Scomadi World Record 2015 — 1,691 km, 10 Countries, 23.5 Hours
"1,691 kilometres of jet-engine noise, caffeine tablets, and toilet gymnastics. The unofficial double world record nobody asked for."
It started with a Guinness entry about a pair of South Africans who had ridden 1,176.9 km in 24 hours on 125cc scooters. I read it, thought about it for longer than was healthy, and concluded I could do better on a stock 125cc Scomadi TL without modifying a single thing.
I pitched the idea to Scomadi as a marketing stunt. Secretly, I just needed to know what I was made of. The Elefantentreffen in January had answered one question — yes, I could survive -14°C on a Vespa. Now I needed the answer to another: could I cover enough ground in 24 hours to know whether riding around the world in 80 days was possible, or just an elaborate way to destroy myself?
On 30 August 2015 I found out.
The Hard Facts
| Machine | Scomadi TL 125cc — stock, unmodified — Name: Susi |
| Distance | 1,691 km |
| Time | 23.5 hours |
| Countries | 10 |
| Previous record | 1,176.9 km (South Africa) |
| Record broken by | 514 km |
| Status | Unofficial — Guinness no longer accepts road speed records |
| Support team | 3 people in a Sprinter van, rotating drivers |
The Route — Brenner to Padborg
Italy (Brenner Pass) → Austria → Switzerland → Liechtenstein → Germany → France → Luxembourg → Belgium → Netherlands → Denmark (Padborg)
Ten countries. One day. One stock scooter. Three people in a van who had not quite signed up for this much drama.
The Descent into Madness — and Indicators
The trouble started early. Coming down from the Alps, I pushed the engine hard enough that we had to strip the side panels off just to let it breathe. The indicators were hanging like loose teeth. We fixed them with duct tape, which is the universal solution for situations where dignity has already left the building.
My nutritional plan for the next 23.5 hours: fuel for Susi, Red Bull for me. When the support van pulled alongside with the jerrycan, I drank the Red Bull, took a leak on the side of the road, and kept moving. No restaurants. No breaks. Grease and adrenaline.
Stuttgart — Two Hours, No Van, One Very Confused Petrol Station
Near Stuttgart, the support van and I lost each other for two hours. I rode until the tank was nearly empty, pulled into a petrol station, and sprinted inside looking like someone who had been riding for ten hours and was now experiencing a mild personal crisis. I threw money on the counter and ran. The staff watched with the polite concern of people who have decided not to get involved.
Night Falls — Trucks, Rain, and Pushups at Petrol Stations
We had planned the ride to avoid German highway truck restrictions. The trucks came back at midnight anyway. Racing 40-tonne lorries in heavy rain on 10-inch wheels at night is a specific kind of experience that makes you very focused on the immediate future.
To avoid the second sleep — the 3am wall that hits every long-distance rider — I did pushups and short sprints at petrol stations to get the circulation going.
I had asked a pharmacist before the ride what the maximum safe caffeine dose was before you started seeing things on the highway. I took the tablets at the recommended time. They kicked in four hours late. By then I had a racing pulse and was completely exhausted simultaneously — an interesting combination that I would not recommend.
Eventually I signalled the van to drop in front of me and provide a wind shadow. I raced a few metres behind the Sprinter through the rain, close enough to benefit from the slipstream, far enough that the driver couldn't actually see me in his mirrors. This was not in the original plan. It worked.
100 km Past Hamburg — The Exhaust Incident
About 100 km north of Hamburg, an extreme noise came from Susi. The diagnosis from the team was not good. The temperature had dropped from nearly 30°C at the Brenner Pass to around 10°C in northern Germany. The thermal shock had snapped the exhaust clean off below the cylinder.
The team offered to fit the spare from the van. I looked at the clock. I told them to kick the broken piece off and go.
This was not my best decision. Susi without an exhaust sounds like a fighter jet. Not metaphorically. After an hour of leaning over the handlebars to get as much distance from the noise as possible, it felt like someone was driving a spike into my skull from the left side.
I kept going.
Padborg — Country Number Ten
Crossing into Denmark at Padborg, we reached the tenth country with 30 minutes left on the 24-hour clock.
I pulled into a car park and stopped.
My body had been protesting for the last four hours. The noise had been extraordinary. I was close to tears — not from emotion, but from pure physical exhaustion and pain. Everything hurt.
1,691 km. 10 countries. 23.5 hours. More than 500 km further than the old record.
The Aftermath — Yoga and No Sleep
We found a hotel. I was so wired from the caffeine and eighteen hours of engine vibration that I drove the entire team to the edge of sanity within two hours. We left and rode home.
For three days afterwards, sitting down on a toilet required a full sequence of careful gymnastics. Everything that had been in contact with the saddle had opinions about the experience and was not keeping them to itself.
I came home physically broken. Mentally, something had shifted. I had ridden at -14°C in January. I had now covered 1,691 km in 24 hours on a stock 125cc scooter with no exhaust for the final stretch. I finally knew what I was capable of.
The answer was: enough. Enough to ride around the world in 80 days. Planning began immediately.
The Record, the Bike, and What Came After
The record generated significant PR for Scomadi's European market entry. Coverage across multiple continents. People wrote to me directly saying they had bought a Scomadi because of the ride. The record is still listed on Scomadi's pages today.
A year later, I tried to buy Susi — the actual record bike.
Scomadi Austria wanted more money for a used scooter with over 2,000 km on the clock and a welded exhaust than a brand new model cost in Spain. I reached out to Scomadi UK founder Frank Sanderson, who said he couldn't help.
I cancelled a planned TV appearance involving the Scomadi. I moved forward without them.
The record stands. The recognition never came. The compensation never came. To this day, the ride appears on Scomadi's marketing while the rider who set it received nothing from the brand. There is a line I came up with after this that I still stand behind:
"It is always the Rider, never the Ride."
The 2018 world circumnavigation was completed on classic Vespas.
FAQ
What was the Scomadi world record exactly? 1,691 km through 10 countries in 23.5 hours on a completely stock, unmodified 125cc Scomadi TL named Susi. Brenner Pass, Italy to Padborg, Denmark. An unofficial double world record — most km and most countries on a stock 125cc scooter in 24 hours, beating the previous record by more than 500 km.
Why unofficial? Guinness no longer accepts speed records on public roads. The record stands regardless.
What happened to the exhaust? The 20-degree temperature drop from the Brenner Pass to northern Germany snapped the exhaust clean off below the cylinder about 100 km north of Hamburg. I rode the final stretch without it. It sounded like a fighter jet. I do not recommend this.
Who was on the support team? Three people rotating driving duties in a Sprinter van — carrying fuel, food, water, equipment, and a spare exhaust that ultimately was not used in the conventional sense.
Did this lead to the world circumnavigation? Directly. The record ride was the proof-of-concept for the 2018 world trip — 27,113 km through 18 countries in 80 days. If I could handle 1,691 km in 24 hours on a 125cc stock scooter without an exhaust, the world trip was possible.
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