IT’S OH SO QUIET AND PEACEFUL UNTIL…
I know electric’s the future but it’s not a prospect I relish. I’ve ridden a few e-scooters, all of which have been 50cc equivalents and it’s difficult to get enthused by their top end performance. In contrast their acceleration can be impressive. Thanks to the lack of moving parts there’s very little friction and as a result there’s a lot of torque on offer. One manufacturer told me that it’s possible to flip an unrestricted ‘125’.
I’m in Saigon with Pat and the Buzz team, having been promised a ride on their 125cc equivalent e-scooter. Looking around the showroom it’s clear that the Mk3 has been well thought out with plenty of nice touches. The LED indicators are unobtrusive, being mounted on the mirrors at the front leaving the panels clean and uncluttered.
Instrumentation is also well thought out and switches fall easily to hand. Thanks to the one piece body moulding there’s ample space under the seat and although the new battery packs haven’t been fitted it’s clear that there’ll be plenty of stowage space.
My test ride will be on the Mk1 and I’m warned that performance may not quite be on par with production models. Suspecting this is an advance apology for another disappointing electric experience I open the throttle wide. The acceleration is sudden, surprising and welcome. I find myself grinning and then lock up the rear end as all too quickly I reach the end of the street.
A few more runs and I remember that I’d parked a PX150 outside the shop. A head-to-head sprint is the obvious thing to do. Pat lets me win the first run but soon his competitive streak kicks in. Off the line the PX leads for a second or two and then the Buzz pulls away.
Considering these are first generation batteries the performance is impressive. However hard Pat tries, over 100m the Buzz is consistently 5-10m ahead of the PX and still accelerating. In fact it’s the most fun I’ve had in silence, perhaps the future’s not so bleak after all.