How many vectrix reached 30.000km?

I based my estimations on what you gave as an estimate on how much it cost you to recharge your bike, using the figure you gave you only save around 4 to 5 pounds per 5 charges but when you factor in the cost of a replacement battery the cost is hugely increased.

The fact that you have not had to replace the battery yet does not mean you won’t have to factor that in to your costs.

In comparison to a petrol 125cc bike it is very expensive to run, however a lot cleaner.

Given time I’m sure these bikes will get better, but how long do you wait before they get it right, if they were prepared to keep the bikes up to date to within a certain mileage then that would be fine, but they are not.

Most of the bikes according to what has been stated here, have not been capable of achieve 30km before needing a replacement battery, the batteries are not cheap, and it has been mentioned you can’t change individual cells.

Perhaps if this facility was available then they would become a more viable option on cost.

However there is still the issue of range and just how safe are they on motorways as they would only be able to creep along, how long before you would be rear ended by some impatient twit.

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The vectrix is claimed to do 50,000 miles on a single battery or last 10 years, and yet it seems just about all of them are having their battery changed after 1 to 2 years, where has the other 8 years gone, on top of that they last no more than 30,000 km not even miles.

I probably have the oldest working VX-1 battery anywhere. Running since Feb 2008. Thanks to Vectrix cancelling my warranty! So I took over to keep it going. I decided I'll buy another VX-1 if the price drops to AU$2000.- or less.

Now I’m sure that the bike rides nice, even though I have never ridden one, but if the bike is to be a bottomless pit then perhaps it is better for the facts about the bike be known rather than claiming it to be what it is not.

Yep, a bottomless pit it is alright! The estimations of cost per VX-1 range between $100,000.- and $ 200,000.- per bike! All funded graciously by the ripped off stock market investors. A real collectors item, has never been cheaper!

And to be honest the bike is more like that expensive other half that you really don’t want to divorce even though you know he or she is no good for you, right up until that day you open up the throttle to get across some traffic just to find it dies on you and you may end up dieing along with the motor.

Quite right there, too! My "Open letter to Vectrix Corp" lamenting the (fuse) failures in traffic was about just that - and about their inability to respond to the problem when pointed out "privately" beforehand. The fuse has finally and quietly been upgraded to 200A, but other stupidly dangerous practices continue, like the advice to ride the bike with drastically reduced power in order to discharge the battery deeply enough to keep the inaccurate gauge happy - and all without hazard lights to alert the other traffic to the lame duck waddling along!

I want to see electric bikes on the market and yes it is a good idea to develop them while they are in the market place, but if you invest your money in one, the least you should expect is that company to insure your vehicle can reach a certain level of usability and when it falls short any and all upgrades should be made available at no extra cost promptly if those upgrades are only to ensure the reliable safe running of the vehicle.

Most of the owners replying in favour of the Vectrix VX-1 here have had warranty work to the tune of several thousand dollars performed, some repeatedly. Each single part of the VX-1 seems to be horrendously expensive. The enthusiasm will wither away when they have to pay out of their own pocket. It will quickly cost more than the "New" VX-1's are going for on ebay-USA right now!

On my "Vectux" I had to repair the battery, the side stand, the motor controller, the gearbox and the motor! I'm probably forgetting some other important part here...

They replaced my first Vectrix with a new one under warranty - because the fuse had blown and they did not know how to diagnose and fix it! I wish I had kept that first one and never let them touch it again, I would have been much better off!
The amount of diesel and kerosene derived CO2 blown into the atmosphere for delivery and exchange and for jetting service personnel across Australia is probably too much to be offset even if it the scooter really keeps going for 100,000km.

You are correct in your calculations about costs. I also did these calculations (without knowledge of the failure rates) and came to the conclusion that a Vectrix was only viable as an alternative to a car. I calculated costs including keeping the car. Compared to a small petrol bike the cost for the Vectrix could never be recouped at current petrol prices. If petrol prices had remained as high as about 2 years ago, or continued to rise, then a Vectrix might save cost compared to constant car use.

