Never apologize for being scooter trash!!. I've owned several scooters over the last 5 years, including a Piagio BV500, an Aprilia Scarabeo 500, and an MP3 400.I still have the Scarabeo and the MP3, and love them both. The Scarabeo has been ridden to several MSTA events, and I've had very little trouble keeping up with a mixed bag of bikes on rides. I wouldn't hesitate to ride either of these bikes across country, at freeway speeds. Long live the scoot!! Oh, they are also very comfortable. Syd
Syd,
Is that MP3 one of those leaning scooters, where the front wheels are not locked (except at low speed)? Recall seeing one at the bike show years ago thought it was an interesting design.
And welcome to Curt Chevlen (AKA osufz6)
I rode an MP3 to our annual State MSF update once a few years ago and offered test rides (part of the deal for the dealer loaning me the scooter for a long weekend). Being January, not a lot of folks had their gear with them, but the ones that did and took advantage of the test ride were pretty universally impressed. And that was the 250 version.
The wheels were close enough that you couldn't see them when astride the bike. And because they were articulated and invisible when astride the bike, you felt like you were riding a normal scooter...but knew deep down that you had twice the normal front-end contact patches for fun cornering and stopping.
I don't remember hearing much in the way of problems with these scooters. Maybe they dropped out of the product line because they were a bit quirky looking, too expensive, or you just got tired of people wanting to talk to you about them.