Modern Vespa

When I commute to work via scooter, either on my LXV or Stella, I take a street route. When I go by car I jump on the highway. I am thinking of buying a GTS or MP3 so I can travel on the highway. I know I have seen MP3s on the highways but not a lot of GTSs. So my question to the GTS owners are, do you ride on the highway and if you do how stable is the ride?

I sometimes get on the highway to go to Cape Cod.
It's about 110 miles of highway each way. If you keep your speed down to the speed limit and stay mostly in the right lane it should not be too difficult. Grooved pavement feels really bad but it's not as dangerous as is seems. If you only need to be on the highway for short distances I say go for it.

RIDE IT LIKE YOU STOLE IT.

We should meet up for a Cape Cod ride sometime. I grew up there.
Next spring. I know some great roads there.

I will be riding up from NYC, and yes, the GTS is fine on the highway.
I have ridden across the whole country.
It is as safe as you are comfortable with it.

I ride my GTS on the highway every day I can with no problems. I can easily keep up with traffic without having to be WOT and I feel very stable. Of course getting around the big rigs can be somewhat hairy but I just try to avoid those situations as much as possible and ride on.

The GTS250 will easily give you 75+ mph without struggling or feeling unstable.

I use my gts on allsorts of roads, just get out there & enjoy it.
They (gts's) do seem to catch a bit of wind under the front though, so be aware of that.

I have a GT200L and ride on the expressways here in southeast Virginia almost everyday.

The GT handles extremely well on the highway and seems to enjoy going 60 - 70 mph. Up to 45 mph wind and even downpours.

If you have a lot of riding experience in all conditions then the GTS should great for the freeway for you. Know the scooters limitations. You don't have a lot left to play with when you are cruising along at 70 mph.

If, however you don't have that much experience mixing it up in high speed traffic then it is best to feel your way into it by getting some road time when the traffic is not too heavy. The major benefit to expressways is that everyone is going in the same direction. The first time you get to enjoy buffeting from a tractor trailer or the little wiggles you get from crossing a grated bridge at 70 mph may raise the adrenalin a little bit but will be adjusted to quickly.

It seems that the reason you don't see that many scooters on the espressways is that many scooterists are new to the art of riding 2 wheelers and don't have the experience or confidence to move to that phase of riding yet.

Biggest rule that I preach is that you must remember that you are invisible to the other drivers and to always wear high visibilty gear.

I also would not recommend this type of riding without the MSF course in your resume.

Go for it and have fun!!!!
John

Once you've done it a couple of times you'll have no fear of riding on the highway on your GTS. I've ridden mine to get home from out of town on many occasions maintaining speeds of 130-135 km/hr to keep up with traffic in the passing lane.

Great, sounds like my master plan is going to work!

Thanks all

Daily freeway rider here. Get a windscreen (either low-mid or mid sized). Gusts of wind at freeway speeds can be brutal. Don't forget, full-faced helmet. Toreador Pants.

Got my M1 endorsement on my license on Friday, so restrictions were off, (no night time riding, no passengers, no freeways). I took a jaunt over the mountain from where I live to Los Angeles to visit a computer shop that had an item I wanted to pick up.

During the trip (about 140 miles total that day), I had occasion to travel on the freeway several times, the longest for about five miles in length. The freeways upon which I travel have relatively light traffic on the weekends, so speeds are whatever people want to travel. That's usually between 70 and 80 mph.

The GTS will do that, but is pretty maxed out at 80. Nothing left to give, and the throttle is wide open. On one short stretch, on a surface asphalt road, I had a strong wind behind me and was able to go faster...effortlessly.

From my legs on the freeway, I've come to the conclusion that I'm going to avoid them in the future, if possible. For traffic moving at 70-80, the GTS is at its limit. When you run anything full out, it shakes, rattles, and rolls. Just too much noise, jostling, shaking, etc. The rain grooves in the road did not affect the bike handling at all, which was a mild surprise to me. What was more of a factor is the wind.

I feel most comfortable traveling around 60 or 65. The GTS can do that all day. At that speed, the bike is smooth and gentle. More to give if needed. Faster than that for prolonged stretches is just too nerve wracking. I'm not sure what the sustained speeds were for the cannonball runners, but if it was anything more than 65, they are ironmen, and have my respect.

I've seen you riding it while playing a guitar.....

My 'grampa' full-size screen doesn't seem to slow me down - it does set-up extra buffeting, but the bike is self-righting and you soon learn to relax the death-grip. Fun!

I ride the freeways on my GTS very regularly, and am often in the left lane passing everyone else. That said, you've got to keep a close eye on your rear view mirror to see what's coming up behind you, and always have an exit strategy to get out of the way if necessary. This requires a lot of mental speed approximation simulations, i.e. "if the guy behind me is traveling at this speed, and the guy beside me is traveling at this other speed, when am I going to find a hole to dart to the right"?

I ride on highways every day.

It is not my favorite place on a scooter, but it is safe and not scary.

As Jess suggests, it is important to keep an eye on what's coming up behind you and merging in front of you--you don't have a bunch of acceleration available to get out of trouble, so you need to be alert and plan ahead.

With a flyscreen the bike will cruise at 65-70 with plenty in reserve. It will easily get up to 80+ when needed, but can be a handful at those speeds especially when it's windy. (All speeds adjusted--the speedo is quite optimistic).

P.

Been on all kinds of roads and in conditions on my Stella. First roads I rode where rural Virginia ones, little traffic and I could ride it like I stole it! Then on to suburbs and New York City driving, tried a little of everything, streets, parkway highway. Highway was a two mile test, middle of day, light traffic, just to see. So I know that Stella has not enough power for highway or parkway for that matter. The LXV is new so I have yet to really test it out, but I am sure that I will come to a similar conclusion. Although, I believe the LXV would be a better choice on a parkway, (no trucks, lower speed limit, and less traffic) than the Stella. It seems to get up to speed quicker and has less problems keeping a sustained speed. But that remains to be seen.

But my true lust is for the GTS or GTV. Last summer I went to a dealership and test drove one and a LX in the same day and boy what a difference in power, stability and comfort. I purposely went fast AND found some go old NYC potholes. Geez, I looked down and could not believe the speedometer! I was looking to buy one but I wanted to pay cash and a great deal for the LXV came up. My Stella and LXV may both be for sale in the spring

I stopped doing that because the handle bar wobbles...

More freeway riding tips. Do not ride next to a cager for long periods of time especially on their blind spots!

+1.

me too.

big wind is my bete noire. or my vespa's.

Get the heavier chrome handlebar weights, and lose the windscreen.

The windscreen acts like a sail when a semi goes by, and you get blown around more, not less with one on your bike.

Use soft hands on the grips instead of the kung-fu death grip, and the wobbles go away.

I ride on the Highway everyday, You COULD stay in the right lane but the GTS will want to stretch it out a bit and you will find yourself doing the slingshot out into the fast lane to ride the damn thing LOL. 8)

Just tuck in a bit behind the short flyscreen, stay loose and awake. The wind feels Hairy at first, but you have to just ride it, Have fun and Toreador Pants.

Yep, freeway riding is possible on a GTS. I put 7,000 miles on mine in July and probably 1/2 of it was freeway. Windscreen helps. It's also nice to get off the freeway and hop onto a highway or some surface streets just to keep you on your toes and in your seat. Check my blog!