As most of you know, Yamaha invited us down for the Zuma 50F press event this week in San Francisco. I was flattered to attend and meet some of the folks at Yamaha and other members of the press in the scooter scene. I had a great time talking with Steve and Mitch from www.thescooterscoop.com and April from www.scootmagazine.com.

The new 50F comes to the table with fresh styling for 2012 and a new 4 stroke power plant. This model comes equipped with a fuel injected 4 stroke, liquid cooled motor similar to one found in the C3. Overall power is toned down a little from previous 2 stroke models, but that's really the only drawback in 2012. The change to 4 stroke was prompted by the EPA and trying to pass California emissions, so we can't really blame Yamaha for that. I will say it felt like it had a little more torque from a stop at times, and fuel efficiency was greatly improved over my 2002 2 stroke version. I put about 80 miles on my 50F and used mayyybe a quarter tank at most. That would have eaten up most of a tank on my 02.

The fuel tank was moved to the footrest area, which lowers the center of gravity making the scoot feel a little more nimble and easier to toss around the turns. Overall, the 50F felt lighter and more agile than previous models. I didn't have any problem with the new "hump" in the floor wearing size 9 shoes.

The handlebars and guage cluster have been changed for 2012, with the bars and instrument cluster separated. This allows for the easier use of aftermarket bars. The instrument cluster and overall styling of the scoot have taken cues from the new Zuma 125. The looks have really grown on me the last few weeks, now the bugeye previous gen is starting to look slightly dated.

New accessories have become available for the 50F, including a form fitted underseat storage bag that you can take out and carry with you (great for students) and new graphic decal kits. Factory windshield and hand guards are also available.

Overall, I truly enjoyed the 2012 50F. Scooting around San Francisco with Yamaha was a once in a lifetime experience I will never forget!
If you guys are reading this, thank you so much for bringing me and all of Zumaforums.net along for the ride!

Here are some of the pics taken with the Olympus Pen camera that was provided for us. These are from some of the scavenger hunt locations. They gave us a bike GPS with all the points of interest programmed in, we were free to hit them on our own and in whatever order we liked.

Im done uploading, so you guys can post away here now. Please dont quote the whole block of pics in replies.

Really nice ... Jdubbya ...

I'm interested in looking forward from this introduction of the 50F ... SEE WHERE THIS GOES !! !!

As I'm already in ...
I'm more interested in this part of your experience ::



I'd like to do that with a GPS ... take your tour ...
I'm gonna start looking for MAD.MAPS of different areas.


https://www.madmaps.com/?v=desert

So...what's your impression of the bike compared to the regular Z50?

EPA --- SMOG --- CALIFORNIA STATE SMOG EMISSIONS REGULATIONS ---
That's what Jdubbya said ...

What he actually said was "Don't blame Yamaha"

Other countries are still able to get the 2T (if I'm understanding this correctly).

Anyway, since you ask ...
I'm more in favor of Yamaha going directly to a 70cc 4T.
Everyone would be happier with a factory.direct power boost.

The 4 stroke lacked some of the pep of the 2 stroke, 2 stroke climbs hills better, etc. But overall, i liked the ride and feel of the 50F better.

The photo spots with the pro photographers (the mandatory stops) were

Mission Dolores
Ca Palace Legion
Crissy Field-----lunch stop
Fort Point
Twin Peaks

Optional stops were:
Lombard street
The Pub at Ghirardelli square
The flower garden or golden gate park, dont remember where that one was

There were a few other ones i think, but those the main ones i made it to.

Somebody asked about the GPS model, its a Garmin Zumo 220. They had bike mounts set up that used the bolts on the brake reservoir.

Very cool.
I guess with 80 or so miles on 1/4 or so tank makes the hump in the middle of the floor taking away the ability to carry extra gas there for long backroads trips not so bad. Be curious to see how quickly the aftermarket reacts to it (Proly some C3 stuff fits the trans and such?) to get a bit more zip out of it.

Looks like Troy from motorcycle.com got his review posted up. He was the winner of the gps unit if i recall correctly.

http://www.motorcycle.com/manufacturer/ ... 91135.html

That was a nice write.up of Troy's there ...
I did learn something ::



I want to see that hook !! He mentioned it twice ... so it must be significant (to him).

** I was also hoping that he'd say ANYTHING about the GPS ... **
** which he didn't **

Its like a circle of plastic that folds out and you can separate the 2 halves to hang a grocery bag without worrying about it flying off. Very nifty feature!

The HOOK, in itself, isn't a good enough reason to want a new Zuma 50F !! Ha !! Ha !!

My thought is ::

Can it be purchased -AND- put on my scoot ?? ??

You could proly find some kind of little spring hook that would work. Might even be one out there that is meant to be a scoot accessory.

I think the 50F one is part of the plastics there. From the vids I've seen on YT. (Yamaha Canada has a little vid on it)

Here is a good shot of the bag hook, pretty sure its just held on with a 10 mm bolt.

I have 4 gigs of high res professional images provided by Yamaha if anybody wants a better look at something.

The handlebar clamps are awesome. The red shock and red front caliper looks like some drunk Italian styled the bike. I'd powder coat both the first day i owned it.

That sounds like a great trip, congrats on being invited along.