What's The Top Speed Of The Yamaha Zuma 125 And Can It Go On The Highway?

Small-engine motorcycles and scooters have grown increasingly popular in recent years. A sizable portion of the customer base has shifted from wanting expensive high-horsepower racing machines to rides that are affordable, fuel-efficient, and relatively low maintenance. The Yamaha Zuma125 is just such a vehicle. It comes in at 282 lbs., has an average fuel economy of 101 mpg, and you can get the newest model fresh off the lot for just $3,799, making it one of the most affordable 125cc vehicles out there for beginners. Yamaha also has a sterling record when it comes to reliability.

But just because performance isn't everyone's first concern, doesn't mean it isn't a concern at all. If you're thinking about purchasing this scooter then you probably still want to know what its capabilities are. You'll want to know what its max speed is and whether or not it can go on the highway. Yamaha doesn't exactly post this information on the official product page, so we'll have to take a look at third-party reviews and state legal codes to get our answers.

The Yamaha Zuma is powered by a 125cc liquid-cooled, 4-stroke engine. It has a 52.0mm bore, a 58.7mm stroke, an 11.2:1 compression ratio, fuel-injection, and a V-Belt automatic transmission. It can put out 8.0 horsepower and up to 7.0 lb.-ft. of torque. This isn't bad when you compare it to many of the small-engine scooters out there but it's a bit on the low side for a 125cc. The vehicle's light weight frame helps to counter-balance this, but you still shouldn't expect it to get up to speed quickly.

That said, it's top speed is fairly respectable for such a small scooter. NCY Motorsports reports that it can reach up to 60mph while Top Speed claims that they managed to shimmy past that and get it up to 61mph in their review. Keep in mind that this is the maximum speed that the Zuma 125 can reach on a flat road. No one should be expecting this little scooter to be blasting past cars on the interstate, but is it enough speed to ride on the highway?

The laws regulating what vehicles are allowed on which roads vary from country to country, state to state, and sometimes even from highway to highway. Many states in the U.S. don't have any laws regarding engine size, or else require a 50cc minimum–which the Yamaha Zuma 125 easily surpasses. Rather, most of them simply rely on the basic traffic laws that require you to travel at a safe speed on a given road. Some states are more restrictive. California, for instance, defines to wheeled vehicles that have an engine smaller than 150cc as a 'motor-driven cycle,' and according to the California DMV Motorcycle Handbook (pg. 2), "You may not operate a motor-driven cycle on a freeway or expressway if signs are posted to prohibit motor-driven cycle operation." Again, the Yamaha Zuma 125 just barely clears this threshold.

So, yes. You can technically take the Zuma 125 on the highway, but that doesn't necessarily mean that the vehicle has the ability to traverse them safely. Some interstates have speed limits that can get as high as 80mph which this little scooter can't hope to match. Even 60-65mph speed limits would be a stretch. Inclines and other environmental factors could cause the Zuma 125 to dip to unsafe speeds even as you tug mercilessly on the throttle. That said, some riders may feel comfortable taking it on brief stretches of 45-55mph highways in relatively flat areas.