Modern Buddy

I just found out that Genuine has increased the warranty on a bunch of their scooters to 3 years with unlimited mileage. It looks like all the Buddies, the Hooligan, and the Roughhouse models are at 3 years. The Brio, Urbano, and Royal Alloy are still at 2 years unlimited mileage. I'm not sure what the warranty on the Niu is.

I think this goes to show how reliable these scooters are.

That's great news. They could probably offer a five year warranty on the Buddy's without getting a lot of claims.

Looks like a substantial price increase too. At least from what I'm seeing at local dealer. I'm not surprised considering cost increases for shipping, fuel, parts, and labor. The dealer I visited in January warned me of price increase on incoming Buddy inventory. I do like the extra year warranty being offered.

A three-year warranty feels like a very impressive benefit.

That says alot about the quality to people that may have initially disliked scooters. I must have just missed the 3 year, but I have 3 years parts and 2 years for service, so not bad still. I just missed tbe price increase also. My Roughhouse seems flawless, it should last me a long time.

Maybe this is a tangent, but I think we're at the beginning of the end of gasoline-powered scooters. Adding value to gas scooters is one way to keep the manufacturers' investments paying off.

Unlike cars/trucks, electric scooters can do 99% of what gas scooters do. It's difficult to take a road trip in an electric car. It's difficult to charge an electric car if you don't live in a single-family dwelling. Electric trucks can't tow and haul the way gas/Diesel trucks can.

But scooters are mostly used (worldwide) for commuting and other in-town transportation. Real-world range on an electric scooter matches or exceeds the range of a gas scooter on a single fill-up. (Idling in traffic or at stop lights uses up your gas, but uses no electricity.) Even if you live in a 5th floor walk-up apartment, you can charge your electric scooter at home, assuming it has a detachable battery pack.

In Asian markets, electric scooters are coming close to price parity with gasoline scooters. Not so in North America and Europe... yet. But soon.

So if you're a manufacturer of gas-powered scooters, you can see the writing on the wall and will do whatever you can to sell your scooters until people no longer want them.

I like the Vespa Electrikka but none other that I see but I would consider an electric bike of some sort in the future.