Why two wheels?

With road congestion worsening and fuel costs spiralling upwards it’s easier than ever to justify buying a scooter or motorcycle. Fuel economy figures can be as high as 120mpg, road tax starts at just £15 a year and insurance costs can be a tenth of those for cars – a 17 year-old on a KYMCO 125 can expect to pay between £250 and £300 a year, on average. These figures represent massive financial savings as well as reducing demand on our precious natural resources, and with KYMCO’s prices starting at just £999 you can own a new scooter for less than the cost of a railway season ticket!

Scooters and motorcycles are about saving time and money as well as the planet, with carbon emissions at a fraction of the output of even a small city car. In typical city commuting there is no faster form of door-to-door transport, with rush hour journeys often taking an astonishing one third of the time the same trip takes by car! No need to speed, just ease through the traffic. But the time saved is only a part of the appeal; it’s the sheer dependability of journey times that attracts many two-wheeler riders. With no more hanging around for late buses or cancelled trains and no fear of traffic jams, you can accurately predict when you’ll arrive at work or an appointment. No need to set off far too early just in case there’s an especially bad jam, and when you do get there, parking is usually free and easy!

In one independent survey, commuters who’d converted to scooters from public transport showed lower levels of stress, had fewer days off sick and their managers reported 10 per cent better productivity. They found their lives became healthier as they had more time to spend with their families, eating better and taking exercise.

But there’s a lot more to two-wheelers than saving money and speeding up journey times... as if these weren’t enough! In a survey of London commuters by the AA, two out of three two-wheeler riders said they actively enjoyed their journey to work! As you can imagine, the percentage of public transport users who said the same was tiny, and car drivers didn’t fare much better. Put simply, bikes and scooters not only make sense, they’re fun too, so much so you’ll be out on yours at weekends and in the evenings for no other reason than it makes you feel good – how many times have you taken a bus trip just for the fun of it? Many scooter riders find they’re visiting their friends more often simply because it’s so cheap, easy and convenient, and then start using their machines for weekends away and for longer holidays too, getting even more value out of their wheels!