Tucano Urbano Leg Cover Review (initial impressions)
Posted: Fri Sep 12, 2014 10:08 am
Ok everyone, I'm back with another review. This time I will be reviewing the Termoscud (leg cover) by Tucano Urbano. As hard as it is is to believe, winter is approaching and we will soon have to decide whether we will pack it up for the winter or try to brave the elements. That's where the Termoscud comes into play. It promises to extend the riding season past the cool fall days. But does it deliver? Well let's see...
Before we get started: a few things... This cover has just been installed and everything said here reflects that. This is only initial testing. I will have updates as I test this cover further. This cover was installed on a 2014 Honda Forza not a PCX. It is still hot here so I cannot give any real world testing in the cold but I can try to surmise based upon wind blast, relative warmth and so on. I live in a fairly warm place (South Carolina, USA) so our winters don't get quite as brutal as some places out there. We do have winters here though: last year it snowed 3 times and it is not uncommon to have temps in the 10-20F range at night, mix that with our high humidity as it makes for some unpleasant riding conditions. Overall, I would say our winters are like those of London except that our summers are much hotter and quite a bit drier. If you live in a place like Alaska or Norway...man, just get a snowmobile, sled dog team or hop on a polar bears back and put the scooter up until you get the two weeks of summer you all get there...LOL! And NO, I didn't take any pics yet, I'm typing this away from my home. I'll try and get some as soon as I can.
Ok here we go...
The good: Well made product. Waterproof. Fits pretty well. Somewhat easy to install. Has a built in bib to partially protect your chest for the rain/cold. Protects your feet pretty well (keeps them dry and somewhat warm. Has built in flaps that can be lowered to allow the engine heat from the radiator to be trapped under the cover. Has reflective strips and stitching for visibility. Pretty easy to roll up and fasten down if the weather is too warm for the cover. Protects the top of your legs and thighs very well, it's quite warm on this part of your body. Pretty easy to have shipped to your home (bought mine through Scooter Wear in the UK, they are really good people to buy from and it was shipped to my home in about five business days).
The bad: it's a bit of a pain to mount the Forza with this cover fully extended without rubbing your feet on the center hump (area with the gas cap), I found it much easier to just swing you leg over the saddle like you would a motorcycle rather than try and mount it like a scooter. This cover does tend to flap somewhat at speeds over 55-60 mph despite what Tucano Urbano says (I have read that this cover isn't designed for speeds over 60 mph but my cover didn't have any instructions stating this when I received it and yes Virginia...I did have both of the bladders inflated when I tested it. The flapping is somewhat mitigated when you tuck the cold weather straps under your butt when you ride at higher speeds but when you do this you must be careful. If you tuck the butt straps in too tightly, if makes it more difficult to slide your feet from under the cover when you come to a stop. Very dangerous...be careful with this. A bit of a pain to install in some areas as the cover will be quite tight toward the front. The cover does not have a notch cut out around the parking brake area so it can activate the parking brake ( to be fair though, it's just enough to turn on the brake light not a full notch on the brake lever, probably just enough to be aggravating, I'll try and adjust the cover for this)
The verdict: it isn't cold yet so I can't really say for total warmth but I does appear to be pretty warm and certainly waterproof, you should be protected quite well from your lower chest to your feet. IMHO, I think that this cover is for people who use their scooters as their primary form of transportation and must be out in cold/rainy conditions. I think it will work pretty well for those people who don't need to operate their Forza at speeds over about 60 mph. I will try to adjust the cover, try different butt strap positions and see if I can get I little more air into the bladders to see if that helps with flapping (I don't really know if I would call it "flapping" maybe more like an "oscillating" side to side movement)
Hope this helps someone,
Ron
Before we get started: a few things... This cover has just been installed and everything said here reflects that. This is only initial testing. I will have updates as I test this cover further. This cover was installed on a 2014 Honda Forza not a PCX. It is still hot here so I cannot give any real world testing in the cold but I can try to surmise based upon wind blast, relative warmth and so on. I live in a fairly warm place (South Carolina, USA) so our winters don't get quite as brutal as some places out there. We do have winters here though: last year it snowed 3 times and it is not uncommon to have temps in the 10-20F range at night, mix that with our high humidity as it makes for some unpleasant riding conditions. Overall, I would say our winters are like those of London except that our summers are much hotter and quite a bit drier. If you live in a place like Alaska or Norway...man, just get a snowmobile, sled dog team or hop on a polar bears back and put the scooter up until you get the two weeks of summer you all get there...LOL! And NO, I didn't take any pics yet, I'm typing this away from my home. I'll try and get some as soon as I can.
Ok here we go...
The good: Well made product. Waterproof. Fits pretty well. Somewhat easy to install. Has a built in bib to partially protect your chest for the rain/cold. Protects your feet pretty well (keeps them dry and somewhat warm. Has built in flaps that can be lowered to allow the engine heat from the radiator to be trapped under the cover. Has reflective strips and stitching for visibility. Pretty easy to roll up and fasten down if the weather is too warm for the cover. Protects the top of your legs and thighs very well, it's quite warm on this part of your body. Pretty easy to have shipped to your home (bought mine through Scooter Wear in the UK, they are really good people to buy from and it was shipped to my home in about five business days).
The bad: it's a bit of a pain to mount the Forza with this cover fully extended without rubbing your feet on the center hump (area with the gas cap), I found it much easier to just swing you leg over the saddle like you would a motorcycle rather than try and mount it like a scooter. This cover does tend to flap somewhat at speeds over 55-60 mph despite what Tucano Urbano says (I have read that this cover isn't designed for speeds over 60 mph but my cover didn't have any instructions stating this when I received it and yes Virginia...I did have both of the bladders inflated when I tested it. The flapping is somewhat mitigated when you tuck the cold weather straps under your butt when you ride at higher speeds but when you do this you must be careful. If you tuck the butt straps in too tightly, if makes it more difficult to slide your feet from under the cover when you come to a stop. Very dangerous...be careful with this. A bit of a pain to install in some areas as the cover will be quite tight toward the front. The cover does not have a notch cut out around the parking brake area so it can activate the parking brake ( to be fair though, it's just enough to turn on the brake light not a full notch on the brake lever, probably just enough to be aggravating, I'll try and adjust the cover for this)
The verdict: it isn't cold yet so I can't really say for total warmth but I does appear to be pretty warm and certainly waterproof, you should be protected quite well from your lower chest to your feet. IMHO, I think that this cover is for people who use their scooters as their primary form of transportation and must be out in cold/rainy conditions. I think it will work pretty well for those people who don't need to operate their Forza at speeds over about 60 mph. I will try to adjust the cover, try different butt strap positions and see if I can get I little more air into the bladders to see if that helps with flapping (I don't really know if I would call it "flapping" maybe more like an "oscillating" side to side movement)
Hope this helps someone,
Ron