Heading out for dinner two-up on a 125cc scooter involved a degree of risk. I reckon Aussie traffic in the major cities is yet to fully accept scooters as a legitimate part of the road system and the chance of being bludgeoned into submission by an aggressive tintop driver was high on the menu.
But the Fly surprised, as too did the Mexican feast. The convenience of parking right out the front of Jose’s outweighed any nervousness I may have had about tackling Melbourne peak-hour traffic two-up.
In fact, the two-up Fly even won a traffic-light drag on the homeward journey and, by then, the load was far greater courtesy of Jose’s burritos and home-made crème caramel. Thankfully, the Fly’s seat offers ample room for two, as do the impressive footboards.
The 125cc Fly uses Piaggio’s four-stroke air-cooled powerplant which is also available in a 150cc guise. I’ll happily admit to being pleasantly surprised at how well the Fly zipped along with an indicated 100km/h on my homeward run along the Monash Freeway each night.
At those tapped-out speeds the Fly developed a vibration through its front-end but, at normal city commuting speeds of 60km/h, there was no such problem. And it’s around town that the Fly proved a boon — light, convenient and easy to ride.
The 12-inch wheels soaked up most backstreet bumps without any signs of nervousness while up front are telescopic forks and a 200mm-diameter disc. Getting away from the front of a traffic queue was never a problem — something that the 50-100cc brigade struggle with.
Even with the flat-out freeway blast every day and my two-up dinner-date, fuel consumption was less than 5L/100km. This figure dropped to around 3L/100km with more normal scooter use.
The $2990 Piaggio Fly is well finished and looks stylish, with under-seat storage large enough to accommodate a full-face helmet and a handy glove box in the front leg shield, as well as a bag hook. The instrument panel includes an analogue speedo, clock and fuel-level indicator, with warning lights for fuel reserve, high beam and oil level. Colour options are red, blue, black and metallic grey.
Accessories include a windscreen and two topbox options — 28L and 32L. Just the ticket for that doggy bag of leftover Mexican food after a night on the town.
