I started my riding season in a odd way, aboard mid-size scooters (125 and 250 cc). Why? To determine if these machines represent a viable alternative to the automobile for the daily commute and other local trips.

My "small" Vespa GTS 250 rides on 12-inch wheels and, tipping the scales at 148 kg, manoeuvres like a dream. The thought barely enters your head and, whoa, it's already accomplished. After the bigger motorcycles of the last few years, you have to relearn how to direct a much lighter scooter. It's extremely tempting to split lanes and skip to the front of every queue at red lights, just like I used to do aboard my first motorcycle, and then leave them for dead with the help of the nice little engine and the continuously variable transmission - yes, it was "legal" and normal back in the day.

On a standing start, the Vespa accelerates quickly up to 70 km/h. From 70 to 100 km/h, it can keep up with the rush-hour crowd. Above 100 km/h, the 244-cc engine, which kicks out 22 hp at 8,250 rpm, settles down comfortably and lets the CVT have its head and deal with the shifting wind and inclines, zipping you along between 100 and 125 km/h.

This is where things get tricky. Say I am running two to three Ks faster than the car ahead. Do I slow down or change lanes and overtake it? Hmmm, which way is the wind blowing? Head- or tail-wind, or no wind at all? Am I going 100 or 118 km/h? Is there any power left to accelerate with? At 118 km/h, that's a negative! So do I cut it close in front of the rapidly approaching car and force it to slow down, or do I throttle back and lose all those lovely, oh-so-hard-won kilometres per hour?

Lucky Luc

P.S. To hell with the car, let him slow down!