• Today's scooters can get anywhere from 60 to 115 miles per gallon (mpg).
  
• There are three general classes of bikes: 50cc, 125-150cc and the 200cc+ (maxi-scooters) engine sizes. Smaller scooter engines generally get better gas mileage, but will max out at about 40 miles per hour. Large bikes of course go faster, with a varying mileage trade-off.
  
  
• A motorcycle license is typically required for engines above 50cc.
  
  
• Do not buy a two-stroke scooter! They require adding oil to the gas, making them the most polluting engine on the planet.

To start: 50cc vs 125cc (and up) - Which engine size should you buy?

In a nutshell: get the larger engine. Here's what I can report after owning a Honda Metro (49cc) and now a Vespa LX (150cc): while I loved getting 100 mpg (!) in the Metro, after several months of getting comfortable riding a scooter and using it as my primary transportation, I found the speed limit of about 40 mph was interfering with really scootering the way I needed to get around. While rarely do I need to hit the highway, even on most of the major side-roads I found getting left behind in traffic. At stop lights and block-to-block riding it's the first out of the blocks, and very zippy. But for longer rides I found the 49cc engine to be rather limiting. And can be dangerous in faster traffic (when you're not keeping up and someone can ram you from behind not paying attention). Keeping up with traffic I seemed to be maxing out the bike's engine all the time.

The decision really comes down to how/where you planning on riding. If all you expect to scooter is in your neighborhood, or condensed city areas, a 50cc would be the best choice for shorter distances, stop-n-go traffic (ie getting 100+ mpg). These bikes are typically smaller and easier to handle for new riders. If you see yourself ditching the car (ditch it! ditch it!) and want to scooter full-time around town and longer trips, a 125-150cc sized bike would be highly recommended. Also with a larger engine, you'll have extra power to carry a passenger. As gas is now approaching $5/gallon (and soon to rise even more with bombing Iran 'on the table'), it may not be long before scootering will become the only means of transport for many more poeple. A larger engine may costs a few hundred dollars more, but you'll be getting twice the bike.

Top scooters:

Genuine Scooter Company - Buddy The 'Buddy' has been scooter market's best friend since it's lauch just a few years ago. Reviews are off the charts. The 125cc model is highly recommenced. Gets 80-90+ mpg and has enough pep to hit 60+ mph. One of the top bikes available for the price, features, and performance. A new 'International' version is also available in 150cc which may be the winner of them all with the extra speed to even hit the freeway and still get amazing gas milage. The Buddy might be the best (gas) scooter currently offered, vying for top honors with the Vespa/Piaggio brand... which is no small feat. Links: Official Genuine Scooter website Buddy Review by Just Gotta Scoot Modern Buddy Forum
Vespa LX - Piaggio A lot can be said about the Vespa. The history, the style, the ride. But for all the glamour the Vespa affords--if you can afford one (as they are the most expensive scooters on the market)--the most undersold aspect of these scooters are its' amazing engine design that emits practically no CO emissions*. The specs say it has a 4-stroke catalytic LEADER engine. What I've heard that means is that it recycles the exhaust to an extent, with a resulting .2 CO ppm. An average car emits 2-10 ppm. The only downside is that with the larger engine size and weight of an all-metal body, there is slightly reduced gas milage--I own this bike and get about 65-70+ mpg in mixed city/highway riding. While Vespa lists the bike as going 60 mph, I can hit 70+ no problem (once hitting 80 on a downhill). Perhaps the main advantage of the Vespa line is the 'brand' value that comes with a purchase. Vespas are known to run forever. And visually it by far stands above the rest of the class with it's iconic, timeless fashion. [Stay tuned for a more detailed review of this bike] Links: Official Vespa Site | Piaggio Modern Vespa Forum Vespa Wiki

Stay tuned-- more Buyer's Guide info coming soon! (Posted: July 1, 2008)

Yamaha Vino 125 - 95 miles per gallon!

Yamaha C3 - 115 mpg!

Honda Scooters:
Metropolitan - 100 mpg!
Elite 80 - 85 mpg!

And stay tuned for this one...

