Scooter Review Malaguti Phantom 50 So, will the Ghost Who Walks be trading in Hero for a slightly more modern alternative?
- Although the 50cc market is often dismissed as solely utilitarian transport, Malaguti for one has decided that utility is no synonym for boring, and so the Phantom range is about to hit our shores.
Based around the same high-tech liquid- cooled 50cc two-stroke engine with a catalytic converter in the exhaust to comply with emissions requirements, all Phantoms have disc brakes front and rear, 12-inch wheels with wide tyres and a tubular steel frame. And, with a weight of only 91kg and a maximum width of 680mm, manoeuvring through traffic and parking in a shoebox should be a doddle.
The styling is neat, sharp and sporty, as are the Paoli telescopic forks at the front.
 The Phantom comes in a range of six colours, including a two-tone dark blue/titanium, though final colour choice for Australia has yet to be determined. More importantly, the Phantom comes in five different models, so there should be something for everyone’s taste. The models on offer in Australia, apart from the standard Phantom, will be the Racing Life, with race-derived graphics, the fast Time, with a chequered flag motif, the Spectrum, with a zig-zag design (though there is a question mark over this one) and, for all those Made in Bologna fans, the Ducati Corse, a model done up in Ducati livery celebrating the famous motorcycling firm’s Superbike domination.
You know you want one...
As published in TW SCOOTER MAGAZINE - 27/10/2003
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