Motovox Scooters

pcbikedude · Post by **pcbikedude** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 11:38 pm

This company recently got CARB approval for their scooters.

Claim American assembly of their scooters and "unique" carb.

Their scooters look similar to the Lance. Does anyone have some input
http://www.motovox.com/blog/

Skootz Kabootz · Post by **Skootz Kabootz** » Tue Dec 15, 2009 11:53 pm

I don't know about their scooters but they could use a good copywriter.

TVB · Post by **TVB** » Wed Dec 16, 2009 1:56 pm

Skootz Kabootz wrote:I don't know about their scooters but they could use a good copywriter.

What? "Motovox was formed by its founders..." This is poetry, man! It's alliterative! And doesn't a slogan like "a conservation-focused, American enterprise inventing and manufacturing environmentally safe transportation and recreation technologies for a global market without sacrificing an iota of performance" just trip off the tongue?

But seriously, it sounds like a worthy venture, and if they can get more people onto scooters, and put more people to work making them... best of luck.

jfrost2 · Post by **jfrost2** » Wed Dec 16, 2009 3:11 pm

I recognize that old copied of a copy of a copy of a copy body style.

This isnt american made, the only assembly they do is screw on the mirror posts, and attach the front wheel, the crate and ship to dealers.

Same for other companies on the past who import chinese bikes. They can legally claim USA production and assembly by just partially assembling the bike in the USA, while the actual parts were manufactured in China.

And as usual, they cant still make a good name for that bike, "baby glide" is still laughable.

EDIT: Suprisingly they photoshopped the photo of their company facility too. I dont even think that's their facility if they need to add their on logo digitally onto some building.

TVB · Post by **TVB** » Wed Dec 16, 2009 4:29 pm

jfrost2 wrote:EDIT: Suprisingly they photoshopped the photo of their company facility too. I dont even think that's their facility if they need to add their on logo digitally onto some building.

A building that looks like the one in their photo is located at their published address. The parking lot is suspiciously empty, but the satellite might have been swinging by on a Sunday morning, or a few years ago, etc. A web search for that address turned up an "American Performance Technologies LLC", and a quick search of the USPTO database confirms that's the company that registered the trademark "Motovox" in September. If it's a new brand name, a photoshopped logo on their building isn't all that suspicious. But then, if you know what kind of assembly they do there, you already know all this, right?

Roose Hurro · Post by **Roose Hurro** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 4:51 am

TVB wrote:
Skootz Kabootz wrote:I don't know about their scooters but they could use a good copywriter.
What? "Motovox was formed by its founders..." This is poetry, man! It's alliterative! And doesn't a slogan like "a conservation-focused, American enterprise inventing and manufacturing environmentally safe transportation and recreation technologies for a global market without sacrificing an iota of performance" just trip off the tongue?

But seriously, it sounds like a worthy venture, and if they can get more people onto scooters, and put more people to work making them... best of luck.

Sorry, but when I read the material, I found mention that they were "founded"... or something... by the same people who brought you the same scoot under the "Ricardo" nameplate. So, what this looks like is a simple company rename from "Ricardo" to "Motovox".

I read about and saw a video of a man who spent $1500 on one of those "Ricardo" bikes, only to have his registration pulled, due to the bike being an illegal import... not certified by CARB/EPA, not able to pass California polution standards. So, the poor guy, who'd spent all the savings he had for what he thought was reliable, inexpensive, economical transportation, ended up getting take by a fraud. I'd say... stay far away from Motovox!

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pcbikedude · Post by **pcbikedude** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 5:27 am

They got their CARB cert last week. That also means they have their Fed cert. too.

jfrost2 · Post by **jfrost2** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 3:31 pm

I really see no point having Carb and federal certification make these bikes look any better. The same copied models which we all know for their amazing craptastic quality have been certidied also. Their reputation is bad, a new name badge on the same old bike isnt going to make them any better.

Can you seriously imagine going to a rally and telling someone "I ride a baby glide"

pcbikedude · Post by **pcbikedude** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 3:51 pm

jfrost2 wrote:I really see no point having Carb and federal certification make these bikes look any better. The same copied models which we all know for their amazing craptastic quality have been certidied also. Their reputation is bad, a new name badge on the same old bike isnt going to make them any better.

Can you seriously imagine going to a rally and telling someone "I ride a baby glide"

Your absolutely right. Like I mentioned, their bikes look like the Lance brand.

At least they are doing the Fed and CARB certs and not trying to sneek them in as many other brands have tried in the past.

jfrost2 · Post by **jfrost2** » Thu Dec 17, 2009 4:36 pm

The headlight is the same as the lance, but the body looks like it's been redesigned. But what really gave it off for me was the pipe. Same old pipe used on nearly EVERY CHINESE BIKE.

Post by **ericalm** » Sat Dec 26, 2009 6:10 am

There are a few US companies that are making variations of Chinese scooters—including some unique designs—but are trying to focus more on improving the quality. Another is Owl Scooters.

Unlike a lot of the importers, I think on some level these companies are well intentioned rather than just trying to cash in and rip people off.

As I've said many times before, don't count out everything that comes out of China. Though the scooters coming from there have historically been poor quality, it's partnerships like these and those with Taiwanese and European scooter companies that will lead to improvements in quality of scoots built in China. They're already getting better.

So what if it has the pipe used on most Chinese scoots? The big problems with those are that they don't bolt 'em on tight enough and they fall off!