The Climb Up and Down the Displacement Ladder

I started the climb down the displacement ladder about eight ago. I maxed out at 1500cc with Goldwings,cruisers and a Harley. Now I am down to 500cc, 225cc, and 170ccs with the 500cc bike soon to go on the selling block. My small bikes will exceed 70 MPH which is plenty fast for the type of riding I do now. Soon I will be back to where I started fifty plus years ago with a mini bike. Looking to buy a CT70 clone (110cc) soon.

I've done the same thing--I find I can have a lot of fun on the smaller bikes and while I still like arm-yanking torque, I'm constantly on the prowl for a used smaller bike. A 70cc kitted moped turned my head yesterday the same way a superbike used to.

I've seen this happen with other folks as well...they go all the way up the food chain to the big tourers and sportbikes and then find they're also enjoying the small bikes as well. Meanwhile, people on the other side of the curve sorta scratch their head...

I think the key is to have the right size bike (and motor) for the type of riding you do. I've been riding since 1972 and although I have ridden a number of liter class bikes owned by riding pals (and the big bikes can be fun on the open road), the largest displacement bike I have owned has been a 750. I have done extensive touring and LD riding on a 500 with total comfort. I'm a "less is more" kinda guy when it comes to bikes - I like them small and light.

For around the suburbs errand running, my 125 works fine. Anything smaller and I'd be run over by the aggressive cages. The 125 can stay even with traffic up to about 50 mph. It is my first choice for short trips.

For general motorcycling, I have found the 650 class to be perfect. I have done thousands of blue highway touring miles on my 500s and 650s and never wanted a bigger motor.

The World has found small displacement bikes suitable for freight hauling, family transportation, police work two up. Honda revolutionized the world with the cub and super cub.

Well said Soboy ! I have the same line of thinking .... I have a f800GS which is mucho fun and plenty of engine to take me ANYWHERE I want to go. Just got back from a 2700 mi adventure on it down to the TN rally, almost all sideroads to and from MA and had a blast.
Then I have a DRZ400 that I have supermoto wheels on, great for poppin around nearby towns and twisty side roads, also have dirt wheels to put on for weekend exploring of nearby trails. And the smallest of my "fleet" is a 150cc two stroke 4 speed shifter Stella scooter, and I commute on it to work about 10 mi each way almost every day. Tis my favorite commuting tool.

So yes ... have a couple or few bikes and use each for what their good for and have a blast doing it.

BTW...one of my favorite threads in the whole joint is the Minimalist Touring Thread.

yep, i remember in 1982, my brother had a 1981 honda passport. I had not owned a street bike yet and the 12volt 1982 had just come out. I told my best friend, an older guy who I respected very much, that I wanted to buy a passport. He told me that I wouldn't have the power to get out of trouble if needed. I bought a honda 500 four instead. I loved that bike and never regretted it but..................

Now, fast forward a bunch of bikes later as I rode around on my Harley, I longed for the passport. I bought a few but now I have an 82 red passport. I can not believe how much fun it is to ride. And when I go anywhere o it, I get into tons of stories with people telling be about the one they use to have. Or I get some chick asking me if it's a vespa

I also just bought a spacy 250 the elite of honda's elites. but the grin is huge on my face when I ride that 70 cc mighty mouse of a bike. There has never been a machine made that gives more fun than that bike.

I thinks it's part of maturity. When your young dumb and full of C-- you wanna show off and let everyone know how big your cahonies are. Little do you realise then that the guy on the small bike is the one. Bigger CC's doesn NOT mean big Pen is. (space intentional)

I currently ride an Aprilia Scarabeo 500ie. Lots of power for a scoot. Will do 80-90 all day (tops out at 100, 115 indicated). I love the ease of taking it to the store without switching gears etc. I love the 58mpg I get with it too. However, it weighs in at 416 lbs. No light weight considering. BMW 800 and r1200r weigh this much.
I think my ideal situation would be to own a 200 - 250cc and a tourer like an 800-1300cc. You could zip around on the scoot with underseat storage, great gas mileage and flicky steering all week; then, on the weekend you could do a 400 mile cruise in comfort.
My 500 is a almost too much to call a "grocery getter" but isn't enough to be a full on tourer. I want less engine in the city and more grunt from 50mph up.

Aprilia does have a 200 and 100 cc Scarabeo and used to import a 150 Scarabeo into the US. Problem solved on the low end, although I'd even advocate going 50cc for in town.

The high, touring end means moving to a Burgman or Silverwing since you think the 500 too small. Or you could keep it Italian and just get a MP3 500. It seemed perfect for touring when I gave it a look.

