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Post by spandi on Apr 2, 2017 3:36:08 GMT -5
OK, I gotta admit I actually REMEMBER listening to BOTH groups on the Motorola "Golden Throat" radio in my 1950 Chevy... Seems the Troggs were a little more "guttural" and testosterone-oriented in their music, while the Turtles were more "saccharine-sweet" though not quite "Partridge Family"... So I vote for the Troggs. Back in the 1960's we were amazed at how the Brit guys could wear girlie haircuts, doofus suits with Nehru jackets and short pants, "Beatle boots" and STILL come off as masculine. Musta been a little James Bond DNA in 'em... LOL! Besides, "Troggs" sounds a little "Stone-Age" or "Cave Man" and those dinosaur-thumpers were definitely "macho"... I wonder if they ever wore "Mullets"... HeHeHe... Maybe more like Eric Burdon and the Animals DNA...Young cop, old cop, feel alright on a warm Sam Franciscan night.... Or you could just hangout... Down in Monterey.
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Post by spandi on Apr 2, 2017 0:35:38 GMT -5
I'm just jazzed to see a China scoot importer outselling Honda and investing in Euro 4 spec bikes and scooters. In Europe people use their scooters daily and this shows Lexmoto's reliability. If they didn't stand up they wouldn't sell. If you add in the other brands selling China bikes like AJS and WK Bikes the Chinese have penetrated the two wheel market deeply. Given that, we can expect improvements to their product here. That's a very good thing. Well with the Chinese government banning motor bikes in many large cities the huge domestic market they had before is drying up and the only alternative is the world market. That put them in direct competition with Indian manufacturers ( think Mahindra) an so forcing the Chinese to up their game in terms of quality and reliability. BTW, the reason 125cc scooters are so hot in the UK is the two stage system for motorcycle licensing. You start with your "L" plates (125 tops) which you can keep for up to two years.Then go for the higher CC rating, and move up to the "big bike" category.
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Post by spandi on Apr 1, 2017 20:51:17 GMT -5
Yeah, along with Sinnis, and lately I been reading where Zontes is a brand that dealers in the UK swear by.The importers there are making sure the bikes they sell have a higher degree of reliability and became of it are gaining a large following. BTW, check out Spicy 110 on YouTube for his ongoing reviews the the UK/China riding scene.
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Post by spandi on Apr 1, 2017 2:05:17 GMT -5
Rocky if you can get a good deal on a piaggio scooter fine, if the local dealership has become your social club, also fine. But please don't sit there and try to make me believe that a Chinese 50cc scooter is going for $1500 samolians (!) it just won't wash. Do I think you you got a fine machine at a very good price? Yep. You did very well for yourself, but a true comparison would be in what you would normally pay for such a machine and not against a Chinese scoot. And that should be enough satisfaction for anyone. What does it hurt to look and be open to possibly picking up what appears to be the impossible deal of a century and be riding a bike so far above and beyond what you thought you could afford in your wildest dreams? People who listen to you won't bother and will never get the chance while those that follow my lead could end up like me riding the bike of their dreams for ridiculasly little out of pocket and final cost. When I got mine it was like this can't be real and there has to be a catch floating around in the back of my mind (maybe a bit more to the front) until they handed me the keys and I rode off. At the time I did not have enough available cash available to purchase a Chinese bike either so you can't say it was because of my great wealth that this appeared affordable to me. It was actually the very first time I had been to that dealership which I had happened upon on a test ride after yet another repair on the Lance. I was riding by Parts For Scooters to touch base on how the repairs with their parts had worked out but they were already closed for the day. I really stopped at the Aprilia Dealership afterwards mainly to make use of their washroom and just fell into the deal when to be polite I checked out their bikes and parts counter to pay back a little something for using their water, soap and paper products. I say take a chance at the brass ring since you have very little to loose, don't be a defeatest. It could happen to anybody however you do have to get out of the chair and away from the keyboard to make it happen. The very positive experience can then stay with you for very many years. Local prices are what they are. I did not cherry pick and just walked into a Chinese clone scooter store. The did have a sign on the 50cc bike warning buyers not to be fooled into thinking a $499 Internet Special was just as good. I did see a $999 loss leader 50cc Chinese bike today however the quality was more on par with the $499 Internet Special with no oil filter, carb instead of fuel injection, lower quality styrene plastics instead or ABS or Polyprypolene, more pot metal instead of cast aluminum, etc, etc, etc. Rocky you got a fine machine at an unbelievable price. It will last you for years of trouble free riding pleasure. Anyone who was offered what? 1500-1600 off of MSRP would have been CRAZY not to take the deal. (Who knew that the humble jelly donut could have such an almost hypnotic coercive effect on salesman?) That is not to say someone who buys a Chinese scoot (and knows how to wrench) won't be equally happy. I have a Znen 250, which I (with more than a touch of OCD) rebuilt from the ground up and would not trade for anything. ( I'm still trying to figure out how you ended up with a cylinder head full of hollow spaces from faulty casting) BTW, awhile back I was on my home town of Washington DC when I spotted a very nice Atlantic 500, naturally I went over it with a fine tooth comb.and let me say if what you have is as nice as that was then you should have no problems and be very happy with your (lucky) purchase.
