Hey everyone, my name is Dennis and I'm new to the forum. I live in Monmouth County NJ, close to Sandy Hook National Seashore.
A little history on my bike ownership... My first ride was a Burgman 650 Exec that I loved, especially because it was a great highway commuter. I sold the Burgman and bought a VStar 1300 Tourer. The VStar was a terrific bike in almost every respect except that it's big and heavy and not something that handles easily around town. I didn't ride it that much; I wasn't commuting on a bike anymore, the opportunities for me to take long leisurely weekend rides with friends were few and far between, and I never wanted to take it out to ride around town. So I just sold that, and found a Kymco dealer within a reasonable distance from my house that had a good amount of inventory on the sales floor I was interested in purchasing:
2014 MyRoad 700i with 800 miles on it (new as far as I was concerned)
2017 People GT 300i - NEW
2018 X-Town 300i ABS
2018 Xciting 400i ABS
It was a toss-up between the Xciting 400i and the People GT 300i. I ended up buying the People GT 300i. There was almost a $2000 difference between the two, and the performance bump wasn't worth the extra $$$ for me (they took $900 off the list price because it was a 2017, and Kymco threw in 2 extra years on the warranty - 4 years total). If I wanted to pay that kind of $$$ I would have also considered a Piaggio BV350 or the new Yamaha XMAX.
I like that it has a true 300cc engine, 16" tires, and it's super light. I love that it includes the top box, but hate that it's included because the under-seat storage sucks. I'm not crazy about where the fuel filler is, but it wasn't a deal-breaker. Plus, I like the styling... more like an Italian scooter and less like a sporty scooter.
Gotta say that the drive home was fun. The 16" tires really make a difference with the irregularities in the road, the power is more than adequate for the state highways and county roads I'll be riding on, and it's pretty terrific around town... something that I'll WANT to ride all the time and commute with again. I was a little taken aback about the amount of vibration I was feeling while it was idling, but this is my first single cylinder scoot and I understand that it's normal.
Anyway, that's all I got. I'm looking forward to reading all your interesting posts and insights. Thanks for reading through. DENNIS
