Our scooter trial

Daelim Cordi R

We tested the 50cc 2kW Daelim Cordi R moped, the “unrestricted” 4kW Aprilia SportCity 50 and the electric 2kW SynECO eCruiser in typical Wellington conditions.

We tried:

• running climbs up the long and winding Brooklyn Hill road, up the even more winding Ohiro Road and up Mount Victoria
• running on flat roads such as Adelaide Rd, Thorndon Quay, Jervois Quay and other city areas
• an uphill standing start on Oriental Bay’s severely steep Wilkinson Street.

Overall performance

SynECO eCruiser

The SportCity 50’s extra power made travelling a lot easier and it outperformed the other two scooters. The (electric) eCruiser performed similarly to the Cordi R and even outperformed it on one uphill run.

The uphill standing start was the most troublesome test for the Cordi R and the eCruiser. The Cordi R only just made it – it took several seconds to start moving forward before slowly accelerating to about 10km/h at the top.

The eCruiser had a half- to one-second delay before the motor kicked in – enough to start rolling back down the hill. Once the motor kicked in the scooter slowly gained momentum and crawled up the hill at 5 to 10km/h.

Riding experience

Aprilia SportCity 50

SportCity 50
The rigid chassis and stiff suspension made it feel very stable around corners, and its larger 14” wheels seemed to iron out some of the bumps in the road. The brakes were very powerful and its smooth throttle response made slow riding a doddle.

Few city streets have much run-off room and many cars driving around town exceed 50km/h. The SportCity 50 could comfortably keep up with traffic and we felt confident sitting in the middle of the lane. This wasn’t the case with the other two models, which struggled to keep up with traffic flow.

Cordi R
Its brakes provided good stopping power and gave good feel, its controls were easy to use, and it had a very smooth throttle response – ideal for slow-speed U-turns and walking-speed riding. Weighing just 77kg, it was agile and easy to lift on to its centre stand.

eCruiser
This accelerated well as we climbed the winding roads of Mount Victoria and easily handled the tight corners. We were able to maintain around 35km/h most of the way to the top. Coming back down, the scooter handled well at faster speeds and the front brakes had good stopping power.

But the model we tested had an electrical gremlin. When taking off from a standing start on the flat, the scooter sometimes quickly accelerated to 15-20km/h then wouldn’t go any faster. This could be dangerous when merging with traffic. We tried turning the key off for five seconds and then on again – and the scooter resumed full power. We had to do this twice.

After 33km of riding we suspected the eCruiser was losing power. The battery still seemed OK: the indicator showed one green light (approximately 75 percent charged). We headed for the office six kilometres away … but after two kilometres the scooter sulked and stopped – the battery gauge was red (approximately 25 percent charged).

We turned the ignition off and the scooter restarted. But it died again within 15 metres. It was impossible to maintain a safe speed on the road, so we limped home on the footpath at walking speed – and of course were questioned by a police officer (who smiled and let us continue).

This highlights the need for an accurate battery gauge. If we’d lost power in the Mount Victoria tunnel it would’ve been dangerous for us and inconvenient to hundreds of motorists.

There were a few other niggles with the eCruiser’s construction. The rear brake was a bit touchy, which could be dangerous for inexperienced riders. The centre stand often didn’t spring all the way up so had to be raised manually.

(See Going electric for a more detailed overview of the eCruiser.)

Scooters compared

Guide to the table
Price includes on-road costs. Tech bits except for top speed are from the supplier. Top speed is from our test.