Scooter Review

Piaggio Liberty 200 S

The Liberty 200 S could extend your scootering frontier. Fast and Flash, Flexible too. $4990 + orc

Words by PETE CALLAGHAN, photography by LOU MARTIN

Piaggio has taken its top-selling big-wheel scooter up a notch with the release of the new Liberty 200 S. With the S in the model name signifying Sport, the Liberty has copped a slightly racy once-over, highlighted by the cool orange stitching on the seat and the tattoo-style graphics decals plastered about the body panels.

A sleeker headset design, with a new headlight and a small black flyscreen, also help to set the S model apart from the standard Liberty.

Whether thatís enough clinch the deal for a prospective buyer is a matter of individual taste, but I reckon itís a sharp looking scoot.

Jeremy tested the Liberty 125 in Scooter #6, and looking back over that test, I found myself agreeing with much of what he said about the Liberty ís handling dynamics. Which makes sense because the 125 and the 200 share a common chassis, including 32mm telescopic forks at the front and a single rear spring-damper unit with four-way preload adjustment.

The Liberty's steering is great, light and accurate, and it will hold your chosen line through a corner until you say otherwise. The big wheels, a 16-inch front and a 14-inch rear play a major role here because theyre not affected by bumps, holes and ripples in the same way as 12- or 10-inch wheels are. Those bigger hoops just cruise over most of the nasty stuff without transmitting the worst of it through the rider, so the Liberty invariably goes where you want it to go.

Having said that, the rear suspension could pull its weight a little better as the shock felt slightly undersprung for my 83kg. The front forks were fine just about everywhere, but the back end bounced and jarred a bit over bigger bumps. Lighter riders probably shouldnít have an issue with it.

They also shouldnít have any problem moving the Liberty around. At 110kg dry, itís a pretty svelte scoot thatís easy to manoeuvre around the garage or carpark. Little effort is needed to pop it up on its centrestand, but thereís no sidestand, which is a shame.

Seat comfort is very good for the rider, and thereís a flat footwell with room enough for big clodhoppers. Pillions get a reasonable perch, with good fold-out footpegs and a rear ëspoilerí that doubles as a grab rail and rack.

The Libertyís brakes ñ a combination of a two-piston caliper grabbing a 220mm stainless steel disc at the front, and a rear drum ñ were very capable without being especially outstanding. To be fair, I picked up the Liberty S with just 33km on the clock and the front brake in particular felt a bit wooden for the first few stops, but it definitely improved as the odometer ticked over.

It was a similar situation with the engine. The Liberty S uses a 198cc version of Piaggio's single-cylinder, four-stroke LEADER engine. With a single overhead camshaft, two valves and fuel supplied by a 27mm Keihin carburettor, the LEADER is Euro 3-compliant and good for 8.4kW at 6750rpm and 13.4Nm at 5250rpm very decent figures for a motor of this capacity.

Being so new, our Libertyís engine was quite tight for the first part of the test period, but it had loosened up considerably after a couple of hundred clicks. The LEADERís certainly a willing performer, with plenty of oomph from low revs to get you well ahead of the cars at the traffic light drag races. It will keep accelerating smoothly and strongly too, all the way up to 80-90km/h, at which point the power surge will flatten off a bit.

The best bit, though, is that the Liberty makes highways and freeways very accessible because it will cruise quite happily at 100km/h. On a run back up the Bruce Highway from Brisbane to the Sunshine Coast, I was able to get a reasonably comfortable 110km/h out of the Liberty, but with the low miles on the engine, I didn't want to keep it there for long. Once bedded in, though, the Liberty should do that speed pretty easily.

Be aware, however, that sustained speeds around the metric tonne will have the Liberty guzzling rather than sipping its fuel. My runs up and down the Bruce had the Liberty sucking back the unleaded at an average rate of 4.37L/100km. Again, with more miles on the engine and more city and urban use, you could expect to do a fair bit better than that.

The Liberty has a fuel capacity of six litres, which is a little on the low side (the Zip 50 packs in 7.5 litres, for example), but itís one part of the price you pay for having big wheels. The fuel filler is under the seat and itís a right royal pain to use because itís so narrow, which makes it very hard to work out when the tank is close to full. You can either spend time trickling every tankful in, or get used to cleaning up overflowing unleaded.

The other part of that price for having big wheels is restricted underseat storage. Piaggio claims the Liberty ís underseat compartment, which is sort of crescent-shaped and quite deep, will hold a jet-style helmet, but Iíll be damned if I could get my medium AGV open-face in there. You might have more luck with a smaller shell or a shortie-style lid ñ or budget for a topbox.

Along with a bag hook, thereís another storage compartment behind the legshield which is good for phones and other small stuff, but it doesnít have any retaining walls, so your stuff can fall out when you open the hatch.

Apart from the slight discomfort of watching the fuel gauge slide from full to empty on those highways, the Libertyís instrument panel is very legible. As well as the fuel gauge, thereís a speedometer, a digital clock and warning lights for low fuel, oil, high beam, lights on, indicators and the anti-theft immobiliser.

  The 200 S seemed to be screwed together well with a nice tight panel fit, although the casting around the rear hub on our scoot had been pretty roughly machined. I do like the inclusion of grey plastic rubbing strips on the sides of the legshields and the rear sidepanels, which would take most of the impact should the scooter fall over or be involved in a minor bingle.

With its sharp looks, responsive handling and engine performance, comfort for two and a $5K price tag, the Liberty S 200 represents a good option for those who want more flexibility from their scooter.

As published in TW SCOOTER MAGAZINE - 28/12/2007
Subscribe to Two Wheels Scooter magazine now!