Re: Should I get a motor scooter?
Ed, I hear you loud and clear. Funny thing is, I believe that model is the only one with a 90 day warrenty, all the other ones have a 1 year warrenty. I called the company and the lady told me that they used to cover labor, but were being defrauded by mechanics who were charging for labor not performed. (Whether or not it's true only the good Lord knows, but I've heard about the same thing with warrenty work for other things, such as boats) She said we have a mechanic you can call toll free who can walk you through the parts changing process if you need it, or you can bring it somewhere. No, I'm not happy about that, but I am a bit mechanically inclined so learning how to work on these myself wouldn't be bad anyway. (Ok, am I just trying to justify a poor warrenty?)<br /><br />Believe me the Chinese thing bothers me, but the fact that parts are so cheap and readily available that I don't guess its a big deal.
<br /><br />The sales guy did tell me that people have very few problems with them, that they are just normal wear and tear type things.
<br /><br />I asked about the low price and the marketing manager told me that it was due to not paying for a name, and having low overhead costs and that yes, Yamaha and Honda were probably better bikes decades down the road, but you would pay twice as much (or more) for the bike. Uh, yea ok, that's a strange thing to say about your own companies product...but his honesty has to be commended. <br /><br />Oh yes, please please don't think I'm trying to argue with you guys. Every one of your concerns has been brought to the attention of someone at the company, and at the very least, I've made them answer to them. Whether or not they've been truthful, I don't know. I don't know if they would lie to sell a product. MSNBC (ok, for all you conservatives, I'm not referring to anything political here) had actually mentioned them in an article on their website regarding the increased sales of scooters with the increse in recent gas prices. Does it mean they are good quality? Nope. But...well I guess to me if MSNBC mentioned them they are at least worth mentioning?
<br /><br />On reliability...I've learned hard that brand names don't mean anything. My uncle bought a BMW 325i brand new in 1993. It wasn't 6 months later he started having problems with it. He's had everything from the headlight covers peeling, to the speedometer peeling off to the seats turning black to plastic molding coming apart to the radio going out to the brake switch going out...all this on a car that stays covered, under a carport, and it has less than 15000 miles on it, it's used once or twice a week. He's actually recently made the decision to get rid of it. He's tired of fixing it every time he takes it out. <br /><br />My father has had several problems with his Yamaha 4 wheeler, which is babied and even at 12 years old, has less than 130 hours on it. It looks showroom new. My Honda goes every place his does, right behind him, the same exact amount of time on the bike, and my bike has had zero problems.<br /><br />I'm still very much up in the air about getting one. I am scared of Yamaha based on my fathers issues with his. Honda is overpriced, but is extremely reliable. Would I take this thing anywhere that its reliability would be a life or death case? Not a chance. I'm only paying 1500 bucks, I get what I pay for. If it proves too unreliable, I'd get rid of it. With the price of gas I could sell it for what I paid for it. <br /><br />I don't know what to do. I've got bigger fish to fry in my life right now anyway, I'm still scratching my head about this whole thing. All this because me and my father went to look at the "toys" at the local big boy toy store, and I fell in love with one of the scooters, until I found out it's price. That ended that. A quick search online found those people....we shall see I guess LOL<br /><br />PS--> Roscoe, do you or someone you know have personal experience with this brand of scooter? If so, please get me their contact information if possible. I think my profile displays my email address. Thanks!
