Genuine Website!

[lobsterman]

quick, go see!

http://www.genuinescooters.com/

[babblefish]

Nice looking website, but lacking any replacement for the Blur. What's up with the USA and the absense of sports scooters? When I was in Japan and Tawain I saw dozens of scooters I'd love to have here. Great Britain has a great selection of sports also and their smog and safety laws aren't that much different than ours.

[rajron]

It looks like a better site though some of the links don’t work.

Someone else had mentioned in an earlier post that the red scoot has a larger headlight, it does. And notice the different style wheels and tires on it as well.

[lojical1]

Congrats lobsterman, ur a supastar! Saw your custom paint job on the Owners tab. Glad they updated the page before the scoots hit the dealership. The differences in tires and headlights probably comes from just photoshopping different Buddy's. The Black is more than likely a shopped '06 black, the new orange is a shopped '06 orange and the blue one a shopped creme Buddy. Personally, I liked the orange of this year but I'm sure that there are plenty of people that will still like the new.

[shark]

Well I'll be look....tubeless Maxxis whitewalls on the 150 B's.

[EP_scoot]

bablefish wrote:
What's up with the USA and the absense of sports scooters? When I was in Japan and Tawain I saw dozens of scooters I'd love to have here. Great Britain has a great selection of sports also and their smog and safety laws aren't that much different than ours.

I think the mentality about scooters in this country is still fresh. In my opinion, people are attracted first to the "cute" scooters, the famous ones (read Vespa) they have seen in movies or trendy magazine ads and so on. By people, I mean non-scooterist, people not familiar with the scooter subculture and history. Once there is a large growth in the scooter population, people start to ask for more performance, better grip, tighter lean angles, more progressive brakes, harder suspensions, etc and racing becomes to be talked about, maybe renting a track for a day among member of a club to go all out. Once that happens, then the sport type scooter becomes appealing.

Over in Europe you have Rossi, Pedrosa, etc doing ads riding scooters, you have scooters painted like their racing bikes and so on, you have lots of racing series for scooters. It is a whole different set of circumstances that make 2-wheels much more appealing that 4, specially to the younger crowd. The large distances and distractions in the US don't bode well for scootering. In Spain, for example, it is illegal to use your cell phone if you car is running, so you pay attention to the road and other motorists. Then again, when friends visiting Spain (or France, Italy, etc) come back, they always say we drive like maniacs over there.

I love the Blur styling because that is what I am familiar from my years in Spain, and you see the sport scoots all over the place in Europe. It is usually the first thing a 14 year old buys as soon as the money is there. However, that 14 year old's dad would probably buy a Vespa 250. In Europe, for most people under 21-25 their bike is their ONLY mode of transportation, so the market is humongous compared to the US, even though the population is much larger here. I have never been to LA or NY, but I am guessing that given a choice between a car and a scooter to do 10 miles downtown with lane splitting being legal, most people would get the scooter. European cities are a big downtown, parking is a nightmare on a car, but free and convenient on a bike, gasoline is $6.0/gal etc, etc.

I can see how the Blur would not work here yet, but Genuine will probably bring it back (or another sport scooter) in a few years. The Buddy's sell well because IMHO has the Vespa look, or what people have in mind when you say the word scooter. At some point, some of those people will want more and that is where a Blur 200 or 250cc will make sense. I would say 3-5 years from now.

In any case, I need to get me a set of those Pamplona stickers as that is where I am from and I would love to have them on my Blur.

Boy, this post sure got long !

Viva San Fermin !

[Corsair]

the site is looking NICE! Much improved. Congrats to everyone that got their scoots posted

[EP_scoot]

Owner tab? I can't find that.
Where are the members scooters?

[redcass]

Owner tab? I can't find that.
Where are the members scooters?

Click Scooters--Buddy--Owners

And this is SUCH an improvement on the site! Kudos to those who made this happen! (I love the dealer map.)

