Modern Buddy

How does a stock Buddy 125 performance compare to other companies 150cc models? (Top Speed, Acceleration, Handling)

Click!

I think you'll find the Buddy very competative considering it's displacement and price.

thanks a lot!

Corsair wrote:thanks a lot!

No problem! I should also add that you might expect most of us on this board to be slightly biased towards the Buddy when comparing to similar scoots. After all, since we're here it's pretty clear which one we felt was the best bang for our buck in that category.

lol... I'm getting pretty biased towards the Buddy myself. I started off with a pretty long list. One by one they all fell but the Buddy remains...lol. My girl is still considering the Vino 125 (she really loves the look of the LNG Lowboy 150 and Diamo Retro 150 but we haven't found many positive comments about them)

Before we decide I just wanted to see if the 125s can make city to city trips (not taking interstates but still using major roads and small highways)???

Not to sound disloyal to such a wonderful forum, but we are all very biased here. You might want to check out www.urbanscootin.com . There are lots of different types of scooters represented over there. Of course, everyone over there is also biased toward their own model, but they are very good about sharing the good and the bad.

Jody

Corsair wrote:Before we decide I just wanted to see if the 125s can make city to city trips (not taking interstates but still using major roads and small highways)???

The Buddy can easily make city to city trips. The longest one we've made is North Hollywood to Pasadena -- about 18 miles -- but I know Mike of NoHo Scooters rode his from North Hollywood all the way up to Santa Barbara -- 85 miles.

Oh, and there's someone else on here who uses theirs to commute to work 35 miles each way everyday.

I took mine on a rally back in September at elevations ranging from 3200 ft to over 7000 ft. I seriously kicked butt on all the 150's in the group; 2 older Vespas, a Bajaj and a Stella. The story is at www.skutergruven.blogspot.com It includes pictures.

--Keys

Keys wrote:I took mine on a rally back in September at elevations ranging from 3200 ft to over 7000 ft. I seriously kicked butt on all the 150's in the group; 2 older Vespas, a Bajaj and a Stella. The story is at www.skutergruven.blogspot.com It includes pictures.

--Keys

Man... incredible blog. Did you ever find out why the pulse coil went out? How has your Buddy been holding up after the repairs?

Corsair wrote:My girl is still considering the Vino 125 (she really loves the look of the LNG Lowboy 150 and Diamo Retro 150 but we haven't found many positive comments about them)

I don't know much about the Diamos other than that they make a covered scooter, the Velux. The TNGs, though... well, a lot of dealers have dropped them because of quality problems. There are some TNG supporters out there but the negative reports far outweigh them. If you're still looking for some alternatives in this range, you may also want to check out the Kymco People.

Corsair wrote:
Before we decide I just wanted to see if the 125s can make city to city trips (not taking interstates but still using major roads and small highways)???

I drive from San Jose to Mountain View/Los Altos every single day. That's about 40 miles a day, surface roads. So yup!

Indeed... I've heard nothing but bad things about the TNGs lately.


Oh, and go sit on a Low Boy -- I doubt you'll be interested anymore. Seriously, just sitting on one made me realize that I'd never want to be on one for longer than the few seconds I spent sitting on that saddle.

I have a 20 mile one way commute to work. The Buddy handles it just fine.

I sat on a Diamo retro once, it just seemed and felt cheap. Plus the guy selling it knew nothing about them other then the fact that it gets decent gas mileage.

Corsair wrote:How does a stock Buddy 125 performance compare to other companies 150cc models? (Top Speed, Acceleration, Handling)

Here is a link to a good review of the Buddy 125 with some comparisons to the VINO

http://www.justgottascoot.com/buddy.htm

This review is even posted on the Genuine site but the guy who wrote it is not a Genuine Employee.

Jeff

ericalm wrote:I don't know much about the Diamos other than that they make a covered scooter, the Velux.

I saw one of those when I got my first service. It was nothing like the BMW scooter that has a roll cage around it. It looked cheap, the top of the Velux doesn't look like it could stop a tossed dirt clod, and it was obvious that whoever rode it had laid it down more than once. Justin said it was ill-balanced and extremely wind sensitive. No thanks.

ECS

Elm Creek Smith wrote:

ericalm wrote:I don't know much about the Diamos other than that they make a covered scooter, the Velux.

I saw one of those when I got my first service. It was nothing like the BMW scooter that has a roll cage around it. It looked cheap, the top of the Velux doesn't look like it could stop a tossed dirt clod, and it was obvious that whoever rode it had laid it down more than once. Justin said it was ill-balanced and extremely wind sensitive. No thanks.

The BMW C1! I love this thing, but it's obviously a "luxury" scoot (look at that seat):


...as is the Honda Elysium concept:


I have seen a few really bad, rickety canopied scoots — one by Tank or Rocketa comes to mind — that looked like they just welded or screwed on a top of a production scoot. Lame.

At least the Honda Elysium concept puts the passenger inside the cage, too! The passenger on a C1 has to hang onto the back of the cage!

"Sure, baby, I love you! Just climb on back there and hang on!"

ECS

Corsair,

The Buddy was "fixed" the FIRST time. Took about a month or so to get the parts (the stator). Replacement occured and I rode it home from Flagstaff (about 70 miles) on a Tuesday. It conked out again on Friday. The following weekend it made the trip to my dealer in Tucson. They checked it out that Tuesday and discovered the problem was a poorly connected ground wire for the coil. They replaced and modified that to be sturdier than stock and it is now good to go. I pick it up this Sunday. I shall once again be terrorizing cagers...

--Keys

Keys wrote:Corsair,

The Buddy was "fixed" the FIRST time. Took about a month or so to get the parts (the stator). Replacement occured and I rode it home from Flagstaff (about 70 miles) on a Tuesday. It conked out again on Friday. The following weekend it made the trip to my dealer in Tucson. They checked it out that Tuesday and discovered the problem was a poorly connected ground wire for the coil. They replaced and modified that to be sturdier than stock and it is now good to go. I pick it up this Sunday. I shall once again be terrorizing cagers...

--Keys

Have the repairs been covered by the warranty? (once again, great blog! Hope you keep it going)

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I also really want to thank everyone for being so helpful. This is truly one of the best forums I've been to. Hopefully this spring I'll be posting pics of the lady and me on our new scooters

Yes. They have all been covered by the warranty. I even had to use the roadside assistance the first time for a tow and had no issues. They've been very good that way.

I am expecting a small group of my fellow Scarabs to show up sometime in the next couple of weeks for a brisk late-fall ride through Oak Creek Canyon to Flagstaff. I'll be sure to post a blog (with pics) on that ride.

--Keys