Passed by a PCX150  By  jeepsteve92xj (Read 2,980 times)

[replyingto=spandi]spandi[/replyingto]That's good, spand!

>'Kat

if it says vespa it 4-6 times the cost.

John

And sometimes 4-6 times the snob. But not all the time.

digi, I've got a piccolo that wasn't worth its price, and that I can't in good conscience sell 'cause it's such a piece of junk. As for my vehicles, I suppose I can maybe boast about my wagon, I got him five years old with I think about 72k miles for $4600. That's one reason (of several) I have a problem buying a newer used car now--cost a LOT!! more with over 100k miles.

>'Kat

?

Piaggio head covers and gaskets are not that far off in price from the Chinese unless you get parts through one of the Vespa Boutiques. If you search around you can find shockingly high prices on the internet however if you go through a reputable local dealer it may surprise you how affordable they are when you shop around. The after market Piaggio style belts and rollers can be purchased for about the same as the Chinese scooters. Tires are tires and cost the same price for the same size and brand regardless of what scooter you are putting them on.

I have the cheap Aprilia 250 yet the Ducati and Vespa riders don't look down on it even when they find out I payed less for it new ($2,999) than they did for their used Vespa. I get more rue from the local Chinese shops who are selling their 250s for $2,599 to $2,799 and they learn that a Piaggio engined bike can be had for a relatively small amount more. Even more sad is when someone buys a Piaggio and takes it to a local clone shop who really messes up the bike because they don't know that Piaggio will usually pay parts and labor for the replacement of bad fuel pumps or emissions equipment well after the warranties expire so that the owners end up without their bikes for weeks or months when they could have been back on the road in a matter of hours many times at no charge at the Piaggio Dealer.

I usually go to the local Piaggio dealer when I need consumables and the Piaggio consumables end up costing less than the GY6 due to the fact that they last for a very long time when you have 6,250 mile maintenance intervals between oil changes, 12,500 mile intervals between reccomended belt/roller changes and 25,000 mile intervals between clutch and variator services (clean up grooving, check clutch pins and possibly replace).

It goes to determining value. Yes you can get a GY6 head for less however the way the valves go out of adjustment you may have to replace them several times compared to the Piaggio head so over the life of the bike you will see more Piaggios with over 50,000 miles on them running the original variator, clutch and head and at a lower cost of ownership over the life of the bike than with the same size Chinese bike.

I will share what I have learned about false economies and help others potentially benefit from what I have learned riding both Chinese and Italian bikes. It was one of the best moves I ever made when I just on a lark walked into the Aprilia dealership after checking out all the local clone shops and got that $2,999 deal on the Aprilia 250 giving me double what I had been offered when I tried to sell my Lance 150 as a trade in on the new Aprilia. I did take half the trade in a put it towards extending the warranty to 4 years parts and labor.

Anyways I don't judge a persons worth based on the cost of what they own or where they bought it (unless of course they are knowingly buying stolen goods or turning a blind eye to it when its pretty obvious) but rather on their actions and what comes out of their mouths when they speak.

Really find locally that there is more snobbery and misconception from owners of Chinese bikes toward the name brands than the other way around.

[replyingto=spandi]spandi[/replyingto]I have trouble understanding how anyone can tolerate a scooter engine that needs its valve tappets readjusted several times a year. The device holding the adjustment is simple enough. To use a poor quality securing device is saving a tiny amount of money and making a great deal of work for someone in the life of the scooter. I have never owned a vehicle that needed frequent valve clearance adjustments. They stay in place for years. All it takes is a well designed screw and nut detail that will stay tight despite vibration. I gave up on standard motorcycles because the drive chains were such an ever changing feature. They needed to be adjusted every 100 miles and deteriorate quickly. I could only get 10,000 miles out of a chain and sprockets before replacement was required. Poor design and poor quality really can wear you down after a while.

Hahahahaha! Oh Kat! ...and here I thought "wouldn't stay tuned" meant poor quality engines valves!

Maintaining a Vespa is still done mostly using Piaggio engine parts which are affordable if you shop around. They use the same hard engine parts, carbs. fuel injection systems, voltage regulators, oil/air filters belts and rollers as the rest of the Piaggio engined bikes. Buy the Piaggio items from a Vespa Boutique and they can be quite expensive however go through an Aprilia Dealer and you may find the prices more reasonable.