[Dooglas]

Nice looking website, but lacking any replacement for the Blur. What's up with the USA and the absense of sports scooters? When I was in Japan and Tawain I saw dozens of scooters I'd love to have here. Great Britain has a great selection of sports also and their smog and safety laws aren't that much different than ours.

These guys are in business. They sell what people buy.

[EP_scoot]

redcass wrote:
Click Scooters--Buddy--Owners

Thank you redcass, The black and red (Dan's) is a nice color combination.

Having the websites for the dealers right there is also very nice.

[Ken]

I notice, too, that some of their information appears to be inconsistent. For example, on the page for the Roughhouse R50 it pictures a scoot in green and also shows a color swatch for blue. On the specifications page for that bike, however, it lists the colors as yellow and black. Additionally, under MSRP it lists $1,899 and then in parenthesis after that price is the notation "110cc", even though the Roughhouse R50 has, as the name suggests, a 50cc engine.

~Ken

[jperkins]

gonna throw it out there....not a fan, they have had way to long to only come out with this. There is not a lot of content on the site and alot of it is recycled from the old page.

I really hope they beef it up a bit

[ericalm]

Just FYI, I think this is a "preview" of the new site. Yes, it's live, but Genuine seems to be aware there are a few kinks and holes to fill. Now that the news of the '08 scoots (and pics) is out, I think they wanted to have the new stuff online ASAP.

I've been a fan of PJ's designs for a while now and like that the new site is consistent with his past work but does an even better job of articulating the Genuine aesthetic and personality.

Yeah, I'd like to see more content up there but they're not really in the content business.

Mostly, I'm just sad that the ModernBuddy.com link is gone from the Buddy page.

[babblefish]

Nice looking website, but lacking any replacement for the Blur. What's up with the USA and the absense of sports scooters? When I was in Japan and Tawain I saw dozens of scooters I'd love to have here. Great Britain has a great selection of sports also and their smog and safety laws aren't that much different than ours.

These guys are in business. They sell what people buy.

People buy what's offered to them...

[Ken]

These guys are in business. They sell what people buy.

People buy what's offered to them...

That's true. But it's also true that, given a choice, people will factor in other things such as aesthetics into their buying decisions. The Blur, I suspect, simply wasn't appealing (on many levels) to the general American scooter market. Who knows, maybe the Blur will be a sleeper scoot and become wildly popular in 5 or 10 years as the American public suddenly catches on, the machine commanding high prices for pristine, original examples because of it's relative rarity.

~Ken

[jmazza]

Great new site- yes some stuff to be fixed. One thing that is weird to me is on the International page the left hand and right hand images don't change together- you can be looking at the Italia on the left and Pamplona on the right. Kind of cool for comparison but also kind of confusing if you're just trying to flip through the three designs. Also, I think the only International available in the 50cc is the Italia, correct? Yet, the 50cc and price is listed on the left of that page no matter which scoot is selected.

As a brand new buyer, I agree with EP_scoot about the "cute" scooters being more appealing here in the US still. I really wanted a more vintage style scoot and might have bought an Aprilia/Piaggio/Vespa if money wasn't an object. I chose the Buddy because of the great reputation, this community, and the economics- not to mention that one test ride sold me!!!! It's not totally retro, but leans that way. I was fully aware that a Blur or other sport scoot (even a Kymco) might be a better purchase but I didn't even consider them seriously for this purchase- all based on aesthetics. So I admit to being part of the problem the Blur is gone! The dealer I bought from said that the Blur and Black Cat don't move out the door like the Buddy, obviously.

[EP_scoot]

ericalm wrote:
Mostly, I'm just sad that the ModernBuddy.com link is gone from the Buddy page.

