A-Z of Scooters at Motorcycle Live 2022

This week it’s Motorcycle Live at the NEC and we were there yesterday to check out some of the scooters on offer.

Last year’s show was still mid-pandemic and it still felt a little strange, in fact, during the 2021 show, the Covid regulations changed halfway through, which put a dampener on things. Thankfully that all seems like a distant bad dream and it was good to see a vibrant show with thousands of visitors flooding through the doors as it opened. Also, according to one of the organisers, there had been a higher-than-usual number of younger showgoers, which is encouraging. 

Anyway, here’s an A-Z roundup of some of the manufacturers and machines that caught our eye…

BMW

BMW Motorrad had a huge stand with their entire scooter range proudly on display amongst the bikes. The electric CE 04 still looks like a futuristic concept despite being available and on the road already. 

Fantic

Sitting alongside some stunning ebikes this little red and black Fantic Electric scooter looked pretty funky. It runs a 3kW motor with an option to be L1 or L3 licence friendly and has a respective top speed of 45/65km. The backbone-style frame is made from aluminium and looks great.

Honda 

The first thing that stood out to me on the Honda stand was the bright red SH, the photos don’t really do it justice but it looked vibrant up close and was accentuated with subtle SH graphics and colour-coded top box.

The chart-topping SH350i comes with selectable torque control, keyless ignition and LED lighting.

Also, the excellent Forza 350 has been refreshed for 2023 and has an electric screen and Honda Smartphone Voice Control system (HSVC).

Of course, the Honda Monkey bike and Cub always make people smile and attract riders of all ages. 

Kymco

We recently rode some of the Kymco range and at the show, we found out that the brand new 3CV and AK550 would now be arriving in the UK in January 2023, a few months earlier than planned. Unfortunately, the updated AK wasn’t at the show but we’ll look forward to seeing and riding both those scooters again soon.

The 3CV seemed to draw punters to it all the time I was at the show, you can read our recent first ride report here. Kymco also announced a free Datatool tracker with all new scooters, as we reported earlier. 

The Ionex/electric Kymco range is certainly going to grow over the next couple of years and we’ll keep you updated here on ScooterLab.

Langen

I know it’s not a scooter but bare with me. Langen is currently the only manufacturer in the world (aside from Vins) making brand-new road-legal, large-capacity two-stroke motorcycles. The British company have taken the Italian-built Vins, fuel-injected, ram air fed, 250 v-twin engine and mapped it to create a 76bhp 120 kg thing of beauty. It’s an inspiration for people like me (and people from the Retro side of ScooterLab) who still love the excitement, sound, smell and feeling of a highly-strung stroker. The most important thing though is that this exquisite beauty meets current emissions limits.

The engine has been de-tuned from 95bhp but there’s an ‘old school’ two-stroke map available if you want to give it that authentic 90s stroker feel. Long live the two-stroke.

Lexmoto

Another firm following the current trend for adventure scooters are Lexmoto with the XDV. It’s a 125cc scooter complete with 3-piece aluminium cases as standard. I like the exposed fluorescent side strengthening brace and rugged styling of this scooter.

MotoGB

Lancashire-based multi-brand distributor, MotoGB had the most diverse range of scooters under their collective umbrella. With Sym, Royal Alloy, Italjet, Lambretta and Keeway all on show. Sadly there was no 500GP from Italjet.

You can see photos of the new Royal Alloy GT ‘Grand Tourer’ in the gallery above, also the Keeway Sixties has that 60s vibe and I couldn’t work out if it was Peugeot Django inspired or a mixture of modern Lambretta and Peugeot. Either way, it comes with a (probably) Piaggio-derived 278cc engine… 

Stirling Eco

One of the most unusual brands on display came from Stirling Eco, a London-based artisan brand of custom electric scooters/bikes. Not only did they have an electric chopper with a sidecar but they had plenty of cool paintwork on display, from metalflakes, candies and pearls to full custom airbrushing, graphics and diamonte detailing. They’re certainly different!

Silence

It was good to see Silence showcasing their current range of electric scooters and microcars. We road-tested a couple of their models a while back, you can read about them here. 

Super Soco/VMOTO

We’ve also road-tested Super Socos in the past on ScooterLab and the brand is now being amalgamated into parent company VMOTO. Like many manufacturers, they’ve also gone for an adventure-style scooter with the new CPX, which can come with one or two batteries depending on the rider’s requirements.

The company also support some of the world’s most prestigious race championships so there were a few team paddock scooters on display. It would be good to see some pimped-up electric scooters out on the streets. 

Suzuki

The Japanese manufacturer has had a few scooter-sized gaps in their range for a while now so it was good to see three brand-new learner-legal scooters. The funky-coloured Avenis 125, the more reserved Address 125 and the premium level Burgman Street 125EX. Each scooter brings something different to the A1 party and givesSuzuki a chance at this competitive segment of the market. We plan to be riding these scooters in the New Year. 

The 400 Burgman also looked great in it’s new grey paintwork.

Yamaha

The new XMAX TechMax 125 and 300s look fresh and very distinctive with their X-shaped headlights. Whilst their bigger, meaner brother the TMAX still has a great presence.

Beige seems to be a bit of an ‘in’ colour for next year, we’ve already seen the Vespa GTV in Milan and Yamaha have treated their Tricity to a matt beige finish as well, it looks quite good though actually. Like Kymco, the Yamaha scooters also come with a free Datatool Stealth tracker worth £249, a great addition for added peace of mind.