[RaghavEvoX]

Hello BHPians,

I need your suggestions to help me buy a scooter.

I'm 36 and never owned a scooter in my life.
I currently own a Hyundai Verna 1.6 P AT (4.5 years) and a Honda CBR250 (10 year old).
Till now, I never really had any requirement to buy a scooter.
But now with my daughter's school starting next week, (school to home is 14 km) I am contemplating to buy a scooter.

As of now, I use my car for pickup and drop.
No, I am not using the school bus as I feel she is still young (6 years) to go alone. May be after a year or 2, I will think about it.
I don't use CBR250 as that is used only when I go alone. My daughter and wife are not too comfortable in that.

2 main reasons to buys a scooter - Mileage and Parking near school.

Mileage

Distance to school from home is 14km and I drop in the morning and then pick up in the evening everyday.
So everyday it is 56km just for school pickup and drop which roughly translates to 6L petrol consumption (my car averages 8-9kmpl in the city). Which is a minimum Rs.660 per day.
And monthly roughly translates to Rs.15200.
Now my plan is to go by car in the morning for drop and in the evening, go by scooter for pickup.
I can reduce the fuel expenses by almost half(around 7k) .

Parking

It is hard to find a parking place near the school in the evening when picking up(mornings are still better) and I park like half a km away from school and I walk down to pick up.

So having a scooter really makes sense for me now. And generally I keep my vehicles the longest time possible.
I am considering only 125cc + scooters. Had a slight inclination towards EVs, especially Ather but with recent fire incidents, a definite NO at least in the foreseeable future.

My requirements from the scooter

• Decent performance
• Decent mileage
• Should be comfortable for the pillion
• Should be reliable

Here are the ones I have shortlisted.



Mileage source - Bikewale.com

Amongst the ones selected, I am more inclined to NTorq 125 but not sure about the comfort levels.

[Cyborg]

Originally Posted by RaghavEvoX

But now with my daughter's school starting next week, (school to home is 14 km) I am contemplating to buy a scooter.

Amongst the ones selected, I am more inclined to NTorq 125 but not sure about the comfort levels.

Raghav, for comfort and very decent power (scooter segment) the Suzuki Avenis should be perfect for your needs. It’s smooth, excellent suspension and has the tried and tested engine from the Access 125. The NTorq 125 has more power but will suffer in the comfort department comparatively.

14 kilometres (one way) on a scooter with your daughter is your call if you chose to do it, but unsafe in my book.

Happy shopping.

Cheers

[sreejithkk]

I haven’t ridden Ntorq much. But out of Activa 125 and Access, I found the Access to be better in terms of comfort.

[akhil_007]

I m not judging you and the situation you're in but 14 km on a two wheeler for a 6 year old is definitely not a good idea. The kid is too small to bear the journey especially after a tiring full day at school.

She might have to go through dust, dry eyes, potholes and uneven road conditions on a daily basis. Secondly, the pillion seat is too wide for a 6 year old to sit comfortably for long time. Also, the kid cannot move around and has to be sitting in same position for an hour atleast.

So

1. Better to change the school which is closer to your home
2. Move your home closer to school.
3. Drop and Pickup in car daily
4. Send her in school bus.

I will assume options 1,2 and 3 are not feasible immediately. Best bet will be to send her in school bus. It provides a good social environment for her to be with her friends. She can sleep, stand, read, play and move around in a bus. Its also less dusty, protected from elements of nature.

[KPR]

Originally Posted by RaghavEvoX

2 main reasons to buys a scooter - Mileage and Parking near school.

Considering that you will be the only rider at home, why not a 110 or 125cc comfortable bike like TVS Raider, Shine or Splendor. They are great on mileage to own and maintain, better comfort for 28 km ride than a scooter any day.

[shancz]

From your list, based purely on comfort, voted for Jupiter 125, looks marvelous too.
The Access should be the second choice.

The NTorq will sound and feel great but comfort and FE aren't its strong point.

But based on your usage I would strongly suggest to take a look at the new iQube S when you're at the TVS showroom
Do a TD since I haven't ridden it so cannot comment on the comfort.

[GreasyCarb55]

Originally Posted by RaghavEvoX

Hello BHPians,

I need your suggestions to help me buy a scooter.


Amongst the ones selected, I am more inclined to NTorq 125 but not sure about the comfort levels.

I echo the opinions of BHPian's akhil_007 and KPR, picking up a kid by Scooter and travelling 14km every school day is not the ideal solution in my opinion.

