Lance scooters out-of-business? BMS too? [huh]  By  floridagull (Read 9,127 times)

I could NOT resist the 76 degrees and sunshine today... So I rode to my dealer just to touch bases.

Neat new rides at the store! And, I found he now is also a dealer for LANCE, in addition to Kymco, SYM and Genuine (Buddy/Stella). He confirmed Paladin's reply, that Lance is now manufactured by SYM! I don't know about manufacturing in China, Viet Nam, etc. but LANCE is marketed now as a SYM-made product... Including their famous ceramic cylinder technology

I picked up a couple of brochures:







These new Lance scooters made by SYM must surely be the "Cadillac" of formerly Chinese 150's. The pictured models are 125's but are available as 150's. This puts a whole new light on these popular, Italian-style "turtledeck" scoots.

And as always, for anyone in the area, I can HIGHLY recommend Moxie Scooters in Southlake, Texas. They make me feel like "family"... two years after buying "Minnie Mouse" from Moxie, I like them even more... YES! Good folks to deal with.

Very cool!!!

Leo in Texas

PS: I looked over the new Buddy scoots too. Those pricey little rides are just plain irresistible! Tiny, feather-light and with the 170cc motors, pretty doggone frisky! For the rider wanting a small, nimble and beautifully-made scooter that will GO... You don't see many Buddies, but they are SO sharp!!!

IMHO, Lance and Kymco are the scooters one should start with (assuming one has the $). The Genuine and SYM scooters are higher in price, and, if one buys a Chinese scoot and performs the upgrades usually necessary for reliability, you'll end up at the price of a Lance or Kymco anyway... 
Not to mention the vastly superior warranties... 

Leo - Taiwan is an interesting case. They were the governmental seat of the Republic of China when the PRC was formed and had the UN seat representing Mainland China until the 1970's. Some countries still view Taiwan/ROC as the official seat of Chinese Government and not the RPC.

Plunky bunch that is for sure to stand up to the party and hold the status of the 21st largest economy in the world despite their size and relationship with the mainland. Also they are know for their freedom of the press, health care, public education, economic freedom, and human development.

I suppose you are supporting a lot when you choose to purchase from Taiwan over the mainland and getting some really decent products in the bargain.

In 2015, I traveled to Taiwan for the first time, prior to our first order of Adly Scooters shipping. What I experienced in my short two days really opened my eyes. In case any of you are curious, here's the write up I sent to friends/family/employees upon my return:

This trip was a quick turn and burn… 60+ hours of travel for only 48 hours on the ground. While exhausting, overall it was a good trip. Being that this was my first ever trip to Taiwan, I wanted to give a write up about my experiences. Let’s get to it:

Prior to this trip, I have visited China nine times. With Taiwan being just off the coast of China, I was expecting Taiwan to be a smaller version of what I’ve experienced in China over the last ten years. While in some aspects, I was correct – the same language is spoken, the Taiwanese look very similar to the Chinese (even they admit this), and scooters dominate the roadways in both countries, that is about where the similarities end. Within ten minutes of arriving to Taiwan, I could already see the differences between these two countries.

Immediately, I noticed how quiet it was in Taiwan. Sure, I landed in the evening, at about 8pm their time, but it was quiet. Almost an eerie quiet for a large international airport. The airport wasn’t filled with tens of thousands of loud Chinese people as I was used to. I wasn’t thrown out of the way at every line, baggage claim, or bathroom. The train station was quiet, clean, and easy to navigate. Oh, and look at that… there’s English signs in the stations to allow those traveling to easily navigate the area. Initial impression…. a positive one. Then, once we made it to the car, more differences emerged. What is this? Helmets? Why is everyone wearing a helmet on their scooter? Surely, I’ve visited China enough times to know that helmets are not part of the culture there – a scary fact considering how reckless the driving in China is. I’m told that in Taiwan, helmet use is law – along with having your scooter registered, and those that break the law, actually get a fine. This amazed me because in China, there are simply too many people, too many drivers that simply don’t care. The police have no ability to enforce a rule such as this, even if the government wanted them to. Point for Taiwan – nicely done. In addition, I noticed that the vast majority of the scooters were made by name brand companies – most made in Taiwan. I was told that Taiwan has an air enforcement agency, similar to the EPA, and Chinese scooters simply can’t pass the tough requirements. I guess that’s why I could see blue skies on both days of my journey. Clean, crisp air, all throughout the country. No smog in sight.

We came to our first red light and again – mind explosion. Here we are, at a red light, and everyone was stopped. Cars, trucks, bicycles, and scooters. In Taiwan, traffic signals are followed. No, they will not let their peaceful city streets emulate those in China, where traffic signals are mere suggestions at best, not law. In Taiwan, red does indeed mean stop, and everyone listens… with helmets on, waiting for the green to show. At this point, only being in the country for two hours, I can tell… this was not China. How naive I began to feel, embarrassed that I just assumed that Taiwan and China would be indistinguishable. Sure, it sounds like China, the writing on the signs make you think you’re in China… but this is no China. This is a country of law abiding citizens. People that are proud to be different from their big brother off their coast. They work hard to be different, to be better, to be more civil. Those of you that know me, like really know me, know how much I love China and how much I love those I work with in China. So, saying these words is no simple feat for me. China could learn a lot from its neighbor. It could take decades, or generations even to change the way of thinking of a billion people, but a lot could be learned by the Taiwanese.

