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I thought I could care less about the color also. I didnt even think twice, yuck! Not in white. Someone else can get it. Plus, I dont get a good vibe from the dealer, so that didnt help matters (or color) either. Guess I will just hold out thru the winter/spring like I planned on in the first place.

I have had a 125 or larger for so long that tags, insurance, etc. are second nature. The only place that I ever got stopped was in Washington DC on a pedal having Tomas. Come to find out that I did not get stopped because of the lack of tags and such but because a moped just got stolen in the same area and he was just making sure the one I was on was not the stolen one. I did hear a rumor that the state of VA is thinking about having them tagged with a special "moped tag" and require operators to have a "moped license"-mainly to help on theft recovery and to have grounds to bust the DUI crowd. Stupid side note: I remember (yes, Im old) when mopeds didnt require helmets! When I got my first moped at the age of 14 I still wore a ill fitting glitter blue open face I found at a yard sale for $1. My friends joked me non-stop until one night all of us were racing our mopeds (7 total death race style) thru a neighborhood "intoxicated" and this guy named Stinky tagged a curb and busted his helmet-less head open on the ground! He recovered and the rest of my friends quickly found helmets, which became madatory law the following year. Wow Im old and was (still?) really stupid!

The Buddy 125. Its a 07 model, has about 30,000 miles on it (just sits in garage now), has never been washed since new-still looks good. Great quality, will run 60mph all day-will even run it at full throttle (64mph) on interstate for 20 miles if running late for work. Nice layout, can kinda streach out legs if needed and move around seat rather easily also. Great MPG. Regular maintainence is also very easy, and never needed to adjust the valves-always in spec. The only thing that made me not replace it was poor dealer support and lousy quality add-ons. Genuine does not sell service manuals to the public, luckily nothing major has broken. Parts can bee kinda tricky to get and loooong wait times when needed most. The rear rack that they sell is terrible quality and I can no longer put one back on my scoot (cracked frame mounts off!). So I will not buy another Genuine product, shame as I really like the Blur. Strange thing is the Zuma 125 is not a great scooter either. Pay a high price for a lousy equiped scoot-no bag hook, no stock rear rack (option), no 12v outlet, no drink holder (option), slow (56mph max?!?), weak alternator (will not ever run heated gloves!), no kick-start, slanted and small under seat storage, poor MPG and finally VERY complex to work on. The good thing is I know (hope) it will last and I will get a decent trade-in when I replace it. Will keep the Buddy as a back-up as it has never left me stranded. And yes about the small tire/big scoot comment on the Helix. Took me awhile to get totally relaxed on my first Helix but it was worth it in the end.

I think Cheap Cycle Parts sells Kymco parts. They are out of the north-east USA. Fair prices on parts and shipping. Give them a look.

Do NOT use a impact wrench! I have seen so many crank ends get snapped off when they go to put the variator nut back on its crazy-that nut only calls for 40Nm. Belts typically last around 10-12,000 miles. If it is the belt make sure you get the correct belt from a good source- not one of those "china part" supply houses out there. There is no such thing as a universal belt-length-width-tooth angle are model specific. It could be the rollers, maybee a broken clutch spring (more common on two-shoe clutches), or if you hot-rod it with burnouts or jump the local railroad tracks (I do it to my Zuma 125) something else. YouTube had the video for belt changing posted by a couple of different people. Watch and learn. If you think you can do it (most all air-cooled 150's and down are the same) give it a shot. Also, see if someone posted the shop manual. Hit us up if you decide to tackle it with any other questions.

Does anyone remember Scooter Rider Magazine? If so read on. BJ Strass (the editor) was one of the first to really push Kymco products. If you kept up with the magazine you know about the road trips he did on a People 250 (and sometimes his wife on her Grandvista 250) and how much he loved that People 250. Anyways, he later sold it and kept the Grandvista. The People got shipped from Key West FL to Norfolk VA to its new owner-that would be me. I rode it for about a month and ended up selling it to a friend. Bought another Honda Helix (and had no local part support for the Kymco at the time) and kinda forgot about it. Anyways, ran into the guy I sold the People to over the holidays. It has been sitting in the same spot, in the weather, no cover, has not even been started, for over 2 years! Seems the drive belt broke and that was that-done deal. I almost felt bad for the People. The guy I sold it to just used it for a commuter for work untill it "died". Such a strange death for such a once-proud scooter. He tried to sell it back to me but I want nothing to do with it-HATE projects. Anyways, figured all you old school Kymco fans would like to know what happened to that "famous" People 250.