A Quick one with Scomadi
First of all, how is Scomadi doing?
We’ve got the 50 and 125cc air-cooled scooters on the market and they’re doing well, we’ve sold 4000 worldwide. Production lines are now getting up to capacity and we’ve got an additional factory coming on board to cope with the 125 and 200 liquid-cooled bikes.
Are you happy with how it’s all going?
Yes, very. We’ve only been effectively selling for six months. We’re hoping to get production up to 16,000 by the end of 2016.
Where is Scomadi selling?
Worldwide. In fact we can’t take on any more UK dealers at the moment because production can’t keep up. We’re in Germany, France, Belgium, Thailand has taken off really well, Malaysia, Singapore, it’s going really well. We went through things last night and there are 99 registered Scomadi clubs of one kind or another on Facebook!
Tell us more about the new liquid-cooled models?
They’ll be built at the new factory. The engines are four-stroke, four-valve, twin cam, modern fuel injection by Magneti Marelli, dual map for economy or sport and we at PM Tuning have designed the exhaust system. We’re also working towards ABS for these too, with Bosch, to meet the forthcoming EU regulations.
Will it meet Euro 4 regulations?
It will be sold initially as a Euro 3 bike and then halfway through the year when the ABS is fitted it will meet Euro 4. ABS will typically add between £150 and £200 to the price of the bike. So if you’re not bothered about ABS, get in early and buy one of the bikes without it.
On the current air-cooled 125 we will use CBS (Combine Braking) which is allowed and it will help keep the cost down. We’ve also been working on a fuel injection system for that to help that meet Euro 4.
Do you anticipate the 125 or 200 selling better in this country?
In the UK the 200. There’s nothing wrong with the current air-cooled 125, but the new 125 will be a little faster. However we think people will really enjoy the 200. It’s got far more power.
How is the new 200 doing in tests?
Very good actually. It’s got similar power as a GTS 250 out of the box, and once it’s got a few miles on the clock it gets even better. It makes its power at a better place. Higher up the rev range, in the rev range too.
What modifications have you made to the frame and body for a liquid-cooled engine?
We’ve increased the efficiency of the scoop compared to our old 300s, and the location of the fan so that now it sucks rather than pushes. It means you don’t get debris stuck in the radiator or the blades of the fan, there’s like a vortex there. We’ve been testing it in China when it was 34 degrees and the fan kicked in just once!
The header tank is different too and you’ll get a little funnel to fill that with the bike.
By the way, the seats will be lower too and we’re introducing lower seat to all scooters across the range.
Finally, what is the story with the 250 six-speed concept scooter?
It’s here initially to see what sort of reaction we get. We built it to involve the rider a bit more with the gear change as opposed to being on an automatic. The engine in this is one of a few options we’ve been looking at, but we just wanted to design this scooter and show it to people. There are plenty of options open to us regarding tyre size, suspension and gearing, but if the response is good we may be able to start production towards the end of 2016.