5 "deadly" weaknesses of scooters

High price

Equipped with more technology, more features, the process to produce a scooter is also more expensive. Therefore, it is not surprising that scooters always cost much more than manual transmission vehicles.

In Vietnam, although there are many choices, if the buyer is financially limited, it will be difficult to buy a scooter. The cheapest scooter in the Vietnamese market now costs nearly 30 million VND. That is an amount of money that not every family can afford.

Expensive

The high price of scooters hinders many people's decision to buy a car. However, the cost of buying a car only accounts for about 20% to 30% of the total cost, the rest is its operating costs such as: fuel costs, maintenance, replacement. This makes buyers more worried.

Any spare parts or maintenance for scooters are much more expensive than for manual transmission vehicles, from the simplest ones like the oil box that needs to be changed periodically, the spark plug, the pair of tires... or more complicated ones like the electronic fuel injection system (technology that is equipped on most scooters today, but in Vietnam, repairs are not popular and if it breaks, the only way is to go back to the manufacturer and replace the entire set).

Not to mention when there is major damage, the car owner will have to spend a lot of money on repairs and maintenance.

More fuel-efficient

Looking at the technical specifications, you may find that there are scooter models that have fuel consumption equal to that of manual transmission vehicles. But that is only in theory and in ideal conditions with no potholes, little wind, and no steep slopes. The vehicles tested in the field have had their oil changed to thin to save fuel, while in actual operation they use thick oil.

In fact, scooters have a much higher fuel consumption than manual transmission vehicles. The characteristic of scooters is that they are driven by a continuously variable transmission and a belt, so when they suddenly increase or decrease speed, the vehicle will "consume" a lot of fuel.

Faster "diaper"

With small wheel diameter to achieve the same speed as large wheeled vehicles, scooters must have larger rotational speed so the engine wears out faster due to friction.

One of the main reasons why scooters quickly deteriorate and break down is due to changing the engine oil. Engine oil protects the engine inside, prevents corrosion, cools and cleans the engine, helps increase its lifespan, and ensures good operation. If the oil is not changed for too long, the engine will wear out, accumulate dirt and break down.

In addition, poor quality and unsuitable engine oil also causes wear and tear, reduced capacity, reduced engine life and damage to other parts of the scooter.

Many unsafe features

Scooters are inherently designed without optimal safety factors. For example, the short front suspension travel combined with small tire diameter (AirBlade, Nouvo, Click, Lead....) makes it easy to fall when braking. The center of gravity is far from the geometric center of the vehicle, causing imbalance and instability when operating. Compared to manual transmission vehicles with the same weight, the feeling of pulling and operating a scooter is much heavier.

The improved Combi Brake system works effectively when the brake pads are new. However, after a period of use, it becomes a regression because the wear rate of disc brake pads is usually slower than that of rear drum brake pads. The front wheel brakes first while the rear drum has not yet had time to apply the brake pads before it has spread out on the road (against the safe braking rule "rear wheel brake first and front wheel after").