Ericalm, the link has been moved to their links page.

jmazza wrote:
As a brand new buyer, I agree with EP_scoot about the "cute" scooters being more appealing here in the US still. I really wanted a more vintage style scoot

This weekend I went to the shop to take a picture with the scooter. My family was with me so I had my wife try out a Buddy (if you can't fight them make them join you, right?). Anyway, she thought the Blur looked Dorky and off-road-ish, she liked the Buddy and Vespa style and did not even looked at the Kymco, TNG, etc

In any case, I can't see a scoot in her future (near or far). She would have major hair issues with wearing a helmet.

[mattgordon]

According to the new website, Stella is still TOO hot for the great state of California. (That's too bad for the great state of California!)

[ericalm]

Mostly, I'm just sad that the ModernBuddy.com link is gone from the Buddy page.

Ericalm, the link has been moved to their links page.

Hooray!

As a brand new buyer, I agree with EP_scoot about the "cute" scooters being more appealing here in the US still. I really wanted a more vintage style scoot

In the U.S. when you talk about a scooter, most people still have an image of a classic Vespa. When going to buy a scooter, they want something that resembles that on some level—basic shape, round accents, etc.

In order for speed/performance scoots to catch on here, they'll have to do more than look fast. Buyers will have to be much more well-informed about what these scoots can do—especially compared to small motorcycles. And the scoots themselves need to outperform their vintage-styled counterparts. This was the big problem with the Blur (IMHO): it was a speed scoot that was actually slower than a Buddy. When asked about the advantages of a Blur, dealers couldn't say much more than, "It looks different."

This weekend I went to the shop to take a picture with the scooter. My family was with me so I had my wife try out a Buddy (if you can't fight them make them join you, right?). Anyway, she thought the Blur looked Dorky and off-road-ish, she liked the Buddy and Vespa style and did not even looked at the Kymco, TNG, etc

In any case, I can't see a scoot in her future (near or far). She would have major hair issues with wearing a helmet.

Wait until spring, when you start going out on rides on bright and beautiful warm days. My wife hated my scooter when I bought it, but eventually grew curious and before a year had passed had one of her own.

She still has hair issues. I honestly think one reason she's grown her hair out a bit is so she can put it in a ponytail when scootering.

[shark]

According to the new website, Stella is still TOO hot for the great state of California. (That's too bad for the great state of California!)

That just means there will be more fore the rest of us......

oh but wait...most of CA has moved to Austin already!!!!

[ericalm]

According to the new website, Stella is still TOO hot for the great state of California. (That's too bad for the great state of California!)

That just means there will be more fore the rest of us......

oh but wait...most of CA has moved to Austin already!!!!

There was only room in Austin because all the Texans moved to California. Or was that just me?

There's so much talk of the CA Stella and a lot of misinformation about what it would take to make the Stella legal in CA. I've talked to Genuine about this. The problem is not emissions. Whether the remaining hurdles will be cleared with the '08 Stella models (if there is such a thing) remains to be seen.

[babblefish]

You make some good points EP_scoot. I guess the US has a ways to go before catching up. I suppose it's just a matter of preference much like in the motorcycle world - cruisers or sport bikes. Since I come from a sport bike world (owned a Suzuki 750), I prefer those for their handling and power. And since I like racing, I lean more toward that nich. It's all good.

[lobsterman]

I think the failure of the Blur to sell is probably for a lot of reasons coming together, but here's the way it worked for me when I went scooter shopping:

When I finally narrowed it down to the scooter shop I wanted to visit first (lots of internet research), I went to Metro Scooter in Cincinnati.

At the time, Metro sold Genuine, TGB, and TnG. I had already decided I was interested in Buddys before I went there, but I wanted to see what some other options were as well. There were three scooters I was drawn to - Buddy 125, Blur, and the TGB Laser R9.

I asked lots of questions about performance and compared costs. What it came down to for me was this: the Buddy was the least expensive of the three and it was also the fastest. In addition, I asked the gentleman helping me what he rides. I had seen a black Buddy parked outside. Turns out the guy who sells them chose a Buddy. That sealed it for me, and I bought a Buddy that day.