One important difference to small bikes is however the zero tailpipe emission issue: Small petrol bikes exhaust large amounts of incomplete combustion products, like NOx and CO. Most of these are really bad for you if you happen to be an air breathing organism....

R

Well I tell it like I see it, I will test ride one eventually, I suspect I will own one eventually, I like the way they look but I never own a bike I can’t get a service manual for.

Every bike I have ever owned I have always been able to obtain a service manual.

But it seems as I said this is not available for the vectrix.

But like I said I tell it like I see it and it seems this bike falls a long way short of a proper motorcycle a long way short.

But I can see why it might appeal to a car driver if they have no experience of what a real bike feels like.

whatever happened to the vectrix super bike, seems more my kind of thing assuming it can actually do like it supposed to, again a very nice looking bike.

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But I can see why it might appeal to a car driver if they have no experience of what a real bike feels like.
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I had another motorbike once - a Kawasaki KH250B. Very much like this one: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jSrFhSJZZx0&feature=fvw ROTFLMAO

Almost anything is more reliable and easy to ride than that! I obviously have not learned a bloody thing since then....

MIK

That is the problem I always find with American products, some times they come up with some really good ideas some really brilliant products but then price themselves out of the market.

The vectrix is a good product, but it really needs mass production and a much lower cost price to make it worth the effort.

As I said I will probably own one eventually but the company needs to get it act together.

If it were made by Honda it would have been fixed in order to keep its great reputation so even if it didn’t full fill the range and speed at least it would work to a reasonable level.

Vectrix either need to pass production over to a major company like Honda or get their act together because it is very much affecting their sales.

In the UK we have a motorcycle mag called MCN the bike doesn’t even feature on their reviews list, that seems to say it all about the bike.

But if a major manufacturer like Honda took control of production in japan the bike would probably be a good machine to own.

At least you would know your warranty would be sound.

I don’t buy Chinese bikes, I tried one and I found it dangerous, but the engine was good.

There is a problem with noxious gas from small bikes but when you consider the small amount of gas they put out compared to a car it is negligible, also I suspect it could be cleaned up but due to the restrictions already placed on the engines is not feasible the bikes would choke.

Vectrix have a couple of great looking products that need high quality production methods that they don’t seem able to provide to the market.

But why do I have to factor in the cost of a new battery? As I previously stated, I believe that based on the past two years performance and battery monitoring (by Steve Scott, who on the last service said that the battery was still at 100% capacity) that I will get at least another two years out of the battery, hopefully more. Your factoring is based upon speculation. I may as well factor in the cost of paying the excess on an insurance claim because statistically I may have a crash! As you are in the UK, perhaps you would be better off comparing the UK owners - we seem to have less trouble than the V owners in hotter climates.

As previously stated, the Vectrix is not a bike for everyone. Factor in the distance you need to travel between charges and the type of roads you will be travelling on so you can see if the speed and range are sufficient, and then decide. I travel on country roads, occasionally motorway for short distances and well within range. It only takes a glance at the dash to check if you have enough charge left for a motorway run - it's not complicated. For me it is perfect. If you take out the 'factor in a battery' argument, it is cheaper TO RUN than the 125, albeit more expensive to purchase. That's a price I and many other V owners appear to be prepared to pay. The only thing I miss is the Points I used to get every time I filled up with fossil fuel! Small price to pay though.

Mik

If you want a really reliable bike at a reasonable cost you can't go wrong with the honda deauville if you want an alrounder, little bit big around town but on the open road you get around 60 to 70 miles per gallon, it has a top speed of around 125mph and is probably the most reliable bike on the road today.

Or an older 650, will get similar good milage but does look dated.

on the other hand a smaller bike is the cb 250 again very reliable top speed around 90 mark but very good on fuel.

honda i find is the most reliable of all the bikes on the market, but the best onese are the ones from japan, the european made hondas suffer on quality control, but as your in aus you probably get your stuff direct from japan, so you should have no real problems.

sparker

Even if your battery lasts 4 years it is still a long way off from the 10 promised and in distance travelled probably a long way of that too.

