I’m getting some stickers printed up, and giving them away to help encourage riders to wear good gear (they look cool too, if I do say so myself). All you’ve got to do is send me a Self Addressed Stamped Envelope.
Details and high-rez download are here http://www.masukomi.org/gear-up/
If you work at a motorcycle / scooter shop, or know someone who does, please point them to the site. The sticker is CC licensed so they are free to add their own logo, print them up, and give them to customers (give, not sell).
If you’ve got a local riding club/meetup/group/whatever you can add your logo and give them out too.
Please feel free to re-post this on other message boards you think might be interested. Also, I’m happy to tweak the layout for anyone who wants to print up a version in a different size.
Summary: A good, stylish, hot-weather jacket that wishes it could be more.
Background: Let me set the scene for you. I refuse to ride without protection. ATGATT baby. But last year all I had was the Fieldsheer Highland II which is excellent untill the thermometer hits 70, and is heat-stroke inducing when it hits 90. This year, I was determined to get some good gear that would keep me cool on those hot days, and hopefully look good. When Revzilla had a sale on Fieldsheer stuff I jumped at the chance to grab a Judy Cool for $80.
Sizing & Fit: Having already bought one Fieldsheer product I knew that their sizing charts were pretty accurate and they didn’t disappoint. Overally the fit is quite good. The wrists are a bit tight when done up correctly. However, while the jacket fits correctly, there’s a design flaw that’s not unique to Fieldsheer: It’s short, especially in the front. This seems to be a trend in the industry. Unless you’re buying a 3/4 length jacket it will barely meet the top of your pants, especially if it’s designed for women. The Judy Cool does dip lower in the back and looks as if it is long enough to compensate for when you bend forwards, but what actually happens is that the extra fabric just tilts outward away from your body leaving a large gap.
There are two problems with this. The first is safety. As you go skidding down the asphalt a shorter jacket like this is likely to get pushed up and expose your midriff. The second problem is what happens on cool and wet days, because as you lean over on your bike or scooter the cool and / or wet air will be chilling around the exposed sides and back of your midriff. I suspect this would be mitigated if I happened to own a pair of Fieldsheer pants to attach them to, but I don’t.
The Heat: This is where the Judy Cool shines. Take out the liner and the wind rushes over you. Your back isn’t going to be as cool as it could be because of the back armor, but personally I’d rather have a slightly hot back than risk having no back at all. Similarly, the outside of the arms are covered with ballistic nylon which you’ll be very thankful for if anything goes wrong. While I haven’t had a chance to take this out in 90 degree weather yet I have no doubt that it will perform excellently.
The Cold: The Judy Cool comes with a liner that can be taken out and used as an insulated waterproof windbreaker. It really wants to be a jacket that you can wear almost every day, and it would succeed if it wasn’t for air rushing in under the back. I took it out for a short ride in the low 40’s the other day and my lower back was freezing. Like most Fieldsheer liner’s this one does a surprisingly job, but there isn’t much insulation behind the front zipper, so while I wasn’t cold I was definitely cool along that line (as well as my freezing lower back).
The Rain: Fieldsheer claims the liner is waterproof, and I believe them, but when I had the opportunity to test this in the rain I asked myself “What’s the point?” because no matter how dry my upper torso stays, my rear midriff is pretty much guaranteed to get wet. So, I put on gear I knew would keep me dry instead. For me, this is a big deal. I constantly find myself riding in the rain. Eventually I did end up riding in a medium strength rain with it whilst on my scooter, and the upright seating position meant that the back of the jacket continued straight down over my waist and did keep me dry. I do not believe this would happen on a typical motorcycle where you’re curved forwards to reach the bars (street or cruiser). The Liner: most of the time when someone claims you can take out a liner and use it as a jacket it’s more of a “if there’s nothing else available” type of situation. But the liner is actually comfortable and doesn’t look bad. It’s not high fashion, but it’s not bad. I have only two complaints with it: On some of those days where it’s slightly too cool to go without it you may find yourself sweating when you come indoors. For me this was as I stood in line at the counter of the local motorcycle shop, and I rarely sweat. Even worse, I found that I would stick to the inside of it which made it really difficult to take off. I’d also note that the warmth of the liner concerns me if I ever need to use it on a hot rainy day. Given, things do tend to cool off when this happens, but even if it drops from 90 to 80 I’m still not going to want to have to wear a thermal liner to keep dry.
