Rode the Forza Today...

General Honda Forza 300 chat, questions about the Forza, or questions about riding.

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Taz
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Re: Rode the Forza Today...

Post by Taz »

Oh good look fwd to the pics and report with the taller windscreen installed!
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Re: Rode the Forza Today...

Post by blackcat54 »

How effective is the short windshield/faring in keeping the head, legs, and torso out of the air stream? I saw a video that showed the riders leg pants ( from the knee down) flapping in the wind. It also looks like the hands are not protected. Could be an issue for winter riding in northern latitudes.
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Re: Rode the Forza Today...

Post by gn2 »

Put it this way, its a whole lot better than a PCX.
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Re: Rode the Forza Today...

Post by ScooterKim »

good review, Skuuter. I have 2 questions that I know you can answer off the top of your head and I don't have to google just now... what is the cc size of the Forza? and, what is the seat height? I am 5/6" and I can flat foot it on the PCX. will I be able to do that on the Forza?
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Re: Rode the Forza Today...

Post by gn2 »

280cc
718mm (two inches lower than a PCX)
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Re: Rode the Forza Today...

Post by you you »

gn2 wrote:Put it this way, its a whole lot better than a PCX.
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Re: Rode the Forza Today...

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gn2 wrote:Put it this way, its a whole lot better than a PCX.
I have no idea how the PCX stands as a reference.
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Re: Rode the Forza Today...

Post by Gingivitis Khan »

ScooterKim wrote:good review, Skuuter. I have 2 questions that I know you can answer off the top of your head and I don't have to google just now... what is the cc size of the Forza? and, what is the seat height? I am 5/6" and I can flat foot it on the PCX. will I be able to do that on the Forza?
I'm also 5' 6" and can put both feet flat on the ground while sitting on the Forza. It's like the bike was custom made just for me.
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Re: Rode the Forza Today...

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I just went to the dealer to check out a Forza. It seems pretty big for a scooter. I sat on it and I can put my feet on the ground just fine. (I'm 5'7".)

I am going to trade in my CTX700ND that I bought last month for either a PCX150 or a Forza. I just can't get comfortable riding the CTX. It feels very top heavy at low speeds to me. I can ride it just fine at any speed over 15 mph, but lower speeds just are difficult. I've spent hours and hours in parking lots practicing low speed maneuvers. But, I can't get comfortable with it. I guess I should also mention that I am disabled with a spine disorder, so I'm not as strong or agile as I once was.

Right now I'm leaning toward trading it for the PCX150. But, I have made an appointment to take a test ride of both a PCX150 and a Forza this coming week. I figure whichever one I think is the most fun for me to ride will be the winner.

I wish I could have gotten comfortable on the CTX, but it was just too big of a jump from my 50cc Ruckus up to the CTX700ND. I'm a novice rider and have only had my license for a month (after taking a 3-day safety course). I think I need to take a step in between 50cc and 700cc. I'm not sure I'll ever go with a "big" bike again.

I wondered if any of you have had a similar experience of having gone from a bigger bike back to a scoot. Were you glad you did?

I have several options... keep the CTX and suck it up and learn to ride it with a lot more practice, or get a PCX150 which I am 100% sure I'd have a lot of fun with but might not be much of a step up from my 50 cc Ruckus (which I'm keeping), or get a Forza which might to turn out to also be too big for me, but I think I could get comfy riding it with practice, or just get rid of the CTX and only ride my Ruck... decisions decisions. Life is short, I want to have fun.
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Re: Rode the Forza Today...

Post by blackcat54 »

Although the Forza might seem big to you, the mass ( engine, transmission, & gas tank) is centralized low on the bike. I think that once moving, the Forza will feel comfortable to you. Report back to this thread your experiences test riding both the PCX 150 & Forza.
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Re: Rode the Forza Today...

Post by Mel46 »

My wife is only 5' tall and we had the seat essentially 'lowered' by buying a custom seat from powerbypcx. She still has to wear some big boots in order to reach the ground, but aside from that she loves the PCX 150. The only problem I see is that we are going on longer and longer 'day trips', which mean lots of fillups and rest stops. Yesterday we went on a 257 mile round robin and enjoyed ourselves but got home very late and the fuel light had been flashing for quite awhile. In fact, we have a gas station about half a mile from our house and when we pulled in to fill it up we put 1.37 gal. in the tank! Our GPS would tell us that there was a gas station right in front of us when there weren't any. We got the GPS a year ago and the stations it did not show have been there for at least 7 years now! Thus, I carry extra gas in my Burgman just in case she runs out. It would be great to have a scooter with a bigger tank. Still, it has to be low enough to the ground for her to be able to sit on it. When powerbypcx starts making custom lower seats for the Forza I will probably consider one. At the moment we have a taller windshield, a tailbox, and a lower seat on our PCX. The Forza must be able to have those at minimum to replace what we already have and enjoy. That is probably the minimum for everyone even thinking of trading in their PCX, because it is a great scooter with lots of options.
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Re: Rode the Forza Today...