So no matter how or which way you look at it you will need to factor in the cost a battery and minus the either age of the battery or the mileage it will travel, and add what is left over to the over all cost of your recharging.

The battery is a usable similar to the petrol in the tank, except the petrol is replaced on each fill up and the battery is only recharged and then discarded once it does not hold the charge any longer.

That is why you have to factor it into the over all running cost.

If your battery lasts 10 years or the desired mileage then it has achieved the target but if not then that is all added cost to your running costs.

You must remember all the numbers have been taken into account on the purchase price so every mile you lose adds to the cost of the bike.

Points taken on board - I could have said 'I'm hoping for 10 years' but I figured it would be shot down, with good reason too as it is too far ahead.

I do note though, that you have still ignored all the positives in my posts which, by your own admission, you were looking for people to post. Make my day and at least acknowledge them in a post rather than pick about with the figures every reply.

You seem very much a 'buy with your head' type of person - good luck with that, it's good to think things through..... Whilst I made a real effort to look into the pluses and minuses of owning a Vectrix, the final decision was made because I just wanted one. Your previous comment has been duly noted about a 'real bike' - I am accustomed to taking stick from my 'real bike' owning neighbours. Truth be told, the 'real bikers' seem to only take them out one weekend in four - what kind of a return on investment is that!? At least my 'toy' gets used for what it was intended - a daily commute on a daily basis.

Sometimes you have to go with your heart and take a risk.

See you in 10 (sorry, 8 as I've already had 2) years!

sparker

I’m pretty sure I acknowledged the pollution aspect, and the vibrations I even added that should the petrol companies go on strike, plus I acknowledged that it may well be a nice ride, plus the possibility of it being comfortable, and I’m sure I probably agreed that it could well be good on handling, somewhere.

But as a motorcycle it is very poor, there are no two ways about it.

So I have tried to find as many positives to the bike as I could but there just are not that many even with the ones you go out on a limb on.

As for a real bike, I’m sure I explained this but if not I will do so now, my bike is used virtually every single day of the year, excluding days when it snows or is icy, no matter what the weather rain, shine, wind, sleet, but I draw the line under snow and ice, but only because the bike cannot handle it, my old bikes I used to use in snow and ice no matter what, not the easiest of things to do but when you are hard pushed you have to take the risk some times.

The problem I find with modern bikes tend to be that they have linked brakes and in the snow the abs gets clogged up, which tends to make the brakes snatch.

I don’t know how a vectrix would perform in snow but I wouldn’t want to use the regen brake on ice.

I can’t speak for your neighbours on how they ride their bikes but rest assured I have been riding motorcycles for many years, I have ridden a 125cc 240 miles only stopping once for refuelling, I have ridden other larger bikes 300 plus miles only stopping once to refuel and yes it is a little uncomfortable (being modest with the truth) but I have done similar in cars and found them to be uncomfortable also.

I find scooters the most uncomfortable, however I note the vectrix has a seat that looks very comfortable and the design seems more akin to the motorcycle than the scooter which looks as though it would be very comfortable on a long ride, only problem is you can’t go on a long ride with it.

Ill say it again, I like the design of the vectrix and if I end up getting one it will be mostly based on the design of the bike, I especially like the supposed super bike as it looks stunning, but they really need a good manufacturer to produce them.

Even if they have all the electronics and parts made in japan but constructed them, the fact of the matter seems to be that they are not able to produce the parts to a high enough standard at a price that is worth dipping into the savings for, if you have any that is.

If I could do one thing it would be to get them to let Honda play around with the bikes they have and get Honda to produce a quality product at an affordable price, with better access to replacing the parts most likely to fail and produce modules that are most likely to fail, including the right type of battery, then it may become a bike worth spending your money on.

