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| Yamaha Jog |
The other day someone asked me why I was riding such a piece of *%#@...scooter. I was like, well…now that solves my photo location; I’ll do it in a toilet. Classic scooters come in all shapes and sizes; some of them are cool and some of them are not. I’m not sure where to class the 1988 Yamaha Jog 50 just yet - here’s the run down. Back in 1988 50cc scooters didn’t have the emission requirements and idiotic power restrictions that we now take for granted; so a 50cc machine from twenty years ago has a very real chance of beating a modern bike in the performance stakes. In fairness it does this by polluting the very world we live in…but performance is PARAMOUNT so who really cares if you end up glowing orange from some form of two stroke carbon poisoning…at least you’ll be going fast. (There’s a tongue firmly planted in my cheek here my sensitive friends). It’s very interesting comparing older scooters to modern scooters because really, not much has changed. I’ll start with the bad. First off the 1988 Jog is somewhat ugly…not hideous deformed gumboot ugly; it’s more Buck Rogers meets Road Runner in a head on accident ugly. Yeah it’s kinda cute…but so is a rat, and you wouldn’t ride around on a rat would you…I guess you’d probably squash it so that comparison has no real merit. Yamaha called it a ‘Stylish Sensation’ back when it was released…they probably should have called it ‘Nothing very sensational at all, just another scooter with no real original thought used in it’s design at all’…that however would have been a very long sticker so I guess they went with ‘Stylish Sensation’ because it was shorter…yeah that’s why!
Storage is rather on the poor side; there’s no glove box upfront and nothing under the seat except a fuel and oil tank. Modern conveniences like a remote seat release are obviously not included, when gassing up you’ll have to remove the key to open the seat. Not really that annoying except the Jog has the worlds smallest tank and needs constant refueling. The Jog is incredibly easy to move around compared to practically any modern bike as it weighs just 49kg. Interestingly it’s surprising hard to put on the centre stand considering it weighs nothing; I guess they’ve actually made some progress with centre stand designs over the years. The Jog does have one cutting edge design feature that eclipses all modern bikes; telepathic braking. Yes you read that correctly, I’ll try and explain. See as you approach a stop you have to imagine stopping; you won’t actually stop, you’ll just imagine stopping, and that really is quite an achievement. I guess the Jog also has another feature as well, telepathic crashing. As you approach an intersection you imagine coming to a stop; when that doesn’t happen you then begin to imagine crashing; as that is the likely outcome of any sudden hazard. The 1988 Jog requires a special kind of riding, I like to call it religion riding. It’s basically blind faith; you simply have to ride under the assumption that at no point in time will anybody or anything ever cross your path, because if by chance that did happen there’s really not much you could do to avoid it.
The front and rear drums are so useless that they barely deserve the title ‘Brakes’, they should be titled ‘Hand Exercises’; all they really do is give your hands a good workout. One has to squeeze them with such brutal force you’ll eventually have forearms like Popeye if you ride the Jog regularly…if you live long enough. A much better idea then trying to stop on the Jog is…not stopping. If a car was to pull out in front of you simply launch into a Superman. A Superman is achieved by jumping with full force prior to hitting the car; as you soar into the air it is important you stretch both arms out before you to assume the full air born superman flight position. While you’re flying the Jog will embed itself in the car below you and if you’re very lucky it will be completely destroyed so it can never be used by another human. Actually there are a few humans who could use them…they could use them for the inmate termination. Instead of lethal injection a prison could simply give a 1988 Jog to a prisoner on death row and tell them they’re free to go. The prisoner would leave a free and happy person with a huge smile on their face; they’d die at the first intersection when they tried to stop, cheap and highly effective.
