Scooter Review

TGB Voodoo 150

With Jimi Hendrix and Voodoo Child blasting on the iPod, we go for a ride on the wild side.

Words & photography by JEREMY BOWDLER

Mate, you’re going to love this one. It’ll do burn-outs. It’s got some poke...” Cameron Newman’s face lit up as he handed over the keys. “For once the performance lives up to the paint.” And, given the colour scheme it’d want to! Forget the tasteful, restrained pearlescent Vespa paint. Forget the bright, happygo- lucky Hello Kitty 50s. This one’s all devil-worship flame tattoos that hark back to flame-job hot-rods and choppers. If you want an outlaw scoot, then look no further.

On the quick ride back to the office, Cameron’s comments about the performance matching the looks came back and I had to fight the urge to twist the wrist. After all, the Voodoo 150 only had 3km on the clock when I picked it up. As the odometer ticked over and the engine began to loosen a little, I began to explore the upper reaches of the speedo and I’m glad to report that he wasn’t indulging in mere puffery, as the legal phrase goes. The Voodoo hauls.

A combination of a relatively light weight of 122kg and a 7.5kW power output gets the Voodoo up and running with a na-aasty snarl out of the pipe. Perfect to blow the cobwebs away on that early morning commute. In fact, unless you spend all of your time on major freeways, I doubt you could want for power. Pick up off the line is instant for that filter-through-to-the-frontof- the-traffic-and-leave-it-behind ease of use and there always seems to be enough on tap to make dealing with the traffic very easy in any situation.

The slightly undersquare (when the bore is smaller than the stroke) engine dimensions compared with the well undersquare 125cc version, mean the engine revs happily and builds power quickly (whereas the 125 is tuned for a little more torque than power) and the capacity also accounts for the power differential between the two.

But all the power in the world is of little use if you can’t get it to the ground and here the Voodoo shines. The rubber, in 120/70 and 130/70 sizes front to rear riding on 13-inch rims, is sticky and predictable. Certainly the Voodoo feels very comfortable in hard cornering and that encourages you to use more of the engine and that, of course, encourages you to use more of the rubber in a cycle that never becomes vicious.

Part of the reason for this is the chassis, of course, and the Voodoo’s is nicely rigid, with little of the flex you sometimes get which leads to mid-corner wallows and a general feeling of vague discomfort. From upright to full scrape mode, the Voodoo is taut, sharp and predictable which is exactly what you want in the day-to-day cut and thrust of modern scooter riding.

And full scrape mode is quite hard to reach, thanks mainly to a chassis that carries the footboards much higher than on most scooters. Everyone who rode the Voodoo commented on how high the footboards are; and they are higher than average, but even so, they never poked my knees up enough to interfere with the steering and, after a day or two, I no longer noticed the issue, at least until I got back on a “normal” scooter and thought how low the footboards were...

The 12-inch wheels, coupled with finely tuned suspension also deal with potholes, surface irregularities and the increasingly common speed humps without drama. On many scooters, it is common to get the back end cycling through suspension movement after a particularly big bump – say a speed hump taken at speed – and the back end bounces up and down until it damps itself out, usually just as you are about to hit the next bump. My commute is often a wobble from the front and a wallow from the rear all the way to work. Not so with the Voodoo, which tracks straight and true thanks to the twin shock set-up, the damping rates allowing the suspension to do its work properly, and not to keep working overtime. And it never bundies off completely.

Given the performance potential of the engine and the handling prowess, you’d expect the brakes to be up to speed. Literally. And they are, with the front disc washing off speed easily and the rear drum strong and fade-free. The Maxxis rubber, too, comes into its own under brakes, giving good feedback and allowing some pretty significant braking before the back end breaks free.

As far as rider comfort goes, I’m glad to report that the scooter fits the taller rider pretty well thanks in part to the 790mm seat height – certainly it is less cramped for my 195cm frame than most – and pillion accommodation is good too. Your passenger is pampered with fold-out footpegs and a rear rack that doubles as a grabrail. A welcome design feature of the rack is the fact that it is mounted almost flush with the rear seat, so when you are on your lonesome, you can make use of virtually double the space for luggage. This has safety implications as well since the more weight you carry behind the rear axle, the less stable a scooter becomes. Fortunately the Voodoo also has a shopping bag hook on the inside of the leg shields that is placed high enough to be of practical use. The underseat storage area is average, but there is an aftermarket topbox available in black for an extra $150.

One very nice surprise faces owners whenever they have to check the tyre pressures. The front wheel’s valve has an angled stem, which points the valve away from the axle and brakes and gives you better access than even a car’s. No more dirty hands. Brilliant! The dash is clean and functional, with very nicely finished polished metal faces to the gauges – speedo/odometer on the left and fuel gauge/warning lights on the right. Unfortunately there is neither a clock nor a tripmeter, but that is an oversight with most scooters.

Speaking of finishes, the Voodoo is proof positive that Korean manufacture is overcoming its image as almost but not quite up to market expectations. Although the long-term effects of use are impossible to gauge after a week or so with the Voodoo, the level of fit and finish is up there with the best, and there were no squeaks, rattles or groans, and no poor quality finishes evident.

All in all, if you want peppy performance with looks to match, the Voodoo 150 should definitely be near the top of your list.

As published in TW SCOOTER MAGAZINE - 26/05/2005
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