Retro Style Scooters - Anyone Know Them?

[asphaltgambler]

OK - So suddenly my wife wants a scooter like a vintage Vespa but with-out the Vespa price. She needs something in the 150CC range as she would like to ride to town and back which is @10 miles each way. So it would need to be able to reach 50 mph fairly quickly and maintain that.

It seems there are a lot of Chinese / import ones sold new where we could justify the price. For her it's nothing more than a toy to ride around locally on a nice day.

Anyone have one of these and know what brands are better than others? I mostly care about parts availability and decent engineering and construction.

Thanks!

[look 171]

After my visit to China last summer, I buy a Chinese or Taiwan Scooter all day long. My only concern is availability of parts, but I am sure they are available. I rather buy Japanese, but if style is what you are after then I have nothing to offer. I am thinking about a 125CC just to get around traffic or leave at my job site so the guys can get to a hardware store for a box of screws quickly instead of sitting in traffic for half a day.

Ones I really like over there is longish, with a bit of a flat area in back like a pick up truck on two wheels. Oh yeah, they haul and strap all type of stuff on there.

I forgot to mention. Almost all their scooters are electric. I didn't see any gas powered ones the whole time there. The guides kept telling me that they are pretty conscience of gas pollution.

[look 171]

really want this one

[rockaria]

One of the best scooters on the roads today are Genuine Scooters. The Buddy 125 or 170 are wonderful machines. They even have a Vespa lookalike without the Vespa price tag.

Motor Scooters | Genuine Scooters

[gtc]

Get one like this and she can take all her friends shopping:

[asphaltgambler]

Yeah - I've read reviews of the Genuine scooters which appear pretty good for the price, but I'd like to find a used one. They have a 170cc model with retro body / paint that fits the bill. Retails for $3200.

[GH85Carrera]

If you look around you can find used ones cheap. Most people buy a scooter as a fun toy. Then it gets real hot and "to hot to ride", or the chance of rain is above 20% and I don't want o get wet, or the fun is gone after the first SUV scares the crap out of you as they text and drive Then they sit in the garage or the back porch for a couple of years until the gas goes bad and only a full carb rebuild and fresh gas will make it run. Then you can pick them up cheap.

My business partner lives in a gated community with a community pool. He like to ride the scooter to the pool, swim for a while and ride home. No wet seat in the car. He has two scooters in case his daughter comes over, or his girlfriend wants to go to the pool as with him.

I kid him about being a single guy that lives alone and he owns a Miata, and RAV4, a Ford F150, two scooters, a motorcycle, and 1/2 of an Cessna 182. (I own the other 1/2)

[flatbutt]

I rode a Vespa all around Key West for a week on vacay, what a hoot!

[!pse203]

Got a friend with a Buddy 125 and he loves it.

I have a 50cc Honda Ruckus that will do a little over 40. I like that I don't have to plate it and can park it in the bicycle racks on the side walks - quite handy when its busy.

I'd be nervy with some of the Chinese unknown brands.

[Bill Douglas]

Cool bike the Honda Ruckus. Nce bonus that you can park in the bike racks and don't have to register it!

[911boost]

Peter M loved his ruckus as well. Rode it more than his full sized motorcycles

[rusnak]

10 miles? 50mph?

Talk her out of it.

[asphaltgambler]

Naw man, ^^^^^^^^might as well live now, there will come time where the only thing we'll be riding is in our wheel chairs

[asphaltgambler]

Also saw that Honda has resurrected the Super Cub which I like, but haven't had a chance to show her yet.

[rusnak]

Originally Posted by asphaltgambler

Also saw that Honda has resurrected the Super Cub which I like, but haven't had a chance to show her yet.

My dad bought a used 1959 Super Cub 50 when he was stationed at Nellis AFB in the early 1960s. He kept it with him with each move somehow, as Mom and Dad used it to go into Vegas for R&R. By some miracle, it was restorable in the mid-1980s and I restored every nut and bolt in high school and rode it to school, basketball practice, and to buy Porsche parts for my first car, which I also got running. It's somewhere in their garage waiting for the next generation to discover how awesome it is.

[asphaltgambler]

Well showed her the Supercub last night, she said defeats the purpose. Might as well get a new Sportster. She really likes the 60's style with a floor board and storage. I've looked online for used Genuine scooters near me = 0. That might be a good sign to their shelf life. But no way I'm spending $3K+ for something like that, it's just an occasional play toy.

There seems to be other brands but no dealers or resellers near my zip. For sure we would go see in person, she could test ride before taking it home.

[!pse203]

Yamaha make a 125 Vino. Perhaps an option if you choice of local dealers is limited.

[Laneco]

I would agree about the Yamaha Vino. I've got the little 49cc one that I bought for the kids to use. Turns out that I'm the 90% rider. I got the 49cc for them to get around the motorcycle endorsement issue. Had it been for me, I would have bought the 125. Other than the engine size, I kind of wish it had bigger wheels. A piece of gravel feels like a boulder and it's sketchy on the gravel driveway.

Did a murdered out dupli-color on it. Absolutely dead reliable except we put a battery in it every two years like clockwork.

angela

[!pse203]

Originally Posted by Laneco

I would agree about the Yamaha Vino. I've got the little 49cc one that I bought for the kids to use. Turns out that I'm the 90% rider. I got the 49cc for them to get around the motorcycle endorsement issue. Had it been for me, I would have bought the 125. Other than the engine size, I kind of wish it had bigger wheels. A piece of gravel feels like a boulder and it's sketchy on the gravel driveway.

Did a murdered out dupli-color on it. Absolutely dead reliable except we put a battery in it every two years like clockwork.

angela

Good point - 125 would require an endorsement on her license. Does she have one?

[asphaltgambler]

No - but she knows she'll need to do the course - that's no issue.