Piaggio Hexagon 250

The Hexagon genuinely rewrote what a scooter could be in 1994 — 16-inch wheels, real suspension travel, and a riding position that didn't punish your back on the 40-minute commute. That 244cc two-stroke pulls hard between 5,000 and 7,000 rpm, but below that band you're essentially coasting on hope, and in stop-start city traffic the power delivery feels almost deliberately awkward. At motorway speeds it sits at a stressed, buzzy 115 km/h that it can technically maintain but clearly doesn't enjoy, and the 152 kg wet weight means any low-speed manoeuvring in a car park reminds you this is not a nimble machine. What keeps it honest is the ride quality and the sense of occasion — nothing else on scooter plates in 1995 felt this grown-up.

I ran a Gen 2 Hexagon 250 four-stroke for two years as a daily commuter and the thing genuinely surprised me — that flat floorboard and cavernous underseat storage made supermarket runs embarrassingly practical for a scooter this size. The four-stroke swap over the old two-stroke is a genuine improvement in town; smoother, quieter, less fuss at traffic lights, though you give up that snappy two-stroke punch which the old guard will mourn. Hit 80 km/h and it settles into a confidence-inspiring cruise, but push toward the claimed 120 and the bodywork starts talking back at you in ways that feel structural rather than cosmetic — this isn't a motorway machine despite what the spec sheet implies. The weak spots are predictable for late-90s Piaggio: the carb gums up if you leave it sitting, the centre of gravity feels oddly high for a maxi-scooter, and finding a dealer who stocks ignition components in 2024 is its own adventure.