I bought a Honda Helix scooter on July 23, 2004, which was used. It had 6846 miles on it. It runs GREAT! It can accelerate from 0 to 25 MPH in less than 3 seconds. It can go from 0 to 40 MPH within 5-6 seconds. The V-matic transmission is an absolute pleasure to use! Last year, I did have a...
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I bought a Honda Helix scooter on July 23, 2004, which was used. It had 6846 miles on it. It runs GREAT! It can accelerate from 0 to 25 MPH in less than 3 seconds. It can go from 0 to 40 MPH within 5-6 seconds. The V-matic transmission is an absolute pleasure to use! Last year, I did have a wreck on it, some of this probably due to lack of experience, combined with going too fast for my level of experience. I was going 55 MPH (at the speed limit). When I realized I was getting in trouble, I was able to get slowed down, probably to 30 MPH before going off the road. Fortunately, I did not get hurt seriously, but did require a one-night stay at a hospital and some minor hand surgery. However, I found two "undocumented" safety features that minimized my injuries. The first of these is the nice floor board for my feet. While I had a bruised right knee, having this floor board, as opposed to footpegs like a motorcycle, seems to have saved me from a broken leg (or two). Also, the soft seat seems to have acted somewhat as a passive restraint. My body did not get thrown forward. While I had some facial bruising and cuts, I feel that the severity was reduced by this seat, which may have helped to hold me back some. No, I did not seem to have any neck injuries or whiplash. As for my face shield, this seems to be an asset and a liability. While the scooter substained around $2,000 worth of damage, I was able to repair much of this myself. It was mostly the body that got tore up. Very little internal damage occurred. I was able to do most of the restoration myself. This scooter has also went through a Winter quite nicely. It is proven to be drivable even at a temperature of only 15 F. Even in cold weather, it still started up within about a second or so. The Honda tires that seem to be included on these scooters seem to be great "all purpose" tires (except ice and snow). The braking is pretty good, even in rain. The only braking problem that I seem to have in the rain is that the brakes are more apt to "grab". The engine is on the quiet side--almost too quiet, such as when maneuvering through a parking lot. As for the computerized dashboard, it is great for the most part. Most of it is very easy to read. However, it is hard to see it when driving against the sun. As for hills, it does not do too bad. It seems to handle up to about a 20 degree hill ok. I have been known to go up a 25-30 degree hill, trying to get to someone's house. It did have some difficulty, which was compounded by the fact that it had gravel, which limited my idea of getting a "running start". Knock on wood, I have never had the scooter do an "unintended wheelie". Probably its long length and wheel base might be the asset here. The gas milage is GREAT. In city driving, I can expect to get between 45-50 miles per gallon. My average seems to be about 48 or so MPH in the city. When mixing city driving and country road driving and a touch of highway driving, I was known to get up to 66 miles per gallon. In a time when gas costs a fortune, it is so nice to be able to fill up my tank for about 4-5 dollars! Speaking of gas milage and such, I found that the gas guage seems to be overly optimistic. The manual says that the capacity is 3.2 gallons. However, when my gauge is showing about 1/3 tank left, it still takes only about 1.7 gallons. The gas gauge is also more linear than most, possibly due to a compensating computer algorithm. Adding fuel is a bit problematic, though. It tends to splash out a bit over the tank and into the area around where you put the gas in. This seems to happen about 70% of the time, and this requires you to wipe up the excess gasoline. I also love the optional anti-theft feature. When I park it in a parking lot, I use this a lot. It is nice knowing that if someone tries to steal my scooter, they'll be driving around in circles--LITERALLY! By the way, this scooter is my ONLY motor vehicle that I have. Given the nice sized trunk (bigger than that of many motorcycles) and a backpack, I can haul home about 6-8 bags of groceries. I have also been known to place a 36-roll pack of toilet paper between my legs! However, I don't recommend this for long trips or in places where you have to use your brakes a lot. I have also been able to hang 1-2 LIGHT bags on my handlebars, such as a bag containing a loaf of bread. Parking is a luxury on this thing! I can squeeze through some rather tight places. At my church, I pick a somewhat "out of the way" place to park. As for coping with road defects, it seems to be mediocre at this. However, it will survive certain pot holes that may cause scooters with smaller wheels to just flip over. Again, the long wheel base may be an asset here. However, you WILL get a bad jolt if you hit a bad enough pothole, particularly if you hit this going much over 10 MPH. It is amazing how many doors this scooter opens up. For being "only" 244 cc's, it seems to haul! It is not excessively heavy like a big motorcycle. I even tried laying the bike down on grass and wanted to see if I could stand it back up on my own, and I was able to. I even let my older brother take it for a test drive, and he loved it! He has some motorcycle experience, so he was able to put it through a more severe test than I would have. It passed his "severe" test(s)! I'm talking about cornering at high speeds (i.e. 30-50 MPH) and such. I do have one complaint about newer versions of the Honda Helix. I am displeased by the fact that they now come in only all black or black and white. I am opposed to all black due to appearance and safety concerns. I would like to see this model come out in more colors. I did get to compare the Helix against a Reflex, although I have not driven the Reflex. I do not like the Reflex's dashboard near as well as the Helix's. The Reflex also has a harder seat and seema to have noticeably less trunk space. They both seem to have the same sized engine (244 cc). However, the Helix is a much better value. Also in my opinion, I think that the Helix is a prettier bike. I also found that the Helix may have a "longevity gene". I heard about one guy whose only vehicle was a Honda Helix (much like me), and he has around 150,000 miles, and it was still running! I also found that the Helix may be slow to depreciate in value. When I bought this 1998 model from a Honda dealer last year (2004), it was still selling for around $3400. May God bless the engineers that designed the Honda Helix! I highly recommend it! From John Nozum
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