I still love my scooter, but part of me now would also really like a Blur for the larger wheels, dual disc brakes, and better configuration for two up riding. When I bought the Buddy in 06 I didn't really get the differences those things make or know that I would be spending part of my daily commute WOT on a multi-lane 55mph limit road.

I suspect lots of Buddy purchases are made by first time scooter buyers like me, and competing with a Buddy on price/performance was just too much for the Blur, even though it's a really good scooter.

Maybe sometime in the next couple of years I'll pick up a used Blur or Genuine will decide to bring it back with a bigger more powerful engine and I can get one then.

[sunshinen]

I can't believe the mpg isn't listed. That's why I bought a scooter and what sold me on the Buddy.

Edited to add: otherwise I'm ecstatic they finally updated the site!!

[EP_scoot]

Lobsterman wrote:
I suspect lots of Buddy purchases are made by first time scooter buyers

Kevin,
You could not have said it better. After riding on 10" wheels for a few years and motorcycles after that, I was aware of the benefits of dual disc brakes, multylink rear suspension, 13" tires and so on, so that is what attracted me to the BLUR. You get more of a motorcycle feeling riding it, more solid to the ground than the buddy, in my opinion.

But like you said, someon looking into getting a scoot for the first time most likely gets attracted to the classic lines of the Buddy, than the in-your-face styling of the blur. Then after a few months of years you start developing a taste of what you want next in your next scoot and out you go.

In the mean time, that first scoot, whatever it was, got you sucked in into this super fun way of transportation and there is no way back, and that is the important thing.

I think Genuine has been SOOOO smart in their marketing by giving people what they want to start with and getting people into scooters. They are doing it right and as the market matures, more Blur type options will become available, once the scooterists start asking for them.

Until then, let's scoot away and try not so smile too much . . . it can be tough to scrape the bugs off your teeth !

[illnoise]

I notice, too, that some of their information appears to be inconsistent. For example, on the page for the Roughhouse R50 it pictures a scoot in green and also shows a color swatch for blue. On the specifications page for that bike, however, it lists the colors as yellow and black. Additionally, under MSRP it lists $1,899 and then in parenthesis after that price is the notation "110cc", even though the Roughhouse R50 has, as the name suggests, a 50cc engine.

There's a 50cc and a 110cc version of the PGO PMX, so it looks like they maybe mixed some numbers up.

The Roughhouse is the PMX 50cc and the Rattler is the PMX 110cc "Naked". There's a "regular" 110cc PMX that looks just like the Roughhouse, but AFAIK, that's not coming over, nor would there be much of a point, with the Rattler available.

Bb.

[illnoise]

From what I understand, there are a good number of Blurs still out there, and they'll sell eventually. Kevin was right-on, it's a price vs. performance question for most people, and the Blur 125 is a better bargain than the Blur 150, especially because their top speed is similar.

The bummer is, (and I and others have mentioned this here and other places) the real upgrade from a Buddy is to something like the Blur, a similarly-sized scooter with a little more quality in the construction and ride. Unfortunately, no one realizes this and thinks the next step is more speed and size, so they buy a 250 or a 500, but bikes like that are too big and too unscooter-like. A year and a half after buying my Blur, I've never once regretted it, It's just the right size for that 'scooter' feel, with great brakes and suspension. The wheels are a great size (13"), the riding position.

Kymco's probably stealing away a lot of Buddy customers looking for their second scoot, but I've been hearing talk that Kymco's maxiscooters are just not designed as well as their smaller ones, so it's a shame to see Genuine losing that business, even though I dig Kymco in general. If you love your Buddy and you're thinking about a second scooter, PLEASE remember that bigger isn't better, and finding a similar bike with better accouterments and better handling might be more rewarding than a barcalounger on wheels. If you love your buddy but want to do highway riding and touring, I'd sort of argue you should be looking at motorcycles, in a lot of cases they're a much better value, built better, and more fun to ride. Don't let shifting scare you, for that matter, manual-transmission scooters are an awful lot more fun than automatics, give them a try!