However if it is as I said before just a toy then it is a great toy, you may commute on it but that commute is a lot more expensive than you realise, and if you are one of the unlucky people to still have lots of dodgy electronics then it may cost you more than just the price of the bike when you see that gap and the bike shuts down, i'll say again if such things happend on a real bike it would have been recalled and lots of bad press on it at least in the bike mags.

Thank you! You've proven your worthiness in having the background experience to comment on ICE bikes - I don't even come close to that amount of riding time so won't even attempt to comment as I have no experience of riding them so it would only be speculation on my part...

Reading through your post the Vectrix doesn't seem like it will fit the bill for you, I'd steer well clear of electric for the moment. Stick with ICE for a few years and stay 'just_looking'.

Darn fine to have a lively debate on here, it's been a little quiet since Marco Polo hasn't posted for a while.

As a motorcyclist, licensed for 0ver 45 years, with over 500,000 miles of riding, I often attend motorcycle shows,and in 2007 I first saw the VECTRIX at the Washington, D.C. show. I was impressed with its appearance and alleged performance, but the $11,000.00 price was too steep for me at the time, considering that it did not have LITHIUM power.--Fast forward to summer of 2009, when my local dealer had a "Closeout Sale",offering the new 2008 Vectrix for $6,900.00-With the various tax incentives, my vehicle cost became $4,400.00 so I purchased a Vectrix! (I gave the dealer $800.00 more, for all his spare parts/tools, in the event they should become hard to obtain later) My job is only 11 miles from home, and I can charge at work for free, so I knew it would make the trip, and cost much less than operating my 6 cylinder Honda Goldwing! The acceleration and ability to climb a hill when loaded with 2 people, weighing 200 pounds each, is MUCH better than any 125cc vehicle I have ever ridden! Yes, "top speed" is limited to 68 mph by the software and battery considerations, but performace in the 25 to 55 mph range will leave most gasoline scooters of 250 cc and under in the dust! I DO have a warranty, and just a few weeks ago, I had it serviced by the factory, where all software updates were performed, and the seat(slightly ripped stitching) and battery were also replaced, at no charge. (The battery indicator had been erratic, sometimes it would suddenly drop to zero, after 15 to 20 miles, but since the update,it has been very accurate, and range has increased, giving me about 30 miles over the hilly terrain, traveling at 50-60 mph.)-Maintenance/repair cost to date?-ZERO dollars!-Bob

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...-Maintenance/repair cost to date?-ZERO dollars!-Bob

Zero dollars to you, but over $5000.- to the company! It's not sustainable unless they get a grip on these problems.

"just_looking"

I tend to agree with the above post that you are probably not ready for an electric vehicle of any sorts. The truth of the matter is that the EV movement is a paradigm shift in thinking how we drive, fuel, etc our vehicles. It is true that electric vehicles can only go short distances but the "refueling" of an electric vehicle is designed to be "opportunity charged" throughout the day. Currently the technology is there for electric transportation, but the battery and charging tech is NOT there to make any electric vehicle comparable in range to an ICE vehicle. Until we have charging ports everywhere we go/park it will still be a niche product. We need the infrastructure in place to make it mainstream. For now only those who travel short distances will work with current EV.

However, it is predicted that battery technology will roughly double in capacity for the same volume about every 5-7 years. This is the stance that Zero Motorcycles has taken. They created a very compact 4kwh battery pack in set dimensions with the idea as battery technology improves owners will be able to "upgrade" to a higher capacity pack when improvements in technology allow it.

There will be a day when the range of electric vehicles outperforms a comparable ICE machine. Also there will be a day when batteries will be able to be charged within minutes. That day is not NOW for sure!

On a side note, picking up a Vectrix for $3200 US is a steal! There are a couple in California right now for sale on eBay!

Hi,

The Vectrix is more reliable than it could seem in this forum, especially the 2009-2010 units.

What are the improvements in the 2009-2010 models vs the 2007 models?

Battery systems== Still Evolving!! there's chemicals going into those things now that would have never been thought of 10 years ago. This part is and will continue to improve until probably the walls of chemistry and physics can be pushed. I imagine that if current battery technology had existed at the time of initial planning of the Vectrix, there's no way they'd have chosen the chemistry they did.

