Stella, Buddy, Chicago Scoot shop history please

[OldSchoot]

Just a visitor to your fine forum (I just bought a new Kymco Like 200i LX)
I love vintage style scooters- have read bits and pieces about the scooter shop in Chicago, Vespas not coming to USA, Stellas being made in India?, Buddies come from where? Seems like an interesting story for a scooter lover like myself - but cannot get the whole story of the history of your scooters, and that Chicago scooter shop, etc. Can someone point me to a good read on this whole subject - or take on the task of enlightening me?
I'm pretty impressed by your enthusiasm for your scooter brands - and I've found some like-minded folks over on the Kymco forum site.

I'll toss this request out there and see what happens.........
Thanks, Tom in Ohio

[illnoise]

Very long story short, Vespa's been in and out of the US market several times with different distributors. The last time they left left the US market was in the mid 80s, because of falling sales, the popularity of more modern Honda 4-strokes, and the inability to sell 2-stroke scooters in California, their largest US market.

Vespa of Chicago was the local dealer then, and they hung on until the mid-90s, and (not entirely sure about this detail) ended up with some of the last batches of Vespa P and PK-series scooters imported into the US. They also were related to a company, DASMI, who made/sold Piaggio accessories towards the end.

In '96 or so, they closed and sold their inventory to a newer vintage Vespa shop in Chicago, Scooterworks. Ron Hedlund, the mechanic at VoC also went to Scooterworks. Philip McCaleb, founder of Scooterworks, was talking to the Agnelli (Fiat) family who owned Piaggio at the time, and had a verbal promise from the family that he'd be the Piaggio importer when they came back eventually.

Scooterworks grew and scooters regained popularity, and Vespa came back, but the Agnelli family no longer owned it, and they set up their own importer, PiaggioUSA. McCaleb took them to court (i believe) and there are lots of murky details here (hearsay, etc) but in the end, he didn't get the deal he thought he deserved, and that largely led to his creation (with slient partners) of Genuine Scooter co, which first brought the LML Star "Stella" to the US (which many argue is more 'vespa' than Vespa's actual lineup, in a way, ha). After a couple years of the Stella, they talked to some asian manufacturers about importing a modern scooter too, eventually they got a good deal with LML who allowed them to rebrand the PGO (Taiwan) Bubu as the "Genuine Buddy." Since then they've added a few more models from the PGO lineup.

[Wolfhound]

Won't get a better or more correct answer than that.

[TVB]

You could add that LML was Piaggo's manufacturing partner in India, which helps explain why the Star/Stella is so much like a classic Vespa.

And that part of the impetus for Genuine to partner with PGO of Taiwan, and add the Bubu/Buddy and other models to their line-up, was a labor strike which temporarily halted production of the Stella.

The more public-relations-y version of the story can be found here.

[OldSchoot]

Thanks for taking the time to answer this.

Um, this sounds like one of my wife's LifeTime movies. Surely someone made this into a book?

So, in all seriousness, are your Stellas pretty reliable scooters - or are they those lovable pesky hard to rely on but easy to love Italian-like Indian made scooters that look like a vintage Vespa? Be honest now.....can you dare take one on a 100 mile scoot without mechanical chase-car back up?

I'll never be able to afford one - plus you have to have local service close by....and I don't. I'm lucky these local fellows can work on my Kymco.

[Dooglas]

You might add also add that there is no direct connection between LML (the Indian manufacturer that builds the Star/Stella) and PGO (the Taiwanese scooter manufacturer that builds a broad range of Asian scooters including the Buddy. Blur. Roughouse and Rattler for Genuine). Genuine Scooter contracts with each of these manufacturers for certain of their products sold in the US.

And, yes, the Stella is essentially an updated version of the earlier P series Vespas. The P/PX Vespas were certainly capable of reliable operation and the new 4T Stellas are, if anything, even more so. Yes, they have some of the quirks of older designs and methods of manufacturing but the idea that they can't go 100 miles without a chase car is just plain untrue.

[JohnKiniston]

So, in all seriousness, are your Stellas pretty reliable scooters - or are they those lovable pesky hard to rely on but easy to love Italian-like Indian made scooters that look like a vintage Vespa? Be honest now.....can you dare take one on a 100 mile scoot without mechanical chase-car back up?

Every couple months I end up riding mine up to Phoenix and Back to Tucson, usually it's over a 300 mile day when I do so.

The new 4-Stroke bikes are pretty awesome. Mine has had a hard life but other than a stator failure that I'm waiting on a part for and the exhaust breaking multiple times It's been running pretty much continuously since I got it.

[TVB]

It's been running pretty much continuously since I got it.

You should consider shutting it off when you aren't riding it; you'll get better gas mileage.

[illnoise]

Another note, just to clarify things further, LOTS of people built Vespas under license over the years for their local markets. Early on, Douglas (UK) and Sears/Allstate and Cushman (USA) along with Messerschmidt and Hoffman (Germany) imported and rebranded Vespas, eventually some of those companies manufactured under license, and some continued on after the license expired. After those, Bajaj (india) was the most famous, they were still selling Vespa-like scooters (even in the US and Mexico) up to a few years ago and sold the first 4-stroke Vespa-style scooters. along with LML (in india) PGO (maker of the 'buddy' built P-series Vespas for the Taiwanese market, and obviously LML still makes them. Of all of the recent Vespa 'clones' (most not available in the US) the LML Star is definitely the closest to the original P-series, though the newer 4-stroke LMLS (Stellas) have changed up the engine quite a bit. The older 2-stroke Stellas are almost 100% interchangeable with Vespas.

And good point on the LML work stoppage, I would think that Genuine had automatic scooters in their sights for a while before that, but that definitely put more pressure on them to make a deal and bring the Buddy to market.

There's a lot of untold story there, too, that I've only heard bits and pieces of. I know Genuine talked to some other big asian (mostly Taiwanese) makers that either didn't want to break their contracts with their existing distributors, or didn't want to give Genuine the freedom to entirely rebrand the bikes. But I think Genuine's branding is a large part of their success. The Stella and Buddy and other Genuine bikes are all good bikes that match up well to any company's output, but I'd argue that no other US importer (including Piaggio/Vespa) has done such a good job with branding, marketing, and dealer/customer support, and that's what is really behind Genuine's success, even more than the bikes. Philip's background with Scooterworks and his understanding of why Americans ride and the history of 'social' scootering in America really set him apart from the powersports-industry folks that run most of the other importers.

Bb.

[Wolfhound]

Excellent comment, illnoise. Especially the explanation as to why Genuine
has had such great success with the Buddy and Stella lines.

[OldSchoot]

Excellent comment, illnoise. Especially the explanation as to why Genuine
has had such great success with the Buddy and Stella lines.

Thanks folks for this interesting info....I'll keep checking back as the chapters continue to be written!

Really is interesting. I can only imagine how many of us scooter owners wish we had such support from our local scooter dealers. (or, even had a local scooter dealers! Lots of folks are probably like me - making do with a motorcycle dealer who sells scooters out the back door. Sure inspires the DIY scooter maintainance in the owners)

Always liked scooters, myself - was only inspired to buy one when :
1) my '89 VW Jetta finally died (or required more $ than I could tolerate)
2) saw a vintage-scooter-style Kymco at local shop for 1/2 the cost of a Vespa