What do you think of this?

[Lucia]

Doing a bit of research on Kymco's scooters www.kymco.co.uk/scooters/ and would appreciate any opinions chaps and chapesses...

1. Who would buy their scoots (male teenagers/women/learners etc)?

2. Have you heard of the brand Kymco?

3. Would you or someone else you know consider buying this retro one, because the price is pretty good and they can't afford a new Vespa? www.kymco.co.uk/scooters/like125.html

4. This is daft one - which magazines do lads aged 16-19 buy? (apart from porn, lol)?

5. Would you use one to commute to work if you didn't want to take your prized Vespa/Lammie etc?

Any other comments or opinions on what you think of the scoots. I've heard they used to make Honda engines and they're pretty reliable and well made. What would put you off buying them? What would sell them to you. They offer free insurance to lads ages 16-19 for 3 years which is pretty good.

Thanks for any help - be totally honest - and if you can think of being a 17 year old lad again, would you rather go for the cheaper Flys and Zip scoots??

[jaz]

Kymco make decent, good value scooters and that 'retro' 125 isn't a bad-looking machine IMO. I'd ride one anyway.


However, that's coming from a middle-aged bloke - a teenage tearaway would probably prefer the Agility



Would I own one? Not sure. While there are decent non-Chinese 'budget' scooters (SYM and Daelim are good too) they can be ruined by poor backup. You'd need to do some homework - talk to other owners, read forums etc. I owned a Daelim NS125 before passing my test and found that the dealer network listed on the importer's (now gone) website didn't exist. Most people had stopped selling them because they couldn't get parts. There's one outlet in Birmingham now and if they can't get what you want then you'll be scouring eBay, breakers etc. Not good for what was then a 2 year old bike.

Now if that VBB lookalike was made by Kymco...

[Lucia]

Thanks Jaz - that's a great help. I quite like that little retro scoot too (I'd take off that box at the back though).

Anyone else have any thoughts?

[Robjack]

1. Difficult one. I initially thought people on a tight budget, but then I saw the prices which don't appear that cheap. How do they compare to the more established makes like Peugeot etc? I imagine the free insurance deal may swing it for teenagers.

2. Yes. But my knowledge begins and ends at 'Far East'.

3.Probably not if I'm honest, for the same reason that I'm not really into Honda's or Yamaha's. I'm only really interested in Classic Italian scooters.

4. Nuts? Zoo? Basically Thrupenny Bits and Football, if my, erm, mates memory serves him well. Max Power type car mags seem popular as well. It's all that Testosterone.

5.Again, probably not. Only if options were severely limited. I suppose if I lived in dat der London and I needed something that I didn't have to worry about when I left it in a parking bay, I can see why it may be a sensible option.


Just my opinions Lucia, hope this helps,

Rob.

[Lucia]

Hi Rob - yeah - it's a huge help. I went out and bought Nuts and Zoo this afternoon - hehe - market research of course - the lads at work were delighted lol.

[worcesterosprey]

NO..!!!!! I wouldn't ride one...... VESPA or LAMMY or nothing..

[Lucia]

Heh

I'm gathering some interesting opinions. Apparently the 'Like 125' comes out in the UK this month. £1699...

[Spence]

I hired a Kymco Dink (a bit like a Bergman or an X9) on holiday in Kos about 10 years ago. It was sh*t. The build quality was cheap and nasty and the 4-stroke engine was gutless.

But that was 10 years ago, things may have improved since.

[Ilan]

I got to admit i was doing some research before I decided to buy a PX. i went for a test ride on two 250 cc scooters, one is the kymco grand dink 250. it is a nice scoot, comfy with a strong engine, going 115kph steady with no problem. good wind protection (though less for the passenger who seats higher), nice breaks, lots of storage room. very practical... but butt ugly...

also ridden the SYM 250 joyride, comfy as well, linked breaks, good lights. even looks nice...although kitschy a bit

why i never bought any of these? main reasons are cause they look like they made of plastic, and practically everyone has them...

as for the 125? i would choose only the vespa line
mainly because most of the eastern 125 scoots are so bad designed

[Lucia]

Heh, love the name 'Dink' haha.

