Quick Ride

Quick Ride

ITALJET DRAGSTER 50 LC Mass-transit with style

IF YOU HAD FREE REIGN to design a chic Italian streetbike, what features would you give it? The center-hub front end from a Bimota Tesi? The latticework frame from a Ducati? The underseat fuel tank from a late-model Laverda? Breathtaking styling would be a given, as would available colors: red, yellow and, for formal occasions, black. And-Vdue be damned-a two-stroke engine wouldn’t be bad, either.

Well, guess what? You just designed the Italjet Dragster. Thing is, it’s a scooter. And a 50cc scooter at that.

Overseas, the Dragster is offered in three sizes-50,

125 and 180cc-but here in the ever-greener red-white-and-blue, only the smallest one meets emissions standards. That’s okay, though, because as the saying goes, it ain’t how much you’ve got, but how you use it.

And used as intended, the Dragster works very well indeed, as I discovered during a recent visit to my hometown, Huntington, New York, where Italjet USA (1-888-ITALJET) is based.

First thing you need to know is that in spite of its exotic looks, the Dragster works like any other

pint-sized step-through. Turn the ignition key, hold either brake lever while thumbing the electric-starter button and the liquidcooled Minarelli reed-valve Single springs to life, settling into a rough, smoky idle. Like

most scooters, the Dragster employs a centrifugal clutch, thus it’s important not to blip the throttle at a standstill. Forget and you’ll find yourself sprawled on a tailgate quicker than you can say, “SUV” Controls consist of a twistgrip and front-brake lever on the right and a rear-brake lever on the left. Your feet are left with nothing to do but straddle the cell-phone holder.

Oh, and paddle, because from a standing start, the Dragster is dogslow, its malapropos moniker obviously deriving from the Weinerdog Nationals rather than the NHRA. Once moving, there’s appreciable acceleration up to about 30

mph, above which...well, there isn’t anything above that, unless you remove the stock governor. (Would that be considered impeachment?) Then, you could see speeds as high as 45 mph. Downhill. With a tailwind.

What the Italjet lacks in speed, however, it makes up in nervous maneuverability, its short wheelbase and tiny tires letting it do to city traffic what Carl Fogarty does to backmarkers. You haven’t zipped through traffic until you’ve done so on a scooter.

Other findings? Well, the twin disc brakes are slightly woodenfeeling, and the rear suspension lets square-edged bumps jolt straight up your spine. That’s what I thought, anyway. But these subtleties of motorcycle dynamics were lost on my schoolteacher sister, who I had recruited to play photo model, and who spent most of the day trying to keep bugs out of her ever-widening smile. Clearly a closer approximation of a target scooter buyer, Laurie limited her criticism to the Italjet’s price, which at $3599 is about twice as high as a Japanese scooter, or four times what she paid for her decrepit VW microbus.

I tried to explain to her that neither of those would be a suitable stablemate to an MV, but some things kid sisters don’t understand.

Brian Catterson