Following on from the advice above I have been to the only local scooter dealer which is Honda and had a look at the Forza 350 (no ADV in the showroom unfortunately). They only had the matt finish dark grey which looked pretty good though I am a bit unsure about matt finish painting general so any advice regarding colour choice ? The only gloss finish available is light grey which looks good online. Is it worth trying to wait for the ADV 350 to be available and have others managed to get any discount on the list price ? The dealer was not offering any incentives due to poor availability and suggested I would be best ordering now for March delivery, at least deposit is only £99 which is fair enough. So in a nutshell Forza or try for ADV (will be mainly used for pleasure on backroads with trips to Dales and lakes etc), what colour, and what deal could I try for ? Thanks for any advice, Martin

If I were you, and bearing in mind your comments re back problems, I'd have a test run on a Forza 300 first (might be easier than finding a 350). A good long test run at that.

When I "transitioned" from bikes to scooters I found that the Forza riding position wasn't good for my back at all. Since then I have been riding an Sh300i which is an absolute joy.

I enjoy my 250GTS, its 14 years old but still runs perfectly, bodywork has no rust. 12 annual service stamps and only 12000 miles. My friend has the 300HPE model brought from a Manchester dealer, they are great to ride, smooth, quiet with a good road present.
Some later models had fuel pump and fuel sender recalls.

The situation may have changed but only 3 weeks ago I was told they weren't taking orders for either the Forza or the ADV for the foreseeable. My ADV was ordered in April and once I was told I could expect one in December - maybe - I switched to a Kymco DT X360. Got my hands on that in two weeks flat.