Modern Buddy

vnice · Post by **vnice** » Wed May 28, 2008 7:35 pm

Ok, what's the deal...is TnG made in the US or made in China? I have heard they are assembling here, but I think they use Chinese parts. That can't be good.

Actually, I am asking for a friend, rather than myself this time.

toddrw2251 · Post by **toddrw2251** » Wed May 28, 2008 7:43 pm

Pretty sure it's China. The TNG Milano is the same as Schwinn Newport and the Argo AR150. I think TNG is the parent company and they sold the rights to rebrand to other companies. I have a friend that has the Milano and other than a broken gas guage it works well. If a part breaks I am sure it could take a while to track it down.

jperkins · Post by **jperkins** » Wed May 28, 2008 8:02 pm

Isn't Argo what used to be Bajaj, and if that's the case wouldn't it be from India?

my knowledge is sketchy here so I could be completely off my rocker.

StL_Stadtroller · Post by **StL_Stadtroller** » Wed May 28, 2008 8:34 pm

Argo used to be BajajUSA. They now import scooters from China instead of India.

TnG is re-badged Chinese crap, imported and distributed by CMSI - the people who brought you the Ural from 1994-2001 (and were subsequently fired by the IMZ/Ural factory for not living up to Russian quality standards!), and also the whole new Lambretta fiasco, though not the re-badged Adly "Lambretta".

CMSI's TnG bikes are 100% Chinese. No one really knows how they get off claiming the "Made us USA" bullhockey. Maybe it's like shoes where if one stich is done in the US, you can from a legal standpoint claim "made in USA"? I really don't know.

BGK · Post by **BGK** » Wed May 28, 2008 8:35 pm

vnice wrote:Ok, what's the deal...is TnG made in the US or made in China? I have heard they are assembling here, but I think they use Chinese parts. That can't be good.

Actually, I am asking for a friend, rather than myself this time.

TnGs are made in China. They had a short stint at final assembly of some bikes in the US but they were even worse than the ones that had that work done in china. They buy bikes from chinese factories like the rest. They don't license their name, they rebadge mainland china product.

Argo is the US company. They sold bajaj bikes now they sell their own Milano-style scooter, made in china. Argo was just the importer for Bajaj and now their new model. They aren't Bajaj themselves. Kinda like how Genuine is not LML nor PGO.

addictionriot · Post by **addictionriot** » Wed May 28, 2008 11:14 pm

I'm sure all of you have seen this, but if not:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sc ... ufacturers

MikieTaps · Post by **MikieTaps** » Wed May 28, 2008 11:20 pm

Speaking of Wiki... there is no article on the Buddy Scooter! I bet us MB members could put a very informative piece together with links to this forum....

Post by **ericalm** » Wed May 28, 2008 11:47 pm

CMSI/TnG didn't license that design. In fact, they sued Schwinn for ripping it off.

It's a commonly reproduced design in China, about as common as the Lance Milan/Eagle/Baron/"new" Euro Lambretta scoot.

illnoise · Post by **illnoise** » Thu May 29, 2008 3:25 am

ericalm wrote:CMSI/TnG didn't license that design. In fact, they sued Schwinn for ripping it off.

Technically, they sued Schwinn for stealing their supplier and business model. Schwinn allegedly asked TNG for a proposal to handle their scooter business, then used all their recommendations and suppliers without paying TNG. Schwinn's entire website was knocked off of TNGs, page for page, some of it word for word. Both still have links to 2sb despite my dozens of posts ranting about them.

That scooter design is basically a knockoff of the Vino. There are a billion companies making them. TNG was briefly assembled here, but they were still junk. I used to stick up for TNG, but they've gone downhill and have allegedly done some pretty shady stuff since the schwinn lawsuit. I wrote about it when it happened on 2sb, if you're interested in more details. Interestingly, I've never heard about any resolution.

TnG

TnG

bajaj

Re: TnG