The problem isn't the battery chemistry. Its the lame battery management (or lack thereof). Prius's and RAV4 EV's do great with NiMH.

As for the Vectrix reliability piece, just wait for a lithium/BMS version...you worries about battery reliability, range anxiety, cost of parts will be gone!

True for range and wieght. For cost probably not. For reliability only if they do a better job with the lithium version than they did with the NiMH version!

There is no doubt that the vectrix is the best electric bike on the market that goes without saying, but like I said before that just doesn’t say much for the rest.

A year or two ago that might have been true, but I'm not so sure about that any more.

What current bikes do you think might be as good or better?

Thanks Everyone!

Mitch

What current bikes do you think might be as good or better?

http://www.brammo.com/empulse/

Hi Andy,

What current bikes do you think might be as good or better?

http://www.brammo.com/empulse/

What kind of track record does Brammo have (reliability, quality of components and quality of design/implementation)?

Thanks!

Mitch

Awesome specs. I'd prefer a scooter. Surely if they can do that, so can Vectrix (eventually) Great about the weight too!

AndY1

That brammo bike looks more like it, I don’t like the design but the actual bike itself is much better, if it lives up to the claims.

But that is just it isn’t it? Electric bike makers make wild and fanciful claims then when the product is out there on the market you have to cut a huge amount of the claims down by at least 30 to 40 percent.

The brammo claims 100 mph plus 100 miles to a charge, there are electric bikes capable of doing over 100 mph, speed is not really a huge issue it’s the battery life at that speed that is the issue.

Vectrix will probably do around 80 mph delimited I suspect but at that speed you might get a couple a miles out of it and then have to start pushing.

One of the big problems with these bikes is range, speed can be taken care of that has been done and can be done with ease, but getting the range out of the thing is a totally different thing entirely.

I’m a huge advocate of swapping batteries, with the vectrix it seems impossible without a huge amount of kafuffle but there is no reason why the vectrix couldn’t be changed slightly to have a clip on battery.

Also there was a design shown on another posting which seemed to make good sense as an upgrade to the vectrix design for extra battery storage or other storage, i don't recall who came up with it but it was a really good idea.

Range is never an issue.
I know my scooter has a range of about 40kmish. My rides are usually 5-10km. Once in a while, I'll do a 30km round trip. Big deal. No range anxiety because I know I can do that without worry.

It serves its purpose perfectly well. If that's not what you want from your scooter, then it's the wrong one. I'd MUCH rather have this for short trips than the 500cc scarabeo I had before. this is ALMOST as grunty, but I don't have to worry about getting oil up to temperature or any other issues normally associated with an petrol engine and short trips.

The fact that it's nice to ride and is super smooth and (relatively) quiet and I never have to stop for petrol is a bonus.

Saving of money in petrol isn't an issue. sure, it's 1/2 the cost to run of my Scarabeo, but 1/2 of practically nothing is still practically nothing.

Never having to change engine oil is nice too....there's practically nothing to do to this thing. I'll change brake fluid every two years maybe (not that I ever really use the brakes)

Clearly the Vectrix doesn't work for you....but it does what it does perfectly....and it suits my purposes perfectly....and that's all that matters to me.

now...if you want to do 130kph on a freeway, then forget it. 60km trips to the country? forget it. that's NOT what it's for, it's not trying to be that (yet) and like I said, if that's what you want, then this would be a massive disappointment.

I don't even know why I'm typing this, because just about everyone has tried to explain the same thing to you and you keep missing the point....and yet here I am..typing! lol

Well here’s the thing, if I lived close to the vectrix company and they were willing to look after my bike that was just down the road from them then sure I would have a vectrix already and probably be happy with it.

When triumph of England where made in England the bike was a real potential purchase, in fact I loved the idea of owning a triumph, however they were so poorly made and always had oil leaks even brand new, but if I lived near the company what difference would it make to me I would just nip next door and get some low cost or free parts problem solved.