The market seems to be flooded with plastic scoots doesn't it?

I rang a well known Chester dealer who's an approved supplier this morning, and they don't keep them in stock unless someone wants one. Not a good sign.

(I'll come clean - the ad company I work for is proposing some newly designed ads for the 'LIke' and the 'Super8' and it's hard to find something unique about them both that would appeal to teenage lad (Sport8) and Kymco want to target young women for the 'Like'.)

Seems the yanks like the 'People' and 'Agility', but most would buy a SYM over a Kymco.

...scratches head...

[jaz]

Apr 30, 2009 10:41:12 GMT Lucia said:

I rang a well known Chester dealer who's an approved supplier this morning, and they don't keep them in stock unless someone wants one. Not a good sign..

It probably doesn't bode well for getting parts as and when you need them either

Apr 30, 2009 10:41:12 GMT @Rudi said:

as for the 125? i would choose only the vespa line
mainly because most of the eastern 125 scoots are so bad designed

They're not all that bad. As I said earlier the Daelim I had was pretty well put together and had a decent turn of speed too. The engine was an oil-cooled 4-stroke with a 4 valve head, gave good fuel economy and was never any bother. No, the real problem was lack of dealer backup and almost zero spares availability.

[Lucia]

Well, we won over Kymco to start doing some ads, but they've definitely got lots of competition out there.

[Big Al]

1. Anyone with budget as a fairly primary consideration, irrespective of gender or age.

2. Yup - read "Twist and Go" as well as "Scootering"

3. Have a friend who'd go for the retro one - she's fairly indifferent to brand so long as it looks suitably hip.

4. Anything involving tits, engines or utterly random trivia!

5. I'd use anything on 2 wheels to get me to work rather than take the train...

Mechanic friend of mine rates Kymco above other cheap Chinese brands (Baotian, Jialing etc) in terms of general build quality ("although that ain't sayin' much" he points out) and as a budget commuter hack you probably get more for your money than with a modern Jap/Italian scooter. But then again you could take my girlfriends approach and spend all of £122 on an early '90s Honda Vision that gets her to work and back every day with no problems!

[Ilan]

btw by bad design, i was reffering to the looks , not the engine or handling. although quality wise, i did come across some Korean scoots like TGB which had the worst quality under seemingly nice plastics- im talking about new scoots with rusted frame, breakable plastic mounts, etc

but overhaul if you compare PX line to Kymcos, the later give a much better deal in practical means. but as we most know, riding is not all practical and Vespa tend to tickle our emotional side, other wise we'd be driving a subaru (pick your choice of a family car) instead of a smelly px with a rear brake that looks like a car clutch

Apr 30, 2009 13:22:52 GMT jaz said:

Apr 30, 2009 10:41:12 GMT Lucia said:

I rang a well known Chester dealer who's an approved supplier this morning, and they don't keep them in stock unless someone wants one. Not a good sign..

It probably doesn't bode well for getting parts as and when you need them either

Apr 30, 2009 10:41:12 GMT @Rudi said:

as for the 125? i would choose only the vespa line
mainly because most of the eastern 125 scoots are so bad designed

They're not all that bad. As I said earlier the Daelim I had was pretty well put together and had a decent turn of speed too. The engine was an oil-cooled 4-stroke with a 4 valve head, gave good fuel economy and was never any bother. No, the real problem was lack of dealer backup and almost zero spares availability.

[jaz]

May 11, 2009 8:58:51 GMT Ilan said:

btw by bad design, i was reffering to the looks , not the engine or handling. although quality wise

That's fair comment, the NS certainly didn't stand out in a crowd. Personally if I was given a wad of money to buy a brand-new 125 I'd be off to get a tangerine LML