MAVERICK HONDA SCOOT’S A HOOT

I’ve ridden some weird and wonderful bikes in my life. The best was a lovely 1942 Harley WLA, the worst was a wallowing 1967 Harley Electra Glide, and somewhere over to left field was a Nick Gale custom Predator with a hand gearchange under my left knee.

And now to that pantheon of lunacy, I can add the Honda X-ADV, the world’s only adventure scooter. Mind you, we should hardly be surprised since Honda has a history of not so much being off the wall as jumping clean over it with machines like the DN-01, Vultus or Goldwing F6C.

And quite right, too. After all, who wants to be normal?

Not the X-ADV, that’s for sure. It’s a scooter that isn’t really a scooter, since rather than having the engine over the back wheel as in traditional scoots such as a Vespa, it’s got it in the motorbike position, with a separate swingarm and chain drive, similar to the Yamaha Tmax, which is the best handling scooter I’d ridden to date.

It’s also got a 17in front wheel and a 15in rear, similar to the Tmax’s matching pair of 15in ones, all of which boded well for its handling.

Twist and go, and even with only 54bhp pulling a substantial 238kg, the engine is surprisingly lusty, transporting you towards the horizon with more alacrity than the 530cc, 45bhp and 225kg Tmax.

And that’s in Drive mode. Toggle into Sport modes 1 to 3, and it becomes satisfyingly sprightly, particularly since this new model allows the engine to rev another 900rpm to 7,500rpm, at which point I was whizzing down a Spanish dual carriageway at 85mph past surprised car drivers, with the screen doing a very efficient job of keeping the wind at bay.

A diversion onto some mountain twisties confirmed that I’d been right about the handling, which is pleasantly light and neutral, while braking, with twin disks up front, is muscular but smooth.

Now here comes the weird bit. I pressed the G for Gravel button on the dash, headed off up a dirt track and had a good laugh at how surprisingly stable it was, although I wouldn’t particularly recommend standing up on those footboards.

In practical terms, there’s space under the seat for a helmet, and it’s only £160 more than the Tmax.

But stuff practical. It’s completely bonkers, and I loved this bike for that reason alone. Honda CX-ADV

Price: £9,959

Engine: 745cc parallel twin

Power: 54bhp @ 6,250rpm

Torque: 50 lb ft @ 4,750rpm Colours: Silver, white, red

TWISTY The CX-ADV has motorbike