Scooter Review Peugeot TKR Furious Not fast but furious $3890+orc
Jeremy Bowdler Peugeot’s TKR has all the styling of a stripped-down, punked-up streetfighter or stunter. It’s the sort of thing you can imagine the disaffected Parisian youth taking over the local skatepark with, or may be breaking into abandoned building sites for a bit of fun before being chased off by les flics.
And, even on the mean streets of Australia’s car-obsessed cities, the Furious incites you to acts of commuting abandon. Its engine is punchy once you get going and makes a gratifying noise and the scoot handles superbly, thanks in no small part to the wide tyres, which give you great confidence mid-corner.
The TKR is physically tiny, something it shares with the rest of Peugeot’s small-bore beauties, and that makes it extremely easy, even for even the slightest rider, to pick a way through traffic or park anywhere, no matter the camber at the roadside.
As we noted in our test in issue #14, from a standstill, the 50cc two-stroke powering the TKR takes a while to spin up hard enough to get the scoot off the line. My 90kg doesn’t help, of course, but once in the powerband the TKR felt pretty good, even on the hills.
Part of the charm is the size (next to nothing), the weight (similar), and the wheels/tyres/ brakes combination and quick steering precision.
I’d remove the sidestand; being spring-loaded it’s a liability because it retracts automatically once the weight is taken off it. Picture someone
leaning on your scooter inadvertently and ... down she goes. At 81kg, the Furious is easy to lift on to the main stand, which makes it easy to manage for smaller riders, even if the 801mm seat height is tallish. Fortunately it’s narrow, so most riders should be able to reach the ground.
The lack of any sort of luggage hook – a serious omission on a city scooter – reduces useful load capacity, even if the underseat storage will accept most full-face helmets (at a squeeze). The fuel and oil caps are side by side under the seat, so care is required when filling if you’re not to get a bin full of fuel spill.
The motorcycle-style handlebar allows some adjustment to the riding position – either from being rotated to a more comfortable position, or replaced by ’bars with a different bend.
The stark appearance of the TKR is continued with the minimalist approach to instrumentation and lighting. The headlights are typically 50cc two stroke dim and there’s no high/low-beam dipswitch so what you see is what you get.
They work, but that’s all.
And that’s pretty much the TKR: eye-catching, minimalist, sporty and a bunch of fun. Until you want more than you’re allowed by law. I satisfied myself finding speed humps to launch the front wheel from. It’d be a lot more fun unrestricted, but the fine’s probably not worth the effort. Shame, though. C’est la vie.
Country of origin ----------------------------------France
Seat height -----------------------------------------801mm
Dry weight --------------------------------------------- 81kg
Fuel capacity ---------------------------------------- 6 litres
Fuel economy ------------------------------------------- n/a
Wheel/tyre sizes ( f/r)--------- 120/90-10/130/90-10
Underseat storage --------------------------------------yes
Luggage hook --------------------------------------------yes
Warranty ------------------------------- 24/unlimited km
Contact------------ www.peugeotscooters.com.au
As published in TW SCOOTER MAGAZINE - 1/06/2008
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