Piaggio X9 250 Review

Overall Rating

Easy on the Juice.
Relative good handling for such a design.
No more hunting for gears in heavier traffic.
Feet and legs are kept relatively dry in light-moderate rain(if you're riding along).
Pretty nifty in traffic.

Not the most reliable bike (onboard computer died, carburator valve jammed, fuel line burst)
Airflow of standard screen (buffteting my helmet straight on)
Seat comfort (as compared to other makes like Yamaha Majesty, Suzuki Burgman etc)
Vibration from the 250 engine traffic crawling speeds are quite annoying

I've had the Piaggio X9 250 for about 2 yrs now. I had 'inherited' it from a friend who had decided to leave the country. It had only about 10,000km (6,200miles) on the clock and was hardly ridden in its first 2-3 yrs.
I use it for short rides to work, about 15 mins every morning and evening; and what joy it is in traffic as compared to my other ride (XRV 750 with hard cases), which is far bigger and not so traffic friendly. I almost make it a sport to pass as many vehicles as possible in the mad rush in the mornings and evenings. As I live in the tropics, the rains are highly unpreditable, so the added weather protection from these scooters are great. I only wear a long rain coat, those that extend to the length of my knees to keep dry. As long as the I'm pottering along and the rain is moderate, I'd remain relatively dry. This is a lot more convenient than the 2 piece rain jackets I'd have to put on when I'm riding a regular motorcycle. The standard screen that comes with the bike works quite effectively in fending off the rain, but when the Speedo goes above the 80kmh(50mph) mark, the buffeting of the wind on the helmet is quite annoying. I've explored some of the after market screens, but aesthetically, it looks quite bad with an oversized screen, so I've yet to commit to one.
The engine is considerably frugal, however, the vibes at lower revs annoy me no end, especially with heavy traffic to contend with. My 250cc engine is that from Honda. My X9 is the first generation with the honda engine, similar to that of the Honda Foresight. Its a trusty unit, and provides a reasonable torque throughout its rev range. It propels the bike to a max of about 75-80mph, and I usually cruise around that speed unless traffic or the road gets in the way. On a more open road, I often wish there was a little more juice, particularly on a motorway/highway/expressway(whatever thats called in your country). But for a 250, I think its best when pottering about the city; anything more demanding than that, I'd suggest that you explore a higher capacity machine, like that of a T Max, Silverwing or a 650 Burgman. Those, I'm sure would provide a lot more juice, but I doubt if it would be as friendly in the city.
In this short time that I have had the bike, few things had gone wrong with the scooter and had left me stranded. Once, whilst bombing my way to work, the bike stalled and I rolled to a stop, and couldn't restart it. After taking it to the shops, it was diagnosed that the valve preventing the carb reservoir from flooding was jammed....so a new carb had to be ordered, but this scooter had only about 10,000km on its clock, and a Honda Carb messing up? Strange that. After the swap, the scoot was once again happy. I had collected it back over the weekend. Monday came and I was again on my way to work when the bike stalled AGAIN! This got me fuming as I thought the shop had swiped me; but after getting the bike towed to the shop, they showed me the cracked fuel line and had it promptly changed; once again, the scooter was happy as can be. Another time, after riding the scooter in the rain, the onboard computer died completely the following day. Leaving me with no indicators, speedo, or tacho; as they were all linked. That was quite a costly replacement; and I thought it was quite unreasonable for a component like that to fail when the mileage was relatively new. I did find out from the forums that this was a common occurence on this model. Even on the replacement computer, whenever it rained, there would be strange haphazard occurences, like the high beam lights switching on, by itself etc. One of the strangest happenings was when after a hard ride through some curvy roads (and a couple of speed bumps, which I casually disregarded and speed through), the left brake lever completely failed....had no braking force whatever, leaving me with only the front brake. That nearly did me in when I finally came to some slower traffic. What was even more strange, was that after I had parked the bike, thinking I had to bring the bike to the shop the next day, the brake lever and restored it's function the very next day I hopped on it! I don't know how to explain these things away, but for now, I'm keeping my fingers crossed that it'll not happen again.
But other than the above failures, the scooter has been serving its purpose very well. As for me, I'm already thinking of upgrading to something with more cylinders and power. As I like it smoother and faster, but overall, if I were to recommend a feet forward scooter to start on, this is a fab bike. Its frugal, nimble in traffic, weather-protective and quite a comfortable scooter. I'd suggest a 2nd hand buy though, as with the new price, I would have topped up the $ to get a faster scooter.