The most refreshing thing about Honda’s Motocompacto is that it wasn’t born within the dreary walls of a corporate conference room. Honda management didn’t sit their design team down and ask for “the next big thing.” The Motocompacto started life as a passion project, led by employees who wanted to create something innovative and fun—a folding e-scooter that paid homage to the original Motocompo but made sense from a modern urban mobility standpoint.
Check out the full story at https://www.cycleworld.com/motorcycle-reviews/honda-motocompacto-electric-scooter-review/
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Check out the full story at https://www.cycleworld.com/motorcycle-reviews/honda-motocompacto-electric-scooter-review/
Read more from Cycle World: https://www.cycleworld.com/
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SportsTranscript
00:00 Want a grown-up version of something like this?
00:03 (explosion)
00:05 This is the Honda Moto Compacto Folding E-Scooter.
00:08 It costs $995, has a top speed of 15 miles per hour,
00:12 and a range of around 12 miles.
00:15 It only takes about three and a half hours to charge.
00:18 So folding motorcycles are nothing new.
00:23 Honda had one of the most famous, the Moto Compo,
00:25 which was offered from 1981 to 1983.
00:28 Before that, there was the Well Bike,
00:30 which was actually designed to be dropped
00:32 into the battlefields during World War II,
00:34 give soldiers a way to get around the battlefield.
00:36 After that, there was the Brockhaus Corgi
00:38 and the Indian Papoose, which were basically
00:40 just more civilized versions of that Well Bike.
00:44 The Moto Compacto was not developed for the battlefield,
00:47 unless of course you consider daily life the battlefield,
00:49 in which case, hey, we feel you on that.
00:51 But what is it all about and who is it for?
00:53 Well, we are here at the Honda campus
00:55 in Torrance, California.
00:56 We're gonna talk to the folks from Honda and find out.
00:59 (upbeat music)
01:02 All right, so Honda rode us around
01:07 to the other side of the campus here.
01:09 They've got a little cone course set up.
01:11 We're gonna do some thorough testing.
01:12 I will say it was pretty cool riding over here,
01:14 'cause I think that's how a lot of people
01:16 are gonna use something like this,
01:17 is if you work at a big tech campus or something like that,
01:19 you've got meetings on the other side of the lot,
01:21 you can pop downstairs, jump on this thing,
01:24 and be over to your meeting in no time.
01:25 So we're gonna do some testing.
01:27 Let's check it out, see what this thing is capable of.
01:30 Like riding behind one,
01:31 it looks like somebody's riding on their laptop.
01:33 It's pretty stable.
01:35 Like shake the handlebars,
01:36 doesn't feel like I'm gonna go anywhere.
01:38 Grab the brakes, everything feels solid.
01:40 I think it's like exactly what you'd expect from Honda,
01:43 right, everything's all super solid and nice.
01:45 It's Honda fit and finish and quality.
01:47 And I think that is, I don't know,
01:49 we shouldn't be surprised
01:50 because that's what Honda's known for.
01:52 That's why people buy Honda products, right?
01:54 Just a couple other things,
01:55 just all the touch points,
01:56 these little leather grips are really nice.
01:58 You got the little stitching on them,
01:59 brakes work well.
02:01 And handling-wise, I mean, I don't know,
02:03 what are we gonna talk about?
02:04 It doesn't feel like a little wobbly little thing
02:08 that you're gonna hurt yourself on, right?
02:09 I think that's all you can ask for.
02:11 There's some stability to it.
02:13 It's the front wheel drive,
02:15 you kind of get up and go.
02:16 It's really nice.
02:18 Top speed, 15 miles per hour.
02:19 No problem to hit that in this little stretch
02:21 that we've got going on here.
02:23 Top speed of 10 miles per hour in that mode one.
02:26 Ooh, another really cool thing
02:27 is what they did with the modes,
02:29 where when you're in mode one,
02:31 the bike will not start moving
02:34 if you hit the throttle when you're stationary.
02:38 So you actually kind of have to push off a little bit
02:40 to about one, two miles per hour.
