Piaggio Skipper 125

Bought this 125 2-stroke as a daily commuter not expecting much but have been pleasantly surprised. Build quality seems fairly good, everything works (though a wire on the speedo lights needed re-soldering after 14 years). Handling is rather skittish which isn't unusual with little wheels, though new tyres improved it. Performance is better than expected and it get away from the lights well, with a top speed of 60-70mph. It's quite capable of holding its own on the open road, though perhaps not the best bike for motorways. More modern restricted 125s may not be quite as lively, however. MPG could be better and it returns a fairly steady 70 in mixed use not thrashing it. All in all a pretty decent little runaround.

i had my skipper st125 4 stroke that i bought for 500pound just over a mouth before i got sick of it and got rid of it. its was registered in 2004 with 6700 miles on the clock. worst bike ive ever had or ridden the stearing is heavy so rubbish handling. top speed 65 pushed to its tops on a straight motorway when a nice gilera 50cc would do the same. had it in the work shop 3 times for the same thing of water getting in the spark plug even tho it had a sheet over it :s and the battery dieing once. baddly designed all pannels attached so u have to take off alot of panels to get to 1 thing so a night mare to repair something. wouldnt recommend this bike to any1. the best/fastest and great handling mopeds are gilera runners and easy to get hold of parts. very highly tunable bikes i was told there the safest mopeds you can buy only bad side is skippers are alot cheaper. being from north london muswell hill,east finchley north finchley frien barnet area there are alot young riders so i can say from knowing and seeing if ur small or a starter rider the best bike is a piaggio typhoon or zip as they r small and light and then most go on to gilera runners or even bigger bikes such as ccm r30 but need alot of skills to be able to ride 1 of them safely

Only had my Piaggio Skipper a day so can't really comment on reliability and stuff like that but here is my first impression review.

Got it for £400 from eBay the guy was local so went and picked it up. It's nippy enough, but not the fastest of scooters. It does a steady 60 in all conditions and in good conditions around 68ish the standard top box is massive and fits loads of stuff in, but unfortunately my helmet doesn't fit under the seat although it is a crosser one as my proper bike was pinched.

It is fun to ride once you are used to the handling and size, and is obviously great for beating traffic.

All in all I like this moped and would recommend it to anyone as a good sensible commuter as its 4 stroke so good on fuel and typically more reliable with plenty of room for your lunch and stuff.

========================================================================

Update - 27th June 2007

In general I do love my little ped. I did have a 125 motorbike that was stolen and owning a ped is very different.

It goes round corners well once you are used to the size and weight it is quick enough to pull away faster than cars from the lights so you can fly through traffic. It has loads of storage space and the ped doesn't look to bad without the top box either. At the end of the day if you are wanting a cheap way of getting around with the convenience of the storage space then get the skipper.

But if your wanting speed and performance get yourself a 2 stroke Gilera Runner because they go so fast!

The bikes exhaust was rusty when I bought it for £400 however I have now sanded it down and painted it with bbq paint and it now looks amazing.

In general it is what it is a good reliable ped thats good on fuel and very practical as long as you have somewhere to put it at night!

========================================================================

Update - 31th July 2007

I have had it 3 months now and can confirm reliability is fantastic so far. I went away for 2 weeks and when I came back it popped a bit, but started on the first push of the button. Realistically you're not going to get more than 60 out of it despite my previous review saying 68ish.

Just to clarify, a fantastic commuter that would happily do long trips fuel consumption is good but don't worry when your fuel light comes on because it will still go another 40 - 50 miles.

Another thing to add is the bike is quite big compared to other scooters so bear this in mind for storage. My proper crosser motorbike was smaller and much easier to manuvre in the garden.