Scooter
Community

Just counted over 50 brands of scooter / motorcycles for sale in UK so need a good range to grab customers . Amazing how many brands will be the same chinese machines with a few cosmetic changes but UK seem to accept them now without too much drama

Honda should realise there are a couple of potential CEOs out there that could take there sales to the stars

But none of this $5 million trick or large expense accounts cs we dont want to make scooters too expensive

It would take some talented tap-dancing for me to consider 'Made in China' for some purchases, now. Two rough experiences won't have me backing up for a potential third.

Of the eight bicycles once owned (now down to six), only one was Chinese made. The design was good, for that time, which is what tempted me, but the execution was discovered to be rough; fit n finish average with what I thought poor metallurgy for the frame parts (it was a special folding bike, so this was important, you would think). Gave the bike away with well meaning advise.

The next was a 125 scooter. I was not aware that this scoot was Chinese built (Aprilia) when I purchased it. An intermittant electrical glitch had the dealer scratching his head and me stranded by the side of the road on numereous occassions. You would think me boastfull if I told you how far I pushed the little 'critter'. And the drive components just felt very average - especially compared to the Dio, which was less money from new. Exit one Aprilia, and little money in my pocket to show for it.

Give me some reasonable quality - PLEASE. What is important about the quality equation, for Australia, are the high labour and workshop costs for out of warranty repairs. Suddenly that cheap little scooter is looking more like a liability.

Yep and don't forget the amount of servicing some asian brands require to keep the warranty

This is a good read so much to read lots of interesting information thank you everyone .

They will probably make a film about it or a 10 part TV series using Woody Allen as the main character and pyrah as the chief technical guy who oversees the design and manufacture

Aspro will play the part of Hondas economic division mgr making sure pyrah does nt go overboard in designing a scooter where the girls can get on in pleated skirts and high heals and feel comfortable that the skirts dont blow too high in headwinds

The show would certainly receive Oscar nomination

A follow on by the italians could be a steamy sex documentary featuring Mike  in  a Vespa fantasy with mel Gibson making love to Madonna whilst Mike checks the gap on the Vespa Spark plug

Now that would definitely qualify for best continental film

Yep, all this stuff re Chinese Scoots is so true: I think that the Poms may regret the flush of Chinese Scoots and the sudden increase of folks buying scoots there could turn to a trickle once they realise what hunks of rubbish they have become lumbered with..

My fave Chinese scoot storiie are these....

1. A guy ON THIS BOARD spoke how he had one of those CF Moto 125 motorbikes. 3 OUT OF 4 of the engine mounting bolts sheared off.Why ?? He did his research: they were the wrong tensile strength. great. great , say, for holding a big bit of Ikea together but totally useless on a machine with high vibrations. He reckoned it was a good bike otherwise. Sorry, too late in my book ...

2.A good friend had a Sachs 125 scoot. He used it safely and kept it well maintained. LOT S of things went wrong so he took it to a repairer for check and repair, asking them to ring him if anything big needed to be done. A few hours later shop rang back to say " your scooter's finished". My mate was pretty amazed at the speed of their work and he asked how much was owed. They replied,"your scooter's finished".

After a bit more talk , it was finally understood what was meant...The scooter was 'finished" as in Kaput, useless, not worth repairing. I won't bore you with the details of bent this, worn out  that.

oh, and the thing had done 7 thousand Kms.

3. a guy on this board was saying how some important part , I think it was attached to fuel system ( electronic relay ?? sender unit ??)  had gone kaput . scoot was near -new . NO warranty cover although 12 month engine warranty came with the sale ...Seems " engine warranty" pretty well covered engine only ..ie, piston, cylinder, cam etc but NOT any ancillary electronis that make the thing go.

Finally, look at repeat sales......are folks running out to buy another "Chen Zagle" or "zoom" or any othe the many names we saw a few years ago?Meanwhile Sym, Kymco etc...asian but NOT Chinese...continue to win fans and get repeat sales

Rod Fountain:

They will probably make a film about it or a 10 part TV series using Woody Allen as the main character and pyrah as the chief technical guy who oversees the design and manufacture

Aspro will play the part of Hondas economic division mgr making sure pyrah does nt go overboard in designing a scooter where the girls can get on in pleated skirts and high heals and feel comfortable that the skirts dont blow too high in headwinds

The show would certainly receive Oscar nomination

A follow on by the italians could be a steamy sex documentary featuring Mike  in  a Vespa fantasy with mel Gibson making love to Madonna whilst Mike checks the gap on the Vespa Spark plug

Now that would definitely qualify for best continental film

 

 

ROFLOL  

Someone advertized a 2010 Honda SH150 with top box on Bikesales.com for $3500. Always garaged, it had only travelled several hundred Ks and was reported as mint with plenty of rego. It was gone in a day.  

...called past the Honda dealer today, but no SH as yet. Also swung past RCM and spoke to Alex. Had a fiddle with the Vespa Sprint and Vespa GTS 250 side stands. Seems the little Vespa has a more secure side stand than the GTS. I wonder why they (Vespa) can't get that sorted. There is no way you could trust the GTS side stand.

I frequently use my GTS sidestand. There are no problems with it. The only problems are idiots who use it on soggy grass or quicksand, or when the scooter is aimed downhill, or where the scoot is liable to be bumped by passers-by. But it is obviously not as stable as the centre stand. 

It only takes a tiny bit of intelligence!

I dont trust my GTS sidestand either! There used to be a lot of Ducatis found lying on their sides by owners of those models that had spring loaded sidestands. Two wheelers seemed to have survived fine for decades without spring loaded sidestands but the fear of litgation from a person crashing because they rode off with their sidestand down seems to be driving Vespa sidestand design at the moment. Nanny state thinking.

Following numerous reports by GTS owners that they don't use or trust their side stands the perfect opportunity to understand why this might be so presented itself at RCM yesterday; the Sprint and GTS examples were both displayed on their centrestands. Deploying the Sprint side stand sees it sweep through to a 'positive' forward position. But this is not so for the GTS, only deploying to a position that could be retracted with the slightest degree of mindlessness. I was seeking a technical reason why this might be so, but peering underneath, briefly, failed to yeild an answer.

Loved your project post Mike and modification inventory that you supplied. Thanks. Added great content to this site, a site which Pyrah works hard to keep oxygenated for all our enjoyment.

... so the new SH, even the watered down model, should come shod with Michelin City Grip tyres. 

Lol got to love it 

Mr pyrah