Welcome to part two of our big-arsed scooter comparo. In part one we got the intros and technical comparisons bit out of the way, enabling us to focus on the meat, veg, dessert and after-dinner mints (and in no particular order) in part 2. So, turn your computer screen away from where the boss can see it, crack open the Doritos, loosen your belt, and enjoy ...

SUZUKI BURGMAN

Burgman's sporty feel suits the urban jungle well.

The Burgman is not just the smallest of the bunch in engine capacity, it also feels physically smaller than the others. Seat height is the lowest and dry weight the lightest. The result is that – combined with a motor that needs the most revs before it bites and launches forth – it feels the most sporty.

Top speed we saw was a respectable 150 km/h, which is by a very smooth laying on of power (although thanks to having the least power on tap, it's the slowest of all the bikes to get up there). All was not perfect though, as despite fuel-injection, there was a slight miss/stutter between 3 and 4 thousand rpm.

Handling has a slight twitchy feel to it, which is odd ‘cause it’s got the longest wheelbase, but it feels very much at home darting in and out of traffic around town. The trade-off is that it was always slightly nervous at speed on the highway and got kicked around the most on rougher roads. Still, a preload adjusting knob for the rear suspension (the only one of the lot) allows for quick and easy adjustment.

Brakes are not going to send you over the bars with a quick tug, but they are quite nicely balanced to the machine, and no-one felt that they’d need more.

Ergonomics-wise I thought it was one of the most accommodating for the over 6 foot gorilla type (me). It’s the one with the most legroom and although the bars put you in a rather odd ‘dog begging’ position, they allow plenty of room for knees as a result. It’s the only one I could turn from lock to lock without have to splay my legs apart first.

S model comes with smaller screen.

Oh, and the back-lumber-support thingy could be slid fore and aft using a lever under the seat. Nice touch, especially when all the others required locking bolts to be removed and refitted per adjustment.

Our S version comes with a smaller screen (as well as some cosmetic differences) than the standard model, and although it looks about as useful as a chocolate chastity belt, the wind flow coming off it is very linear and no-one (except for open- faced Bobb) had a problem with it.

Storage wise, there’s the usual large cavern under the seat (big enough for two helmets), with two front storage compartments. These proved quite handy, but the doors seemed so flimsy – I was convinced that we’d have one or both broken off before the bike went back to Suzuki.

Oddly (for a CMG test), they were still there and functioning upon return, but it was a small point that led to a greater feeling – that the Burgman had the cheapest feel of all. Not horrible, just made to a slightly lower price.

YAMAHA MAJESTY

Almost Majestic.

Having tested the Majesty at the start of the year and testing it continually over the year as one of our long-termer bikes, I fear that I’m in danger of repeating myself, so I'm going to keep this brief and to points not already included in that initial test.

Of all the motors, the Majesty had the most character. I know that's a really hard attribute to define, but it just felt like a big old single and gave the biggest grin factor as a result. It also has a goodly amount of vibration, but somehow that only adds to the character – offering the rider more of a feedback-loop than annoyance.

The Majesty gave the plushest ride of all our testers, and felt securely planted most of the time unless taken to higher speeds (140 Km/h+) where it felt a bit vague and could develop a bit of a weave. Handling-wise it sits somewhere between the Burgman (flickable but twitchy) and the X9 (more motorcycle than scoot in feel).

Braking is well balanced but can be overly keen in an emergency.

The Maj is the only of the three to not have linked brakes and although quite nicely balanced, you can still lock the front if you had to stop in a hurry in the dry (something I didn't discover in wet Vancouver during our initial ride). Much like the X9, it comes with twin shocks at the rear that are a bit hard to adjust – requiring the use of a C-wrench to do so, and so were generally left as is.

The riding position is very comfortable, albeit with the usual cramping of us 6 footers, but unnecessarily so thanks to a parking brake lever on the left and throttle cables on the right, dropping low and bashing knees. The standard screen offers good protection, but we've cheated a bit as it's now fitted with a larger optional screen as part of our long-term testing, so I'll shut up about that for now.

