Road Test Bolwell Mio 50cc/100cc Good things come in small packages Brendon We recently received a batch of Bolwell Mio in the newly available black. I'd been riding sports scooters of various types this year and felt a change was in order. The two scoots I had been spending most of my time on were the fantastic S-five from Daelim & Gmax 250 from Bolwell which are two good units so the little Mio had some big shoes to fill.
The Mio is a relatively light weight & small scoot fitted with 10" wheels, telescopic forks, disc brake front, big underseat storage and top box. It has the usual scooter features of electric start, luggage hook, automatic transmission and the 50cc version can be ridden in Qld on a car license.
Quality of the Mio is superb, being Taiwanese manufactured and backed by a four year warranty it should be. There are no complaints about the build or components fitted to the Mio. In fact a fair amount of thought has gone into the design of this scoot with some nice touches such as a separate compartment in the large underseat storage area that can take a phone, keys, Ipod etc & the backlighting for the instruments such as speedo & fuel gauge change colour each time you turn the scooter on.
The styling is the new generation of Retro, up until now scooter manufacturers have been providing us with remakes of the retro theme. The Mio takes Retro to the next level it is a modern interpretation of the retro look and it works. It turns heads.
The Mio weighs only 88kg light for a 50cc scooter, the 100cc version also weighs the same which is very light for a 100cc scooter. What this equates to is a scooter that is easy to manouvre, changes direction very quickly and stops exceptionally well. Basically small size and low weight provides a very forgiving ride for new scooterists. It also provides an exciting ride for the experienced, I've ridden the Mio 100 on a couple of Scooter Runs now and its performance is exceptional.
The Mio runs a four stroke engine in both 50 & 100cc guise. It is the only 4 stroke 50cc scooter we stock. Why? because quite a lot of 4 stroke 50's are slow, dangerously slow, you have to be able to accelerate at a reasonable rate to keep up with the flow of traffic, the Mio is up there with the two stroke 50's & will outrun quite a few.
On the road the Mio really surpises, the 50cc version runs out to 50km/h where its speed limiter cuts in to keep it inline with the car licence concession. The 100cc version is a different proposition, it is quick, very quick. In fact I can't think of another scooter in the 100 to 150cc category that would be able to keep up with the Mio to 70km/h. I took the Mio out on one of our scooter runs where two up carrying over 100kg's it literally blasted away from everything (except a Gmax 250 & HD200) all the 125cc four strokes & 100cc two strokes didn't stand a chance. Flat out the Mio does about 85 to 90km/h and will cruise at 80 without drama.
In summary the little Mio has won me over. It's small, petite & sweet looking from the outside, a real angel. When it comes to the business she is nothing but a demon... published 17/10/2007 |