Sparks flying, plastic exploding, the brand new Honda Dylan converts into a high speed crayon drawing a long metallic blue line on the damp tarmac.

This is the vision flashing in my brain as I sign the insurance forms at my local Honda distributor while glancing out the large plate glass window at rain, slick road and kamikaze car drivers intent on demolishing the Dylan like a hungry redneck at ‘all you can eat rib night’. Why the panic… well you see the Honda Dylan 150 looks good, a far cry from bikes that I own, my bikes tend to end up on the ground soon after pickup, usually not intentional but I never worry, you see. To me a scooter is a Tool, not a work of art; once it has some scratches on it I cease worrying about the thing and just use it.

This is where we get back to the Honda Dylan 150. It looks good, with it’s high tech angles, multifaceted lights and beautiful metallic paint… it looks like a modern maybe even futuristic version of, well, of a scooter.

Fortunately looks are not the end of the Honda Dylan tale. After riding this scooter for a few days I concluded that as far as tools go this one is certainly fit for the job, even if it is pretty. Let me give you some background; The Honda Dylan was designed by Honda’s European design team and built in Italy to compete with the likes of Vespa, in an age old “if you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em” scenario. I was genuinely expecting a lot of show and very little go… the opposite was almost true. The Dylan 150 stood up to the rigorous test of suburban commuting very well indeed. The 13 inch alloy wheels initially felt like they turned the bike into some sort of boat, slow to react and hard to throw around. However if you ride it more like a traditional ‘motorcycle’ i.e. push the bars a bit and use your body weight, the bigger wheel proved a hard act to follow. The Dylan feels upright and stable in all conditions and will lean into a corner and hold fast if your inner racer comes out. More importantly, if your daily commute includes motorway/highway riding this scooter will do the job admirably.