Embrace The Scooter  By  w650 (Read 2,229 times)

Yes, but at a sub $4000 price tag the Xtown 300 is the buy of the century. Kymco quality at a Chinese price.

HMMM...

Neat article! While the author did mention the scooter can be a doorway INTO motorcycles, I must add (for aging old geezers like me) it's also a gateway FROM motorcycles when health and budget keep a rider from owning or riding the big bikes.

I too am major Kymco fan. The new models are sweet, although I miss that swell "My Road 700". Oh well, if they don't sell, ya gotta offer different models that will. Just business!

In states where freeway speed-limits are "somewhat" obeyed, even my old Grandvista 250 would be "the perfect all-purpose budget ride". Old "Minnie Mouse" will perk right along at 70-mph all day long, up and downhill and into modest headwinds... BUT... Alas, around here, if you can't cruise -mph or better in a 55 zone, and + in a 70 zone, you WILL end up "road-kill".

So, I just follow the old Clint Eastwood mantra: "A man's gotta know his limitations..."

The old Mouse EASILY runs 65-70 with traffic on local 45 limit surface streets. I'm not sure a new 300 will do too much better... And during low-traffic-count periods during the day on freeways, I can often run 70 while hiding in the slow lane. When the soccer-moms come out at rush-hour, I take to the 45-mph limit access-roads and side streets where 70 is (usually) enough to keep up.

In marvelous contrast, my "new" old '04 Accord UEX will easily top 160-mph (taching less than 5,500 rpm) and I must admit it's SWEET when necessary, to run with the bozos cruising at WAY over the century mark... She IS shod with new Michelin "W" rated meats and has monster ceramic brakes. It AMAZES me what Honda sold through performance stores back in the day! Let alone FINDING one with low miles and restored to factory-new condition!

Golly-dang!  I LOVE that car!!!  And she only cost the price of a new 600cc scoot...

Oh well, cars are cars, motorcycles are motorcycles and scooters are... well... scooters. But they are such FUN transportation!  Fast enough for % of our transportation needs, cheap to buy, cheap to insure and easy on gas.  THAT is enough for most transportation needs...

So, ride safe!  And EMBRACE the SCOOTER!  I certainly do...  

Leo in Texas

Care to inform the Kiddies How Your EX does  some 30  mph faster than any other production EX?
Taching Less than 5,500? Uhhhhhhhh she Ran Out of Snots Choppersquid.Not enough to Pull Top Gear.
And being from your hood what section of road are you doing a easy 160mph? 114? 170? I-35? Roanoke Road, lol
Or is this another Grapevine Lake Fish story of the HD Bobber doing 10's @ 135mph or so with Semi knobby Tires and OompaLoompa at the Helm?
Or was that 8's on a Shovel or Pan 150ci ?
Educate us.

Its only a 276 not a 299 or 300. To meet the new EPA and Euro regs they had to up the CC to keep the HP levels of the 300 close to the same levels of the previous generations 250's. Still 23 HP compared to the Chinese 15 to 18 HP 250's.

In comparison the Piaggio BV350 (330CC) is only about $300 more than the Kymco Citicom 300cc, weighs less than 400 lbs and has about the same HP as the over 400 lb Kymco 400 while delivering similar fuel economy as a 250.

A lot of options out there and if you pick wisely you can end up with a bike that requires belt maintenance every 12,500 miles, oil changes every 6,250 miles and has a clutch and variator that can last 50,000 to 75,000 miles. Maintained by the book and not beat on they have been known to run 150,000 or more miles without burning oil or any major repairs. On the better bikes simple things like variator air filter maintenance can make a big different in belt, variator and clutch longevity.

Keep them clean, cool and dry and they will last a long long time. They're not submarines or dirt bikes even though some use them as such and then complain about the problems they have afterwards.

OK, I won't indulge in this stuff anymore.  This is my only reply to your "inquiry".

For the record, the car is NOT an EX, or an EX L, but a UEX ('04).  Ordered by a Ms. Jane Cassidy, Tennessee factory build, Japan engine, tranny, track suspension and ceramic brakes.  From the dealer with straight-pipes and racing chip.  On the track in THAT tune, capable of 175+ and was RACED successfully for one season.

She considered the car "too nice" to trash on the track, and in '06 had mufflers installed, the chip changed back to a street Accord chip and the harness, roll-bar and other track equipment removed and the car became a "pet" grocery-getter for 11 years.

