I was pointed at this site for a "scooter" usable all year round everywhere.

http://www.carver-worldwide.com/Home/Index.asp?nc=1

To the best of my knowledge, it is not available in the USA yet.

It is an interesting vehicle! Not here until end of '09, maybe.
I'm curious about how much it will cost. $25,000 + would not be a surprise.
I wouldn't call it a scooter though. It has a manual tranny.

Some of the internal text indicates an automatic drive in the future.
Based on the specs sheet with an EU 58,000, I think more like $40,000 or more. Diamler Benz made a concept like this several years ago, I have no idea what happened to it.

$40K is way too steep!!! Gee, and I thought a CanAm Spyder was bad at $17K.
Hey Jon, I see you are a retired confuser programmer, I am sort of in a forced retirement, at 60 no one will talk to me, not even Lowes or Home Depot.
I worked in Tech Support for 30 years, tried something else for a while now I cannot seem to get back. Oh well, my mistake.

Ride safe!

Wes,

I was one of the fortunate ones, I got "retired" just before the 99-00 conversion date (oct 99). I was already almost 62, so could use part of my 401k to live on until I turned 65. Thirty eight years of main frame programming, then ten years of being an artist, my how time flies.

What about these, two wheels mind, but outrigger wheels flip down at slow speeds to keep the beastie upright... Several different engine specs to choose from.....

http://www.monotracer.com/

As to the concept of totally enclosed tandem two or three wheelers even, I feel that they are "too big" for lane splitting and filtering, thus much of the versatility of a bike / scoot is lost... Perhaps something more along the lines of BMW's old C1 but bigger engine and more performance would be better. It would also maintain the being "more open to the elements feel"

It will be interesting to see how things change as technology develops notably hybrid engines, solar power, and the hydrogen fuel cell....

In the meantime, this would be my choice if I had the money, a turbo charged intercooled 3 cylinder 800cc diesel bike that might just knock the BMW 1200GS of its throne as king of the trailies... 100mpg ?!!! Lowish bhp, but big torque and its an auto!!!!

http://www.motorcycledaily.com/05january09_turbo_diesel.htm

http://www.cexut.com/eva-track-t-800cdi-diesel-motorcycle-officially-launched

At least IMHO anyway, the maxi-scoot has demonstrated that even in a society predominantly influenced by petrol heads we are ready to make some changes at least...!!!