Another nice change was the majority of those in Taiwan actually understand and can speak a little English. In China – forget about it. Only the factory workers, trained to take Western money know how to speak English. In Taiwan, it’s the third language spoken. Street signs in populated areas usually had translations on them, and most vendors could at least communicate on a very simple level. The first song that played on the radio once we got in the car – One Direction… kind of funny considering I was half way around the world.

Being that Taiwan is an island, the majority of the food eaten is Seafood. It is hard to compare Chinese vs Taiwan food as I’ve had over a hundred Chinese meals and only three in Taiwan. From the small sample size, besides being more heavily dominated by seafood, overall the cuisines are pretty similar. I’ve had better food in China, but with only having three meals, not a fair comparison. One of the highlights were large chunks of young bamboo. Very fresh tasking, crisp like an apple, with the texture of a large water chestnut. They were served with every meal as a snack, similar to peanuts on the table at a steakhouse. As always, I will try anything handed to me, and some of the things were great, some just ok. Dried squid is very popular in Taiwan, as their waters are filled with squid and drying them allows for preservation. The drying process brings out a lot of the flavor, so you have to really enjoy the taste of squid to enjoy it in this preparation. The night market smelled of it – as the most popular food vendors were the dried squid on a stick. I stopped counting after seeing ten vendors with the same product. Some other things I dined on included small crabs, shrimp, fried glorified bait fish, a soup made of pig tendon and stomach (the stomach was good, the tendon needed to be cooked a few more hours, so it was a bit chewy). We also had a whole fish, steamed buns, rice, a few mystery items that no one could tell me what I was eating, a salad (I’d never been served romaine lettuce in Asia before), and a bunch of other items you’ll see in the pictures. Being in a small town, the places we ate were not fancy or decorated, but the food was as fresh as can be – all the seafood was alive in tanks when we ordered. While this would really freak out most Americans, the idea is genius. In America, who knows how old that fish is that you’re eating. Is it fresh? Is it frozen? Has it been in the walk in for a year? Sure, most people will not enjoy picking out which live fish they want to eat… but you know it’s fresh. You know it was alive minutes before being served to you – there’s no freezers required in these restaurants.

One of the nights there was a big festival, celebrating one of their gods. I have tons of pictures at the night market where everyone gathered for a huge party to celebrate the festival. Everyone went into the temple to make their offerings to the god, and boy did I stick out like a sore thumb. Being the only white person in an entire Taiwanese festival like that really gets the eyes pointed in your direction. It was a great experience that is difficult to put into words, so I’ll let the pictures and video speak for themselves. The dinner we ate at the festival was in a back alley, outside of an urban home. The factory workers eat outside of this home every year for this festival. They were worried I would be terrified, eating in a back alley, very traditional dishes. They said most western clients would be scared… I welcomed the challenge to prove myself. While most of the food was cold or room temperature, it was a better meal than I was expecting. While there were tens of thousands of people at this market, the crowds remained civilized. No one throwing you out of the way, no one pushing to get in front of you in a line. It was a pleasant change. Everyone attending brings gifts for the god. There were stations to drop off the gifts, there were hand carvings out of fruit, sculptures made of lobster and crab shells, you name it, they were there as gifts.

Throughout the trip, the Chinese tourists could easily be spotted. While fifty people may be stopped in line somewhere, they were the one or two that were throwing people out of the way. While I thought to myself how funny this was, several of the Taiwan workers I was with actually pointed them out to me, without me saying a thing. “Look, you see the Chinese tourist?” I asked if they get insulted if someone mistakes them for being Chinese, especially when they travel abroad. They laughed and said no, they were used to it, so it doesn’t offend them. But, if it does happen, they always make a point to correct the person and let them know – no – I’m from Taiwan, they would proudly proclaim.

It was a good trip. The order I went to inspect was better than I anticipated. I had a full day of being shown around the country as well. While I’m not one to usually enjoy seeing historical areas, those with me had a good sense of humor, so I was able to crack my jokes to keep the day fun. I’m on my last plane home as I write this. A long two day journey to return. After six hours of sleep in the last two days combined, my home, family, and my bed will be a welcome sight. While short, I could not have asked for much better on this trip. It was a trip that surprised me every hour I was on the ground. A trip that taught me that the people of Taiwan are a proud people, a civilized people. They aspire to better themselves and their country, while remaining grounded in their heritage, history, and culture. I look forward to many more years of business in Taiwan, so I can get to know the country as well as I have gotten to know China over the last ten years.

Not to butt in, but I believe that Bintelli is still using Znen for the Bintelli line, but adding/have added Adly 2-stroke scooters to their product line...   

       

And Lance as well? Rampant speculation...