The snaps Fieldsheer has used to secure it to the outer shell are just evil. While they do a great job of holding it in they’re really really difficult to grip and pull apart when you want to take it out. Even when you look at it it’s not obvious where to try and pry in a fingernail to coax it open. I feel sorry for any woman who has nice manicured nails and wants to open these.
I really wish that Fieldsheer would give up on the pretense that this is an all weather jacket, declare it for summer use only, and halve the thermal properties of the liner.
Armor & Protection: There is no question about it, Fieldsheer does armor right. The Judy Cool comes with CE rated back, shoulder, and elbow armor that feels strong and comfortable. Unlike many jackets you don’t feel, or look, like you’re wearing football pads under everything. In addition to the Back piece there are also a couple padded ridges towards the lower back that are shaped like wide V’s. As I mentioned earlier the outer arms are covered with ballistic nylon that should do a good job of keeping your skin on. I’m not sure how well any mesh, even “Polytanium mesh” is going to hold up against asphalt, as I can’t seem to find any numbers on it’s tear resistance, but like most things it’s a compromise. You give up a little protection to keep from overheating. Reflective Material and Piping: You’ll see mention of the Phoslite piping and retroreflective panels at the front and rear of the elbows, and while I appreciate both, the former is like advertising it has a couple highly visible strands of spaghetti, and the latter, while helpful, feels like too little too late. It’s all stylish and good but I really wish more manufacturers would start adding significant amounts of this because it’s so incredibly visible at night.
Construction Quality: Everything seems well made on this coat. I wish that the loops that the liner snaps around at the wrists were thicker, as when I was having trouble getting out of it due to sticking to the lining and being unable to unsnap the snaps, I was really concerned I might rip them out in my attempts to escape.
Conclusion: Ultimately the question is “Will you keep using it?” and I’m really not sure. I’m not a fair weather rider. I ride all the time, and the chilly, wet, midriff just doesn’t sound very appealing. Would I wear it on sunny days, or recommend it to others for the same? Definitely. If you only ride on sunny days then I don’t think you’ll have any complaints. If you pair it with some Fieldsheer pants on cooler days I think you may overcome some of the problems I had with the wind sneaking in the back when you don’t want it to.
The thing to keep in mind: Motorcycling is a lot like boating. You can get yourself a dingy that’ll get you around the bay for pretty cheap, but it doesn’t have much in the way of features, and if a big wave comes along you’re going to drown because you don’t have a life preserver. As with boats, the price range (for bikes and gear) goes from cheap and affordable to mind-bogglingly expensive.
Things I wish they’d told me about the bikes: 250cc is plenty in the beginning. You don’t need more power, and the weight & size that comes along with more is going to make the bike harder to maneuver, harder to pick up, and more likely to fly out from under you when you accidentally gun it too hard at a green light. Whatever you choose for your first bike try and get something as light as possible. 350 lbs should be your target. A 250cc bike won’t have as much torque at the high end but you’ll be able to get up to highway speeds without issue.
Chokes are really annoying. If you can afford it, get something fuel injected.
They will happily overheat on you in stop and go traffic.
Dealing with a manual transmission in stop and go city traffic is annoying, tiring, and starts to hurt after a while.
Some bikes have controls that were simply built for bigger hands. You should be able to hold the clutch in, and still easily manipulate the turn signals. If you can’t, or it requires awkward maneuvering, then find a different bike where you can. There are bikes out there that will fit your hand.
Whatever you start out on, no matter how much you love it, you’re going to want something else in a couple years. Maybe you’ll keep your first bike too, but it’ll take a while of riding before you find what really matters, as opposed to what you think matters. So, find a gear-head to come with you and buy something cheap, used, and reliable.
Each type of bike, and manufacturer, has it’s own community of users, and the way each of they all have dramatically different attitudes with varying levels of tolerance for newbs and people who aren’t just like them. The rule of thumb is that the personality of the users tends to closely resemble the visual personality and marketing style of the bikes they ride. Just like the adage about dog owners resembling their dogs. If being able to find others online, or off, who can help you with your questions is important, make sure you can stand the people who ride the bike you’re considering.
