Yes the Modern Vespa site is a good one & actually there is overlap of sizes as people own more than one or move up.etc. I just talked to an ebay seller today thats in process on just that. Seems scoot people are often former/current MC riders & also many that never owned a MC or small scoot. It flys all over. ADV Battle Scooters is represents more that have ridden MC's before, like here. My question was designed to have an air of the "Why Factor" that would pull out some serious discussion on BMW & other scoot models too. Some other pretty good scoot sites are Scooter therapy,Scooter Shack ,Maxi scoot,Just Gotta Scoot . The Brits have several too.
Well, for my own part, I wanted something with enough HP to be entirely comfortable flowing with traffic moving at higher speeds - if you've ever ridden on the freeways in Los Angeles, which I do, you may not want a scooter that is anywhere near topped out at 70mph, and I found that even some of the 500s and the Silver Wing were not really powerful enough for my liking in this regard. I also really wanted modern safety features including ABS and TPMS, and didn't like the handling of smaller wheeled scooters as much, coming from larger wheeled motorcycles with more gyroscopic stability from the wheels, etc., and found that the BMW handled noticeably better than other scooters I'd tried. The electric screen is also really nice, you may not realize how much you use this until you have one (I certainly didn't), but being able to change where the wind is going based on the weather (warm/cold, dry/rain) is actually kind of a big deal. The OEM integrated GPS/comm is really nice too. Basically, what I wanted was the features of a full sized touring motorcycle but in a slightly smaller scooter form factor, and the 650GT is just the ticket in this regard IMHO. It's big for a scooter but it's still 200 lbs lighter and 4" narrower than a K1600, I have no problem at all with it in the city, it handles amazingly, and it has enough power to be entirely comfortable in loaded touring at speed.