Fit and finish and overall quality were excellent. When added to the general plushness of ride, the Majesty felt complete and integrated with a level of sophistication only challenged by the Honda Silverwing.

PIAGGIO X9

Piaggio X9 seemingly offers the most for the money.

I found it a bit odd that Piaggio would sell their X9 (a bigger and potentially more exotic scoot than the Japanese offerings) in the same price bracket as the Majesty and Burgman. It’s the only one with twin Brembo brakes up front, bigger 14” wheels, remote control (to open the under-seat compartment) and has the most aggressive styling (which reminded me a bit of the older Triumph ST for some reason).

With the biggest motor comes the most power and this is the quality that benefits the X9 the most. It’ll out-drag and out roll-on the others by a healthy margin.This makes it most at home on the highway, where it’ll book along quite happily at 150 km/h, and even stretch to 160 before it runs out of breath. It’s also vibe-free up there (there are some noticeable vibes lower down), almost begging you to thrash it like a Tory in a common bawdy house – which we were happy to oblige.

Twin-pot Brembos with twin-discs offer sharp braking.

Even though the X9 was almost fresh out of the crate, we did have some problems with the service light that went on and off intermittently and a tendency for it run hot post highway speeds, at which point it idled 500 rpm higher and ran the fan constantly until it had cooled off.

The X9 is the only one to come with a double disc and is further fancified with the use of twin piston Brembo calipers and a linked braking set-up. Oddly the brakes weren’t as fierce as the specs would imply, although they were certainly sharper than the other two scoots. Mr. Seck found this out to his detriment (as discussed in part one), although apparently there’s an ABS option too – but as far as we know it’s not on the Canadian menu right now.

The front suspension was deemed to be a little on the hard side by our two lighter testers (Bobb and Jon), although the more portly proportioned Seck and ‘arris found it to be about right. Unlike the knob-enabled Burgman, the (twin-shock) rear preload can only be adjusted with a C-spanner.

Ergonomically, despite having the tallest seat height (a massive 85 mm taller than the Burgman) the X9 still feels a bit cramped, although the riding position was pretty good – feeling the most motorcycle-like of them all, thanks to its upright, in-the-moment position compared to the lounge-chair feel of the other scoots.

Underseat storage is a bit lean. Warning stickers remind owners not to use it for carrying their pets! Babies seem okay though.

It’s not far off the Majesty for room, and yes, I did hit my knees against the bars. But the main complaint of all our testers was the softness of the seat. It initially feels rather plush, albeit a tad narrow, but after a relatively short time the foam compresses and it’s a tough bench to perch on for any amount of time thereafter.

it's also oddly difficult to roll off its centre stand. Not sure why, but the Euro-version goes so far as to fit an electric motor to help the process. But then, how hard can it be to make it just roll of a stand un-aided?

Underseat storage is the smallest of the lot and could not quite accommodate two full-face helmets. Also, the fuel-filler hole is quite a tight fit and for some reason did not trigger the auto cut-off of the station's pump – much to the shock of the tester, as gas shot out all over the bike (happening more than once, BTW).

The windshield is adjustable (needs tools) but we found it quite happy in the middle position. Well, except for the shorties who kept complaining about the wind coming around and pushing on their backs. Maybe they should have got the tools out and adjusted the thing. Hmhh, actually that would require effort and so be a very un-CMG-like thing to do. Scrub that comment.

THE CMG ORDER OF MERIT

(or how we figured each scoot's qualities, rated by characteristic)

The Majesty takes the overall biscuit.

Overall if we had to nominate a winner, the Majesty would get take it. It's got the comfort and overall plushness of the ride sewn up. Competent around town, it's very happy on the open road and will chew up the highway miles with ease*. The motor's very capable and has an almost characterful feel, but it can't quite compete with the extra umph of the Piaggio.

