Piaggio X9 500 Review

“I have owned my Piaggio X9 Evolution 500 Scooter for...”

Written on: 13/06/2005 by Parsifal (2 reviews written)

Good Points
Usability
Looks
Equipment
Purchase price

Bad Points
Service costs
Accessibility for maintenance

General Comments
I have owned my Piaggio X9 Evolution 500 Scooter for around 15 months now, and have used it for daily London commuting and for a number of longer trips.



The X9 is a very pleasant bike to ride in all traffic conditions. My only criticism in this area would be that after only a short period of use in very heavy 'rush hour' traffic, the transmission can get rather rough and noisy. This phenomenon does seem to be getting less apparent as the mileage increases however.



I find the overall performance of the machine to be adequate with sufficient acceleration to make life interesting and, to make for a good level of confidence in heavy traffic, both in town and on the open road. The handling is again adequate especially considering that it is a maxi scooter with a fairly large lump of engine/transmission bouncing up and down with the rear wheel. Motorway cruising up to and just beyond the UK 70 mph legal limit is very relaxed.



Braking is pretty good too, though personally I don't much like the linked set-up whereby the right lever operates one front disc and the left, one front and the rear disc. I really only use the right lever anyway, and find this adequate in most cases. In fact, I have managed to lock up the front wheel on several occasions but found that the bike does nothing nasty or unpredictable when this happens.



Fuel economy is much as you would expect considering the spec. with between 50ish and 70ish mpg depending on usage.



Reliability has been good with only one real problem when I found that after I had been away for four weeks, the battery had insufficient charge left to start the engine. When used on a daily basis however, there have been no problems.



Overall, I am very pleased with the X9 500. Compared to the offerings of other manufacturers it is well priced, especially considering the excellent level of standard equipment. The mildly tuned 460cc single cylinder motor is a gem. Plenty of torquey response and with an excellent progressively smooth fuel injection system. My only real gripe would be the difficulty in accessing things such as the oil dip stick/filler, the battery, brake pads and light bulbs for routine maintenance purposes. For instance, the exhaust system and rear wheel have to be removed in order the change the rear brake pads.