But if I lived hundreds of miles away and my bike would only travel 20 miles or so and every part cost an arm and leg does it make good sense to purchase a bike that is going to be a real pain in the wallet or does it make more sense to buy a bike that is known to be reliable, easy access to parts even though the parts are expensive but you only have to purchase them rarely.

Ill say it again, the vectrix is a really good looking bike both of their designs but they need a good company like Honda to manufacture them and put their r&d dept on to it in order to make it work better than it does now.

The tech is not new, it is basically an electric motor, with a controller, and some batteries remote control cars are basically the same thing, however the only bits that are new are the batteries which again are used in remote control toys and the gear box.

So we can’t even say this is all new tech because it ain’t, it may be all new scaled up tech but even that ain’t necessarily true because electric vehicles have been around since around the first ice rolled off the production line.

And to be honest with you if it weren’t for things like the dpt of transport in the UK there would be a hell of a lot more electric bikes around.

We do not get tax breaks in the UK for buying an electric motorcycle in fact the UK govt would rather two wheeled vehicles didn’t exist at all, I suspect they feel we need protecting from our selves.

You can’t even ride a segway in public in the UK you may find your license getting points and you with a huge fine for no insurance and all the other stuff that goes with vehicles.

So you have to understand what we have to put up with.

Of course we could all move to the USA that might work ha ha ha.

Aircon

I think you are mistaken I do understand what you are saying, it is basically for you a town bike, or one could call it a lazy bicycle with insurance and MOTs and having to follow all the rules of the road like a real motorcycle except you may have to sweat on a diversion.

And if not for the dept of transport in the UK you could do much better with an electric bicycle at a fraction of the price, after all you can get electric bicycles capable of doing 45 mph with a 20 mile range no real problem, little bit scary I would have thought though but still possible, in fact you could limit it to 25 mph and be quite comfortable.

Anyway I do understand what you are talking about and I have indicated this, the vectrix is nothing more than an expensive toy.

It looks impressive, it has its uses but they are limited.

Perhaps as one poster stated it is all to do with the battery management that makes this bike only a toy.

But if it were a washing machine it would have been pulled off the market, if it where a real motorcycle it would have been pulled off the market or the company would have been sued so many times they would have gone bust, if your blue ray player performed as good as the vectrix watch dog would have been on the companies case.

The bike does not do what it claims, clearly here only one person was able to get to 33,000 km on one battery, and then it had to be changed the electronics don’t seem able to do their job properly either by what other posters have been saying.

And again I will say, I have had an electric small scooter the engineering was very well done on the metal work, the scooter was great, but it was electric and the electronics were crap.

The bikes need to be manufactured or the internals need to be redesigned by people that actually understand the electronic concepts and the best people for that are the Japanese, without a doubt Honda perhaps.

the price is way to high as well.

Aircon

I think you are mistaken I do understand what you are saying,

No...seriously....you don't. You just don't.

The mere fact that you can't take at face value that I could possibly be perfectly happy with this thing indicates that you don't get it. It does exactly what I want and serves the exact purpose I bought it for. Short commutes. It's not a 'toy'...I use it for short commutes not because that's all I can do on it, but because that's all I do....and out of the 50+ motor bikes and cars I've had, this fits that purpose better than any before.

Once in a while, rarely, I want to go a greater distance than the V can manage. For that I use a car or motor bike. A motor bike or car is not as suitable for what I do for 95% of the time, and the V isn't suitable for what I do 5% of the time. I just don't see the problem with that. I would be pissed off if I had ONLY a car or motor bike almost all the time and I'd be pissed off if I ONLY had a Vectrix 5% of the time.

I have never had a vehicle that's perfect for every purpose before and this is no exception. However, for my circumstances it's the best vehicle I've ever had for doing what I do the most....and money/savings/costs has nothing to do with it.

