Test Ride on the Buddy 125
Okay, so I'm famously not a fan of dinky scooters that can't keep up with traffic, and I'm also a Vespa guy who likes real-steel scooters made in Italy. So why in the world am I whizzing across the Manchester Bridge in Richmond, Virginia on a Genuine Buddy 125 with a giant smile on my face???
The answer is simple. The new Genuine Buddy 125 is the goods. Parked outside SCOMO next to a Genuine Stella, the diminutive Buddy represents the next step for Genuine and I'm pleased to say that it looks very promising. I have to admit, that I'm a sucker for the Stella's retro good looks and two stroke power, but I'd buy a Buddy for my kid, and I'd recommend one to folks looking for an alternative to the pricey Vespa LX 150. Here's why:
1) Let's be clear. The Buddy is just plain fun and easy to ride. The CVT tranny makes less noise and seems to be better dialed in than any auto scooter I've ever been on. How can that be? I'm a big guy, every bit of 200 lbs, and the Buddy just hummed along under me without the slightest bit of drama. That's a well-tuned engine and CVT transmission at work.
2) The Buddy is very light and well-balanced. Even better, the Buddy is ultimately stable at low speeds. In short order I was doing turns in the SCOMO parking lot with the handlebars turned to full-lock in one direction. That's right, I was tootling around with the handlebar turned as far as it would go to the right. Talk about THE PERFECT MACHINE TO TAKE YOUR DRIVING TEST ON!!! With a little practice, I bet I could do a full-lock to full-lock figure-eight in the width of a large parking space. I officially declare the Buddy, "The World's Easiest Scooter to Ride."
3) The Buddy looks and feels like quality goods. I bounced my test scooter hard in some ruts (sorry Chelsea) to see if I could get it to rattle without getting so much as a peep out of it. Even the sidestand didn't rattle when I did that. Amazing! The fit and finish of the body panels is very very nice. As I said above, I couldn't get them to rattle or anything even when I hit a deep rut pretty hard. I have to say that I prefer the Black and Orange Buddys to the Pink, which looks a little too Barbie for me. On the other hand, I have no trouble picturing the right person swooning in delight when they see the Pink Buddy with the white seat and handgrip for the first time. I don't think they'll have any trouble selling them in that color.
4) The Buddy is surprisingly fast. It's no drag racer, but it keeps building speed if you goose it in a straight line until the speedo climbs up into the low 70's. Chelsea tells me they checked the speedo against a known-good car speedo and it wasn't far off, so, surprise, surprise, the little Buddy 125 is actually, gasp, pretty fast, though not terribly quick.
5) At speed, the handling is very nimble without being twitchy. I already mentioned how great it handles at low speed. The Buddy's suspension and handling just work. End of story.
6) The Buddy makes a joyful noise when you goose it! I don't think the Buddy would meet the ultra-strict EURO noise regulations that the Vespa meets, but the Buddy makes a cool sound when you run it hard. How refreshing!
7) Lest all that joyful noise tempt you to run the Buddy too hard, have no fear, the brakes are excellent, aided no doubt by the Buddy's extremely light weight. The feel of the brakes is good and they stop the scooter as hard as you'd want wihout being grabby in any way. Nice.
The Buddy has a nice little open storage area inside the legshield. IMPORTANT ANNOUNCEMENT: THE SEARCH FOR THE PERFECT CUPHOLDER IS OVER. You can put your cup there. If you crammed half a cardboard cupholder down in there, you'd be golden.9) The Buddy is cute. It's much narrower than the Stella. Standing behind them, I was struck by just how much narrower the Buddy is, at least three or four inches, maybe more. The legshield on the Buddy is narrower by at least that much, too. It'll be easy to park on a sidewalk where a Stella might get in the way of pedestrians and attract the law.
EDIT - 9 3/4s) Something I neglected to mention earlier is how cleverly the seat is desiged on this thing with a bit of a forward slope to it so that folks of different inseams can find their personal "sweet spot"at a traffic light, but yet it doesn't make you feel like you're going to slide forward at a stop.
10) The Buddy has both a side-stand and a center stand! Standard! Totally new concept! Piaggio, are you listening? Among the few niggles I found with the Buddy was that I had a slightly difficult time getting my big shoe into the space to push down the center stand. Once you get your shoe in there and get a good toehold, the Buddy is so light that pulling it up on the centerstand is easy.
11) The underseat space is not bad. It won't hold a full-face helmet, which is always my pet peeve with scooters, but I'm slowly getting over it.
12) Speaking of utility, the rack in the back isn't as big as I'd like. If I can't bungee a full-size milk crate on the back of my scooter, then I get all offended, but that's just me. A small Givi case will probably fit there nicely and add to the utility of the scooter.
So, what's the bottom line? Chelsea tells me it's around $2600 out the door. That's awesome! The Buddy 125 is a stomp-down bargain. Not only that, but Chelsea tells me THE PRICE INLUDES A TWO-YEAR WARRANTY (EDIT: PLUS a free year of roadside assistance)! How cool is that?
After the test ride, I take a final walk around the Buddy before Chelsea wheels it back inside and I'm sort of sorry to see it go. It's a very nicely-made, fun, easy-to-ride scooter that I would recommend to friends. I'm sold. Go try one and see if you don't agree with me.
