The Best 50cc Motorcycles & Scooters For New Riders

Why We Picked It:

The Aprilia brand doesn’t have the largest rider base in North America, but it’s still quite popular. Unfortunately for us, we don’t get some of their best products on this side of the pond—and that extends to the latest version of the RX 50.

It might surprise quite a few people that Aprilia is a popular brand in the EU when it comes to motocross and enduro competitions, with their MXV 450 even competing in supercross. Being who they are, the Italian brand takes all of the lessons learned in racing and distills them into a great beginner dual sport that is more than capable on and off road.

What do you get through that distillation? How about a 6-speed manual shifter, an inverted front fork with 240mm travel suspension, a sturdy twin tube steel frame, and a front-wheel-only ABS system that includes a new anti-roll-over system in case you need to make an emergency stop and don't want to be sent flying over the front.

The only downside is that 2023 is the last year of the RX 50 Factory being produced, as it has been replaced by the RX 125 for 2024 onwards.

Why We Picked It:

Rieju isn’t well-known at all in the USA and Canada, which is a bit disappointing. The Spanish brand has been around for several decades, and they’re well-known (at least in the EU) for making smaller displacement street and dirt bikes that can take a beating and still run flawlessly.

The 2023 MRT 50 SM, however, is quite possibly their best sub-100cc bike in years. Unsurprisingly, the SM in the name stands for SuperMoto. While 50cc may seem a bit small for such a bike, the MRT 50 SM is hilariously capable of everything you would ask a bigger SM to do.

In Europe and the UK, this bike is fully compliant with the AM and CBT rules. That being the case, its 6-speed manual transmission and peppy little 50cc make it ideal for helping riders 16 and older learn to ride an SM.

This bike isn’t marked as EU and UK only, so while it isn’t listed on Rieju’s US or Canadian sites, you are able to import one officially through authorized Rieju dealers.

Why We Picked It:

Throughout the 2000s and 2010s, a lot of urban scooters were sold that combined stylish Euro-retro looks with modern equipment and drivetrains. In 2002, Honda came out with their own: the Metropolitan. It was shelved in 2009, but reintroduced in 2013 with a fuel-injected four-stroke that garnered a lot of attention.

By switching from a two-stroke to a four-stroke (and from carburation to fuel injection), the reintroduced Metropolitan quickly became the model in its class to beat, with smooth power delivery and almost none of that annoying buzz from the earlier version. It gained society’s attention as well, as more than a few celebrities were seen zipping around on their little Metropolitans in Hollywood throughout the 2010s.

The Metropolitan remains a smooth-riding, decently zippy little scooter—offering classic retro-European looks with the durability and reliability of a Honda. In the 2022 model year, the transmission has been changed to Honda’s all-new V-Matic belt drive unit, seamlessly shifting gears to provide the power you need while leaving you free to focus on enjoying your ride.

Why We Picked It:

Vespa could have chosen to spend the past decade resting on its laurels. After all, in North America, the words “Vespa” and “scooter” have almost become synonyms. Thankfully, other brands realized there was a scooter market in the USA and Canada, giving this legendary Italian brand a push to keep innovating.

While the Vespa name has been around for about 75 years, the Sprint is one of their relatively new scooter offerings. Produced since 2014, the Vespa Sprint is a little urban scooter that’s meant to be an under-the-radar retro-styled ride.

While the Primavera 50 may be the high fashion statement in the current Vespa lineup, the humble Sprint will get you from point A to point B and back again in comfort and safety. Still, when you take a closer look, it’s pretty stylish as well!

This delineation between the Sprint and the Primavera is what really sold us on the Sprint 50, with its new 3-valve 4-stroke single cylinder engine. The Primavera is definitely the flashier of the two, but the Sprint 50 is the practical choice. It’s also noted in many reviews to be as reliable as any scooter from the Big Four Japanese manufacturers, which is high praise indeed.

Note: If you visit a dealership, 2023 Sprint 50 models are officially called "Vespa Sprint 50 2020," as there are no changes year to year apart from some color options, and 2020 was the year the new engine was used.

Why We Picked It:

We mentioned earlier that scooters are popular in SouthEast Asia, and Taiwanese manufacturer Kymco proves that the region is home to some excellent manufacturers as well. The Kymco Agility 50 stands out from their absolutely massive lineup as a fun, well-balanced lifestyle model. It has a peppy little 49cc engine that can get this little scooter rolling in fine style and also comes with a surprisingly comfortable seat.

What makes this scooter even better is that, unlike the one-speed automatic transmission many other scooters have, it uses a pretty ingenious implementation of the CVT transmission you can get in some cars these days. This transmission keeps the engine in the best part of its power curve, giving you ample twist-and-go thrust without hitting eardrum-bursting revs. It also features a full front disc brake instead of the standard drum brakes that come on many scooters, making it feel like a high-end luxury scooter.

Oh, and did we mention that new models sell for under $2,000 USD? Not only that, but you get 104 MPG on this thing. It’s a bargain-and-a-half for a superb, durable scooter—especially one that looks this good.

Why We Picked It:

If you’re making a list of scooters, a Piaggio model will inevitably appear on it somewhere. The folks at Piaggio are long-term scooter builders and masters of melding classic Italian details with modern shapes—and the Liberty 50 S Euro 5 is just the latest in a long line of successful urban scooters from this brand.

Much like the Kymco above, the 2023 version of this scooter comes with both a front disc brake and a CVT transmission. What separates it from the Kymco is that the Piaggio also comes with full ABS. It also has a wide front fascia, which is aerodynamically sculpted to allow for decent airflow around the legs without letting rain or road debris in.

The Liberty S 50 Euro 5 also features an especially spacious two-up seat with plush cushioning for both the driver and pillion. And since it’s from Italy, it has ample underseat storage, plus a handy shopping bag hook behind the front shield. You get the best of Italian scooter styling in a practical package with this one.

Why We Picked It:

Honda has spent the last decade rediscovering the efficient and reliable fun that originally made them so successful in both the automobile and motorcycle worlds. Even 10 years ago, the CBR1000RR-R Fireblade or the Civic Type-R would never have made it past their board of directors. In 2021, however, we got both. And in the middle of that year, we also got the revamped Ruckus.

The Ruckus had been around for a while, trucking along under various changes while Honda tinkered with it until they took it off the market for a couple of years. The 2023 model is unchanged from the 2022 model, which gained an all new, lighter-weight starter with an automatic choke to help the engine kick over in cold weather. It also got its suspension reworked (albeit only a little), with a half-inch more in the rear to help absorb bumps. The front remained a twin-downtube fork with 2 inches of travel.

New colors came in as well, including Midnight Blue with a Tan subframe, Gray, and White with Pearl Blue seat bars. No matter what color combo you go with, however, you’re sure to have an absolute blast on this fun little beast of a scooter.