new Pamplona in TX!!!!

Christy · Post by **Christy** » Tue Mar 25, 2008 11:18 pm

This was taken at the scooter shop. She's having a windscreen and topcase installed and being delivered to my door on Thursday.

I am so very excited!!!

yes, it IS going to be a long day tomorrow.......waiting....anxiously.

JoshuaKane · Post by **JoshuaKane** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 12:09 am

Congratulations!

KRUSTYburger · Post by **KRUSTYburger** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 12:17 am

C-CANN'TT W-WAIT ANY L-LONGGER!!!

International Series are awesome, can't wait to see more pics!

The Ninja · Post by **The Ninja** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 12:18 am

Very nice Christy, enjoy it.

buddyboop · Post by **buddyboop** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 12:33 am

Very Nice!
Congrats on the new scooter!!!

8 ACES · Post by **8 ACES** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 12:49 am

Congratsi,
I am happy for you. I pick up my Italia this Friday or Saturday. Show us more pics when you can.

Randy

Corsair · Post by **Corsair** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 12:54 am

DouglasLive · Post by **DouglasLive** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 2:13 am

Recover that seat -- cream leather.

madtolive · Post by **madtolive** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 2:45 am

YAY!! Congratulations, Christy!! I hope you're having as perfect scooter weather as we are down in Austin!! Send more pics on Thursday! Huzzah!!

rajron · Post by **rajron** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 2:51 am

Sharp looking scooter – my favorite of the 08’s

Gimpy · Post by **Gimpy** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 3:13 am

A great looking scooter, congratulations on your new ride.

dalvarado · Post by **dalvarado** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 3:28 am

Awesome. Enjoy!

gt1000 · Post by **gt1000** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 4:17 am

New scooter and new avatar! Enjoy the ride and stay safe. And yes, tomorrow will be a loooong day.

jetboy · Post by **jetboy** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 5:22 pm

Nice looking ride! Enjoy it and ride safe. Gotta keep that scoot lookin' good.

-jetboy

madtolive · Post by **madtolive** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 5:25 pm

I keep checking back to see if you've posted more pics, and then I remember that we all have to wait until tomorrow to see them.

It must be pretty hard for you to sit still today!

redcass · Post by **redcass** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 5:55 pm

DouglasLive wrote:Recover that seat -- cream leather.

Yeah, that'd match well, but I'm guessing it'd be a pain in the arse to keep clean.

redcass · Post by **redcass** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 5:56 pm

Christy wrote:I am so very excited!!!

yes, it IS going to be a long day tomorrow.......waiting....anxiously.

Yay, Christy! This is so exciting! Can't wait to see it fully-dressed with shield and topcase.

I bet today is a loooooooooooooooooong day!

Christy · Post by **Christy** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 6:14 pm

omg you guys...it's killing me not having it today!!!

the seat panels don't quite match, but it's actually closer than the pictures show. The panels are much more yellow than cream and the seat is much more cream than tan. LOL

I'm a seamstress, so I can handle recovering the seat, but for now I'm just going to leave it as is.

we'll see.

The weather is amazing today (except for extreme gusts of wind) and I wish she was here already!!! man oh man...it's going to be a long day.

DouglasLive · Post by **DouglasLive** » Wed Mar 26, 2008 6:17 pm

redcass wrote:...but I'm guessing it'd be a pain in the arse to keep clean.

Well, yes -- but we sacrifice a lot for the things we love.

ysofisonly50? · Post by **ysofisonly50?** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 4:10 am

. . N . . I . . C . . E . .

no, no . . .
make that . .

P . . R . . E . . E . . T . . Y . .

no, no . . .
make that . .

A . . W . . S . . O . . M . . E . .

no, no . . .
make it All Three of the above.
BIG congrats Christy !!! Yeeyyy !!!

Christy · Post by **Christy** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 4:14 am

thanks!

Christy · Post by **Christy** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 5:07 am

You guys are awesome.

I feel so official now that I'm a real owner instead of a wanna-be-owner.

I have taken some photo's that are on my flickr page and I plan on taking a bunch more tomorrow when the light is better.

Corsair · Post by **Corsair** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 12:54 pm

make sure to add some pics to the scooter gallery as well as the Buddy Flickr Group:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/97555715@N00/

Congrats again (and congrats to ALL the new Buddy owners!)

EDIT:
lol... looks like you already beat me to the flickr group

madtolive · Post by **madtolive** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:03 pm

Christy, your pamplona is gorgeous! Have you named her (him?) yet? Congratulations, ya'll make quite a pair!