Post by gn2 »

The Forza seat is two inches lower than a PCX.
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Re: Rode the Forza Today...

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Darth Emma wrote:
I wish I could have gotten comfortable on the CTX, but it was just too big of a jump from my 50cc Ruckus up to the CTX700ND. I'm a novice rider and have only had my license for a month (after taking a 3-day safety course). I think I need to take a step in between 50cc and 700cc. I'm not sure I'll ever go with a "big" bike again.

I wondered if any of you have had a similar experience of having gone from a bigger bike back to a scoot. Were you glad you did?

I have several options... keep the CTX and suck it up and learn to ride it with a lot more practice, or get a PCX150 which I am 100% sure I'd have a lot of fun with but might not be much of a step up from my 50 cc Ruckus (which I'm keeping), or get a Forza which might to turn out to also be too big for me, but I think I could get comfy riding it with practice, or just get rid of the CTX and only ride my Ruck... decisions decisions. Life is short, I want to have fun.
Here's my unsolicited take on the matter. ;-)
If you want a lightweight, easy to push around (at a stop) vehicle to ride on short errands and trips on easy country roads, you would like the PCX 150. It feels almost as light as a Ruckus when you're just pushing it around to park it, etc.
If you also need to ride lots of hills and/or roads faster than 50 mph with lots of faster autos, you need more motor than the PCX 150.
Everything is going to feel bigger than your Ruckus ... because it is. :-0
And though we might hate to mention it here, there are lots of scooter brands in the world -- you might want to consider something like a 250-sized scooter if you have a local dealer with Kymco, Vespa, Piaggio, etc. Be warned that Vespa and Piaggio are, in my opinion, much more expensive to own than a Honda.
One final note -- if you drive on fast roads (55+ mph) a lot, you may miss the taller wheels of the CTX. Little scooter wheels do not possess the gyroscopic stability of taller motorcycle wheels. But ... if you're hating the CTX, be done with it.
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Re: Rode the Forza Today...

Post by you you »

gokidd wrote:
Darth Emma wrote:
I wish I could have gotten comfortable on the CTX, but it was just too big of a jump from my 50cc Ruckus up to the CTX700ND. I'm a novice rider and have only had my license for a month (after taking a 3-day safety course). I think I need to take a step in between 50cc and 700cc. I'm not sure I'll ever go with a "big" bike again.

I wondered if any of you have had a similar experience of having gone from a bigger bike back to a scoot. Were you glad you did?

I have several options... keep the CTX and suck it up and learn to ride it with a lot more practice, or get a PCX150 which I am 100% sure I'd have a lot of fun with but might not be much of a step up from my 50 cc Ruckus (which I'm keeping), or get a Forza which might to turn out to also be too big for me, but I think I could get comfy riding it with practice, or just get rid of the CTX and only ride my Ruck... decisions decisions. Life is short, I want to have fun.
Here's my unsolicited take on the matter. ;-)
If you want a lightweight, easy to push around (at a stop) vehicle to ride on short errands and trips on easy country roads, you would like the PCX 150. It feels almost as light as a Ruckus when you're just pushing it around to park it, etc.
If you also need to ride lots of hills and/or roads faster than 50 mph with lots of faster autos, you need more motor than the PCX 150.
Everything is going to feel bigger than your Ruckus ... because it is. :-0
And though we might hate to mention it here, there are lots of scooter brands in the world -- you might want to consider something like a 250-sized scooter if you have a local dealer with Kymco, Vespa, Piaggio, etc. Be warned that Vespa and Piaggio are, in my opinion, much more expensive to own than a Honda.
One final note -- if you drive on fast roads (55+ mph) a lot, you may miss the taller wheels of the CTX. Little scooter wheels do not possess the gyroscopic stability of taller motorcycle wheels. But ... if you're hating the CTX, be done with it.
Life is short, but glorious!
Can't argue with that :)
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Re: Rode the Forza Today...

Post by Darth Emma »

gokidd wrote:
Darth Emma wrote:
I wish I could have gotten comfortable on the CTX, but it was just too big of a jump from my 50cc Ruckus up to the CTX700ND. I'm a novice rider and have only had my license for a month (after taking a 3-day safety course). I think I need to take a step in between 50cc and 700cc. I'm not sure I'll ever go with a "big" bike again.

I wondered if any of you have had a similar experience of having gone from a bigger bike back to a scoot. Were you glad you did?

