Best 50cc Scooters [2022 Edition] (2023)

Pro-tip: Mopeds are 2 wheeled transportation that stands for motorized pedals. There aren’t pedals on motor scooters, so we’re going to refer to them as scooters from here on out! 🙂

Best Retro 50cc Scooters

There are certainly scooters out there that look sporty & ready to tackle the city streets, but then there are the scooters that just scream retro.

I imagine these are the scooters that you could see in a movie exploring the Italian countryside.

You can’t talk retro without starting with the original – Vespa

Vespa offers 2 scooters in the 50cc range – the Primavera and the Sprint with the Primavera being just that more retro.

Vespa is also the most expensive 50cc retro scooter, so the next scooters will give you more bang for your buck.

The Honda Metropolitan is an absolutely adorable 50cc motor scooter. Not only do you get the reliability of Honda, but it’s electronic fuel injection and liquid cooling system makes it a bit of a premium scooter, too.

The Metropolitan exudes the retro vibes, and with the 10″ wheels, it is one of the shortest scooters offered with a 28″ seat height.

The Genuine Urbano 50i is the only other retro 50cc scooter with the electronic fuel injection to give you some better fuel efficiency AND a bit more forgiving with gaps between rides.

Best 50cc Scooter for Long Distances

Scooters in this size range might not be an obvious choice for touring, but even cross country trips have happened with them!

If you have visions of using your scooter for epic road trips, look no further than the Lance Soho.

The Lance Soho is the best 50cc scooter for long distances due to the size of the wheels, fuel efficiency and ability to carry a load compared to competing models.

This 50cc scooter would be the best for touring on a scooter for a few reasons. To start, it’s got the largest wheels of all of the 50cc scooters available. Those 16″ wheels on both the front and rear will absorb the bumps on the road better than a 10″ by far.

In addition, the Soho boasts a 117 miles per gallon (mpg). Then layer in that it has the capacity to hold more weight than many of the smaller 50cc options, and you’ll be able to carry more gear for this epic adventure you have on your mind.

50cc Scooter with the Best Brakes

Motor scooters in this size range do not always get the top of the line features – safety related or not. I mean, when you think about it, most 50cc scooters are restricted to the 30 mile per hour (mph) speeds. Road bikes can go this fast (if the rider is fit – I am not), and they certainly don’t have uber fancy brakes.

50cc scooters are not currently offered with anti-locking brake systems (ABS) or combined braking systems (CBS).

At a minimum, scooters come with drum brakes to slow down. They depend on the combination of friction and heat to work their magic. A slight upgrade is to have disc brakes instead of drum version. Increasingly, more and more scooters have 1 brake as a disc & 1 as a drum.

Disc brakes do a better job of slowing down at higher speeds, are less likely to overheat and are generally known to last longer than the drum counterparts.

2 scooters are offered that have disc brakes on both the front & rear.

Genuine Brio 50i and Urbano 50i. The i in their name indicates that they are also both have electronic fuel injection.

Both are just under $2,000 MSRP, with a miles per gallon (mpg) rating of 100 miles! Can you imagine?! 100 miles using just 1 gallon of gas.

Both also have Genuine Scooter Company’s 2 year warranty, charging ports & 12″ tires on both the front and rear.

Lightest 50cc Scooter

Knowing which scooter is the lightest will guide you to getting the easiest scooter to load up.

If you’re towing a scooter on the back of an RV, you’ll find that you won’t need as heavy duty of a hitch. If you find yourself loading your scooter in the bed of a truck, having a lighter one is just easier to walk up.

The average among those offered is 219 pounds, and the lightest scooter comes in at 179 pounds.

The Honda Metropolitan is the lightest 50cc scooter coming in at 18% lighter than the average scooter in this engine class.

The Metropolitan has the Honda reliability baked in along with electronic fuel injection & liquid-cooling. Oh. And it’s definitely the classic scooter vibes to ride around on & soaking up those blue skies!