Posted: 06 Sep 2013
There’s no mistaking the fact that this lovely looking, sharp and angular, top box carrying sit up and beg scooter is aimed squarely at the commuter market. It’s got ‘ride me to work’ written all over it.
The Kymco range has been growing in the UK, (both in terms of style and stature) over the last decade or so. They’re a Taiwanese brand and they’re big on both build quality and value for money. This latest offering is the fuel injected 125cc People One 125i. Ok it’s hard to get too excited about what is essentially something built to get you to your place of eight hour imprisonment every day, but as commuter scooters go this one ticks all the right boxes. It does a claimed 100mpg, has punchy acceleration, decent storage both beneath the seat and in its standard issue colour coded top box. It’s also comfortable and has a narrow profile for those tight filtering manoeuvres where you involuntarily feel a need to breathe in. Take a wrong turning and you can turn the scooter around on a sixpence without needing to dab a foot to the floor (I’m sure there’s not only me who plays an imaginary game of Kick Start and gets self inflicted penalty points for dabbing a foot down, or is there?). The People One comes with a very powerful front brake, so if you want to be noticed when some harassed mother pulls out in front of you why not perform a dramatic stoppie to exaggerate the potential risk? The rear brake is just a drum though and isn’t overly powerful but when used together the brakes stop this lightweight scooter as quickly as you need them to so no worries there.
I mentioned that punchy 2-valve air cooled engine and it is quite a decent lump, it starts at the first prod of the button, runs nice and smoothly and quickly accelerates to 30mph. The mid range is a bit flatter but once the scooter gets into its stride you’ll see 70mph on the basic but stylish clocks. I quite happily covered some dual carriageway miles and felt able to keep up with the traffic well enough. 125’s are more at home in the town, or on faster A roads and once you hit the twisties the People can attack the corners quite well too, that’s thanks to the decent twin rear shocks (adjustable) and the well damped forks. It’s nice to get decent suspension on a well-priced scooter from Taiwan. The Kymco also comes with larger than average alloy wheels fitted with Kenda tyres (16” at the front and a 14” rear) and they help to soak up the bumps much better than a smaller wheeled scooter, just as well with the state of our pothole riddled roads.
The finish on the Kymco is second to none, it looks like a quality bit of kit and the manufacturer has added a few styling touches to give it an air of class, things like the ‘K’ embossed grips and detailing on the exhaust and bodywork, just slight touches that help the scooter to stand out from the crowd. All the plastics are quality too, there’s no cheap looking bits to moan about and it all fits together well and is finished in stunning pearlescent white. It’s the only colour option on this model, which saves you having to choose!
If you’re looking for a scooter that will be dependable, practical, stylish and won’t cost a fortune to buy or run then you won’t go far wrong with this little Taiwanese beauty. The Kymco also comes with a two year warranty, subsidised insurance and low rate finance. Give your nearest Kymco dealer a try.
+ points: Price, quality build
- points: Could be cramped if you’re tall
Price: £2199
Power: 9.3bhp
Dry weight: 120kg
Seat height: 760mm
Colours: pearlescent white