I have several options... keep the CTX and suck it up and learn to ride it with a lot more practice, or get a PCX150 which I am 100% sure I'd have a lot of fun with but might not be much of a step up from my 50 cc Ruckus (which I'm keeping), or get a Forza which might to turn out to also be too big for me, but I think I could get comfy riding it with practice, or just get rid of the CTX and only ride my Ruck... decisions decisions. Life is short, I want to have fun.
Here's my unsolicited take on the matter. ;-)
If you want a lightweight, easy to push around (at a stop) vehicle to ride on short errands and trips on easy country roads, you would like the PCX 150. It feels almost as light as a Ruckus when you're just pushing it around to park it, etc.
If you also need to ride lots of hills and/or roads faster than 50 mph with lots of faster autos, you need more motor than the PCX 150.
Everything is going to feel bigger than your Ruckus ... because it is. :-0
And though we might hate to mention it here, there are lots of scooter brands in the world -- you might want to consider something like a 250-sized scooter if you have a local dealer with Kymco, Vespa, Piaggio, etc. Be warned that Vespa and Piaggio are, in my opinion, much more expensive to own than a Honda.
One final note -- if you drive on fast roads (55+ mph) a lot, you may miss the taller wheels of the CTX. Little scooter wheels do not possess the gyroscopic stability of taller motorcycle wheels. But ... if you're hating the CTX, be done with it.
Life is short, but glorious!
All great points. Thanks for your input.
Rides 2014 Honda Forza, 2012 Honda Ruckus
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Re: Rode the Forza Today...

Post by blackcat54 »

Gyroscopic Stability?

I do recall a similar expression was used to describe the feeling of a Forza in motion.
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Re: Rode the Forza Today...

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blackcat54 wrote:Gyroscopic Stability?

I do recall a similar expression was used to describe the feeling of a Forza in motion.
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Re: Rode the Forza Today...

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Darth Emma wrote:I am going to trade in my CTX700ND that I bought last month for either a PCX150 or a Forza. I just can't get comfortable riding the CTX. It feels very top heavy at low speeds to me.
I wondered if any of you have had a similar experience of having gone from a bigger bike back to a scoot. Were you glad you did?
Just like you, I went from a Buddy 150 to a Kymco 250. the Kymco was ok once you got it up to 30+mph but at lower speeds, it was unbalanced. I tried to "suck it up" and ride it and put it down twice. when I couldn't pick it up by myself, I said that's it, and looked around on what to trade the Kymco in on, and settled on a PCX 150. very balanced and felt right for me. I lost a lot of money but moved on. life is too short not to enjoy yourself. I enjoy the ride each and every time now on my Honda PCX 150. test ride both bikes. you will know which one you like.
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Re: Rode the Forza Today...

Post by Darth Emma »

ScooterKim wrote:
Darth Emma wrote:I am going to trade in my CTX700ND that I bought last month for either a PCX150 or a Forza. I just can't get comfortable riding the CTX. It feels very top heavy at low speeds to me.
I wondered if any of you have had a similar experience of having gone from a bigger bike back to a scoot. Were you glad you did?
Just like you, I went from a Buddy 150 to a Kymco 250. the Kymco was ok once you got it up to 30+mph but at lower speeds, it was unbalanced. I tried to "suck it up" and ride it and put it down twice. when I couldn't pick it up by myself, I said that's it, and looked around on what to trade the Kymco in on, and settled on a PCX 150. very balanced and felt right for me. I lost a lot of money but moved on. life is too short not to enjoy yourself. I enjoy the ride each and every time now on my Honda PCX 150. test ride both bikes. you will know which one you like.

That is exactly how I feel. I went from a 50cc Ruckus to a 670cc CTX. I put the CTX on the ground the first day I had it. I was at a stop sign and getting ready to turn. There was gravel at the intersection and the road sloped a bit to the right for drainage. Foot slipped. It was like slow motion, but I couldn't hold it up. So, I tried let it down as gently as I could. Very embarrassing. I could not pick it up by myself, but a nice guy stopped and helped me pick it up. I took a deep breath and got back on and rode it home.

I've been doing better on it since then, but I am no where close to being comfortable riding it even after extended hours practicing low speed maneuvers in a parking lot. I keep telling myself to suck it up and ride the damn thing and quit being a baby. But I just want to have fun.

I didn't mean to thread jack... sorry about that. I was looking for a bit more info on the differences between the Forza and the PCX150 as far as size and stability as well as other features to consider. I will test drive both of them next week. The dealer said he will work out something for me. I know I'll lose some money, but I want to look forward to riding my new bike as much (or more) than I like my Ruckus. But, I do want something with more power than my Ruck (which isn't hard to do).

I want to stay with a Honda because I love Honda's legendary reliability. There is a Honda Motorsports dealer is only 3 miles from my house and I live rurally, so there are no other bike shops in my area.

Thanks for the helpful comments.
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Re: Rode the Forza Today...

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you you wrote:
blackcat54 wrote:Gyroscopic Stability?

I do recall a similar expression was used to describe the feeling of a Forza in motion.
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