Here is what I you can do:

• Send your kid to school via school van/bus.
• If that is not viable you can consider a 110cc or 125cc motorcycle as KPR suggested, more comfort + much better mileage. You should always test ride and decide.
• I would say a scooter is a last resort but if you have to the Access 125 or Avenis 125 would be my choice, choose the one you prefer. If it wasn't for the tiny fuel tank and impractical footwell I would've suggested you sacrifice some mileage and get an Aerox 155 because of how much fun that scooter is but as it stands an Avenis 125 or Access 125 is better for your use case.

Excluded the option of changing schools, shifting residence or pick up and drop by car as something like that could be unviable and/or too expensive.

[RaghavEvoX]

Thanks BHPians for your concern and comments.

Originally Posted by Cyborg

14 kilometres (one way) on a scooter with your daughter is your call if you chose to do it, but unsafe in my book.

Yes, I understand. It's just a stop-gap arrangement till I find some better solution.

Originally Posted by akhil_007

I m not judging you and the situation you're in but 14 km on a two wheeler for a 6 year old is definitely not a good idea. The kid is too small to bear the journey especially after a tiring full day at school.

She might have to go through dust, dry eyes, potholes and uneven road conditions on a daily basis. Secondly, the pillion seat is too wide for a 6 year old to sit comfortably for long time. Also, the kid cannot move around and has to be sitting in same position for an hour atleast.

So

1. Better to change the school which is closer to your home
2. Move your home closer to school.
3. Drop and Pickup in car daily
4. Send her in school bus.

I will assume options 1,2 and 3 are not feasible immediately. Best bet will be to send her in school bus. It provides a good social environment for her to be with her friends. She can sleep, stand, read, play and move around in a bus. Its also less dusty, protected from elements of nature.

Thanks for your concern brother.
It's getting deviated more to a school travel discussion rather than which scooter to buy
But this is what I like about T-BHP where the concern is genuine and we discuss everything and not stick to just automotive discussions.

Let me try to answer you.
1. Better to change the school which is closer to your home.
Ruled out. Till 5 years my daughter was in a Montessori / Play school and then only I realized how difficult it is to get an admission in a good school after 5 years.
At least in Chennai most of the good schools, the admission is only for LKG and very rarely opens up for other standards.

2. Move your home closer to school.
This is what we decided when we took admission in that school but when we started looking for rented houses near the school, it was shocking to hear the rental quotation.
Monthly rent was almost equal to yearly school fee.
My only requirement is a 3BHK and a covered car parking.
By the way, I am still searching for a house with a reasonable rent.

3. Drop and Pickup in car daily
This is what I am doing now.
Like I mentioned, more than the fuel expenses, it is the parking near the school which prompted me to go for a scooter.
I park the car like 1/2 km away from school and walk for 15 minutes and then pick my daughter and she also has to walk back 15 minutes and then we start.
If I go in a scooter/bike, I can park next to the gate and that will be of great help (will save valuable 30 minutes).
I have to go back and work also.

4. Send her in school bus.
This is also something I considered but i feel she is quite small to travel in a bus. May be I am an over-protectionist father

Originally Posted by KPR

Considering that you will be the only rider at home, why not a 110 or 125cc comfortable bike like TVS Raider, Shine or Splendor. They are great on mileage to own and maintain, better comfort for 28 km ride than a scooter any day.

I already have a bike (CBR250) and I somehow feel scooters are more comfortable than a bike.

Originally Posted by shancz

From your list, based purely on comfort, voted for Jupiter 125, looks marvelous too.
The Access should be the second choice.

The NTorq will sound and feel great but comfort and FE aren't its strong point.

But based on your usage I would strongly suggest to take a look at the new iQube S when you're at the TVS showroom
Do a TD since I haven't ridden it so cannot comment on the comfort.

Like I mentioned before, No to EVs.
(I dropped plan to buy my favorite Vento TSI after reading all the DQ200 issues in T-BHP.
Do you think I will buy EV after all these fire incidents)

Originally Posted by GreasyCarb55

I echo the opinions of BHPian's akhil_007 and KPR, picking up a kid by Scooter and travelling 14km every school day is not the ideal solution in my opinion.

Here is what I you can do:

• Send your kid to school via school van/bus.
• If that is not viable you can consider a 110cc or 125cc motorcycle as KPR suggested, more comfort + much better mileage. You should always test ride and decide.
• I would say a scooter is a last resort but if you have to the Access 125 or Avenis 125 would be my choice, choose the one you prefer. If it wasn't for the tiny fuel tank and impractical footwell I would've suggested you sacrifice some mileage and get an Aerox 155 because of how much fun that scooter is but as it stands an Avenis 125 or Access 125 is better for your use case.

Excluded the option of changing schools, shifting residence or pick up and drop by car as something like that could be unviable and/or too expensive.

