Jetting Around the City

The scooter is fast becoming a familiar sight on the streets of Metro Manila. Most of the time while I’m sitting in my car stuck in traffic, I can’t help but envy those "little" bikes scooting around and into those tight spaces and disappearing into the distance. Sometimes, I find myself wishing I were riding one.

Like a fairy tale, my wish was granted one Saturday morning when the good people at Mitsukoshi Motors Phils., Inc. invited me to ride a SYM Jet 100. I picked up a metallic gray Jet 100 from the Mitsukoshi offices on E. Rodriguez in Quezon City, where I also met Boyet Trinidad, the VP of the Jet Riders Club of the Philippines. Arabelle Lee, the corporate secretary of Mitsukoshi, sprinkled some wonder dust on me and set me off on my scooter to join Boyet and about 20 other riders. We were going to the Festival Mall in Alabang to participate in a motorcade and opening of the Auto Summit 2001 and another motorcade for the opening of a Motortrade branch in the Alabang-Zapote Road in front of the SM Southmall.

The 100cc two-stroke single cylinder engine of the Jet provided brisk acceleration, and from stoplight to the next stoplight, cars will have a difficult time out-accelerating this scooter. The engine also proved more than capable of pushing the Jet 100 to speeds above 60 kph, reaching almost 80 at a portion of the South Superhighway near the Villamor Airbase. Fuel consumption was astoundingly low, returning more than 40 kilometers per liter or over 230 kilometers on a full tank of gas.

The front disc/rear drum brake system of the Jet 100 hauls down the bike from speed impressively and without fade. The 12-inch wheels with the factory semi-knobby tires may seem puny at first, but they provide stable handling and sure-footed traction, provided of course, you don’t lean the bike at dangerously low angles while negotiating a curve, like what racers do in the Motorcycle Grand Prix. After all, the Jet 100 is still a scooter, even though it makes you feel like you’re riding a big bike.

If you’re going to ride long distance, it’s better to go with a group of other riders. After all, there is safety in numbers. Riding with the Jet Riders Club members will show you how disciplined and well-coordinated this club is. They promote riding safety and traffic courtesy while practicing a level of civic duty not usually found in other hobby clubs. Hand and foot signals are deployed to communicate road conditions (deep hole, road rut) and rider formation (single file, double file). Some riders are assigned as marshals to ensure that everybody follows the rules, while other riders even stop to untangle a traffic mess they encountered along the way.

Upon reaching Alabang, we met up with around 20 more Jet Rider members, while I met up with Mike Wong, the marketing consultant of Mitsukoshi, who is a dear friend of mine from the Everyday Holiday American Muscle Car Club. Mike is working on converting the Filipino’s perception of the scooter from a simple grocery-getter to an alternative lifestyle, one that you can customize to fit your personality. To support the after-market services of Mitsukoshi Motors, they also market accessories for the Jet 100, ranging from magwheels, chrome side mirrors, masks, clear lens to dress-up kits at affordable prices. Looking at the bikes of the Jet Riders Club, one can see that with creativity and ingenuity, each scooter can have its individual character. And at an affordable price of P 63,000 for the SYM Jet 100 model and P71,000 for Jet 100 Alpha (a Jet 100 with more accessories), Mitsukoshi appears to have a winner.