Modern Buddy

The incredible German store SIP-SCOOTERSHOP has unbelievable depth on Vespas and many other brands of scooters, include PGO models.

I know the Buddy 50 is otherwise known as the BuBu in Taiwan...but what is it using SIP's taxonomy? And what are the other Buddy scoots? No 170cc model to correspond to the Buddy 170ie?

The last time I was in Taiwan (1995), the displacement limit for scooters and motorcycles as mandated by the government was 150cc. So I'm guessing that if a PGO scooter is sold outside of Taiwan labeled as a PGO, this displacement limit still applies so as to not cause confusion for PGO. If an importer (such as Genuine) buys scooters from PGO with custom modifications, they could then rename said scooter (BuBu to Buddy or X-Hot to Hooligan) for their own domestic market.

Because of this displacement limit, there are plenty of upgrade parts available and plenty of scooter shops that do custom work. Just like in the US were kids hotrod their cars for more power, the kids in Taiwan modify their scooters. Most young people in Taiwan don't own cars because they're too expensive and the government has strict laws for purchasing a car. They also have strict rules for getting a drivers license and first time drivers are limited to small cars with a displacement limit of 1000cc for their first year of driving.
Taiwan has a 100% tax on all cars imported into the country. To put that into perspective, a US$25K Toyota in the US would cost US$50K, a US$60K BMW (with a 1.8L engine) is US$120K in Taiwan.

BTW, I did see motorcycles of much larger displacement than 150cc in Taiwan. I'm guessing some official got paid off to look the other way. That happens a lot in Taiwan. The displacement limit for cars is 1.8L (no turbos or superchargers). I drove a BMW 5 series when I was there and boy, was it gutless. Of course, there are cars with bigger engines out there but again, I think someone got paid under the table to ignore that fact.

Of course, this was back in 1995 so things may have changed by now.

Large moto's are now ridden in Taiwan, including maxi scoots.

So...SIP has no coverage of any PGO scoots like the Buddy/BuBu?

I ask because a guy on the Buddy group on FB posted a shot of his Buddy equivalent in Japan. It has a cool front mudguard piece of chrome trim that he says is a Japanese requirement. I see no such thing elsewhere but it seems like exactly the kind of thing SIP would stock.

I believe that PGO Ligero is/was the European name for the Buddy/Bubu.

Yeah, it is, but the Ligero isn’t on SIP’s PGO list....