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Answering it myself.  Handlebars and covers, and associated parts must be removed.  The steering yoke goes through a hole in the front fender from the bottom, so steering yoke/front forks must be removed to replace the fender.  And there are cageless upper and lower steering bearings with a handful of balls each to deal with.

 See pages 12-16 and 12-17 in the service manual for a couple pictures showing the fender attachment.  No specific instructions on replacing the fender, but it shows the 3 bolts hold it to the top of the fork tube brace, and the steering yoke axis goes through the fender from the bottom.  No easy replacement technique.

 Icing on the crap cake? Kymco has discontinued the Wineberry/Dark Red color fender that I need to match the original.  Black and silver are both available (as are several other non-complimentary colors), and I suppose either one would look OK against the otherwise wine-red color of the rest of the scoot. 

As long as you're happy at 45-50 MPH, you should be OK.  I wouldn't spend a lot of money on mods, because there is little gain.  Maybe the sliders, and definitely the larger tires.  I don't think the engine, exhaust, and intake mods were worth the time and trouble.  don't bother with a supposed unlimited rev CDI either.  Tires and sliders is where I'd put my money.  Check my posts on the tire size.  The Front tire is an easy replacement.  Rear tire involves significant disassembly and if you go up one tire size, you'll have to modify the hugger around the rear wheel by enlarging mounting holes to regain clearance.  Worth it in my book, YMMV. 
Cruising at an INDICATED 60+ MPH is believable for one-up.  That's because the People 150 speedo is 14-15% optimistic with stock tires!  It was reading 62 mph while my GPS was indicating 53-54.  The larger front tire will put the speedo almost dead on, as well a a HUGE improvement in handling.  Of the two, the FRONT tire is the most important one to change sizes on. 

The engine mods, too little gain for too much money and time.  If you mess with the exhaust only, you can just enrich the idle mixture screw a bit.  The NHRC exhaust is nicely made, and a very good fit.  I had to shorten the long spacer  that mounts near the bottom of the frame to get a good fit.  You will get some popping on decelleration with this exhaust unless you tweak the mixture a bit, and it stinks for a good many miles while industrial oils burn out of the insides.  If you mess with intake, you'll have to change some jets.  Apparently no one messes with these as much as they do the 49cc models, so I was pretty much on my own figuring out jetting.  the jetting "advice" I got from a couple of the larger internet scooter parts sellers was WRONG.  Trust me on this one. 

I'd be happy to answer questions by phone if you like.  PM me and I'll give yoiu a phone number.  Just don't like to see folks spend a lot of hard earned money and time for next to no performance gains.  I think Kymco pretty much has fuel and air optimized, and any significant tweaking may be in sliders, chassis (suspension) and tires.

It's pretty much power that it's lacking.   WOT on the flat, up to top speed, then a gentle grade will drop about 10% RPM and MPH.  Probably don't need RPM's so much as bigger gulps of fuel and air.  Certainly the 4-valve would do it, but I think I'd get a heavier front rack and a  People 300i before I'd dump any more money in the P150.  For what I want it for (grocery runs when camping), I'm guessing I'll keep it as is.  It WAS a fun exercise.  Just wanted others to avoid spending unnecessary funds on improvement that's not really achievable.  


Conclusion:   Want significantly more power and speed?  Get a bigger scoot, if you can afford it and don't have a need for minimal weight like I did.  Kymco pretty much has the 150's optimally tuned OEM.

 The larger tires WERE a significant improvement in handling and speedo accuracy.  I would do that all over again for sure.  

Just a head's up on speed.  The speedo on these reads about 15% optimistic, so your INDICATED 55-60 is actually a good bit less (maybe 47-53?? WOT)  See my article on mods in this forum.  You can spend SEVERAL hundred dollars and get very little return on investment (maybe 3-4 MPH?) in terms of extra performance.  If you won't be happy with those speeds, get a bigger scoot.  I like mine fine, but won't be taking it on any 4-lanes where I might get run over from behind!!  I use it for grocery runs and carry it on a hitch rack on a RV and the People 150 was the heaviest Kymco I could put on the rack.

I ride Moto Guzzi motorcycles when I want to go faster, but can't carry one on the RV rack!

AFAIK, the air screw affects mixture from idle to about 1/4 throttle.  From there, it plays a lesser role.  Needle jet kicks in from there till about 3/4 throttle, then maximum fuel delivery is determined by the main jet. But all three fuel circuits add together to affect mixture from that point up.  The pilot jet can't be changed without access to the air screw, as mixture will almost certainly need to be tweaked.

It is an "air screw", not a "fuel screw" meaning that counterclockwise turning adds air, leaning mixture, while clockwise turning decreases air, richening mixture.  if it starts well, but has difficulty idling when hot, try adding 1/4 turn of air.  A tach is helpful in tuning and setting idle.  Stihl makes one for chainsaw tuning that is a proximity tach.  You hold it near or against the body of the scooter lower front near where your right foot would be.  no need to physically attach it to the spark plug wire.  Stihl edt5 is discontinued, but a very good one.  Also, the Tech Tach tt-20K gets good reviews.

Follow-up on belt and overall assessment.

OK.  I can verify that the Malossi Kevlar belt  sized 795-19.8-30 is a direct replacement for the factory belt in the People 150.  Also, the Dr Pulley variator for the GY6 150 works well.  With 13 gm sliders installed, I could notice a seat-of-the-pants improvement in take-off acceleration, but lost a couple mph maximum speed.  I put in a set of 15 gm sliders and I would say acceleration was similar to stock and that, in combination with the Malossi belt, I might have picked up 3-4 mph top end.

I would say that, so far, the performance gains over stock vs. time and money spent achieving them are not worth the money.  I think the 50cc scooters can be changed dramatically with modding, but the People 150 performance is apparently nearly optimized at the factory, at least with the stock carburetor.  Whether a larger intake manifold and a couple mm larger carb would change much is a question I don't think I'll bother to investigate.  And the CVT drive ratios with the 16" wheels don't allow sustained top speeds even on mild hills at WOT. 

The enlarged tire size also was well worth doing as handling and stability were significantly improved.  Also speedometer accuracy is very much closer to actual speed as compared to a GPS (front tire circumference determines this as the speedo drive gear is on the front axle)

Stock rollers are 15 gm.  13 gm slider was first choice, has a  more aggressive bottom end, but I was hoping for a bit of extra poop at the top end.  At least want to avoid any loss.

Is that indicated MPH, or actual GPS MPH?