BIKETEST GILERA RUNNER ST 125:Gilera's new Runner won't win you any races, but it's got great acceleration, braking and cornering, writes GEOFF HILL
I’D HAD it with speed. After breaking the sound barrier on the Ducati 1198S and giving myself whiplash by cracking open the throttle in Race mode on the Yamaha R1, I needed a bit of peace and quiet for a change.
I needed to stop and smell the roses and the coffee, get my mojo back and get in touch with the stillness at the centre of my being – which, as any Japanese Zen Buddhist will tell you, is located in your hara, exactly one and a half inches above your navel.
I needed to throw on an old tweed jacket and hie me hence down to the Frog and Ferret, where the landlord would greet me like a long-lost friend, his wife would cook me a pie involving the death of a small cow, and their comely daughter would serve me a foaming pint of Old Sparrowfart.
And then I would fill my pipe with Old Throgmorton’s ready-rubbed, and smoke it contentedly, as through the window I watched the sun go down.
But then I thought, nah, stuff that, what I need is a spin on the Gilera Runner.
At a piffling 15bhp, the ST 125 was never going to set my hair alight, but at least it would allow me to stop and smell the roses – and probably pick a few as I rode past at a leisurely pace.
“Are you sure you’re going to fit on this?” asked Colin, the world’s finest scooter mechanic, as he poured some fuel into the Runner at the dealership.
“Absolutely. If my knees get in the way, I’ll just leave them with you for safekeeping. You can give them a service if you’re doing nothing.”
“Chance would be a fine thing,” he said as I climbed aboard and pressed the starter and the little four-stroke chuckled merrily into action.
On the Runner, motoring couldn’t be simpler: just twist and go. And go you do, with surprisingly brisk acceleration even with 100kg of me on board.
Allowing for the slight time lag there always is between opening the throttle and actually going anywhere on automatic scooters, I was soon whizzing through town and passing everything in sight.
Heavens, at one stage I even swept past a Porsche with gay abandon. It was parked at the time, but you have to start somewhere.
At the other end of the scale, stopping with the bar-mounted front and back brakes is also surprisingly efficient.
Where the Runner really comes into its own, though, is cornering. There was a time when scooter manufacturers fitted their machines with wheels the size of side plates.
As a result, any attempt to fling yourself around a corner with either alacrity or aplomb usually ends with you flinging yourself down the road sans scooter, into the path of a baffled granny in a Nissan Micra.
These days, thank heavens, most makers have seen the light, and the Runner comes equipped with a 14” tyre at the front and 13” at the back, meaning that you can corner much as you would on a motorbike.
I speak with some authority on the matter, since half an hour after picking it up from Colin, I was booting around country B-roads with the throttle wide open and a grin to match.
I mean, you can even countersteer it, which is a first on any scooter I’ve ridden.
Back in town, its remarkable low-speed stability meant I had just as much fun seeing how slow I could go before I fell over.
So slow, in fact, that at one stage I was passed by two snails, although one of them had a heart attack further along the road, as I discovered when I came across Mrs Snail giving him mouth-to-mouth.
Fortunately, he recovered in time to star in the sequel to the brilliant French nature film Microcosmos.
I heartily recommend that you go and see it. And pick up a Runner on your way home.
Factfile Gilera Runner ST 125
Engine: single-cylinder Piaggio Leader liquid-cooled 124cc four-stroke, with catalytic converter and secondary air system, 15bhp @ 9,750rpm, 11.7Nm of torque @ 8,000rpm
Maximum speed: 106km/h
Gears: twist and go CVT and torque server
Clutch: dry automatic centrifugal type with damping plugs
Frame: closed double cradle of steel tubes with pressed sheet metal reinforcements
Suspension: front – telescopic forks with hydraulic damping, rear – twin hydraulic shock absorber with preload adjuster
Brakes: front – 220mm disc, rear – 200mm disc
Tyres: front – tubeless
120/70, 14”, rear – tubeless
140/60, 13”
Dimensions: length 1,840mm, width 750mm, wheelbase 1,340mm, saddle height 815mm
Dry weight: 135kg.
Fuel tank: 8.7l (1.7l reserve)
Colours: Dragon Red, Carbon Black
There is currently no Gilera dealer in the Republic. UK price £2,799. Test bike supplied by Piaggio Center, Belfast, tel: 028-9032 1509, scooterservicesni.co.uk