Christy · Post by **Christy** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:41 pm

Corsair wrote:make sure to add some pics to the scooter gallery as well as the Buddy Flickr Group:
http://www.flickr.com/groups/97555715@N00/

Congrats again (and congrats to ALL the new Buddy owners!)

EDIT:
lol... looks like you already beat me to the flickr group

I got your comment and started adding.

thanks.

Christy · Post by **Christy** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 2:41 pm

madtolive wrote:Christy, your pamplona is gorgeous! Have you named her (him?) yet? Congratulations, ya'll make quite a pair!

thanks. I havent named her. she's currently going by baby girl. My friend has tis 650 Executive Bergman that is also red and I think it'd be cute to get a picture of them together. I asked my friend if my lil bud can be her scooters little sister.

EP_scoot · Post by **EP_scoot** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 4:06 pm

take this out of context and it sounds like you are talking about pets !

Christy · Post by **Christy** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 5:08 pm

EP_scoot wrote: take this out of context and it sounds like you are talking about pets !

hehehehe, two topics I'm always up for talking about: scoots and pets!

You've seen the pics I have so far of the new buddy. There's also Brutus, Caesar and Calpurrnia

madtolive · Post by **madtolive** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 5:35 pm

hey christy, just out of curiosity, have or do you plan to take the msf course? did you have your m endorsement already when you picked out your baby girl? i'm just curious as to the uh, scooter buying procedure folks take. around here they don't let you test drive a scoot without your endorsement, and i'd sorta like to take both the buddy and a vespa lx150 out for spins before parting with my cash... did you do some test driving before deciding? i'm sorry, i guess i'd just like to pick your brain about how you went about all this scooter business. cheers!

jmazza · Post by **jmazza** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 6:06 pm

madtolive wrote:hey christy, just out of curiosity, have or do you plan to take the msf course? did you have your m endorsement already when you picked out your baby girl? i'm just curious as to the uh, scooter buying procedure folks take. around here they don't let you test drive a scoot without your endorsement, and i'd sorta like to take both the buddy and a vespa lx150 out for spins before parting with my cash... did you do some test driving before deciding? i'm sorry, i guess i'd just like to pick your brain about how you went about all this scooter business. cheers!

I'm not Christy but I'll tell you what I did...

I got my permit before buying... that way I could test drive (which I think they actually would have let me do w/o even my permit... I had a couple dealers tell me "Hey we're not the police, yes you should have your endorsement but it won't keep us from selling you a scooter). I had done a ton of reading (here, MSF books, etc) and then kept my scooter riding confined to pretty much only in my neighborhood and parking lots for 2-3 weeks as I slowly got the hang of if. I'm taking the MSF course next month for my endorsement.

Just doing reading is certainly no substitute for the MSF course but I'll say that for me, I found myself immediately applying what I had read in different situations, so it was absolutely worth SOMETHING as far as learning to ride and being safe.

It's obviously safer to take the MSF course before buying but I was replacing a dead car with the scooter so circumstances didn't really allow that (due to a work schedule that makes taking the MSF course really tough).

Christy · Post by **Christy** » Fri Mar 28, 2008 6:22 pm

madtolive wrote:hey christy, just out of curiosity, have or do you plan to take the msf course? did you have your m endorsement already when you picked out your baby girl? i'm just curious as to the uh, scooter buying procedure folks take. around here they don't let you test drive a scoot without your endorsement, and i'd sorta like to take both the buddy and a vespa lx150 out for spins before parting with my cash... did you do some test driving before deciding? i'm sorry, i guess i'd just like to pick your brain about how you went about all this scooter business. cheers!

anytime!! fyi, this might get long.

I took the msf course a year ago when I first decided that I wanted to get a scooter. It was cold and rainy and I passed with a 94! I was quite happy about it.

I was still afraid that I'd not LOVE scooting or that I might drop the bike initially so I decided to buy a cheap-o chinese 150cc scooter. I knew what I was ordering (online) and knew it might have a lot of problems but hubs and I only have 1 car and I needed something that could get me around if he ever had to go into the office (he works from home as do I). Besides at the price it was, even if it only lasted me 3 months it would still be cheaper than a car payment for those same 3 months.

Anyway, she arrived and I loved her. I was lucky and she was dependable and I totally fell in love with scooters and riding. Immediately I started saving my pennies for something good.

