On the road the Runner is a lot more bike than most scooters. The 21hp engine and low overall weight make the VXR 200 one of the quickest non-maxi scooters on the market. The Runner easily dispatches regular city traffic with just a simple twist of the throttle. I imagine there aren’t many scooters that would make it across town as fast as a Runner. The brakes on the Gilera are a lesson to other scooter manufacturers; big solid disc brakes front and back. The Runner is one of the fastest stopping bikes I’ve ever ridden. In fact from low speeds, say 50kph (31mph), the Runner would have to beat most motorcycles. It really is that good.

Living with the Runner is also going to be pretty easy. The 200cc four stroke engine returns 3.5L/100kms (67MPG) which is a significant improvement over the poor economy of the older two stroke version. Obviously it’s not as frugal as some bikes but who cares as you’ll be going MUCH quicker than pretty much everybody else. Gilera have also added a remote release for the under seat storage area on the ignition. Just push the key and voila…the seat is unlocked. Funny, because I looked for a key hole by the seat for about…well I won’t say how long as it’s kind of embarrassing. Gilera forgot to put a sign on the ignition barrel to indicate it opened the seat, so I’m not a complete idiot.

Handling wise the Runner is a complex bike. The first few rides on the Runner are unlikely to give much confidence where cornering is concerned. The reason is altitude. See the Gilera’s seat is literally miles in the sky; this is great for seeing over traffic, but arse when it comes to high performance riding. In general the ‘sitting on the toilet’ riding position of most scooters does not lend them to knee down road carving; the higher the seat position the worse it gets. It’s the reason smaller bodied scooters like a Suzuki Address 125 are so much easier to throw around. It’s a real shame that Gilera don’t seem to understand this as it would completely transform the Runner if they could lower the seat about five inches.