>The Yamaha Giggle
Review from issue 62
Us Brits tend to take ourselves far too seriously; the stiff upper lip prevents most of us from wanting to stand out from the crowd. We don’t dare to be different and we’d rather blend in than become the focus of attention.
Our scooters are often just as bland as us and help us to become just another anonymous helmet wearing rider, hidden among a sea of other commuters and scooter riders. Not everybody wants to remain hidden though, as can be seen with the custom scooters we feature. Some individuals strive to break free from conformity and certain forward thinking manufacturers dare to be different as well...
Yamaha are one such company, they’ve brought us countless bikes and scooters over the years, with many machines achieving a cult status among fans. OK, the Yamaha Giggle may have a few years to go before it’s worshipped at a sacrificial altar by a clan of gun wielding brainwashed followers, but there’s no arguing that it is different to your normal run-of-the-mill scooter.
The Giggle has one hell of an appropriate name, you only have to see the little yellow scoot up close and you’ll be forced to at least raise a smile, or produce a snigger. It’s unlike anything else in production, a factory concept that became a reality one day when the Yamaha bosses in Japan were feeling particularly naughty and had a few extra Yen to spend.
The best way to appreciate the Giggle is in real life but the photos will help you to appreciate this crazy looking machine, you’ll have to check out these Yamaha press shots as opposed to our own photos though because my camera decided to pack up on the day I did the test – not good after a four-hour journey to Surrey to do the job!
The back end is bulky and square with a decent sized comfortable seat and a fairly long compartment underneath, which isn’t deep enough to stow a full face helmet, but with 33 litres of space it can still swallow a bit of gear. Up front the narrow flat legshields with that popeyed singular headlight conceal the radiator for the liquid-cooled four-stroke motor and although they may look quite cool they don’t offer much in the way of weather protection. Jumping off one scooter and onto the Giggle showed just how much wind and rain protection you get from ordinary scooter legshields and even at less than 30mph in early spring you feel the bite of the cold on your legs and it’d be no use trying to hide behind them to stay dry when caught out in a shower.
It’s not often we get a 50cc fuel injected scooter with liquid cooling, but it helps to justify the price of £1799. There are plenty of lesser equipped 50s that carry the same sort of price tag but only come with a carburettor, as opposed to the more economical and eco friendly fuel injection system. So although it may look a bit like a novelty scooter of the kind you’d normally get inside the yellow plastic yolk of a Kinder Surprise, it has been thought-out properly. Yamaha have spent cash on areas that are worthwhile and saved a bit of money on areas that aren’t really important on a scooter of this type, for instance they’ve fitted drum brakes at both ends instead of more expensive discs. Drum brakes on a four-stroke 50cc are more than up to the job of stopping the relatively slow scooter. Manufacturers also know that there’s not much chance of owners tuning a little four-stroke, so they should never need to cope with stopping a more powerful machine in the future.
Words: Iggy
• End of online sample
• Don't forget to visit www.whatscooter.com for the online index of new scooters, and see our Manufacturer's news pages for the latest news and offers.