02:42 And then when you're hitting the throttle,
02:43 then it's gonna move forward.
02:44 So that's really cool
02:45 because you're not standing there stationary in mode one
02:48 and someone goes, "Oh, that thing looks cute,"
02:49 and hits the throttle
02:50 and the thing just jumps away from you.
02:51 So cool little safety measures there.
02:54 Overall, just a really well-built, cool little thing.
02:56 It's fun.
02:57 There was a couple people here with us today
02:59 and nobody is having a bad time.
03:01 Everyone's smiling, everyone's laughing.
03:03 So that's what Two Wheels does for you, man.
03:05 Two Wheels is so cool to have stuff like this.
03:08 It gets people on two wheels
03:09 with a little motor in this case
03:11 and just understanding the freedom
03:15 of having some type of e-mobility tool like this.
03:19 So really cool,
03:20 whether you're using it as a utility thing
03:22 to get to your work,
03:24 to get to the train,
03:25 wherever you might be going,
03:26 or just for fun,
03:27 just to cruise around town,
03:28 go cruise through your local park or neighborhood.
03:30 This thing's $995.
03:32 I mean, I've spent a lot more money on a lot sillier thing.
03:35 All right, Honda Motor Compacto,
03:37 this is my second time going to unfold the thing.
03:41 If I can get it done right on the second try,
03:44 that tells you how easy this thing is to do.
03:46 Let's get to it.
03:47 (upbeat music)
03:50 All right, we got the seat.
04:14 I forgot the seat last time,
04:15 so I'm gonna get that in there.
04:17 Boom, seats in.
04:18 Get this rear wheel out.
04:21 See, we got a lever back here
04:24 and you just kind of kick it out there.
04:26 Foot pegs out.
04:29 Everything seems really sturdy.
04:32 It's kind of,
04:32 it's either like a two-step thing to get it out
04:34 or, and once it's in,
04:36 it's really locked in place.
04:38 Power's on, bike's unfolded,
04:40 we're ready to ride.
04:41 15 miles per hour max, let's go.
04:43 Now, one of my big takeaways from this little experience
04:46 is understanding that this was a passion project.
04:48 This wasn't Honda trying to build something
04:50 that they can sell millions of
04:51 and create this kind of extra revenue source.
04:54 This was just something that they thought
04:55 would be fun to build,
04:56 and so they did it.
04:57 And they are celebrating the Honda Moto Compo through it,
05:00 and I think it's really great for that.
05:01 Now, in talking to the Honda representatives,
05:04 they say that they see people who live in the metro area
05:06 or who are commuting around their college campus,
05:09 they see this being a really great product for them.
05:11 I also see it being for people
05:13 who work maybe at tech campuses,
05:15 big campuses where they're going from one end to the other,
05:17 they've got a meeting on opposite sides of the lot.
05:20 But for me, I see this as something that's just fun,
05:22 that people are gonna wanna have
05:23 because it's cute, it's compact,
05:25 it's enjoyable to ride.
05:27 I would use this for maybe going down to the beach,
05:29 throwing a towel and some little accessories
05:31 in the storage area,
05:33 and just cruising down the boardwalk
05:34 and having a little beach day on it.
05:36 Now, you do have the provision for the bike lock,
05:38 so you can leave this thing locked up
05:40 when you're not using it,
05:41 which is a nice convenience feature there.
05:43 I will say that at over 40 pounds,
05:45 I don't see people carrying it too far,
05:48 so that will maybe limit the use a little bit
05:50 for some people.
05:51 Other than that, it is a lot of fun.
05:53 All of us here, we're just all smiles all day,
05:55 and that really is what transportation devices
05:58 should be about.
05:59 Now, if you like what you saw here,
06:01 give us a like.
06:02 If you've got any questions about the Moto Compacto,
06:05 drop us a comment below.
06:06 Thanks so much.
06:07 We'll see you on the next one.
06:08 (silence)
06:10 (silence)
06:13 (silence)
06:15 [BLANK_AUDIO]