For as long as I can remember (about four minutes on most days) the Yamaha T-Max has been the sports orientated maxi scooter of choice. In fact, it’s really been the only choice as it hasn’t had a direct competitor other than Gilera’s Nexus 500ie. Things have changed with the introduction of the new Gilera GP800 and the T-Max has suddenly found itself in the position of having to play catch-up. There’s been a lot of talk on-line and even in our own comments section about the various merits of both bikes. I’ve not been able to offer a definitive opinion of my own as I simply hadn’t ridden the latest T-Max in anger. I have now…so I’ll unleash my rather vivacious opinion.

I’d got sick of people telling me the T-Max was better at all manner of things than other maxi scooters and like the normal human reaction, I’d gone a bit negative because of it. Well I was wrong. The T-Max is a superb maxi scooter; in fact I’d say it sets the benchmark in most performance categories. First off the T-Max is lighter than most of its direct competitors. At 203kg (447lbs) it’s 13kg (28lbs) lighter that the Gilera Nexus 500ie, 15kg (33lbs) less than the Honda Silver Wing, 32kg (70lbs) lighter than the Gilera Gp800 and a massive 35kg (77lbs lighter than the bulbous Suzuki Burgman 650). It’s this light weight that immediately hands the T-Max an advantage in the handling department.