Our world is filled with bizarre bikes. A few of them are badass—assume low-slung cruisers like these from Harley and Indian. In the meantime, others are razor-sharp—assume the crop of hyper-naked and supersports from Europe. However on the similar time, some bikes are simply bizarre. , like they’re not fairly certain what they need in life?
There are fairly a couple of bikes like this that come to thoughts. Personally, the entire adventure-scooter craze is responsible of this, with bikes just like the Honda X-ADV teetering between scooter and journey bike. Nicely, as it will prove, one other producer is making an attempt to provide you with yet one more cruiser crossover thingamabob.
I’m speaking about Taiwanese model SYM, and its lately unveiled prototype known as the TTLBT. Now, I’ve completely no thought what that five-lettered acronym stands for, however simply excited about it makes me hungry for a BLT sandwich. Sadly, SYM’s TTLBT isn’t a sandwich. Heck, I’m not even certain if it’s a scooter. Or possibly it’s a sport-tourer. Or maybe one thing in between?
Nicely, in response to SYM, the TTLBT’s styling was taken from, get this, a turtle. Now, I don’t learn about you, however this factor seems nothing like a turtle. Plus, I’m not precisely certain if a turtle is an apt spirit animal for any motorbike.
Nonetheless, what I do know is that this factor is constructed to trip fairly far. It’s clearly looking for its place within the widespread maxi-scooter section in Europe that’s dominated by the likes of the Yamaha TMAX and Honda Forza 750. However I don’t know, one thing simply seems a bit off with the TTLBT’s proportions.
That being mentioned, beneath the floor, this factor appears to have the muscle to make it a highway-munching, long-distance-touring maxi-scooter. It’s powered by a 508cc engine, however SYM doesn’t disclose what sort of engine it’s, but it surely’s greater than possible a parallel-twin engine, and the identical one utilized in Maxsym TL 508 scooter. If that’s the case, then this factor is sweet for about 45 horsepower and 37 pound-feet of torque—effectively inside placing distance of the Yamaha TMAX.
To enhance its respectable efficiency, SYM throws in a bunch of tech, too. The TTLBT comes with two trip modes—regular and rain, in addition to throttle-by-wire and cruise management. It even will get some performance-focused rider aids like cornering ABS and traction management (sure, this factor has a six-axis IMU—fairly wild for a scooter). Oh, you possibly can even swap traction management off if ever you’re feeling like making an attempt to pop wheelies on this factor.
In fact, the TTLBT will get the entire shebang in the case of infotainment. It’s rocking a seven-inch TFT display screen with voice activation, navigation, and music playback. The display screen lets you join your smartphone by way of Bluetooth and even comes with Android Auto and Apple CarPlay as normal.
In true maxi-scooter trend, the TTLBT is sprinkled with comfort and comfort-focused facilities. It will get a nifty saddle with three positions of adjustable lumbar help. Underneath the seat, you get 37 liters of cupboard space. The bike even comes normal with panniers offering 14.4 liters and 13.6 liters of storage on both facet. And on longer journeys, you possibly can slap on a prime case due to the built-in baggage rack. In fact, a USB-C charger housed within the entrance compartment lets you energy up your gadgets as you trip.
So there you’ve got it, an oddball maxi-scooter sport-touring factor that kinda needs to be an entire bunch of issues all of sudden. Will it promote? Heck, will it even make it to manufacturing? Nicely, solely time will inform, however given how widespread maxi-scooters are in Europe and Asia, it’s greater than possible that there’s a marketplace for this factor.
