy nature and feels claustrophobic, so my helmet came into contact with the roof and top of the windscreen quite a bit.
So why buy a scooter with a roof? Protection from the elements (and crash protection in the case of the C1) seems like the only logical explanation. A very hot sun and pouring rain could make riding unpleasant, though wet weather riding gear is still advisable. Scooters were invented to be a liberating tool for the masses. Motorcycles are primarily perceived as recreational forms of transport, and in comparison to scooters, are difficult to live with. Relatively cheap to purchase and run, scooters are generally light and nimble, enabling them to cut through inner-city congestion. Easy to mount by simply stepping on, they are ideal for shopping, usually providing space under the seat and even on the floor. For easy city transportation, scooters are unbeatable, and the latest Vespas prove they can be trendy and fashionable too, if costly.
By comparison, the Jonway Galaxy is a big, weighty affair making commuting a slow and calculating business. The scooter-joy of leaving the traffic standing as you dash from the lights is lost on the Galaxy. Patience should become a well developed character trait with time, as the little 150 engine struggles to haul the weight of the big scooter around. This is evident on the highway, and factor in a pillion with some shopping in the boot, and you'll be going very slowly.
The Galaxy would be ideal with Jonway's 250 engine. It is the "twist and go" nature of scooters that really makes them so appealing. Automatic transmissions have occasionally been tried on motorcycles, but riders have mostly preferred conventional sequential manual gearboxes. Continuously variable transmission (CVT) is the gearbox of choice for scooter riders, though getting used to the CVT on the Jonway Galaxy took a while.
Originally published on www.cartoday.com
18 January 2006
18 January 2006
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