After being a longtime lurker on this and several other scooter boards, doing as much research and reading everything I could lay my hands (cursor?) on, saving up an searching for a good deal, my wife and I finally took the plunge Friday night and are now the proud owners of an orange Buddy 125.
All I have to say is OHMYFREAKINGGOODLORDWHYDIDN'TYOUTELLMESOONER
We found a couple of good deals before this one, but nothing that felt right. Living in Kansas City, with it's extensive used scooter market(right.....) made it a little harder. To be fair though, we had our hearts settled on a Buddy 125, which made it even harder since they're brand spankin' new. We found a couple good deals on some, mainly thanks to the people on this board.(Thanks people!) Nothing felt quite right though, so we held off, thinking/hoping/wishing we'd get lucky.
Thursday night, we hit big.
I was searching Craigslist when, lo and behold, I found an Orange Buddy 125 in Olathe, not 30 miles from where we live.
I'm pretty sure I set new land speed records for the time it took for my hand to pick up my phone and dial.
We went and looked at it that night. Everything seemed to be just fine and dandy. Purchased in April/May, 1600 miles, serviced regularly(Thanks Scooterworld!), never laid down. A few cosmetic scratches here and there and an annoying rattle on the right-hand turn signal, but that's it. $2100, including two helmets that just HAPPENED to fit my wife and I's heads perfectly, steel cable lock, one pair riding glasses, one pair riding googles.
It was like coming across our very own Scooter-In-A-Box.
Cara and I had agreed we wouldn't buy it that night, that we needed to sleep on it to make 100% sure it's what we wanted to do. So we slept on it....and I called the poor guy at 8:30 in the morning the next day to tell him we'd take it. We made arrangements to be at his house right at 5 to pick it up.
Friday was the most excruciatingly long day of my entire life. Whole galaxies were born in the time it took 5 o'clock to roll around last Friday.
But finally, it came. We got there, paid the gentleman and were on our merry way.
By merry I mean we had to hurry our little butts to my parents house, 5 miles away, before it got too dark to ride. Having never ridden a two-wheeled vehicle before(other than a bicycle) I wasn't really feeling up to trying the 30 mile drive back home on the scooter, in the dark, on back two lane roads. Call me crazy.
My first ride on my Buddy was filled with sheer joy, excitement, a bit scary, COLD, frustrating, and the most fun I've had in a long time. After some creative routing to stay off the highway, we hit some construction, which forced even MORE creative routing. Like an idiot, I didn't listen to my wifeand didn't bundle up properly before leaving. It was 45 degrees. I got cold. Very cold. Like, cut open a Tantan and throw me inside Han, it's damn skippy cold out here.
Anyway, I survived, and after some warm pizza and hot cocoa, was no worse for the wear.
Saturday was spent riding around in a high school parking lot behind my parent's house for a few hours to get used to handling and driving a Buddy. Cara loved it, hopping right on and riding like a pro. I kept having to tell her to quit smiling and close her mouth or she's going to eat a few bugs, but she didn't seem to listen.
Another few short trips in town to establish some more confidence, and I was good to go for the 30 mile ride back to Lawrence. My father was kind enough to donate a full body ski suit which, while looking like I was a Russian Cosmonaut, kept me more than warm on the ride back.
Overall, being a complete and total newbie to the world of scooters, I've been 9 kinds of pleased with the Buddy. It's incredibly fun to ride, easy to learn, gets off the line like nobody's business, and does it all hardly sipping any gas at all. It's 9 on Sunday morning, and I already can't wait to go ride again today!
So, apologies for the long post, but I plan to be much more active on this forum now that I feel I can add something to the conversation. Thank you all for the information, anecdotes, and sense of community you've built here. It went a long way towards swaying us to purchase a Buddy!
(Yes, I know there's a big thumb blocking Cara. Blame my father's camera phone)
