Modern Buddy

So I am looking at a Super 8. Any feed back, experiences, caveats... Thank you. R

50 or 150

The 150, I dodn't know they made a 50...? R

Klaviator over on Advrider.com has one and he seems to love it. He took it through deal's gap in one of his ride reports.

Kymco says that it's sporty, but I have not heard anyone comment on the acceleration... I would hope it could keep up with a Buddy 150... anyone with first hand experience care to chime in?

I like that it has 14" wheels. Kymco has made the bike for a while - the tech is not fancy, but it's reliable. 1.32 gallon fuel tank is close to the Buddy's, so expect to fill up at about a gallon. I'd imagine fuel economy to be 65-70 mpg? I think it's a great bike for the price.

What's your dealer situation like? If you have a reliable dealer nearby then I would be sorely tempted. Are you considering any other bikes?

The Super 8 is a pretty darn good deal for a short commuter/in-town rider. But I'll tell you the negatives I've experienced in the interest of full disclosure:

a) I had to get some of the electrical system replaced under warranty. That replacement made the clock reset every time I start the scooter. I don't know if they have a fix for that under warranty, as all the shops within 2 hours of here closed by the time I figured it out.

b) It is a very, very stiff ride.

c) If you want a grocery-getter, the helmet hooks aren't as useful as on the Buddy. On the buddy shopping bags will hang off to the side. On the Super 8, for some reason they always swing inward, leaving you nowhere to put your feet, because

d) the Super 8 really has only one place to put your feet. Unlike the Buddy which offers at least 3 different options for foot placement. You can try flipping the passenger pegs upside down so that pressure won't 'close' them again, but I didn't feel comfortable riding in that position, and I wasn't sure that they'd hold weight over the long haul that way.

I'm interested in what people have to say as well.

My Buddy 50 and roommate's Kymco Agility 50 were stolen this morning.

Unlikely that I'll get it back so I'm looking for a new 50cc scooter. I recall that the Super 8 50cc was a 4 stroke up during it's early years but is now being made as a 2 stroke.

-jeff

We've had a super 8 150 for a couple years now. Other than the aforementioned problem with the clock, it's been rock solid reliable. Good brakes, the motor runs strong, it handles like a sport bike.

The downside? The headlights are terrible, and the seat flat out sucks.

The foot boards are ok, I actually like them better than the buddy ( big feet).

It's doesn't steer as quickly as the buddy (taller tires) but its more stable at 50+mph. I'm getting 65-70 mpg at 50-60mph.

I had a super 8 150 it was a pretty good scooter, it is a china made scooter not all the kymcos are china made some are twain. It was a pretty fast scooter but i think my buddy 125 is faster.The seat is not the best, but it is low and good for short riders, the head lights just suck. The bike always started up easy mine use a little oil never seen it leak any where but i did have to ad a little every so often . Over all I was pretty happy with it I had only put about 1300 miles on it. There are 2 guys in the local club that had them and both of them around 4000 miles the motors blew up and had to be replaced.I gave $1200 for it with 300 miles on it and I had a hard time getting $1000 back out of it even with a pipe on it, pipe really didn't do much but make it louder gave me 2mph and just a little more bottom end. I got about 70mpg and topped out with the pipe at 62mph on the speedo. I like my buddy much better, better built scooter in my opinion.

Ah, forgot about the headlight since I stopped riding it at night. Yeah, this is not a night-time scooter unless you'll only be in city/very well-lit areas.

I found a 2009 Super 8 4t on craigslist and picked it up for under $800. The previous owner had some trouble with the headlights and after some more reading, I've discovered that there is a headlight control unit (looks like a CDI) which I didn't know about. It has 4 modes of illumination including full power, low power, high beam, and off. I see that there are also two bulbs in each headlight housing which is new to me. They are also linked to the CDI which many users have had problems with. Long story short, the headlights could be stuck running in "low power" mode.

I'll need to spend a little time and money fixing up the headlight wiring and some other things but am pretty excited about it.

