Awaiting the arrival of my new Orange Buddy.

[10gallonhat]

Just wanted to say that I purchased my first Buddy over the weekend and am really excited to pick it up this week. This forum has been quite helpful in making my decision. I also am very happy with all the help I got at scooterville (http://scootervillemn.com) and from David at http://justgottascoot.com. The biggest obstacle for me was navigating the local laws of St. Paul to determine what I could park for free and where.
Can't wait for my buddy to arrive!

[Dibber]

Welcome aboard, my wife and I each bought Buddy 125s from Ed at Scooterville. They run a great shop there and are a pleasure to buy from. Hope you enjoy your Buddy as much as we have enjoyed ours.

[ryder1]

I went to look at the Buddy 50cc, but after sitting on both the 50cc and the 125cc and then the mini-education from Ed I changed my mind and bought the 125cc on my 2nd trip to check them out again. It has been a good decision for me and grateful for their input of things I would not have thought of.

Great people and great service

Enjoy the ride as I know you will.

[10gallonhat]

I should weigh in on why I chose the 50cc.
I commute to Downtown St. Paul everyday for work. The biggest reason that sold me on the 50cc was that in Downtown St. Paul anything under 50cc (a motorized bicycle) it is legal and free to use the bike racks. Anything over 50cc it is not - so you have to find somewhere else to park. Technically you could probably get away with a 125 at the rack - but I didn't want to risk it everyday.

Anybody know where you can park the 125s in St. Paul? That would be a helpful tip.

I spent about 45 minutes with Ed and he was very, very helpful in getting me oriented in the world of scooting. Bob and David helped me out on Saturday making sure I had everything I needed. Very helpful - if only car dealers were the same.

[ryder1]

I'm in northern suburb of Mpls; I parked in the parking lot and the merchants told me to use the bike rack next time. They've had too many crashes with cars not seeing the scooters.

You can legally ride on the shoulder of the road with the 50cc too.

You can always deregulate it if you find you want more speed. I almost did that.

They've got options so good to post reasons why people chose the scooter they did.

The majority riding I do is on rural roads with 30-50mph speed limit.

I did have Yamaha 50cc and then moved up to the 125cc.

[poop colored buddy]

10galhat, I live in Phoenix were traffic is pretty heavy as well, i can tell you the buddy 50 takes about 200-300 miles and it should go 50mph no problem. I consistently get mine up to about 51 and on occasion 55mph. I bought the 50 for the same reason (parking) at ASU. I can tell you that you prob will still get the rare ticket from an uninformed ticket officer (thinking its a motorcycle). This being said, the ticket will not hold up in court, but its annoying still getting tickets when you know you're right! I just wait until i get a few and then get them thrown out. I also have a post on how to beat the system by removing the license plate(only while parked) and some other tricks. look it up if you get any problems. my recieving tickets ceased after doing this all together!

Also the buddy 50 seems to get some knocks from people (usually uninformed) for being so small in the size of motor department. I can tell you that at city speeds (40-45mph) there is no difference between your scoot and say a Vespa. My brother inlaw owns a vespa ET4 150cc and the buddy is every bit as fast and questionably faster off the line and to top speed. He bought the vespa after thinking about buying a buddy 50 and was obviously talked into the more expensive ET4 by the dealer. Needless to say he was actually pissed after riding with me and solemnly admited he had been duped and wished he had gotten the buddy 50. The unrestricted 2 stroke is hands down the fastest un-moded 50 i have ever seen, and the buddy 50 specifically is faster than most brands of scooters 125-150cc (the only difference is that the vespas top off around 60-65, but whats the point if you cant take it on the freeway)

CONGRATS!

[10gallonhat]

Thanks - can't wait to get out and scoot...