Straight Talk about Chinese ScootersWhen I was shopping for a scooter in Colorado Springs, literally, every person I talked to on the phone or saw in a scooter store tried to dissuade me from buying a Chinese scooter.
"No one will work on a Chinese scooter," said one. "They are cheap, and you get what you pay for," said another. "Best of luck finding a mechanic and they are pieces of crap," said a third. The problem was I was talking to people who sold non-Chinese scooters like Vespa and Buddy, which are nice scooters but they cost a boatload of money for a zippy 50cc scooter. I didn't want to spend $3300 to buy a 50cc scooter. No thanks. I purchased a Chinese scooter against their advice, and I found a Chinese scooter mechanic in town (who I now work with) and I am SO glad I did. My Chinese scooter is a pictured above (except I bought candy apple red) and used a big bore kit to add a little juice to my engine and help me get up the hills in my neighborhood. I couldn't be happier. I now drive it two days a week to work which is about 13 minutes away from my house on roads with a max speed of 45 mph. It looks rad, and it is so simple to operate and park. I've never had a mechanical problem with my Chinese scooter. All I have done is change the oil right after I bought it (I did listen to that advice:). My Chinese scooter looks hot, drives great with my scooter bore kit, and gets me up hills that climb about 200 ft in elevation. The key to buying a Chinese scooter is to know a mechanic (we have one!) should the need arise, because stores that offer Buddy scooters are not incentivized to offer scooter repair in Colorado Springs for Chinese scooters. If you have that dialed in, then don't worry and enjoy your $2200 savings. |