The Italians, you may have noticed in our World Motorcycling features, have been building some outrageously trick 49cc two-stroke scooters, with disc brakes, swingarm front suspensions and styling that would need no modification to capture a part in the next Star Wars epic. Generation X has been paying attention. Now, as the motorcycle market is re-bounding, so is the scooter market. And, again, the same young, hip buyer is at the controls. Swing through Manhattan, West L.A. or Florida s South Beach and you ll spot the trend.
Scooters are back.
Of course, they never faded in Europe the way they did here. In a crowded city, where a motorcycle is too big, too powerful, and too fuel-thirsty for congested traffic, a scooter fills the bill. Demon lanesplitters, and often legal to park on the sidewalk in other countries, they make sense in city and suburban landscapes. The Honda Foresight has been a hit in Europe and in Japan since 1997. More highly evolved than the last models to arrive stateside, the 355-lb.