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Post by w650 on Jul 24, 2018 10:46:52 GMT -5
Ten years ago when I started in Scootdawg the forum was jumping. There were a million questions ranging from what the heck do I do to fix this to who is the best dealer to buy from.
Have Scooters, Chinese in particular, become so reliable and the dealers all great that there is no discussion OR have the number of scooter owners who are new to two wheels dwindled to zilch. Over at Modern Vespa the forum is always lively with the same questions and statements that made Chinese Scooter Forums so active.
What do you think?
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Post by tortoise on Jul 24, 2018 11:26:10 GMT -5
The abundance of YouTube GY6 engine maintenance videos has made a substantial difference . . at least for those taking the initiative to make a worthwhile research effort, which appears to exclude the majority of "Google deficient" millennials!
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Post by pistonguy on Jul 24, 2018 16:06:59 GMT -5
Ive been riding along time and been in the industry a long time and scootin in dive travel along time.
In the 50-150cc and maybe up to 200cc the Chinese market or customer is completely different customer than the Vespa customer.
The Chinese customer we have about three main demographics,
#1 the young kid who wants entry level two wheels with no license or insurance for under $1,000,
#2 the Licker Sickle who is in his twenties and has in all his or her years has only been able to loose his license, destroy his credit and his only means of transportation is a under $700 scoot.and again No License (because he lost his) or insurance required.
#3 this of us who have come full circle on the two wheel thing, we have owned or ridden, still ride or have, and the inexpensive Chinese Scoot fit a gap in our current fleet. (I have five bikes).
#1 the young kid that found a fun entry level two wheel experience and after a couple years they move on to a real bike, geh333 introducing his son to riding and many others on these boards for example. so manny great bikes in mothballs that can be had for $3,000 and under.
#2 the Licker Sickle, sad, they come and they go and fit they had $3,000+ for Vespa thats the last thing they are spending there money on.
This pic is not a fake, this is indicative to the sad licker sickle in my area . this kid parks his scoot in the Walmart parking lot and goes to work leaving his helmut on the bike every day.
#3 Those of us who have come full circle, been wrenching, knew what I was getting into, a nice utility tool, and a Scoot will fit a nitch in my fleet till my will is read.
The Vespa crowd mainly has a cult like following, its own two wheel culture that the Chinese will most likely never have, your going to seldom or never sell the $3,000 Vespa scoot to the Licker Sickle or the Entry level customer. they move on one way or the other and not on a $3,000 Vespa
I think for the unknowing buyer the Chinese 50-150cc thing is a fad thing thats mostly over, In the islands was near 100% Honda elite scooters and before I saw them on the USA market they were in the Grocery stores (Mercado's) in the islands for like a third of the cost of a Honda Elite, well one glance showed me the GY is bullit proof but he whole rest of the package won't last for snit in the tropics, and the y didn't and don't, also tho consider quality technicians and service are horrible there compared to USA standards.
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Post by pistonguy on Jul 24, 2018 16:07:56 GMT -5
 
A A typical NC rural Scoot, out of all the wheeled vehicles on the road they are the worst maintained.. |
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Post by wheelbender6 on Jul 24, 2018 19:33:52 GMT -5
Grom clones have taken big chunks out of scooter sales. The adundance of new models of small displacement motorcycles hurts us too. Don't forget electric bicycles. Yamaha and many high end bicycle companies make electric bicycles that compete with 50cc scoots. It's a jungle out there.
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Sophomore Rider
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Post by cookees on Jul 25, 2018 12:00:50 GMT -5
Take good look at scooter sales figures over the past ten years will answer your question. When gas gets back to $5.00 plus I suspect you'll see those numbers rise.
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Post by w650 on Jul 25, 2018 15:07:43 GMT -5
Take good look at scooter sales figures over the past ten years will answer your question. When gas gets back to $5.00 plus I suspect you'll see those numbers rise. When Motorcycle-usa.com posted MIC sales figures I could see those figures. I read that Piaggio had a 20% decline in scooter sales here last year but that's all I can see in print. It used to be that scooter sales lagged behind motorcycle sales by 10-1 but, again, that's about it. If you have a link to sales figures I would appreciate it. I follow Lance/SYM, Bintelli and Wolf on Facebook but they sound like the joint is jumping for them. |
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Sophomore Rider
Currently Offline
Posts: 168
Likes: 30
Joined: Feb 26, 2013 15:44:08 GMT -5
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Post by cookees on Jul 26, 2018 10:56:33 GMT -5
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Post by onewheeldrive on Jul 27, 2018 1:46:17 GMT -5
Take good look at scooter sales figures over the past ten years will answer your question. When gas gets back to $5.00 plus I suspect you'll see those numbers rise. There is definitely more interest in scooters the higher the price of gas is. When gas was way up from roughly ‘08-‘14, I had a decent amount of people every riding season ask me how many MPG my scoot gets and how much I paid for it. When you (or I) tell them you paid $850 for it and it gets approximately 70-80 MPG (probably more stock) it’s appealing, more appealing (and doable) than having to drop $2-3k on a scoot just to save gas, for the average Joe. As long as they ride it for more than a riding season it should pay off in the long run. It’d be interesting if we could see a side by side graph chart of scooter sales and average gas prices yearly for the last 15 or so years. Maybe even a graph of forum(s) activity. The funny thing is, there really aren’t many people coming on here (or there, I rarely visit other Chinese mostly forums like I used to) anymore ripping on Chinese scoots saying what a piece of junk they are, lol. Maybe the quality is a bit better, I don’t know, but the same daily and/or weekly threads that popped up several years ago really doesn’t happen like it used to. There definitely is way more knowledge out there (and here) to troubleshoot on your own. |
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