Late last year, the moto-obsessives over in Italy announced something frankly absurd. The Italjet Dragster 559 blended sportbike tech and scooter convenience together into a little 58.33 HP ripper. Well, apparently making the world’s coolest scooter thing isn’t enough because Italjet wants its scooter to go even faster. Meet the Italjet Dragster 700 Twin, the least scooter-like scooter in the world. This isn’t even a concept, either, but a real bike going into production.
The scooter segment of the motorcycle world is one that is seriously underrated. I haven’t been a motorcyclist all of my life, but in the over six years I’ve been riding I’ve noticed how scooters still carry a stigma. Too many riders think they’re not burly enough or too feminine. That’s just silly because scooters are a fantastic way to get around. They’re stylish, nimble, frugal, and practical. Bigger maxi-scooters then combine the high-speed capabilities of a motorcycle with the ease of a scooter.
What you don’t see as often is a scooter that borrows traits from sportbikes. But leave that up to the mad engineers of Italjet because they’ve designed not one super scooter, but two. This latest one harnesses 68 HP, which is objectively hilarious for a scooter. However, if you ask Italjet, this isn’t a scooter, but an “Urban Superbike.”
Italjet is one of those companies that’s always doing something a bit offbeat. Honda will sell you a sort of adventure-ready scooter, but nothing like this. We can thank Leopoldo Tartarini for that, as he got into the family business of motorcycle racing in the 1950s before going on to advertise Ducatis.
Tartarini enjoyed thousands of motorcycle adventures before retiring to motorcycle engineering so other people could have their own memorable experiences on his striking machines. 
Tartarini was also quite obsessed with scooters and mopeds, which led to him focusing a lot of his talents in that world. Take a look at the novel 1980 Italjet Pack 2 above. It’s a folding scooter of a similar vein as the Honda Motocompo, but from Italy!
The first Dragster hit the market in 1995 and it wasn’t just a scooter, but one for exhibitionists. These things were wild for packing tiny engines (50cc, 125 and 180cc units) together with the kind of tech normally found in sportbikes. The original Dragster had a trellis frame like a Ducati Monster, hub-center steering like a Bimota, floorboards like a scooter, and the ample storage expected from a scooter, too.
Italjet says it sold over 70,000 copies of the original between 1995 and 2003 and they retain a cult following today. It’s easy to see why.
The Dragster was reborn in 2019 when Massimo Tartarini, the son of Leopoldo, picked up where his father left off. The new Dragster comes with an alloy trellis frame with aluminum plates. Much like its predecessor, the current Dragster borrows from exotic sportbike design with hub-center steering which uses a wild swingarm. The Dragster’s steering and suspension design is said to smooth out the impacts from bumps while also eliminating brake dive.
That’s a lot for a scooter that at launch made just 12.5 HP and has a bigger version making 23.8 HP. Does any scooter need to be this over-engineered? As I’ve said in the past, a basic scooter body with a baby 50cc engine or an electric motor is more than enough. You’ll never really need superbike tech to navigate a city. But that over-the-top drama’s what makes a Dragster so cool.
Italjet made headlines last year with the Dragster 559. Its list of features sounded like the spec sheet of a sportbike. It had a 550cc twin making an impressive-for-a-scooter 58.33 HP, a six-speed manual transmission with a slipper clutch, and chain final drive. There were inverted forks up front, a monoshock in the rear, and meaty brakes. Toss in that trellis frame and it sounds like I’m describing a new naked motorcycle, not something that’s trying to be an “Urban Superbike.”
Go Faster
I thought that bike was crazy enough, but Italjet apparently doesn’t agree. This year, it’s launched the Dragster 700 Twin and it’s already on sale.
The big headlining feature here is the engine. It’s a 692cc twin sourced from Benelli and it sports dual overhead cams and four valves per cylinder. It’s making 68 HP and 51.7 lb-ft of torque. Italjet says the new firepower is good to get the 419-pound machine up to a top speed of 118 mph.
To put that into perspective, the Suzuki Burgman 650 has a cult following in the United States. That scooter weighs 200 pounds heavier, has just 55 horses on tap, and stops accelerating at 110 mph. More modern maxi-scoots include the Forza 750, which makes 58 HP and the Yamaha TMAX 560, which is down to 47 HP. The Italjet is slightly down from the Gilera 800’s 75 HP, but the Gilera hasn’t been in production for over a decade.
