I found my new "car"; perfect for Houston weather...

[audiomick]

What a gloriously silly game. I wonder how long the motors last. Running pretty much constantly at red-line is generally not conducive to high mileages.

[p6x]

9 hours ago, docc said:

Living in a rural area, I find the minimum necessary speed to get the ten miles to the closest town is 62 mph/ 100 kph with 70 mph capability. I confirmed this, in no uncertain terms, riding my wife's 250cc Vespa that Piaggio claimed a top speed of 70mph. Running flat-out on the highway, traffic would stack up behind me, follow too close, and make maniacal passes. Checking the speed with my GPS, I found top speed closer to 60mph.

What Piaggio meant, of course, was that the speedometer was set to indicate 70 mph as the top speed. . . 

When I was a kid, we used to peek inside sports cars, to read the speedometer maximum speed. Naively thinking that it must have been the top speed achievable by the vehicle...

lol... we soon learned that it was part of the marketing to have speedometers reading 220 km/h for cars barely able to get to 140 km/h.

Seriously, the Ape I remember from Sicily, had two strokes engines, and I am certain they could go more than 30 mph (almost 50 km/h). The Ape in the pictures is a four strokes, 200 cc. I don't think it is a Piaggio engine.

Here in H'town, even in 35 mph limited streets, people are driving way faster, so you need power if you want to avoid danger.

[audiomick]

2 minutes ago, p6x said:

 I don't think it is a Piaggio engine..

Why not? Piaggio is, to my knowledge, the biggest scooter manufacturer in the world. Why would they buy in an engine in that category, when they undoubtably have one of their own that works perfectly well?

[p6x]

10 hours ago, PJPR01 said:

Maybe if you drove slowly on Westview only...or down to Starbucks it would be OK.  Unfortunately any of the feeder roads would be massively unsafe for sure...but it could be fun for Cars & Coffee at Uptown Park!

Westview within Spring Valley is safe. The Spring Valley police is there hunting all the time. However, as soon as you are pass Wirt East or Campbell West, traffic goes back to no limits.

I have not been to Uptown Park in a long time. Last time was a B'day at The Rustic.

[p6x]

1 minute ago, audiomick said:

Why not? Piaggio is, to my knowledge, the biggest scooter manufacturer in the world. Why would they buy in an engine in that category, when they undoubtably have one of their own that works perfectly well?

Because the owner told me spares are available from Europe, and when I asked him if it was a Piaggio engine, he omited to answer. For all I know, they could have installed a Kubota engine.

But the dead give away is that Piaggio does not make a 4T 200cc engine. it is 50, 150, 400; Vespa has 50, 125, 300

Now, the only 200cc engines were 2 strokes in the Vespa PX.