Piaggio X7 300ie 278

Have only owned this bike a short while but will update if anything changes.

Pros:

- Fantastic engine performance. I used to have a Lead 100cc and so the difference is very noticeable to me. It pulls away superbly and accelerates up to around 50mph in no time, 50-70 does not have as much pull but at no stage does it feel sluggish, it will go all the way up to ~80mph also.

- Comfortable ride at higher speeds. The seat is very comfortable, I have seen AU users complain of being too close to the steering, this may be the case for taller riders I fear, but as a shorter man (5'8) it's a perfect seating position. The bike handles higher speeds with ease and suspension seems set up to be most comfortable on A roads and motorway. The large tyres mean the bike is very stable at high and low speeds too and, despite having not been on a motorway on a bike before, I felt very safe thanks to the stability of the bike.

- Looks good, I love the style.

- Manoeuvrable. Piaggio have aimed this part way between maxi-scooter and the standard smaller scooters. As such it remains very manoeuvrable at low speeds as well as high. It's no problem nipping in and out of traffic in London, whilst you still have the benefit of having more grunt too.

- Size. The size of the bike is excellent, with plenty of underseat storage and a massive top box (if you go for it) meaning you can comfortably carry a weeks shopping for 2, luggage for a weekend away or a few laptops. You can fit a full face large size helmet under the seat, it just needs to be put on it's side. Can fit another in the top box if need be.

- MPG - I can't quite work out the exact MPG yet as I didn't put a full tank in, however a £12 tank has so far taken me around 300km and I still have around 30km of fuel left I think. That is with a mix of city riding and high speed riding on large A Road (70mph).

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The negatives. Unfortunately so far I have experienced 2 negative sides to the bike.

- The speedo/trip metre has stopped working. It's booked in for warranty repair, this is a real pain and let down after just 2-3 weeks riding.

- The ride is a little firm around the city. London's roads aren't particularly smooth and at lower speed (5-20mph) you can really notice it. I may have been expecting too much though, it's no worse than my last scooter (Honda Lead) however I was hoping for a slightly softer ride in the city. I imagine this was compromised to make sure it was comfortable at higher speeds. That said, I used to get back pain on the Honda and have not since riding the X7 so it can't be that bad!

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In conclusion, if you are looking for a city bike that you can also use for longer distances (with a passenger or without) this seems to me to be the perfect bike, I will update if there are any other mechanical issues though, fingers crossed the speedo one will be the only problem I have.