Piaggio Fly 125

Plucky Practical $2990+orc

Words by JEREMY BOWDLER,  Courtesy of ScooterSales.com.au

Come on, what do you really need from a scooter? Practicality? Economy?

Performance? Affordability? Pizzazz?

When you go shopping for a scooter, which box do you tick first? Or do you check them all? And have you ridden the Piaggio Fly?

I managed to cover a couple of hundred kilometres on one in a couple of days while I was in Perth and I came away impressed.
For those unfamiliar with our westernmost capital – apparently the most isolated city in the world, for those who like to quote that sort of statistic at dinner parties – Perth allows drivers with car licences to ride 50cc scooters without any further licensing requirement, and has a road system singularly unsuited to the practice.

The freeway runs north to south and is out of the question, minor roads are 50km/h limited (like the scooters), but the roads connecting suburbs are 70km/h, with highways up to 90 (and sometimes more).

Of course, 50s are everywhere, but I found a 125 a much better proposition, particularly when on the first day I picked up the Fly in Joondalup in the city’s northern fringe (next stop Geraldton) and met the remarkable PX-across-the-Nullarbor Richard Beatty for coffee in Fremantle in the far south (next stop Mandurah).

With 200km on the clock, the Fly wasn’t run-in, so I avoided the freeway and took the West Coast Highway instead, cruising at 70-80km/h along the coast and taking advantage of the Fremantle Doctor en route. Easy.

The run back was memorable, the sun setting over the ocean, the coastal road, the scooter and me. It was kind of disappointing to turn east and start climbing into the January heat.With roughly another hundred kilometres on board, the next day I ventured forth on to a faster highway en route to cover another story (but that’s another story).

Anyway, when the road signs indicated 90km/h, so did the Piaggio’s speedo. And the Fly comfortably kept pace with the traffic. So far so good.

Next test, comfort. I spent the next couple of hours cruising around the outskirts of Perth, reliving my days as a motorcycle courier there. It was about as hot as it was for my three-month stint (45˚C), but as long as I kept moving it was okay. The Fly certainly didn’t mind. That was another 100km day and I was fine with the saddle and the ergonomics.

I was beginning to be even more impressed. So I decided to test the Fly out in the cut and thrust of city traffic. Back down the Great Eastern Highway, across the Causeway and up Adelaide Terrace, 3pm on a business day.

The only problem was I couldn’t find any traffic, let alone cut and thrust. I made it from the WACA to Kings Park without stopping and at a steady 60km/h, so I did a bit of nipping and tucking around the block, to no avail. I couldn’t show any car drivers how superior a scooter was because I could barely find any.

Across to Subiaco, where I put everybody’s nose out of joint by parking in a couple of impossibly small spaces, then I got bored with driver baiting and wound my way back to the in-law’s place via Leederville, Mt Hawthorn and major roads north. Fuelled up before I got home. A figure of 3.1L/100km before the first service is mighty impressive from a 125, and should drop into the 2s once the engine loosens up a bit.

Perhaps even more impressive is the way the scooter rides. The 12/12-inch wheel combination offers a good balance between manoeuvrability and stability, and the ride is pretty good over a variety of surfaces. I adjusted the rear spring preload to its maximum

a) because I’m heavier than the average scooter rider and b) because I like more weight on the front wheel and a more aggressive stance to the machine (comes from riding motorcycles). Even so, there was a slight tendency to understeer – easily controlled by a little rear brake application mid-corner – but you expect that from most scooters.

Certainly it wasn’t anything to complain about, just present like a thought in the back of my mind.

The footwell was flat and well shaped for bag (or beer) carrying and there’s the ubiquitous and very handy bag hook as well as a lockable glovebox that I found irritating. I have nothing against gloveboxes per se, and would like nothing better than to leave stuff in them. It’s just that the Fly’s glovebox is opened by pushing the ignition key lock inwards, which I managed to do just about every time I put the key in the lock to turn the scooter on. Result? Opened glovebox. I’d push it closed, but I’d catch the dangling keyring in the lid. And have to start all over again. I guess you’d get used to it. I never did.

Which goes to show that honesty is the best policy. Piaggio claims the seat height has been kept to a lowish 785mm to broaden the scooter’s appeal, though there is also an optional low seat that might help some people feel more comfortable about riding. In addition, the tapered front means it’s easier for more riders to touch the ground confidently. Practical, economical, fast enough for Perth...

Okay, so the pizzazz factor may not be up there with the Vespa brand, but it’s not too far behind and it’s actually a lot closer than you might think. The Fly is more or less the non-Vespa Vespa.

For a start, it’s built around the LX125 Vespa powertrain with the same engine – the four-stroke Piaggio Leader – and transmission and it does everything the LX does, bar carry the name. Instead of the LX’s traditional pressed-steel monococque Vespa shell body, the Fly has a tubular steel frame covered in plastic bodywork.

This is cheaper to repair since the individual plastic panels can be replaced, rather than requiring a panelbeating job as is the case with the Vespa. But then it also costs significantly less than the Vespa.

For less than $3000, the Fly has an awful lot to recommend it. Mostly because there is no hidden promise, no mystery, no seduction, just a capable, practical, honest scooter and, in just about every case, honesty is the best policy. ✽

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