People don´t worry be happy ;-)

I´m using my "toy" every day weather is fine enough (not when it is raining cats and dogs as you say?)
I´m using it more than I used my motorcycle before I purchased my Vectix, riding between 34-78 miles
per day and between 15 and 34 miles per charge. It´s great for shorter shopping- and other trips in
the city (no warmup) and performance is good enough for smaller intercity-trips (34 miles Austria is
a small country ;-))
Summed up: most of us here in the forum use their V´s and are satisfied with it. The others should just
wait some years until electric mobilisation is reliable for all consumers. Or if it is gone like in the
last century (upcoming of the ICE´s early 1900´s or oilshock 1970´s) even then we saved lots of gasoline
enjoying our rides and have very rare, nice and expensive (for sale to collectors) items :-)

Greetings to all Mike

Not being pedantic (OK a little!) BUT the 33,000 km is on the 2nd battery - which is still going strong. It would appear the 1st battery only did 13,000 km before it needed to be changed. True, it did need to be changed but the point is that the 2nd one is still going strong, probably after the Oct 08 update but that's only my speculation.

Personally, as I don't ever want to grow up and enjoy my immaturity, I'm happy to be bombing around on a 'toy'.

True, I was extremely disappointed that the only incentive for going electric in the UK was the £0 Road Tax or 'Emissions Tax' as it should really be called - I still use the road (only when accompanied with a responsible adult though, can't be let loose unsupervised on the public highways on a 'toy'), that would be irresponsible.

The key here is defining 'fit for purpose' on an individual basis. For myself and quite a few others it is. For a large number of others, it isn't.

The key here is defining 'fit for purpose' on an individual basis. For myself and quite a few others it is. For a large number of others, it isn't.

Amen to that! My usage of the V suits my needs perfectly. I spent a long time deciding if it was right for me at the beginning of 2007. OK, the claimed range came as a huge disappointment when reality set in, but I could still do my 38 mile round trip journey to work (and still can after more than three years and 9000 miles).

I'd also just like to make the point that a new Honda 125 of comparable build quality (like for example the very excellent Varadero) costs over £4000 new. The rolling stock on the Vectrix is of a very high standard (Brembos, 'Zocchis etc... part of the reason they were so damned expensive!) All of a sudden, the V is not such a bad deal. If you make direct comparisons on that basis - the V is very competitive. £100 for energy, three new rear tyres, one new front tyre... these are my only expenses in three and a half years of trouble-free riding. I reckon I got my money's worth, even if it drops down dead tomorrow! AND - it's a joy to ride... did we say that before? Maybe I wasn't paying attention!

Brian

I sent this to MIK, it addresses what I have experienced as the main shortcomings of my vectrix.

09/16/2010 - 12:03 Yes,If I were to re-engineer my existing Vectrix, I would install a properly managed LITHIUM battery, of at least 60 ah capacity, and modify the charger to allow user selection of charging amperage(At least THREE optional charge settings). This would allow SLOW charging from power sources with limited amperes available, or in cases when plenty of time was available, to be easier on the battery. Higher amperage charging could be selected, if heavy-duty AC power is available,(200-260 volts) to charge in less than 2 hours. The headlight and horn would be replaced with more powerful units, operable from their own, 20 ah lithium battery, kept charged via current-limited DC-DC conversion, from the main battery and charger-this would allow use of lighting and accessories that draw intermittent high amperage, without overloading the DC-DC converter, and provide power for emergency lights/flashers/accessories after main battery failure/fuse outage/etc.(I have this on my Vectrix, along with a nice "XM Satellite radio")The turn signals should be automatic cancelling, and/or have brighter/louder warning indicators. Voltmeter/Ammeter for both batteries should be standard, as should a full-time main battery temperature/amperage display. User selectable starting torque/amperage settings would be nice,with a "DRY PAVEMENT" setting allowingmore rapid takeoff, and a "WET/SLIPPERY PAVEMENT" setting, similar to the present setting,for economy and/or hazardous riding conditions. Mirrors should be replaced with units showing a WIDER VIEW. Owners and SERVICE manuals should be readily available.--These changes could transform the present bike into a truly GREAT Scooter!---Bob Curry