KymcoForum.com

SYM HD200 for your purposes imo

I don't know if I would recommend a SYM right now until they get their distribution back in line. The way it's looking, with having two American distributors could be poison to dealers.

Don't get me wrong, SYM makes nice bikes, but if parts supply dries up or takes forever, that defeats the purpose of getting a commuting tool. That being said, if you don't mind hunting for parts you might get a great deal on an HD 200 right now.

At 120 lbs. you should have no trouble maintaining 55 mph on the Yager. I am two of you and I can wring mine out to 65 so it should get there for you without problems.

That being said, the Grand Vista will absolutely fly with you on it. It has great acceleration and top end compared to the Yager. Either will run fine, but you are right that the fuel injection on the Yager is really nice. I rode mine all winter to temps in the single digits and never had trouble getting it started and riding away. I can't imagine a carb'ed scoot would come close to that.

The styling is definitely a love or hate thing. I love the look of it.

I don't know if I have a tough butt from cycling for a couple of years or what, but I think the seat is pretty comfy. Usually on longer rides I wear my cycling shorts so I'm sure they help too.

Everything else you said, I agree with 100%. I'm moving up to a Downtown here soon because I wish I had a couple more mph. I can run on a small freeway at 65 but I don't like how small it feels on the big slab. If I had the money I would keep it and pick up a full-size bike for longer trips, but since I don't the Downtown is a great compromise.

Have you taken it in to the shop where you bought it? It sounds like an issue that should be handled under warranty.

I need a scooter, I'd love to have a bike too, but I don't NEED that.

Amen to that, the Downtown that I am looking at is sitting right next to a Honda Shadow RS. There is no rational reason that makes the Shadow better than the Downtown, but damn it, it is one beautiful bike and I WANT it. 

They probably won't it seems to me that if you go to Kymco's main site, they are really getting rid of the 250 line. With the power of that new 300 engine, no one is really going to choose the 250. 50,125,200,300,500 is a pretty decent spacing. To me though, for the US market at least, they could get rid of either the 125 or 200 class. Both are decent city engines but even the 200s are barely highway worthy. After having the Yager for most of a year, I really wish that the 300s had been around so that I wouldn't have to be making this trade right now.

It just seems like city-only people would be fine with a 125 and people that want to be able to do highway really need the 300. The 200 just seems like a catch-22 for the American road.

I think if you adjusted your riding style to shift you body over on the bike during the corner to allow the bike to be more upright while carving the corners.  I know I have one corner in my neighborhood that the tang of the centerstand of my P250 likes to drag.  It's a standard suburban neighborhood and I am going less than 25 but I used to drag that tang all the time.  I now shift my weight to the right and leave the bike more upright, the tang no longer drags. I am going to guess my P250 has similar lean angles to the newer P300GT.

Took your advice, riding around today I focused on shifting my weight into the corner. It was weird the first couple of tries but after a bit, I have gotten it down on right-hand turns. I can see now what I was doing wrong. The Yager is light enough that I can lean the bike without adjusting body position so even in hard turns my torso was normally still bolt straight, so I was actually leaning the bike waaaay over. I took a couple of turns that were sketchy before and I felt like I had plenty of clearance. Thanks for the tip.

Also, went down to the dealer today. They have the Downtown in, but they have not had a chance to put it together yet. They have opened the crate up so I was able to look at it, and man is it gorgeous. I liked the front end in pics but it is even better looking in person. The seat looks comfy as hell too, for both driver and passenger. I can definitely see the GIVI back rest in my wife's future. The only SLIGHTLY underwhelming part was the underseat, but I planned on getting a top case one way or the other and there is enough room for a helmet or a little bit of work stuff, between the case, the seat and a bungee net, I should have no trouble hauling what needs to be hauled. They said it should be put together on Saturday, I'm really excited now!