I am relative noob to the riding scene only having 7000Km on my scoot but I feel pretty lucky with my purchase. I bought a People 250 as I liked the larger wheels and enough engine to get up on the freeway without having every car run up my tail.

85% of my riding is on suburban streets and in neighborhoods. The other 15% is in-town freeway riding which is usually at or near WOT and I get up to 80 MPH indicated most times on the freeway.

It great for the in-own traffic as it is pretty short and has good acceleration. I can store plenty in the under seat met-in box and more in the topcase.

In deciding what cc size to get, I considered what speeds I need to travel at. In the Sacramento area, the homes are in neighborhoods with 25 MPH streets with some 35 sections. These feed to 40-45 MPH feeder streets that run 50 MPH most of the time. I felt if I could not do 50-60 with no challenge, i was ok. For me, this meant there wasn't a 150 CCcapable of doing so. The in-town freeways are marked at 55 or 65 MPH and run 70 frequesntly.

If I were to tour more, I would get a larger bike that is more freeway stable but since it is not an everyday need, I am sitting pretty with what I have.

YMMV

I like both ends of the spectrum. I love my 1200 Bandit, and my Suzuki RV90.

Although, if someone put a gun to my head and made me sell one, the Bandit would be out the door

Doh, double post.

I'm actually going down in cc's. Had a honda elite 125cc and just got a yamaha c3 50cc. It's plenty fast for my commute, can get out in front of cars off the line and has 45mph top speed. I just never felt that safe going 55 in my old honda. Also with the smaller scoot it is much more maneuverable.

I had 2 bikes for years(250cc scooter, liter bike) but it seemed as time went on the liter bike was only getting used about 10 weekends a year. So I sold the liter bike about 3 years ago and miss it at times but not enough to incur the yearly expense of an added vehicle. I am partial to 250's as they have enough to take you down any road but the freeway and even when I had my liter bike I avoided the freeway whenever possible.

Here in sunny California, you need to get on the freeways to get to certain parts of town in a time efficient manner. Going north out of downtown Sacramento you cross the Sacramento river and your low speed alternatives are 5 mile or more longer. I just looked, it is the difference between 14 miles using the freeway and almost 19 miles of surface streets.

I too avoid them when I can but it's not always practical to avoid and I can get up to 80 MPH indicated most days on my P250. I have gotten used to doing the freeway thing.

My Daelim S-2 250 shares the same engine as your people 250 but in my Daelims maxi body I can only get 74mph out of it. I happen to live in a rural community so avoiding the interstate is not much trouble for me. FWIW, KYMCO makes a solid engine.

Spree 50 - 1986
Elite 80
Riva 125
Elite 150
Elite 250
XL 350r
RM 250
GS 650
Nighthawk 650
Nighthawk 700s
Gpz 750 Turbo
VF1000r Interceptor
GSXR 750
FZR 1000
Magna v65 1100
CR 500
KTM 625sxc
Dr250se
XL200r
Honda Elite 150
Honda Elite 125 - 2003

And Now a 2004 Honda 250 Reflex Sport.

I loved them All.

That is the primary reason I got this bike. When I started shopping, I test rode a Piaggio Fly 150 and BV250, I looked longingly at the expensive sheet metal on the not-as-practical-as-I-need-it-to-be Vespa. I liked the ride of the BV's big wheels. I went online to do more research and bumped into hundreds of glowing compliments about the People 250. I really liked the durability factor and the usefulness. I read this article where a groups of M/C nuts ran a brand-new P250 for 24 hours and covered 1466 mile (2360.7 km) with an average speed of 61 MPH (including fuel stops /oil checks /rider changes) and it sold me.

I found my ride in a craigslist ad. I called, setup a visit, looked at , checked with a Kymco mechanic who said ...I sell them but they never come back for repairs (service yes, repairs no) and I bought it ($2,200). It came home with a hair under 16 K and I am now at 23,3XX. I have changed the rear tire, the brake pads, and the CVT belt (I still need rollers).

23,000 miles, thats fantastic. I was shooting for a feel good point of around 20k. Yours is the highest mileage KYMCO I have heard about to date. If I have the same luck you have had I will stop feeling bad about turning my back on Honda after I got 46,000 out of my last elite 250. The Daelim happened to be 2 grand cheaper than a Reflex so I rolled the dice.

Have you ever had the valves adjusted? Mine has just over 6,000 on it and is running fine so I have ignored the manuals advice and have not messes with them. I never adjusted the valves on my elite.

I have 23,XXX Kilometers.. not miles. I know I am in the US but they measure in K and I am not offended. It seems funny so many are. I have not adjusted the valves since I have had it, I am sure the previous owner didn't either. I have heard they are easy to adjust.

I wasn't aware that Daelim had Kymco engines in them.