Stock 3.0 accord is 247hp.  The UEX (in Europe, SPYDER/Model U) motor puts out over 450hp with the track chip, mine now rates at 265hp.  Honda does marvelous things through intelligent variable valve timing and tweaked fuel-injection.  After all, 3 liters is ONLY 180 cid.  My local Honda dealer helped me track down the history and was amazed, as he never has seen one outside the track.  Only a hundred or so were made, to compete with Cadillac, BMW and other sedan-class racers and they were only made in '03 and '04.  The '04 is identifiable with NO badging at all, and Honda's 200-mph rated alloy wheels.  (Those, and the W-rated Michelins run smoother and more true than ANY wheel/tire setup I've driven.)

The 160 figure (yes, the certified 165mph speedo IS quite accurate) as well as the tack-reading came about on a trip to Houston in the middle of nowhere.  The light traffic running over 125 which is COMMON.  After passing into open road, I opened it up to 160 and YES the tach (also performance accurate) at 5,500 rpm.  There was still noticeable travel left in the accelerator.

I'll never take it that fast again.  Just wanted to see what she would do since to my surprise, I've had no trouble humiliating local tuner kids in their proven rides.

That is the history of the car, that is what it will do, and I might add gives average of 28mpg in mixed driving.

I got VERY blessed in finding a very rare car, restored to factory-new condition, at a very low price.  Local boys know what it is, and led me to find out more.  When I bought it, I had no idea it was anything other than a mint Accord.  Its phenomenal pickup and speed led me to find out its true history.

Do I care if you believe it? Absolutely not.  I'm not bragging or spinning a yarn.  Just interesting facts I think members might enjoy.

If God told you the sky is blue, you'd no doubt argue it must be green... I don't understand this confrontational attitude.  When someone posts something they have done, pertinent to a thread and want to share it, it's done in good faith.  I don't lie.  I don't exaggerate.  I don't BS .  At 70 years old, I outgrew that sophomoric crap 50 years ago.

Regards,

Leo

w650,

My sentiments exactly... Have a bone on the "old chopper squid" as "piston-slap" addresses me.

Few things in life are more irritating than having a detractor who's never met you, seen your vehicle, etc. tell you something you did is impossible, and you're a liar.

I have a son-in-law addicted to this behavior.  He's an aviation engineer and executive with Lockheed.  As such, I thought he'd get a real hoot out of our company pilot in the 1990's looping our Aerospatialle helicopter after I shot photos of a land acquisition.

WRONG... He turned on me and let me know in the most pompous fashion that he's an aeronautical engineer with a doctorate in aerodynamics and it's IMPOSSIBLE to loop a helicopter.  And I was a liar.

I was younger and not so sweet-tempered back then, SO... I promptly presented him with several printouts and videos of looping helicopters, how to loop a helicopter and even inverted hovering.

He told me face-to-face that all those articles were fakes, and I was not only a liar, but a Dr. Phil-style "right-fighter" determined to "prove" my lies.

Of course, nowadays there are dedicated aerobatic helicopters doing most of the tricky fixed-wing maneuvers all over the world.  He grudgingly admits THOSE copters can loop, but still insists I'm a liar.

Some folks simply revel in their desire to make others miserable... I'm REALLY beginning to see how Donald Trump must feel most days... LOL!
________________________________________

When the missus and I bought the Honda, I had no idea ANY modern Honda car was collectible save maybe for the "Type R" Accord and Civic...  and the factory-new, absolutely pristine condition of "Rhonda II" made me think she was simply a VERY well-cared-for "pet".

Then, just for fun, I fooled around with some local "tuner-boys" and shocked them as much as I shocked myself with the fastest car I've ever owned... And I've had some slick old muscle-cars back in the day. Trust me, Lii' Rhonda would eat them for breakfast...  0-60, quarter-mile OR top-speed.

I then began to track down just WHAT the car really was.  Over the last few months, I've had numerous Mexican tuners stop me just to ask if THAT car is REALLY an '04 UEX?  They tell me the lack of badging, the wheels and brakes are the giveaway to the savvy "Honda maven"...  but the condition makes them think it's a counterfeit...  Who knew?  I just wanted a nice, clean daily-driver...

They just can't believe the mint condition since most all of these spent their lives on the track, and even if drivable, are really trashed.  Thank providence that Ms. Cassidy retired her before "swapping paint" took place in her short competition career!

Ride safe, and play nice, one and all...

Leo in Texas