Originally I wanted to upgrade to a 250 but then I realized that I have NO desire to get on the freeways and don't ride enough (since I work from home) to really require that much power or top end speed. About that time I started seeing pictures of the upcoming 2008 Intls floating around the web and thought it was pretty but still wasn't sure about what scooter I was saving for.

I researched Genuine and realized it was a really solid, dependable and sporty scooter that actually fits my exact needs! Then it was just the decision of choosing a color. I decided that red or orange would get the most visibility, imo, on the road so it was down to 3. I also decided that for $200 more it was worth that extra 25ccs.

About 2 weeks ago hubs told me it was time that I could purchase (he's the money guy) so I listed my scooter on Craigslist and within 24 hours it was sold and gone. I started calling my local Genuine dealerships and found one that had the Pamplona's in stock. The other one was not going to be receiving them.

Went up to test ride it (brought my own helmet and jacket). Fell in love with it and bought it without hesitation. She was delivered yesterday.

Unfortunately its raining today and supposed to all weekend.

I don't really want to ride her in the rain as I'm still getting to know her but I REALLY want to.

Also on another note, I've ridden the Vespa LX150 and the Vespa ET4. I LOVE the lx150. LOVE LOVE LOVE IT! if it weren't so expensive I might have put it on the list of potential scooters for me. I've heard the new Vespa S has the same engine so the S went on my list of potentials for a few minutes but I decided that she was really too expensive for what she is (imo, she's a buddy but $1k more expensive).

So, The ET4? I disliked immediately. Even though it and the LX150 are the same size physically, their center of balance is totally different and in my opinion the et4 made me feel like I was always about to completely lose control of the scooter. That is not a good feeling. That made me realize that I'd never purchase a scooter I was not allowed to test ride first. Being comfortable on your two wheels directly impacts your ability to remain relaxed. Being relaxed allows for faster responses and smoother reflexes.

If I were to comparing my experiences with the LX150 to the Pamplona here's what I'd have to say (remember I only have 9 miles on the Pamplona and I more than 100miles on the lx150 (ask me about that another time it's a short but fun story)).

Anyway, the Buddy is quicker to get to speed. It is about 2-3 inches shorter from the seat and feels shorter nose to tail as well. They both handle exceptionally well with both having responsive throttle and breaking. The lx has a pretty good sized glove box but not as big as the stella's. The lx does not fit my FF helmet in the seat and the buddy does! vespa's basic top-case is slightly better than the genuine topcase, but really not all that much and I like the genuine topcase lock better.

Thats about all I can say about the two as I don't have enough miles on the Pamplona yet.

madtolive · Post by **madtolive** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 12:28 am

jmazza and christy, thanks for sharing! i think i'm going to take the msf course before i do anything else, too. especially since i realize that i've been obsessing over this bidness without knowing if i'll even be okay riding a damn scooter. so i figure the course will help me figure that out - there's a course in town that lets you learn on their scooters.

my mom was insisting on getting me a class ring for my graduation present (woot, woot!) but i convinced her to pay for the msf course, my helmet, and a riding jacket instead.

and i def. want to do a buddy and lx150 vis-a-vis. i was wondering what the ET4 is like. i like how its mirrors look like funny little ears or antennas, reminds me of the squeaky alien guys from toy story. i know the lx150 are heavier than buddies, which could be a problem bc i'm a small lady, but i want to find out if the more solid feeling will make me feel more secure. plus i'm very madly in love with the portofino green color.

i told my boyfriend that the first couple times i ride to work i'm gonna have him follow behind me the entire way.

Christy · Post by **Christy** » Sat Mar 29, 2008 2:21 am

madtolive wrote:i figure the course will help me figure that out - there's a course in town that lets you learn on their scooters.

Yes, the course will teach you SO much about riding. I took my msf course on a scooter.

madtolive wrote:i convinced her to pay for the msf course, my helmet, and a riding jacket instead.

YAY I think this is all kinds of awesome!!!.

madtolive wrote:and i def. want to do a buddy and lx150 vis-a-vis. i was wondering what the ET4 is like. . . i know the lx150 are heavier than buddies, which could be a problem bc i'm a small lady, but i want to find out if the more solid feeling will make me feel more secure. plus i'm very madly in love with the portofino green color.

Those are some of the very reasons I feel it's important to test ride before buying.

You seem to be thinking very smart about this process and taking it seriously. I can't wait to see what you choose!

Modern Buddy

new Pamplona in TX!!!!

new Pamplona in TX!!!!

Re: new Pamplona in TX!!!!