Welcome to the first ever Scooter Buyers Guide on CMG Online. Here you’ll find a comprehensive listing of all the scooters available in Canada for 2010 (that we know of anyway).

The guide only covers gas-powered scooters (not electric powered or mopeds) with photos of each bike along with the main specs based on the importers websites and/or information provided by them.

The spec sheets gives you useful information such as what type of engine is used – for example, two strokes are generally more powerful, lighter and more easily tuned, though due to Canadian regulations, they are only found in 50 cc or less. There’s also info on the type of cooling (liquid = higher tech) as well as carburetion (fuel injection or carb).

You’ll also see a spread of styles from your classic Vespa-esque styling, to a whole dirge of sporty fifties, to the more sedate commuter (which generally come with the larger 16 inch wheels for added stability).

Then there’s the more unusual scooters such as the maxi-scooter (considered to be anything above 300 cc and all the way up to 650 cc) which makes for a pretty good touring machine, and Piaggio’s three wheeled MP3 series which leans in corners to boot.

And you don't get as funky as Piaggio's three-wheeled Snuffleupagus ... I mean MP3 Sport.

One of the elements that we cannot cover in a guide like this is quality. Over the recent years there’s been a wave of scooter imports from China with varying degrees of quality.

We recommend that you take a close look at a prospective buy before laying down your cash as well as finding out a little about the company and looking at what kind of warranty/dealer support they offer.

You may save a few hundred bucks on the sticker price, but that’s no good to you if the scoots a pile of scrap after a year!

Okay then, click here to go the CMG Scooter Buyers’ Guide.