Hi all,

I was wondering if anyone had been and had a demo ride on the new BMW scooters....any opinions etc.....

Take a butchers at Yellow Max's thread:

http://www.maxi-muppets.co.uk/forum/vie ... =5&t=11596

Hopefully, in a weeks time, I will be able to add a few comments of my own.

Well I went from Aberdeen to Dundee on Saturday on my GTS 300 Evo to try out the C600 Sport. A distance of about 70 miles, to start off the SYM ran brilliantly, riding at between 70 & 80 all the way. Got to the BMW dealer and got introduced to salesman and got coffee etc. So eventually set off on scoot, and covered a good distance, of twisty country roads, dual carrigeway and a round Dundee city it's self. And I must say it's a brilliant machine, really enjoyed riding it. But when it came down to the deal, that certainly ended any idea's!! . Got all the usual bumff from salesman about the highline model came with this that and the next. He told me it came with daytime running lights. I told him my SYM did to! Oh well it's got a two year waranty, oh I said mine has three!! I mentioned that the BMW engine was Tiawanese, but I was told but it's built in Berlin. I think it's fitted in Berlin was my answer!! . So after that I went to visit the Piaggio dealer to see if he had an X10, but to late he had just sold it the week before, and it owner had picked it up. He said there would be more coming next month, so maybe another trip to Dundee. He did have a TMax Whitemax special edition with a private reg T500YAM. And looking at that I can see where BMW got there styling from. All in all a good day and a great round out for the SYM, total of 150 miles, brilliant.

So having ridden it, do you reckon that the BMW justified its price...?

gn2 wrote:So having ridden it, do you reckon that the BMW justified its price...?

Good question! Sounds like it didn't!

gn2 wrote:So having ridden it, do you reckon that the BMW justified its price...?

Yep the 64000, sorry 10-11000 pound question.

Can't see it myself, given you could near enough buy a new Piaggio X10 350 AND a Honda NC700X for the same price!

Well in answer to the question, no certainly not worth that amount of money. Advert on telly last night for the new VW Up! Prices from £7999. Over 2 grand cheaper than the BMW. I know bikes are more expensive, but that is too much!

What I've noticed about every write up of the BMWs - whether from crappy bike mag journos, clued up journos or Maxi-riding muppets is that every single person says that the BMWs are good or very good - but no one ever seems blown away by them. No-one ever reports wanting to sell their granny or live in a shed for a year so that they can afford to buy one.

Personally, if I still have a job next year (and I've no idea how big an If that is), and assuming I finally get a few £000 in compensation from the last accident by then, I'm quite keen to buy either one of the BMWs or a new TMax, or maybe a new model Burgman if one appears. But I'm not sure the BMW is that much of an advance on the TMax and whether the mk4 TMax is a worthwhile upgrade from the mk3. Of course, arranging a test ride of the BMWs should be relatively easy - though not so easy round here it seems - but finding a TMax to ride is not going to be easy. I certainly won't be bothering with the pointless BMW Highline versions, but still need a topbox and heated grips.

Of course, BMWs might start appearing on the second hand market by then - there are already very low mileage TMax mk4s around for approx £7250.

I recently read that BMW only expect to sell around 200 a year.

Unless they get a good conversion rate from existing BMW owners who happily spend £14k on a bike anyway, I wonder how close to that 200 they get?