Super newbie, looking into scooter options!  By  folly (Read 1,903 times)

Welcome to the site! Have a bone on the Old Chopper Guy...

I'm an old-school big-bike guy who over the last eight years has discovered SCOOTERS. For your intended use, a 150 would be THE minimum you could get by with, but it IS minimal. I finally traded my Chinese 150 on a used Kymco Grandvista 250 to get the stability and speed needed to run with 65 mph traffic.  It will do 80 mph or better, but 65 is practical with hills and wind.

To make a long story short, Chinese scooters can be fine IF, and ONLY if you're willing to really work them over to get the bugs out. I did that in 2007 with my then-new Xingyue 150. After a full season of experiencing all the typical Chinese problems, and wrenching more than riding, it became a reliable ride for over six years. But it still wasn't up to long-haul rides or daily trips. And, 50 mph was the maximum sustained speed available. Even though it would top 60 under ideal conditions, 50 was all you could count on with wind or hills.

I too had a tight budget... So a $4,000-plus new scoot was out of the question. And like yourself, I like old-fashioned cosmetics. I test-rode EVERYTHING in the 250 to 650 class, and, finally settled on this well-used Kymco...



For a little "Americanization" I added wide-whites, a fishtail exhaust and saddlebags.  You can take the old geezer off the Harley, but you can't get the Harley out of the old geezer... LOL!

Having recently and EXTENSIVELY searched out everything in the 250 class, I can tell you that you may have to go with a used one. NO problem if it's a good one! All Japanese scooters are good, as well as the Taiwanese and Italian models. (If you love old-school, you can't beat a VESPA!) and they are available used at surprisingly affordable prices.  And ANY Vespa over 150cc goes like stink!

I personally prefer the Taiwanese Kymco and SYM brands. They are darn-near "bulletproof" and perform great. My old "Minnie Mouse" is 8 model years old, with 15,000 miles on the clock. It was used for cross-county touring, two-up and loaded down. The original owner says it's been from New York to Los Angeles, and Canada to Mexico. The ONLY repairs done in all that time were a set of tires, battery, brake pads, belt and muffler. All the electrics, hoses, clutch, etc. are like new and the old gal is as reliable as the family sedan.

It's a very small 250, very "scooter-like" and you'll find anything 250cc and bigger is often a LARGE ride, not as nimble as a scooter might be, but great on the highway. My old Grandvista is about the same size as a typical Chinese 150, but a hundred pounds heavier. It is still nimble in traffic, but can run 65+ comfortably.

The Genuine "Buddy" scooters are amazing. TINY, old-school Italian in looks, and run FAST... But they're not cheap, and seldom appear for sale used. Also, they are just a little TOO small for my liking, but are surely well-made and nimble!

Many of the great Japanese scoots are fabulous quality, but to my eye, quite large, and the cosmetics too "foreign" for me. Do look over as many types and sizes as possible, and test-ride if possible... I must have ridden 50 different scooters before settling on the Kymco.

You should be able to find a great used ride for around your $2,000 budget, or a little less even. I realize you can get a NEW Chinese 250 or 300 for that price or less, and that might be fine, but I personally feel a used Japanese, Taiwanese or Italian scooter used, in good shape, may be more reliable. Just me...

Hope my experience may help.

Ride safe!

Leo in Texas

What you can get depends on where you are. If you are not a scooter mechanic, or are willing to become one, you will need a dealer for service.

Low class: bintelliscooters.com/product.aspx?ProductId=175&title=Bintelli+Valor+150cc -- www.scooterdepot.us/50cc-gas-scooter-fully-assembled-p-ms050stb-336.html -- same Znen scooter, just the name is changed to protect the guilty.
Mid class: Honda, Yamaha, SYM, Kymco, Genuine, etc. -- I was looking at Lance, made by SYM -- www.lancepowersports.com/models/havana150.html -- only about $500 more than the Chinese, but a dealer and a 2-year warranty.
Top class: the one and only VESPA. (I gots one!) Yeah, you can 2 or 3 of the lesser scooters for the price of a Vespa, but it has a steel monocoque body instead of a tube frame/plastic body. I rented a SYM in Hawaii, and in my experience the quality of the Vespa is far higher, stronger, stiffer.