Things I wish they’d told me about the helmets: When it comes to helmets money just buys you bells and whistles. A $75 helmet is DOT approved helmet is going to keep your roughly as safe as a $700 DOT approved helmet. However, the more you spend the more nice features you get, like lighter weight, better air flow, easily swappable visors, retractable inner sunglasses, build in rear view mirrors, etc., etc.
Riding into the rising or setting sun is a massive pain in the ass with street helmets, even with tinted visors. Off-road / adventure helmets have visors but street helmets typically don’t. I suspect this is because of the wind resistance that they’d incur at highway speeds.
38 percent of the time a head impacts the ground it will do so along one of the jaws. A full face helmet is non-optional.
You know all the jokes about women and shoes? Well apparently you can replace women with motorcyclists, and shoes with helmets, and be roughly as accurate. I have no clue why.
There’s no getting around the fogging, but some helmets are dramatically better at it than others, and it’s not necessarily a matter of price.
Things I wish they’d told me about the gear: If you’re going to ride your bike year round you’re going to need two sets of gear: one for the summer, and one for the winter. It is unbelievable how much water can pour into a non-waterproof lace-up boot in one second during a downpour on a motorcycle.
Denim, even “heavy-duty” denim, offers you zero real protection.
If the armor isn’t CE rated it doesn’t count.
Never buy a jacket without CE rated spine protection, or pants without CE rated knee armor.
The higher the denier the more tear resistance the fabric offers as you’re sliding down the road. You really want Kevlar or Superfabric but you probably can’t afford either.
If you’re a really careful shopper, and willing to sacrifice some looks in the name of saving money, and only buying the minimum to keep your covered you will still need to spend, roughly:
You absolutely need to buy, and use, earplugs.
GPS units designed to withstand the vibrations of a motorcycle, and be exposed to the elements, are crazy expensive.
Like your first bike, whatever gear you start with you’re going to want to replace with something else. Fortunately, you can probably sell the old stuff for a little money on Craigslist. Try lots of stuff on in stores, and start with something well armored and affordable that seems to your liking. Next year you’ll know what you really need in gear.
Things I wish they’d told me about riding in the cold: No matter how well covered your torso and legs are, the cold wind on an exposed neck is brutally painful.
Heated grips are one of the best, and easiest, and cheapest, possible modifications you can make to your bike.
A plug for a heated vest will offer you massive benefits too.
Things I wish they’d told me about the roads: Bridges where you drive on square metal gratings may as well be ice.
Things I wish they’d told me about motorcycling: It is one of the most glorious activities you can do: exhilarating, meditative, beautiful.
It is totally addictive.
What do you wish they’d told you before you started riding?
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I’ll add to this list as I think of things, but in the meantime, you may be interested in reading these other posts of mine:
So you want to ride a motorcycle… and not die. The financial cost of motorcycle safety.
Summary: The Metropolitan is a stylish, well made, scoot for getting around town, that is a blast to drive, but could do with some better brakes.
Introduction:
The Honda Metropolitan ( CHF50 ) was introduced in 2002 with a visual style that emulates that of the classic Vespas of yesteryear. It’s 4-stroke 50cc engine will get you around town at a little over 30mph and gets 80-100mpg along the way. Since its introduction in 2002 the only thing Honda has changed is the color, although there was a Metropolitan II which is essentially the same vehicle but with a speed limiter to make it go even slower, and satisfy politicians.
Styling: There’s no question that one of the main reasons to choose a Metro over its competition is the styling. Honda has embraced and refined the classic look that Vespa has abandoned. If you’re willing to buy used there is a wide variety of colors and patterns to choose from (full listing on Wikipedia). The Vino Classic, it’s closest name-brand competitor, has also tried to embrace this old-school look but with very different results. Personally, I think the Metro. is a beautiful looking scooter, and, from a purely aesthetic perspective, wouldn’t change a thing.