I miss my stolen Buddy 50 which was not only faster, but more agile---the super 8 is super heavy! I'll be keeping my eye on craigslist for another Buddy 50.

kungfooren wrote:I found a 2009 Super 8 4t on craigslist and picked it up for under $800. The previous owner had some trouble with the headlights and after some more reading, I've discovered that there is a headlight control unit (looks like a CDI) which I didn't know about. It has 4 modes of illumination including full power, low power, high beam, and off. I see that there are also two bulbs in each headlight housing which is new to me. They are also linked to the CDI which many users have had problems with. Long story short, the headlights could be stuck running in "low power" mode.

I'll need to spend a little time and money fixing up the headlight wiring and some other things but am pretty excited about it.

I miss my stolen Buddy 50 which was not only faster, but more agile---the super 8 is super heavy! I'll be keeping my eye on craigslist for another Buddy 50.

There was a recall for the VR, and non-charging batteries and the VR is in the headlight nacelle on that bike. Maybe have a KYMCO dealer check your VIN to see if the recall VR has been done?

I only sat on a Super 8 once but it seemed OK. My only objection is that I don't care for its looks. I'm not stuck on retro looks but would prefer the Like 200 myself.

As others have indicated, there have been some persistent electrical issues with the Super 8.

Made in China, yes, but made in China by a Taiwanese (Japanese, European) company isn't like made in China by a Chinese one. However, they build there because it's cheaper. They used some Chinese electrical components instead of Taiwanese ones that are in the other Kymcos and they're just not as good. I've heard of dealers replacing some as part of their prep!

Still, a pretty good scoot from a good company.

The Chinese Kymcos seem to cheap-out on the electrical stuff, mainly. The switches are nowhere near the quality of the ones built in Taiwan, and yeah, electrical issues seem to plague to Super 8 and the Agility. My Agility never had any electrical issues, but the switches were cheap, cheap, cheap.
.

The headlight would dim at a stop; didn't know until after she was stolen and trashed that there was a fix for this. She rode to Amerivespa in 2009 and was a pretty quick machine. The seat, unfortunately, was just getting broken in (or maybe it was my butt) when she was trashed by thieves. All in all, I bought a Buddy 125 after that and it handles commuter traffic with ease, and except for 50 plus mph riding (10 inch vs 14 inch rims) could hold her own against my Kymco. There was also an issue with the factory battery; at least two times I had to push her a mile to the house because she wouldn't start. I had her on a charger but the standard battery kept losing capacity. A replacement battery took care of that.

My super 8 headlight would go really dim when stopped. How do u fix that? Little to late to find out but I would like to know ,my dealer didn't know how to fix it either.

It needs a relay replaced, at least that's what I was told when my bike was stolen, by the guys at San Jose Vespa. Probably a recall but not widely disseminated.

We actually have two of them (both '09s). My wife's was bought new -- replaced her Buddy 125 -- and a last year we picked up a used one as the family backup bike (I ride a Royal Enfield Bullet, so it's useful to have a spare around!).

The first one has just over 6600 miles and has been relatively trouble-free. The backup had about 3,000 when we got it and is now at about 4200. It's also been relatively trouble free.

What does "relatively" mean? Per the previous posts, the electrical system is marginal. That's why the lights dim at idle (actually, the controller switches from the main bulb to the smaller auxiliary bulbs). We're used to it; if it bothers you, upping the idle speed a bit eliminates it. Even with that, we have to put the bike on the battery tender once a week or so (to be fair, my wife has a short commute, so the battery doesn't get a chance to charge up completely). The only systematic flaw seems to be the speedometer drive (the part on the front hub). That died on both bikes. Fortunately, its a 25 buck part and a 10 minute job.

Speed wise, it's about the same as the Buddy was. It seems a bit slower because of the larger frame and wheels, but top speed with my 220lb butt aboard is an indicated 65 (actual 59), which is about what the Buddy did. The big wheels make it more stable on the highway, but less nimble in town.

The suspension is *very* stiff, as befits the pseudo-sports bike look and the seat is *hard*. It also ain't that low: 31". We cut out the center of the seat pan and had an auto upholstery guy replace it with nylon webbing. That gave it a much more comfortable ride and effectively lowered it by about an inch so that my 5'2" wife can now almost flat-foot it.

All in all, a worthy successor to the Buddy.

my Agility 125 is a tough little workhorse