I like that. The Italjet 700 Twin isn’t all looks, but it’s properly fast to match it.
The sportbike stuff doesn’t end with the engine. There are Marzocchi inverted forks up front, an Öhlins shock in the rear, an Öhlins steering damper, an Akrapovič exhaust, and Brembos handling stopping power. Twin 270mm drilled discs are up front while a 230mm plate brings up the rear. All of this rides on 15-inch wheels and with a seat 32 inches high. It even gets 65 mpg, which is plenty frugal for its city mission.
The only bad news I could find on the spec sheet is that the weight limit is just 628 pounds. That’s barely more than 200 pounds heavier than its curb weight. I also know I keep saying scooter here, and part of it is because despite how much Italjet wants you to stop calling it a scooter, even it can’t stop. Italjet says the Dragster 700 Twin “combines the soul of a superbike with the comfort and agility of a hyperscooter.” But seriously, don’t call it a scooter!
To be fair to Italjet, the seating position does scream scooter, but the pegs and a lack of a true step-through design would disqualify the Dragster 700 Twin from being a real scooter to some scooter fans. With that being the case, what would we call this thing? A really goofy motorcycle?
I can’t really answer that question for you. But I can tell you that Italjet is selling these things right now. Early buyers of the Dragster 700 Twin will get the Italjet Dragster 700 Twin Factory Limited Edition, a bike with a gold and red livery plus the Öhlins damper and Öhlins suspension. That one runs $16,212 and just 700 of them will be built. The order books are open now and close at the end of the Eicma motorcycle show this November. From there, the regular Dragster 700 Twin will be sold for $14,036. Italjet doesn’t make it clear what happens with the Öhlins stuff after the limited edition.
Italjet hasn’t said if it plans on sending these wild machines to America, but I do have good news in that the company does have a distributor in Chicago. I’m definitely crossing my fingers that it comes here because scooter or not, it’s crazy, and crazy is good.
(Images: Italjet)
No thanks.
But I am tempted by the Honda ADV 160, for putting around town and some nearby areas, which I think you were alluding to Mercedes.
Have you (or anyone here) ridden one? Thoughts?
There is only one way to judge this machine: Awesome/not awesome.. My vote is awesome. It also seems to be priced very fairly all things considered.
Scooter or not, what a chopped up looking design mess. Italians can do so much better.
Loce Italjet, so happy to see them back in the weird. At the turn of the Century, I knew a woman who rode a Dragster 180 and it was a hoot. This woud be insane.
For me, comfort beats horsepower hands down. So what if it can do 110+. If the seat feels like you’re sitting on cut glass, you won’t be riding it much.
The level of hot-rodding going on here is incredibly cool, but by god is it ever hideous.
I agree with the other commenters. The only thing that makes this *maybe* not a motorcycle is the slight dip in the frame and the gas tank isn’t in your crotch.
Not particularly impressive. Benelli is now a Chinese company and the hp/torque is just around what a 700cc twin makes (i.e. MT07).
Benellis is “now” a Chinese company? Bro, they were acquired in 2005, nearly 2 decades ago. Design & development is still conducted in Pesaro, Italy. Their parent company is Geely, owners of Lotus, Polestar, Volvo, etc.
I love the original retro version and would pay real money for one. This is cool, but I prefer the Bergman.
How is that thing 419 lbs? Is that wet or dry weight?
My KTM 690ER is like 325lbs dry, and my Tuono 1000r is 408lbs dry..
I mean, the frame isn’t really step-through, it’s got wayyy more power than you would ever normally need, a 6 speed manual, and giant frigging brake discs and Brembo stoppers.
Legally it’s way out of bounds to be classified as a scooter, but I’d argue philosophically and culturally it’s out of bounds too. This thing is just a moto with scooter-ish aesthetics.
Yea, the only thing scooter about this is the silhouette. Sort of.
If you ignore those winglets.
The engine is under your ass and there’s nothing between your knees to hold onto (like a tank). I bet if you’ve ever been on both a scooter and a motorcycle, the moment you sit on this thing you’ll feel you’re on a scooter.