" ... for errands, maybe 20-40 miles a week ..." -- HA!
You will be finding that the scoot is just too handy for shopping. At Ralph's I park on the sidewalk, next to the building, about 15 feet from the entrance. Most other stores I park in the wasted triangle at the end of cars, less than 40 feet from the store entrance. At Total Wine the mall cop thinks he is a real cop, and he can call a real one so I there I park in a full car space. I go them last, 'cause I carry the big stuff:

Thanks for the input everyone!! Admittedly, I definitely can go over budget pretty easily- it's more that I'm terribly impatient, and the longer I have to save the less time I have before Wisconsin gets too darn cold to play with my new toy ;P so $2000 is kind of my ideal max, haha





Alright, so these are both statements I keep hearing a lot and my big question is- does the "don't buy a chinese scooter if you can't work on them" thing still apply to a chinese scooter that most people seem to agree is pretty top quality for what it is? Because I'll admit right off the bat that I know next to nothing about mechanic stuff, but the Valor does seem like a pretty solid option for me. I'm fine with riding something a little on the lower-quality side, but I don't want to have to put a lot of work/money into it right off the bat just to make it work. At that point it makes more sense to just spend the extra $600ish and get a mid-quality ride x:

I'll definitely keep in mind that I should be looking for something new- there's an awful lot of tempting offers for used mid-range scooters in my budget, but I guess more likely than not I'll end up sinking enough money into repairs that it won't really matter, huh..? There sure is a lot to consider

In the comments section of that video, someone finally explained something, but I believe the owner is still wrong about the actual distance traveled with that bike.

It's a foreign bike, the outer ring (the main one) of the speedometer reads in KPH while the smaller inner ring reads in MPH. I would bet good money that the odometer clocks in Kilometers and not in miles. So that 266110 reading in km is actually 16534 miles which is more realistic. Still, that is not bad at all for a Chinese bike. (this based on what I've read from owners of all sorts about Chinese bikes.)

Secondly, being so new to the world of vehicles in general, it's important to know that it is more than just the purchase of a vehicle. There is licensing, registration, insurance, riding gear (helmet, gloves, jacket boots etc.) and most important of all: having the skills needed to operate the vehicle safely. It might would be a good idea to take a rider safety course to help ensure your riding experience is safe, long and happy.

That is an excellent question.

IMO, It's about care and maintenance. Just like a car or a fancy name brand scooter, you're going to have to change the oil, inspect you spark plug and hoses etc etc. The ability to keep it out of the elements (like in a garage or shed) makes a huge, HUGE difference. If you take effort to care for your scooter and follow the proper maintenance schedule, there's no reason you can not get 10's of 1000's of miles out of your Bintelli. Many people are squeezing 25,000 + miles out of a TaoTao, think of how many you can get out of a Bintelli. 

Something else to consider...  Tax, title, dealer fee and yadda yadda yadda...Trying to stay close to that $2000 mark is going to be perfect. You can probably get out the door with the Valor for $2000 (or under).... 

I'm in Michigan. Almost the same weather as you. I totally get that you wanna play before the snow flies again... I suggest taking a que from Nike and "just do it". Bintelli makes a quality scooter and for your stated purposes, I think the Valor will fit your bill nicely. 

BTW, I purchased one of my Bintelli's in WI from a place called Addell Auto center.

I have had a honda and a kymco.right now I have a bentelli sprint the more I get to ride it and work on it the more I find I like it.they are buld strong and I got 30.000 miles on it and only had it for 2 years.still running strong. My choice was eather the sprint or the rough house by syms.but I did not want a 2 stroke.