It figures that Honda will not bring the SH300i to the US. Why? Because I want one! This seems like the perfect scooter for me. Enough power, flat floor, great styling and (I assume) legendary Honda quality.
Why not a Vespa GTS250i.e.? Too unreliable, not quite enough performance, hard to do routine maintenance, not enough stateside dealers and an indifferent US distributor.
In the '80's I had a Honda Elite 250 scooter. I even took 4 & 5 day trips on that thing. It was an awesome machine that gave me NO trouble and was a blast to ride. Over the last 40 years I have had two BMW and three Honda motorcycles and none was as much fun as that little Elite.
So what scooters (250cc and above) do we get from Honda here?... the overpriced, overweight, too big SilverWing - the overpriced, overweight, too big, underperforming Reflex 250 - and the obsolete, overpriced, overweight, too big, underperforming Helix 250.
Honda in the US believes there is not much of a market for >250cc scooters. This is not true. There IS a market for really cool, and at the same time, practical >250cc scooters, like the SH300i. But Honda cannot sell what they will not import!
Posted: 08/01/2007 at 17:46