Sure, but those are liberating and comfortable on a Vespa puttering around town. This thing is fast enough that the upright seating position will cause significant drag (suddenly the origins of the name become clear!) and heavy enough that I would want a better locus of control than just my butt cheeks. Their absence just increases the fear factor. That’s fine for a sportbike- they should be a bit scary if only to keep you on your metaphorical toes while riding. Scooters should be friendly, and this thing ain’t friendly at all.
I take it you’ve never ridden a modern naked? You’d sit more upright and more of you would be in the wind than on this (or any) scooter. On my Duke I had to get a tiny wind deflector just so I can hold onto the handlebars at highway speeds.
Again, I think this whole thread has its origins in unfamiliarity with scooters.
>I take it you’ve never ridden a modern naked?
Correct, but I think the whole trend is silly. I worry enough about drag at 20mph on my bicycle, no way in hell I’d be doing 60 without a windscreen. If that’s your thing, then more power to ya, but I’ll stay huddled down out of the slipstream.
Darth Scooter there really vibes suicide machine.
legally speaking, in most US jurisdictions these will be classified as motorcycles, because they are too powerful, too fast, or have too much displacement to qualify.
the cultural designation is a separate argument, though.
that’s not a big deal, as i think having a motorcycle license should be required for such ludicrous power. i can’t imagine some college kid in my university town skirt skirting all over the quad on one of these without issue.
That is Bat-shit-crazy-pants!
I need to find this Chicagoland distributor and see if they have a showroom. I’ve never actually seen an Italijet in person.
The distributor is Genuine Scooters! They signed a distribution agreement with Italjet last year, but no idea if the scoots have started shipping yet.
OHHHH!!!!
I bet you Scooterworks on Damen St will get them first then.
What even makes a scooter a scooter and a motorcycle a motorcycle anyway? Is there a clear line that, if crossed, it’s a motorcycle?
Generally scoots are single gear cvt v. a motorcycle which is manual transmission. Now there’s decent auto trans bikes, so it gets cloudy.
Crazy to think that this thing makes more power than most Harley’s
I think the step through design is primordial to be considered a scooter. Scooters in the US commonly have a CVT. But other countries run with the far superior semi automatic designs.
I think the really distinguishing feature that makes a scooter a scooter is the step through frame design. They can have a manual transmission or a CVT, a big engine or a tiny one, but if you step through the frame instead of swinging a leg over, it’s a scooter.
And where do Mopeds fall into that discussion?!
Taxonomy of machines is generally a historical analysis. The 1959 Motoped is considered the first scooter by Wikipedia. It was a vehicle meant to be driven standing, with no foot controls and no seat, and with an engine over the rear wheel (sometimes the front wheel) to maximize floorboard space. It also had very small wheels, as it was based on a traditional shin-busting scooter. Subsequent designs add a seat on top of the engine and gradually upsize wheels and engines as they evolve into a road-going motor vehicle.
I’d say the two primary characteristics of a scooter moving forward from there were the presence of a floorboard instead of foot pegs and the placement of the engine under the seat, though more importantly, not between the driver’s legs. I would argue you need at least one of these features.
Secondary traits include smaller wheels than an equivalent motorcycle, same-size front and rear tires, and the absence of foot controls.
Some Maxi-scooters have long drivetrains that hang a cylinder out front, between the feet, but still have floorboards forward of the seat, so they retain one of the primary features.
The Honda Cub, for example, is a motorcycle. It has a low-slung stamped frame, small-ish wheels and same-size front/rear tires, all convenient features it shares with scooters, but the tiny engine lives between the rider’s feet, which rest on footpegs behind the foot controls.
In contrast, the original Dragster 180 sports floorboards, with the engine tucked away beneath the seat and out of the way. There’s some trellis-frame structure and cantilevered suspension between the rider’s feet, but it’s not the engine. There are no foot controls, and the tires are small, though not same-sized.
Meanwhile, the Dragster 700 conspicuously lacks floorboards, featuring footpegs and controls straight from a motorcycle, and the rider’s heels sit astride the engine case, so while the engine is technically under the seat, it’s also between the rider’s legs, failing to meet that criterion, too. Both of the primary scooter features are missing here.