[lobsterman]

There is something more at work here, not just eating sales on Blurs. At a recent one day sale, my local dealer sold seven Buddys, one used Stella, and not a single TGB or Kymco despite attractive sale prices on all scooters that day.

The Buddy is a great price/performance/fun combination and it's tough to beat it.

FWIW, I solve the bug in tooth problem by wearing a full face helmet.

[ericalm]

There is something more at work here, not just eating sales on Blurs. At a recent one day sale, my local dealer sold seven Buddys, one used Stella, and not a single TGB or Kymco despite attractive sale prices on all scooters that day.

Yeah, from what I gather—purely anecdotally, mind you—the Buddy is kicking ass on every other non-Piaggio 125/150 on the block. Maybe not outselling per se, but I know that it's the hottest ticket at many of the dealers which sell more than one make.

I agree that owners looking for more CCs in a second scoot could be led astray and wind up regretting their purchase. A 200/250cc is what Genuine really needs to round out its lineup. I was a little surprised not to see one among the '08s.

[jrsjr]

A 200/250cc is what Genuine really needs to round out its lineup. I was a little surprised not to see one among the '08s.

I've been thinking about this, too. What I think is interesting is that many of the same dealers who carry Genuine have also started carrying SYM scooters. The SYM HD200 (really a 171cc) is an amazingly attractive scooter for about the same money as the Blur and is a much beefier scoot than the Buddy. It may already be a little late in the day for Genuine to be pushing PGO to make a scooter competitive with the HD200. As illnoise notes above, Genuine may be being very smart by sticking to what they do best and just ceding other market segments to the folks who already have products in place.

[Syd]

...The SYM HD200 (really a 171cc big-wheel scooter) is an amazingly attractive scooter for about the same money as the Blur and is a much beefier scoot than the Buddy....

I had narrowed my choices down to the HD200 and the Buddy. The SYM won out for two reasons: two up seating and the fact that I could put my size 13's flat on the floorboard. I love it. Pretty much everything about it. (But there are times I long for the 'flickability' of the small wheels.)

I keep trying to talk the better half into getting a scoot. And if I do, I'm pushing Buddys. Variety is the spice of life, you know!

[EP_scoot]

And going back to what this thread started . . . the Genuine website is part of the answer to what we have been talking about.

If you are looking into getting a scooter for the first time, chances are you will visit the website of the scoot you are looking at or that people has mentioned to you. Go to Cobra Sales (TGB), Kymco, Aprilia, Piaggio, etc and compare that to Genuine's website. Big difference on what they are selling. All other guys are selling a product, their pages for the most part, full of stats and impersonal pictures. Then look at Genuine's site, they are selling FUN, attitude, belonging, becoming a part of something special . . . by riding their scoots. They have lots of links to scooter related sites, customer pictures, etc. The point you to places like this, full of people that will be very willing to tell you how wonderfull their Buddy/Blur/Stella is.

I have great respect for Mr. McAleb (spll?), you can tell he is not a suit but a man passionate with his product and what it does for people. He knows he is selling the scooter, but also the scooter lifestyle that will keep you coming back for more, most likely his stuff.

I think after a few years genuine will bring a 200-250 sport scoot and it will be succesful as it will be different from anything else out there. But he needs to create the market for it first. If I were to get a 250 scoot right now, other than the MP3 from Piaggio, I can't think of anything that stirs anything inside me enough to want to buy it.

[ericalm]

If I were to get a 250 scoot right now, other than the MP3 from Piaggio, I can't think of anything that stirs anything inside me enough to want to buy it.

Stirs me!

[weaseltamer]

i sent them that cute picture of me on my scooty wearing my yukata from japan, my feelings are hurt its not on the website.