Modern vs. Vintage

[kingkymco125]

This is my four Vegas Scooter Rally I have attended and I have enjoyed everyone of them. Kymco is a major sponsor of the annual Vegas HighRollers Weekend Scooter Rally. I think they should continue p their sponsorship of this. I have spoken to a quite a number of vintage people and they do not like the modern scooters.  I ride a Kymco Agility 125cc myself and I love her. Until this rally, the company gave away a 50cc bike for the raffle.

I prefer the modern bikes over the vintage bikes. I have heard all the stories about how difficult they are to maintain. One does need to have a tool kit with them since they are prone to breakdowns. With the vintage ones, they require shifting of gears since they are manual transmissions instead of the twist and go automatics. I know the Kymco bikes are reliable and will last forever as long as they are maintained. With the vintage Vespas and Lambrettas they are 2 stroke instead of 4 stroke. 2 strokes do tend to be quicker than the 4 strokes are.

I do not care if the Kymcos are considered plastic instead of metal. Even for the modern Vespas, they are just as expensive to maintain as the vintage one are.  When one buys a Kymco they are getting a quality bike for almost half the price and less migrains.  I will take modern over vintage everytime.

[bluesin]

I'm with you , Dave !
 

[donandrews]

Agreed....Vintage is OK if you have the time, tools, and talent. If the ride is the thing, modern makes way more sense.
Peace and Ride Safe

[alphaBETAdog]

2 strokes, 4 strokes, modern or vintage - different strokes for different folks!  This is what makes it all interesting...  I love my modern Kymco too, but this is not to say I wouldn't mind finding a nice Heinkel Tourist to play with for part of the time!

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/95/Heinkel_Tourist_175%2C_Bj._1956_1a.jpg

[TroutBum]

Think of it in these terms, vintage was modern as our modern will be vintage. It's all in the timing. 

I enjoy them both, but prefer modern. I find it interesting that those of us that are into modern scooters are accepting on both eras. Vintage, or purist as some like to be referred as, on the other hand tend to view themselves as elistist. Some to the point of snobbery. I don't get it. To me it's about riding. Old, new, moped, scooter, motorcycle, what have you.

[Porkie]

We rider's are a "house divided" and will never get together because of our ego's, prejudice's and bias. When we go from one venue to the next, we become all judgmental all over again.

I've been on a lot of forums over the years and heard it all: "The only real scooter is a flat floor step through." My _______scooter/ motorcycle is the best on the road. Harley rider's don't wave. BMW rider's are very arrogant. Goldwing rider's are snob's. Cruiser rider's are 100 mile idiots. Supersport squid's are all "ricky racer" wanabees. Blah-blah-blah etc.

When I started riding around the time that Noah's Ark had went aground, every rider waved at each other and everyone loved everyone's bikes, because we were special: We were a Fraternity of rider's with the love of riding in our soul's. Like most things in the world everything has changed. We aren't the WE generation but the ME generation.

Sorry for the rant:)

Sam:)

[08087]

I see the attraction for both scoots, I wish I had the time and room for one of each era.

[kingkymco125]

I have no problem with the vintage bikes. They were about shifting before the twist and goes were in. Its all good. The guys who put on the annual Vegas rally respect me and I respect them. Its all good.

[Vivo]

Modern for me...    For the vintage, I'll go with the vintage "looks" only...

[paper]

Well, my scooters are all modern (ish) but I do own both a modern and an almost 30 year old BMW motorcycles.

My 85' R80 requires a bit more regular maintenance than modern stuff, but it's reliable and fun.. And working on it isn't difficult at all.. A valve check takes less than 20 minutes, and adding in a carb balance and oil/filter change can be done easily in one hour.

1985 doesn't seem "Vintage" but it's closing in on 30 years old.

My 1993 Honda Helix is closing in on Vintage, but working on it is pretty much the same as a modern scooter.