Thanks for the genuine concern and your suggestions.
But I think many people are feeling 14km is too much a distance.
It is ofcourse a substantial distance, but doesn't take more than 30-40 minutes to reach either way.

[TheHelix0202]

School bus would be reasonable. 6 is an age that’s old enough to handle oneself.

But I would suggest you pick up a 125cc bike (or just grab a Burgman), and do get her a small helmet wherever you go.

[GreasyCarb55]

Originally Posted by TheHelix0202

School bus would be reasonable. 6 is an age that’s old enough to handle oneself.

But I would suggest you pick up a 125cc bike (or just grab a Burgman), and do get her a small helmet wherever you go.

Agreed, Steelbird, Vega and Studds all make helmets for kids you can pick up for about a Rs 1000-1500 but I would sticking with Vega solely because they offer a full face kids helmet while the Studds and Steelbird options are only open face.

[deep_bang]

I would suggest to add TVS icube to the list.

[giri1.8]

Have been using the Access for the past 4 years for short commutes and few long rides, has been completely trouble free. Great FE is an added bonus. Seat is long and wide, good under seat storage, footboard is flat and large enough, amazing handling(for a scooter ofcourse), brakes are great too.

Ride is slightly harsh when compared with scooters like Jupiter, but manageable nevertheless, service is just okay, but hardly anything has gone wrong till date.

I can understand your situation, finding a good parking near schools can be challenging, we have 2 cars at home, yet I often find myself choosing my reaching for the scooter keys.

[vigsom]

Since the thread is on a pillion friendly scooter, I'd say get a Suzuki Access or a TVS iQube. I'd still prefer an IC engine driven scooter until these EVs see 2 or 3 monsoons for potential issues to be sorted out. The two wheeler will be a good one for local runabouts and a must have for Chennai. I don't find anything wrong in taking the kid on the scooter on the route you mentioned provided both riders wear helmets.. It is a clean road, with smooth flowing traffic, except for some snarls at the IIT junction and Chamiers Road. Yes, pollution is an issue but one can't help it. However, my first choice is a school bus.

Our kid travelled by school bus all the way from KG-1 to Std X in Surat - no issues faced whatsoever. In fact there, all kids would take the school bus and dropping at school would be by one's own vehicle only in the event of missing the bus. Post that for his Class XI and XII my wife used to drop him on scooter (Kodambakkam to Chetpet) which used to be a 5-7 km ride based on the route taken. Scooter because it was quick, and MTC bus service on our route would mean one changeover and at least 25 mins extra time. Both riders would always don helmets.

Originally Posted by RaghavEvoX

change school closer to home; realized how difficult it is to get an admission in a good school after 5 years.

As you rightly pointed out, scoring admission in a school in Chennai is like an achievement. Once done, one should hold on to it for as long as one can.

shocking to hear the rental quotation.

Obviously yes. Any rental places close to your kid's school will be frightfully expensive. In fact, where you currently stay is just about right. Better places at lower rentals is possible only if you move farther away.

feel she is quite small to travel in a bus

A common issue faced by most parents, especially in Chennai. I've known many who do not take the school van or bus since the comfort factor is just not there. However, I'd say that this is the safest option. Use this as the primary option and the scooter drop as the bus-miss option.

[shancz]

Originally Posted by RaghavEvoX

(I dropped plan to buy my favorite Vento TSI after reading all the DQ200 issues in T-BHP.
Do you think I will buy EV after all these fire incidents)

Point noted on no EVs.

Although the DQ200 vs "EV" isn't the same since the DQ200 was the same unit on all cars whereas putting all EVs in the same basket isn't fair especially to the ones doing quality work, IMHO.
But if you're concerned about the concept itself then that's a different thing.
Although I agree that the ideal time to get an EV isn't now.

So the Jupiter 125 and the Access 125 would be my pics, in order.

[GreasyCarb55]

Originally Posted by RaghavEvoX

Like I mentioned before, No to EVs.
(I dropped plan to buy my favorite Vento TSI after reading all the DQ200 issues in T-BHP.
Do you think I will buy EV after all these fire incidents)

I agree with the EV incidents, most electric scooters are essentially moving fire hazards in India. Keyword being "most" and not "all".

Out of all the EV Scooter brands Ather is the only one where I can stand behind it and say "This is a quality scooter that I recommend". While most EV scooters spontaneously combust I personally know 3 people who have had crashes on Ather scooters (One being an older Ather 450 and the other 2 being the newer Ather 450X) and neither of them have ever caught fire. The only reported Ather fire incident is the one where they were cleaning a crashed scooter that had come in for service with a pressure washer.