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Post by spandi on Mar 31, 2017 17:18:03 GMT -5
Hmmm, maybe the lady was from Pasadena. Did she also have a super stock Dodge by any chance?
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Post by spandi on Mar 31, 2017 12:46:11 GMT -5
Hmmm, maybe the lady was from Pasadena, did she have a super stock Dodge by any chance?
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Post by spandi on Mar 31, 2017 10:55:14 GMT -5
The Lance Caboo 50cc has an MSRP of $1699. Brand name Chinese scooters do cost in that area. I'm guessing in Florida that size is hot and dealers can get whatever the market will bear. They were all over the place when I visited Myrtle Beach. I would like to debunk at least one legend. My 2008 Bashan had two things going for it. First I bought it from GS Motorworks, a drop shipper that didn't skimp on components. Second, Bashan builds all their engines in house. Several Chinese builders bought their's from outside. Lazarus, my name for it, starts and runs like new after almost nine years and 9,700 miles. Not all 2008 scooters stunk. If the importer was conscientious the scooters worked. They weren't bulletproof and needed restraint. I expect mine to last a good long time. Good points, but allow me to make one observation, the fact that Lance (at one time made by Znen) has for years been manufactured by SYM, a Taiwanese company, and not in the same category or cost of scooters from the mainland. There is a lady who had one at the local supermarket, and it was beautiful! And well worth every penny she paid. As to your own experiences, it just proves that not every dealer on the internet is selling inferior products, and is why companies like Amazon are surging ahead whilst B&M stores and shopping malls are dying out.
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Post by spandi on Mar 31, 2017 7:21:59 GMT -5
Spandi - I can pick up tomorrow morning a new Piaggio BV350 for a touch over $3,000 thats a fact. And no I won't abuse the relationship and make purchases for others. You won't see the prices published on-line either as you have to form relationships with people at dealerships in-person and not through the vaporous etherial internet to get good prices. If you go in with the attitude you have displayed here the price would probably end up at $4,000 to $4,500 or possibly even full MSRP. I today checked the local prices at the Brick and Mortor Chinese dealers in my area and many have given up on selling scooters over 50cc's however their middle of the road 50cc scooters (not even close to a Linhai) are about $1,500 plus State and Local fees and taxes while the Piaggio (not Vespa) 50cc bikes can be had for $1,799 or $299 more again plus the same State and Local fees and taxes. For what you get for the money if you ride more than a few thousand miles in you scootering lifetime the Piaggio if you shop around are a better deal. Anyways I have enough proof since I have done what I have claimed with the bike being ridden thousands of miles a year and can do so again tomorrow. Yes you do have to be a regular at the dealerships to maintain the connections/relationships with people and occasionally purchase at least some small item such as a bulb or bottle of oil however that pays off greatly over the long run. Again the Rocketa still has to have Florida excise tax, title fees (about $250) and sales tax so out the door prices both migrate up similarly so that is a moot argument and does not work. As a point of law in many juristictions even on an out of state on-line purchase if they do not charge you state and local taxes you are supposed to make a personal declaration to your state/county and pay them by the end of the calendar year. Yes many skirt that somewhat succesfully but technically you are still suppoesed to self declare and pay up. Note that I have not followed your lead and ridiculed you with pithy quotes, etc or lowered the bar of decorum so please stop going down that road. Rocky if you can get a good deal on a piaggio scooter fine, if the local dealership has become your social club, also fine. But please don't sit there and try to make me believe that a Chinese 50cc scooter is going for $1500 samolians (!) it just won't wash. Do I think you you got a fine machine at a very good price? Yep. You did very well for yourself, but a true comparison would be in what you would normally pay for such a machine and not against a Chinese scoot. And that should be enough satisfaction for anyone.
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Post by spandi on Mar 30, 2017 23:49:10 GMT -5
Well dang, a three wheeled Honda Trail 70!
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Post by spandi on Mar 30, 2017 23:05:24 GMT -5
Hey Vern, we need pictures.
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Post by spandi on Mar 30, 2017 18:14:54 GMT -5
Try grounding the starter motor, also, check your grounding connections to the frame. Lastly you can always yank the starter motor our and bench test it with a 12 volt power source.
