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It SEEMS like the market is untapped. Scooters make a great deal of sense in the American market, but no one has found the formula to sell them. The wave of awful generic chinese imports hurt the idea of the scooter, and the stigma that all riders are actually DUI's on suspended licenses keeps some people from showing interest.

Kymco builds a great machine but seemingly has no earthly idea how to name its machines. Myroad, Bet and Win, People.. terrible marketing. Sym went through its importer drama and will take a long time to repair, plus there is the Lance/Sym confusion. The Symba was a great idea, but now discontinued.  TGB is back.. once again.  Of all the Taiwanese scooters I see in my town that I can identify, its generally Genuine Buddies, but the local BMW/Triumph dealer just started carrying Kymco so that might change locally.  I don't think any marketing revolution in America would come via Taiwan. 

Vespa people are Vespa people. The world doesn't seem to be suddenly making multitudes more of them.

There needs to be a UJM of scooters. Powerful enough to get on the freeway when needed, cheap enough for anyone to buy if they save a few months or have remotely decent credit, and looks really good on its own right, not pretending to be a Vespa and not looking like someone had it shipped in a crate. I Piaggio BV350 and the Honda Forza 300 get pretty close, if not perfect to that idea. But how often do you see them on the road? I think the market is pretty well tapped.

Maybe as batteries get even better and wheel hub motor prices come down we'll see cheap fast electric scooters really get their chance to be more than toys. That might have an effect. Some states have some pretty good tax rebates so that could cause some movement in the market.

I'm a fat guy. I ride a 125 no problem. I dont take it on freeways, but that's essentially illegal where I live, anyway. But I have about a 5 mile commute up some serious hills and the agility does just fine.

Glad you're enjoying the ride. I got my Agility last year and I've been having a great time with it. It's my daily rider, unless I have to drop my kid at school, and pretty soon it will be hers if I gallantly give it to her so I can get a 200i.. wait that doesnt sound all that gallant. Anyway, yes these scooter are great. It's definately changed my life for the better.

Since you're handling storms regularly, what kind of rain gear do you recommend?

Don't really care what people's opinions are about scooters. If they rode one, odds are they'd like it, and when they rode around all week on a $2 tank of gas, they'd like it even better.

I have been wondering about this since I bought the Agility, earlier this year. This rear bake is more theoretical than helpful. Has a huge pull length and would not completely stop the scooter.I know the front is where most of the stopping power comes from, but Ive not encoutnered a rear break as loose as this. Is this normal? I'm do for a service on it anyway, I should just have them look at it.

Adly's aren't the only 50cc two-smokes back in the States. TGB returned this year, also. I don't think either of them would make much of a dent. Maybe in the rental market, but that's in tourist areas.

I love my Agility 125. I use it for going around town, and its perfect for that. Downgrading the Super 8 might not have been such a bad idea do to the niche aspect. The sportier version could not have kept up with the current Yamaha SMAX or the Honda PCX 150. Why bother competing in an area they can't match, except in terms of value? Instead it looks like they tooled their line to dominate the market against Lance/Sym, I suspect.

I suspect there are other Kymco's in this town as there are three dealerships in a 60 mile radius that sell them, but I have yet to see another one on the road. I've seen Chinese Ruckus-clones, a Vespa LX, a Honda Metro or two, and a bunch of Genuine Buddies and Stellas.  Maybe the situation is different elsewhere, but it seems Kymco's closest competitor is really Genuine, and their best way to compete is on price, hence the general cheapening of the line.

Yep. Had my old Yamaha Seca over 20 years ago. Never rode it much. Did some moped riding, motorized bike and then nothing. Finally recently got a scooter. It was my reward to myself for loosing hitting a weight loss goal and keeping it for a long period of time. I love it. Ride it work every day.

This summer I have a mesh jacket with padding, leather gloves (already tested on my spill last month.. did great) boots, full face helmet. In winter, ill get something warmer for the jacket, probably break out the old leather jacket. The Agility is the loud orange color. Jacket is off-white, and helmet is red.

I commute to work most days of the week on the scooter now, so ATGATT is not an option for me when it comes to trousers. That is not going to happen.

I agree in principle with ATGATT, but ultimately it does not always work in situations where the scooter is going to be more then a plaything or grocery getter. Looking at the images of thousands of people in Taiwan scooter commuting, you don't see them completely leathered up.