140 miles per gallon Hybrid Vespa!

On emisisons and choosing the best 'eco' or 'green' scooter

*A note should be added to clarify what emissions are about here. First, anytime you burn gas, you create essentially two types of emissions: CO and CO2. CO2 is the bad guy that causes global warming/climate change. It doesn't matter what engine you are running: a burnt gallon of gas will create the same CO2 no matter what. Getting better mileage (or less driving) is how to cut your CO2 and limit your impact on climate change.

CO on the other hand isn't a greenhouse gas exactly, but is the dirty soot that comes out in the burning process. Diesel engines are the extreme of the trade offers, producing no CO2, but tons of CO. For scooters, two-stroke engines are also off the charts with CO levels. Never buy one. Even though the newer two-strokes reportly use catalytic converters--do you really want to be using up oil so needlessly when a four-stroke can run on just gas?

This site, as it develops, will strive to find the exact numbers for every bike we can. However initially the Vespa/Piaggio is the only bike that can be recommend as a 'low emission' engine, and despite the lower gas mileage (say vs the Buddy or Vino) may be the overall best 'green' engine bike available.

UPDATE: The answer to which scooter is the most environmentally friendly will come down to the Vespa vs every other high mpg scooter. As a buyer you need to evaluate how many miles you'll be putting, and decide which 'impact' area you would rather trade-off. The Vespa will likely burn cleaner than, say, the Buddy (tho it also has been reported that it has a catalytic converter which oddly isn't included in their specs), however there's a real milage difference: 65-70** vs 80-90.

I can say flat-out that if the Buddy was availble when I was shopping for an upgrade bike from the Honda Metropolitan (October 2006) I would have opted for that over the Vespa: less expensive and better milage. However with my choice at the time being between the Vespa and the Yamaha Vino 125, I went with the Vespa based on the better emissions... and I'll admit: vanity. I love the style of the Vespa. However part of the decision was in how much I really planned on using the scooter. I do web development and work at a home-based studio. I put on less than 2,500 miles a year, scootering someless only once a week for about 10 miles (for my weekly basketball games). And now with a new road bike, I'm scootering even less. Thus while I deem emitting few greenhouse gases (CO2) probably more important than the smog factor (ie look at how many trucks flood the roads), in my case the percentage difference of C02 emissions compared to a better mpg bike would be pretty small relative to the amount of miles I'd be putting on. NOW... if I was communting every day about 10-20 miles... I probably would have gone with the Vino, which would have been sold to get a Buddy. I'll probably keep the Vespa until the hybrid model comes out, and then the bar is raised once again.

**Some Vespa LX 150 owners claim of getting 80 miles per gallon. How you drive (ie zipping off from stops, weight of the rider, type of gas, general engine maintentaince (ie oil changes, tunes-ups), and tire pressure can all play a role.

What about electric scooters?

The electric scooter market should be in full boom right now. The problem has been low gas prices during the 90s didn't help lay the groundwork for R&D that should have been there (looking at you Uncle Sam, Detroit). That said, there are a handful of electric bikes now starting to come out. And they look great:

Vectrix

Zero Motrocycles

Evader

Barefoot Motors (ATV)

The main issues with electric bikes at the moment are speed, range, price, and availability. Even if you could live with going only 30 mpg for about 40-50 miles (Vectrix excluded), you may not even find on in your area. Much of this is simply supply and demand. You can bet as gas supplies get to be $200/barrel (by 2009) people will be demanding more.

More planned content for Scooter Buying Guide.com:

• Owner reviews
• Community forum
• Video reviews
• Photo galleries
• Misc multimedia (virtual bikes, audio)
• Dealer listings

Other articles on improving gas milage/miles per gallon/mpg:

Engineer Gets 110 MPG Out Of '87 Mustang

Tips to Increase Gas Milage - Hypermiling

Other scooter buyer's/buiying guides articles & links:

Just Gotta Scoot - Great reviews and buyer's guide

Provoscooter.com Scooter Buyer's Guide - some basic overall tips

Scooter Diva Buyer's Guide - Specs on scooter models

The Air Car