Modern Buddy

One of my friends wants to buy a scooter to commute on. He loves my buddy 125 but continues to refer to it as not being roomy enough. I have heard him mention a low boy 150cc made by TNG. I am not very familiar with the bike so I thought with all the experienced riders someone was bound to know how these scoots are. Any info I can pass on to him would be much appreciated!

I have heard nothing but horror stories from TNG brand scoots. They are much cheaper price-wise/quality-wise.

I test rode a TNG Lowboy after I bought my wife's B125. It looks pretty cool and is long and swoopy. The bars are kind of motorcycle-ish. But the build quality seemed quite a bit cheesier than the Buddy and I too have heard of problems with the Twist N Go brand.

Twist 'n' Go-away from the TNG brand!! I can't say this enough. I did tons of research before purchasing the Buddy and the TNG got the worst reviews of any scooter I looked at.

What about the Blur for him? If it's a money issue, he'd probably be better off with a used scoot than a TNG.

Or, if he really likes the styling/size of the low-boy, he could look for a used Aprilia Mojito...great scooter, if you can find one. It, and the Honda Joker/Shadow (Japanese/Euro only model) are the scoots that the low-boy is a cheap knock-off of. Mine looked like this...I had the "Retro" with proper scooter bars, not those ugly Harly looking ones!

My wife rides my dad's TN'G Venice to work every day. He got it before he knew about the Buddy. So far, regardless of all the negative hype I've seen, the thing has been running the same for the last year. Even started up pretty well after sitting all winter. Still tops out a little above 40mph and starts the same as always. I don't know what else to say. Its done what its been expected to do without fail.

That's my own personal experience with the one sitting fifteen feet away from me in my garage.

Not trying to be contradictory, just giving first hand experience as a real life user of the model in question.

Roadbum

Roadbum, sometimes you find a lime amongst the lemons...


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I met someone who had the 150 and had no issues. Anyone else I talked to or read about on line found them POS. my coworkers had endless issues with a 50 (milano? not sure) it was a cute scoot but always broken.

Roose Hurro wrote:Roadbum, sometimes you find a lime amongst the lemons...


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Haha I can see the truth in what you say

Roadbum

peabody99 wrote:I met someone who had the 150 and had no issues. Anyone else I talked to or read about on line found them POS. my coworkers had endless issues with a 50 (milano? not sure) it was a cute scoot but always broken.

I've heard a couple good and a couple bad here locally. Seems about even so far. But give it another year...

Rb

Some good. Some bad. Several dealers who quit handling them as a result. Strikes me that there is a consistancy issue. Kinda like a "box of chocolates..."

--Keys

TN'G is a gamble. I hear they are trying to improve quality... but my venice was a constant headache. I got it used and had to replace the engine after only a few hundred miles (the previous owner had mistaken the touchup paint for oil!) so that shouldn't reflect on TN'G, but it took about two months to get that work done, as the dealer couldn't get parts from TN'G (and their main wharehouse is only an hour and a half away from here!)
That second engine (properly broken in, and maintained) only lasted about another 3,000 miles... before I had serious problems with bogging down and stalling... dealer said the engine needed to be replaced AGAIN!

'nuf said.

adrock wrote:One of my friends wants to buy a scooter to commute on. He loves my buddy 125 but continues to refer to it as not being roomy enough. I have heard him mention a low boy 150cc made by TNG. I am not very familiar with the bike so I thought with all the experienced riders someone was bound to know how these scoots are. Any info I can pass on to him would be much appreciated!

Tell him to chck out the Yamaha 125cc Vino. It looks like a Low Boy or a Mojito (has the MC type handle bars) and is a lot more dependable than any TNG, and a lot cheaper than any Mojito! ($5K for a Mojito? Aprilia's got to be kidding..!!)

drummer

Drumwoulf wrote: Tell him to chck out the Yamaha 125cc Vino. It looks like a Low Boy or a Mojito (has the MC type handle bars) and is a lot more dependable than any TNG, and a lot cheaper than any Mojito! ($5K for a Mojito? Aprilia's got to be kidding..!!)

Or the People 150

Our local Genuine (and Kymco, TGB and Bajaj) dealer got out of selling TNG's--and for good reason. Kymco Bet and Win would be a better alternative.
-K

Drumwoulf wrote:

adrock wrote:One of my friends wants to buy a scooter to commute on. He loves my buddy 125 but continues to refer to it as not being roomy enough. I have heard him mention a low boy 150cc made by TNG. I am not very familiar with the bike so I thought with all the experienced riders someone was bound to know how these scoots are. Any info I can pass on to him would be much appreciated!

Tell him to chck out the Yamaha 125cc Vino. It looks like a Low Boy or a Mojito (has the MC type handle bars) and is a lot more dependable than any TNG, and a lot cheaper than any Mojito! ($5K for a Mojito? Aprilia's got to be kidding..!!)

drummer

Actually the MSRP is $3499. I got mine at a steal at 3200 OTD.

About TN'G, I have heard that they are built in severial factories where the quality differs quit a bit from one to the other. It is like roulette when getting one. I've ridden one Low Boy and it isn't as roomy as the Mojito, and rattled a bit over bumps. From what I have seen and read, I wouldn't recommend a TN'G to anyone.

As someone who rode a Low Bow for about 6 months last year. (It was last years company scooter. Thankfully we have a LX150 this year). My personal opinion is not very high. Power and performance was very lacking for a 150cc. Riding comfort was less than what I expected and any of my vintage scooters is a more comfortable ride.

Dave