Category: Technical info

Dealer Prep

Lots of people buying a new scooter complain about “Dealer Prep” charges that (along with transportation fees, taxes and title fees, insurance, and gear) usually end up costing them more than they expected to pay for their scooter. Genuine Scooter Co. produced these videos about dealer prep. The videos are intended for dealers, not consumers, but they’re worth watching to see that dealer prep is much more than rolling a scooter off a truck and filling it up with gas. (Thanks, Ericalm!)

Polini Cup continues Saturday

Late notice again (sorry!) but check out Polini Cup Moped, Scooter, Pocketbike, Goped and Gokart racing live this Saturday and Sunday on MopedTV. The live coverage from Tom Dash Memorial Speedway, Atwater CA, starts at 1pm local time and features interviews, race coverage, and giveaways from Corazzo. Corazzo’s also offering a free t-shirt with all jacket orders placed on June 6th and 7th, just mention Polini Cup when you order.

Happy Earth Day! (2-Stroke Dope revisited)

A couple days ago, we got some great feedback about our story refuting press reports about scooter emissions, notably Cecil Adams’ syndicatedThe Straight Dope column“Give a Scooter, Pollute Her.” The way Cecil framed the question left us doubting his conclusions, but we admitted there was something to his findings, and wondered about specific emissions figures.

Well, 2SB reader “JSH” tracked down some real numbers, and his comment was so thorough and insightful, we’ll just reprint the whole thing here:
Continue reading “Happy Earth Day! (2-Stroke Dope revisited)”

Haynes’ “Chinese scooter” book

Scooter-Station notes that Haynes has released one of their famous service manuals targeted to Chinese/Taiwanese/Korean scooters. Probably handy, but it can’t be too specific, even though half the scooters made in Asia are Yamaha Vino knockoffs, there’s a lot of variety there, too, and surely a wide variety of tolerances and torques and such, which is where the Haynes manuals usually shine. Still, knowledge is power, and even if it just covers GY6-style engines in depth, it’d be useful.

The Vespa S 150: a review

Dave McCabe’s been riding the Vespa S for a few months now, here’s his perspective:

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Cue the Muppet with the fedora and trench coat: “So you wanna buy a letter ‘S?’” The stylish Vespa S 150 has been on the market since March but many of us remain confused by what it is, and what Piaggio intended to do with this model.

What’s with the fancy red “S” anyway? How many cars these days have an “S” edition? The most well-known is the wildly-successful Mini Copper S. There are also “S”es adorning Toyota Corollas and Acura RSXs. The Volkswagen Beetle and the Porsche Boxster are as shamelessly consistent as the others, using the same racy calligraphic “S”—except in grey or chrome instead of red. This says nothing of similar variants such as the Honda S200, the Suzuki SX, and who knows what else. There’s definitely a trend here and maybe it’s a gotten little out of hand.
Continue reading “The Vespa S 150: a review”

ZNen “Lance” factory video tour

Welcome to Zhejiang Zhongneng Industry Group Co Ltd or “ZNen”. They make (or have made) scooters for many different importers, including the new “Lambretta” sold in Italy, Baron, FlyScooter, ZN, possibly Roketa, TNG, and Peirspeed, and plenty more (it’s hard to tell without looking at the VIN, and even then, it’s confusing). Some of these brands are better than others, and often the dealer and importer you buy from has as much to do with your experience as the manufacturer. The Chinese are plenty capable of making good scooters, it comes down to the ethical and financial choices made by the manufacturer, importer, and their dealers.

At Dealer Expo2008, a ZNen rep spent a half hour trying to convince me to import their scooters. I finally cut her off and asked “don’t you already have many importers here? She said “sure, but you can make more money if you import directly.” I said I wasn’t interested in importing (I didn’t bother telling her I’m not a dealer, either). Only then did she reluctantly staple a Lance Motorsports business card to my brochure.

I talked to a couple other booths selling scooter manufactured by ZNen. When I asked “Aren’t these the ZNen models they’re selling at their booth?,” most admitted they were pretty angry that ZNen had bought a huge booth to try to sell scooters directly to the same customers they were targeting. Then they went on to explain that their quality control and dealer support was better than all the other ZN importers’. Lance didn’t have a booth, and probably were under the impression that ZNen was giving dealers their information, which was hardly the case.

You can’t tell much about ethics or quality from a video. Even if you think this video does prove something, it still leaves 20 importers to choose from. I’ve never ridden a Lance scooter, but there’s plenty of evidence on the internet that they’re not great: Many complaints about quality and service, Many dealers sell them online, they’re indistinguishable from some other brands that friends have had negative experiences with, no experienced dealers that I know and respect sell them, and ZNen’s ethics are questionable, as noted above. Are Lance Scooters OK? I don’t know, but this video tells me nothing.

Motorcycle Horn tests

WebBikeWorld.com tests some aftermarket horns. Interesting that both Stebel Nautilus horns they tested (different models from different retailers) were faulty, these are the much-hyped horns used in the Genuine Buddy “International” models.

The authors point out:

By way of disclosure I’ll admit that I have fortunately never had to use a motorcycle horn in anger. […] I consider a horn to be a safety device of last resort — if you have to use it, you’re already in a situation that probably could have and should been prevented.

Good point. a loud horn is useful as a proactive warning to make sure a driver notices you before a scary situation arises. Once you’re in a scary situation, there’s no point in honking, you should be concentrating on braking or swerving.

(Thanks for the link, Davek, here’s his thread at Modern Buddy!)