To make matters worse the Jog is fast…yes really, it’s fast. With a 0-50kph time of just 9.7 seconds it’s considerably quicker than virtually all modern 50cc machines. So based on the assumption that you won’t be able to stop one should call it a 0-Death time of 9.7 seconds. The Jog also has a tendency to wheelie; now normally this would be a fun but the Jog is so wheelie prone that it will do it when you’re not expecting it. So let’s say that inmate reaches the first traffic light and somehow manages to stop safely…well when the light changes they’ll twist the throttle and the front wheel will soar into the air; they’ll most likely flip backwards and tumble to ground only to be crushed by the large truck who hasn’t seen them. It really is a multi tiered killing machine. The good bits; the light weight and tiny size makes the Jog a total blast to ride around corners; this thing will corner like a speed snorting hyper active ADD suffering rat weasel (They’re fast), the suspension is non existent so hopefully you’ve picked a smooth road because if you haven’t you’ll probably die. The tiny ten inch wheels and prehistoric suspension certainly don’t enjoy mid corner bumps. The fact that you can accelerate faster than the latest expensive Vespa certainly makes it a blast to ride around town too. Nothing beats going faster for less money.
Summing up the Jog is tricky. It’s basically an old, rattling piece of junk. A piece of junk that is quicker in a straight line and generally more fun to corner on than most modern 50cc scooters. It really makes you wonder what the hell manufactures have been doing over the last twenty years, with a few little changes the Jog would be killer. Put the fuel tank up front, give it dual discs and some under seat storage but keep the weight the same and you’d have the coolest mini road rocket made…oh and get this, twenty years and probably 100,000kms later the 1988 Jog is still doing 3.5L-100kms or around 67MPG, incredible. Speedometer accuracy
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 written by Ruby Bartlett , May 10, 2011
Only they who fulfill their duties in everyday matters -cheap Karen Millen shoeswill fulfill them on great occasions.
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 written by Dimitri , June 11, 2008
How many thousand km's does the clock go up to before turning over?
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 written by ants , June 10, 2008
The lil' Jog must have been around the clock quite a few times. Its taken the two previous owners to Uni and back and now its being used to ride about 14kms a day to work and back. I had to change the spark plug a few months ago, but other than that it just keeps on going and going. I think the body to rot away before the engine dies :)
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The main issue is the wheelies and the brakes. I once put a top box on, and that hung out over the back wheels. If you put anything more than a feather in the top box it would wheelie massively from every traffic light....fun for a while, but very dangerous! report abuse
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written by Dimitri , June 06, 2008
Thats incredible! No engine rebuilds,and still blasts off the line with 0-50kph in 9.7seconds.
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They say that if a 50cc reaches 30,000kms,it is the equivilant of a human being living 100 years. So yes please,i'll be very interested to know the kms your little beast has done. report abuse
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 written by ketzals , June 05, 2008 I'll check in the kms...lots's though. No engine rebuilds. They made em tough back in the day. report abuse
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written by Dimitri , June 04, 2008
Out of interest,How many km's has it done over the 20 years? and how many engine re-builds?
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 written by stevo , May 26, 2008
I also have a jog. I think it is a blast to ride around on. Granted it does look quite rediculous. Is there anywhere i could get my hands on a owners manual also. thanks. steve
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 written by Del Fuego , April 25, 2008
Hey Jim. please don't forget that this review was written with tongue firmly in cheek. This is a cool little device, unfortunately a few things let it down. I will let Ant answer your more technical questions as he is our resident spanner spinner.. and the owner of said Jog.
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 written by jj , April 23, 2008
Have you any idea's where i could get the owners manual for a 1988 jog?Thanks.Jim
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written by jj , April 23, 2008
Hi-I read your whole story and i cant figure out why you have such a problem with this fun scooter.I have one that is starting to have carburater problems and i was wondering if you had any such problems with yours.I did like the speed and it does handle quite well.It is not very bump friendly but i guess you just have to be aware of where the bigger bumps are.I find it a great little scooter to restore as everything comes of very easily.I just added some 2 stroke oil and now it's starting to have choke problems and is almost impossible to drive.Have you experienced this sort of a problem before?I was also wondering if you know where i can get an owner's manual for this little gem.Thanks for taking the time to write the article and i hope you do a second look at what this little scooter can become.Thanks and any help you care to throw my way is very appreciated.Jim
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