Construction: I’m really happy with the construction of this scooter. Its closest competitor is the 50cc Yamaha Vino Classic, which, I think, feels like a cheap Huffy bicycle when you wiggle its handlebars. The Metro. simply feels like a well made, sturdy, lightweight scooter. The mirrors are decently sized and placed high enough that they don’t just show you your elbows, like many street bikes. The brake lines don’t flop around, and everything feels well attached.
The entire body is plastic and feels about as sturdy as one could hope for. As far as I know, the only companies still making scooters with metal bodies are Genuine Scooter Co. and Vespa. The leg shields do a good job of blocking the wind and water from hitting your lower legs, and are far enough forward that your can angle your legs forward comfortably.
I question the seat position though, and wonder if they only measured Asian people and women when designing it. I stand 5′ 9″ and am averagely proportioned, owing to the length of my arms, I really want to sit back farther than the seat is designed for. which leaves me either sitting on the back edge, or sitting very upright in the middle of it, and both of these positions put extra pressure on my coccyx which I’m not thrilled about. I think it’ll be just fine for shorter folk, but I now understand why so many people have modded their Metro. by extending the wheelbase a few inches.
Controls: The dash is simple, and to the point. The turn indicator could stand to be tilted back towards the rider a bit, but that’s nitpicking, especially since it has one of the loudest clicks I’ve ever heard on a turn indicator, which is wonderful. I’ve ridden for miles on my motorcycle with my turn signal on simply because I didn’t notice I hadn’t turned it off. I would note however that after you turn it off it still clicks two more times, which, until you accept that it won’t stop immediately, make you move it out of the off position in an attempt to turn it off.
The high beam indicator is difficult to see in daylight. Unfortunately the coolant temperature indicator appears to use a similar LED that I fear would also be difficult to see in daylight, but I haven’t ever seen it go off so I can’t be sure. All I know is that it’ll be red when it does.
The grips are comfortable and well positioned, so that even after forty minutes of riding your throttle hand won’t be tired in the least. Brake levers are similarly well positioned.
Starting the Metro is incredibly easy; just hold the brake and push the button, and should your battery be hurting, the kick-start works like a charm.
Going and Stopping:
Let’s be honest with ourselves, it’s a 50cc engine. It should not be expected to rocket off the line or zoom down the road whipping your hair behind you. Acceleration is smooth and steady, and when driving around the city, which is precisely what it was designed for, it is unquestionably zippy, and fun to ride. On steep hills you might find your speed dropping to 25mph or so, but on the other side you’ll hit 40. However, it should be noted that, with such a small engine, top speed is greatly impacted by the weight of the rider. As you ride though, you’ll be surprised at just how quiet the Metro is at all speeds. It’s 4-stroke engine is a major part of this, and I’m happy to say that you’re not going to have to worry about it sounding like an over-amped lawn-mower.
Wind resistance would be an issue if it moved faster, but as it doesn’t, it isn’t. You can feel it over the handlebars when the wind is in your face, but at those speeds it’s not enough to do anything beyond cool you off.
The brakes however… Your impression of the breaks will be greatly dependent upon where you’re coming from. If your only two wheeled transportation before this is a bicycle you’ll think the brakes acceptable. If you’ve ridden a motorcycle before you’ll think they’re crap, because, unfortunately, the Metro. uses drum brakes, which aren’t radically dissimilar to bicycle brakes in function. Instead of a fricative surface pushing in against the rim they have a fricative surface pushing out against a drum. I think the stopping distance could probably be halved had they used disk brakes. Some would argue that you’re not going so fast that this is a major issue. Then again, it could also be argued that you really don’t want to hit that car that just slammed on it’s brakes in front of you. The choice of drum brakes is obviously one of cost. In general, the scooters with disk brakes are in the next bracket of price and features, and frequently have more power.
The suspension is also, not spectacular. When riding over badly patched pavement (something not too uncommon in various parts of all cities), you will really feel it with hard little jolts, and want to raise your butt off the seat. This is partially the fact that it has such small, and thin, wheels, and partially the fact that it’s shocks aren’t that big. Overall it’s better than a bicycle and notably worse than a motorcycle.
On a motorcycle one technique for dealing with potholes is to give the engine a little more gas just before you hit it, to raise the front wheel a little and not hit it as hard, unfortunately, you’re going to be traveling at top speed most of the time on a Metro and the engine won’t have any extra oomph to give you so you’re just going to hit it with tiny wheels and tiny shocks, because unless you’re a gorilla, you won’t be able to pop a wheelie just by lifting on the handlebars.