The Piaggio also wins in the braking department, but we do question whether twin discs up front for a scooter is a bit overkill. Yes, Mr. Seck did fall foul of the eager braking and it would be easy to blame Piaggio for this (which we're not), but there is an argument to be had to keep the edge off scooter braking in order to accommodate the intended market (including ham-fisted journalists).

X9 and Silverwing were a contrast in fit and finish.

Having said that, the Maj also had a tendency to lock-up the front if you grabbed at them, so maybe we should reverse our order and slap the gentler Burgman in the number one spot in the braking department? If anyone is considering big-braking on a scoot, they might also want to consider doing a Honda and adding ABS as standard.

Talking of the Burgman, it's happy place was well and truly in the urban surroundings, where its zippy and light properties served it best. As we already mentioned, it suffers on the highway as a result – not helped by its low screen (although the standard version comes with a taller jobbie) – and so gets the least touring-friendly rating of the three ... unless you're over 6 foot, then the extra space is most welcomed.

As far as quality goes, the Majesty has the best fit and finish of the lot. The X9 was somewhat spoilt by its poor quality finish, with panels that didn’t quite fit together – some of them still showing flash lines from the production process! The Burgman wasn't bad, but had a general feel that some cost saving had been performed in this area.

Chrome bits on the S were a bit gaudy.

We also found the S model to be a bit gaudy – especially the chromed bars and steering-head area, which we think is unique to the S. In fact, with a higher screen and some more subtle cosmetics, we're tending to think that the standard Burgman might be a better buy then the S – and a $100 cheaper to boot.

Overall, not a complete cut and dry analysis as each scoot tends to have its own characteristics that helps it in certain scenarios. As always, that's down to the buyer to decide, but for a good all-rounder we don't think you can go far wrong with the Majesty.

* We'll be taking the Majesty on our Fall Tour this week and will have a full report of how it coped on the very long-haul in the long-term wrap-up.

WHAT ABOUT THE HONDA SILVERWING?

"Look at my arse and call me beautiful". S'wing!

Okay, so we may have grabbed the Honda for just another scoot to ride than for reasons of comparison, but we thought it’d be interesting to see just what you get if you make the financial leap and spend an extra $2,300.00 (MSRP is $10,299.00).

Well, Honda do have a reputation for quality and this is maybe the biggest asset that the Silverwing brings to the table. Fit and finish are excellent and all the testers gave the S’wing top marks for styling (just take a look at the swingarm, exhaust, rear-end and flash dash if you don’t agree).

It’s also got a significant power advantage with its bigger 582 cc dohc parallel-twin motor that produces a claimed 50 hp and 37 ft-lb of torque. This all helps to give it a more highway-friendly feel, although that doesn’t mean that the other three were not competent in this area, just that the Honda was better.

Unfortunately there are some vibes generated – particularly under acceleration – and despite the use of two balancer shafts, it detracts somewhat from the overall feeling of schlick.

Although maybe not as spacious as 'arris had hoped for, the S'wing exuded quality and good design.

I was also hoping that Honda would have some extra space for the rider over and above the others, as I personally find all scooters rather cramped. No such luck, as apparently baby-boomers are all under 6 foot. Still, you can splay and bend into a decent position and overall the S’wing is on par with the Majesty for comfort, and on its own when it comes to wind protection (in a good way).

One thing that is currently unique to the Honda is ABS (which is in addition to its linked brakes). Given the perceived market, I think Honda may have made a wise choice here. If you read about Mr. Seck’s unfortunate ‘incident’ with the Piaggio in part one, then giving the aged and/or incompetents the ABS option (especially on a well-braked scooter like this) is not a bad idea at all.

Overall, the test team were impressed by the additional benefits of the Silverwing, going so far as to admit that if they were in the market, the additional $2,300.00 tag is a fair price for the extras you get.

However, the S’wing is also a significantly more complex machine, so we reckon that you might also want to budget for the impending additional service costs as well.

Want to read more about the Honda Silverwing? To see our thoughts on the Silverwing at this year’s Honda launch, click here.

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