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Post by spandi on Mar 30, 2017 16:47:51 GMT -5
Spandi - I paid exactly $200 more for my Aprilia than what the Chinese 250's from Puma, Znen, Rocketa, Tank and such cost in my City. I did not bother looking at the more expensive Linhai. Aprilia pulled out of the Maxi Scooter market because people were not willing to pay the extra few hundred for a very high quality bike and most of that was because of really stupid rumors spread by those that did really vet things out about the costs being so high that nobody could afford them. I believed these dumb internet rumors until I walked into a Piaggio dealership and saw for my self what you could bargain for and walk out the door with. The small Japanese scooters were the high cost bikes compared to the Aprilia. Why do you keep harping on Vespa when I mostly reference Aprilia and Piaggio branded bikes? Yes the Vespa UniBody steel scooters do cost a bit more however they do not fall apart or shatter on impact or crumble to pieces if left out in the sun. They do not suffer from the issues that others Japanese, Italian and Korean ABS Plastic bikes or Tiawaniese and Chinese have with frail low grade plastics that are more prone to become a total loss in a minor mishap. I had a 45 mph slide with my Aprilia after hitting a patch of sand on a local highway and all that broke was a turn signal lens which cost an extremely low $1.75 to replace. Don't be a defeatest. If you keep your eyes and ears open there are still bargains out there on new bikes from Piaggio such as leftover new BV250 and the original BV350's that you can pick up for around $3,000. I am most certainly glad I did not listen to the likes of you otherwise I never would be riding a bike as nice as my Aprilia. Kymco too has leftovers from prior model years and if you keep yourself open to the possibilites they can also be had for very reasonable prices. Sometimes even Honda during their Garage Sale events drops their prices to insanley low levels. They recently in the past 6 months had their leftover 700cc DCT Naked Cruiser Automatics down to less than $4,000 during a Garage Sale Event which is a whole lot of bike for the money. To quote from Paul Simon's "Love me like a rock" Who do you think you're fooling? There is NO WAY a Roketa is only going to be "a few hundred less" than your much vaunted Sport City. Even with the deal you managed to get on it at 3K (and for the love of Mike, shall we cut out the $2999.999.999 jazz?) You paid THREE GRAND for it, plus what? Another $500 in taxes and dealer prep before you were OTD? That's about $1200 more than any Roketa I ever saw, and I was in contact with dealers in Florida as well. That you enjoy your purchase and got a good deal on it is fine, but don't try to convince others that it was just a "little more" than a Chinese model, it isn't and audience you're speaking to knows better. BTW, had you listened to "the likes of me" you would have steered clear of that Lance you bought from the year of manufacturing infamy...2008
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Post by spandi on Mar 30, 2017 10:14:35 GMT -5
A good, level headed, non-bias posting from a scoot enthusiast without (fortunately) the usual prejudice and rancor the comes from people that think the "only" bike that doesn't have parts dropping in the road are VeryExpensiveScootersPiaggioAssembled. Sorry but it goes both ways. People keep telling me this Very Expensive rumor however I find the 150,000 mile capable Itallian models at the local dealers on factory specials for only a few hundred dollars more than the Chinese counterparts. If you toss the predjudices against them and ignore the Frightfully Expensive rumors which are only true if you don't shop around then you will find them at a very reasonable price point. Local prices on Chinese 250 cc top tier scooters were at $2,599 to $2,699 while my Piaggio based 250 was only $2,999 which is the only reason I bought Itallian since the prices were too low to ignore. I am not talking about dropped shipped 50cc $299 Chinese bikes mail order but local Brick and Mortor stores selling them. When I compared Apples for Apples in physical stores in my local area the price differences were not that great. It surprised me because I knew before I walked in to the name brand store that according to the Internet Buzz those bikes would be Frightfully Expensive and who knew that the Internet MisInformation was not really 100% true. If you shop around and pound the pavement looking for factory specials and customer appreciation days you can find Frightfully Low prices on new warrantied with full dealer service name brand bikes. Don't go by just the suggested MSRP as its only a suggestion. Factories and individual dealerships have specials and unadvertized mark downs all the time and it only takes a little effort to fall into a very sweet deal. You just have to be patient. Again Rocky we've been all through this before (almost word-for-word from many years back) and again, as in the past I will reiterate; you cannot buy a Vespa for "a few hundred dollars" more than a Chinese scoot. If that where the case Chinese importers would have closed shop years ago, and it is stacking the deck to use the highest end Chinese machines ( The rarely purchased Linhai perhaps?) as a comparison when most will buy and use the less expensive bikes. Is the Vespa a nice machine? You bet. Is it also overpriced and costly to service? Again, affirmative. But at least the Vespa offers attitude as an option to go with the designer label saddlebags.
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Post by spandi on Mar 29, 2017 9:31:31 GMT -5
A good, level headed, non-bias posting from a scoot enthusiast without (fortunately) the usual prejudice and rancor the comes from people that think the "only" bike that doesn't have parts dropping in the road are VeryExpensiveScootersPiaggioAssembled.
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Post by spandi on Mar 29, 2017 8:20:48 GMT -5
Now all ya gotta do Leo is hop up Minnie Mouse and you'll have TWO "sleepers" LOL!
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