Storage space: The Metro has under-seat storage which can hold a 3/4 helmet with a little space left over for a small bag. Think of it as a grocery bag plus a couple cans of soda. It’s really sad that Honda would design a storage space that encourages users to wear helmets that don’t protect them from 38% of head impacts, but those of us who like our jaws and use full-face helmets can use the helmet hook on the front of the storage area that is locked when you close the seat.
On the inside of the leg shields you’ll find a hook where you can hang a plastic shopping bag, although I’ve never felt comfortable with an unsecured bag dangling between my legs as I ride.
For those looking for additional carrying capacity you can get a small basket that fits along the inside of the leg shield and a carrying rack for the back, which can be enhanced with a top-case that can easily hold a full-face helmet. Unfortunately the Honda brand top case isn’t very good looking, but there are other manufacturers whose cases have been used by many Metro. owners.
Modding: One surprising thing about the Metro. is just how modifiable it is and how much it’s riders like to tweak it. Want fatter tires? Swap in a swing arm from the Ruckus. Want a cool sound? Give it a new muffler. Want longer reach? Extend the wheelbase. Disk brakes? Better shocks? It’s not only all possible, but all been done by a community of riders who are more than willing to share their knowledge with you. The Ruckus people are probably even more into modding their scoots, but given the look of the Ruckus this isn’t too surprising.
More info: If you’re considering a Honda Metro. you should probably check out UrbanScootin.com, a forum for Metro. owners with helpful folks and lots of examples of mods, and tales of owner’s experiences.
In most of the U.S. 50cc scooters require a drivers license to operate, but check with local laws before purchasing.
Credits & Caveats: The daytime speedometer picture is CC byscooter, the picture of the red Metro is CC keveemonterey, and the picture of the orange and red metros is CC Francesca Tronchin.
The scooter this review was based on was a 2005 with < 1000 miles on it that had just recently had a tune-up. Considering that Honda hasn’t changed anything but the color since then it should be a relatively accurate representation of what a new one would be like.
A huge number of people use the subway to get from one part of the city to the other twice a day, five days a week. If they’re smart, they buy a monthly pass which costs $59 and gives you unlimited rides within the central city zone.
For the same $59 you could buy 29.5 gallons of gas at today’s prices ($2 per gallon). Burn that gas in a 50cc scooter at a conservative 80 miles per gallon (you can get more) and you can go 2,360 miles. I would estimate that the average distance traveled between home and work is less than five miles, but, to be conservative and keep the math easy we’ll say 5. That means you could make 236 round trips to work with it. That’s just under one year’s worth of work commuting for the cost of one month’s T-pass.
You can get a Honda or Yamaha scooter used for about $1500. You can get a cheap chinese knock-off for new for about half that, although you’d probably need to buy a second one when the first one dies or needs a part no-one carries, so we’ll call it the same price. That’s just over the cost of two years worth of T passes (no insurance required, and registration is cheap). So, if you plan on living within the city for at least two years a scooter will easily pay for itself. In addition to the trivially cheap cost of getting to and from work, it also gives you the ability to get around after the buses and trains stop running (midnight… because they’re stupid), not deal with the hour wait on many bus routes (assuming they bother to show up at all), easily get to all the many places in between the bus routes, and legally park anywhere a bicycle can park.
So tell me, how does paying for a T pass every month make economical sense?
What’s worse is that the T is much better for the environment than thousands and thousands of scooters running around. While I admit I’m a huge scooter and motorcycle fan, I really do wish that mass transit came out better in this equation.
Obviously, this isn’t a realistic option for people who live outside the city, although a motorcycle could be, as mine gets 60mpg. But, the number of people who ride mass-transit every day just within the city is decidedly non-trivial.
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Additional costs I hadn’t thought of when I initially wrote this, because I’m used to having them on hand: Helmet $100, good armored jacket $100+. There’s plenty more stuff you can get for protection, but those are the bare minimum requirements in my book.
Related post: So you want to ride a motorcycle… and not die.
