Purchased a new Kymco GT300i Yesterday

[old geezer]

... and I'm guessing the number of dealer/owners who have bad-mouthed a current line for any reason approaches... zero? 
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No I have heard my share of bitching from owners about certain lines. One of my long time riding buddies from the 60s/70s was a dealer.

[jprestonian]

No I have heard my share of bitching from owners about certain lines. One of my long time riding buddies from the 60s/70s was a dealer.

Some dealers shoot straighter than others (and depending on the depth of the relationship, that probably had something to do with it, too, yes?).

I worked for the dealer whose situation I've described; I was working there when all this was happening, and saw almost all of it with my own eyes, heard with my own ears. I've watched their kids. I've had dinner at their house. We've loaned each other tools, money, and lots of one another's labor.

I'm not saying you aren't that close with the owner of Castle's, of course. I'm just saying that I'm not running down the product (and saying that I won't be buying another isn't to say that they aren't good scooters; it's saying I want nothing to do with the company), and I haven't made up anything about the dealership I worked for, of what happened to them, vis-a-vis KymcoUSA.
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[jprestonian]

Also, old geezer, if I may impose... would you ask the owner of Castle's if he'd be interested in being involved in the Nashville scooter community (scootnashville.com, mostly, as that's the closest thing to a "club" around here, other than the Dead 'Peds moped guys)? 

With the closing of ESS, we have a lack of, um... dealer interest, in keeping scootering out there in people's minds. A shop that did outreach right now would likely garner some loyalty... none of the dealers I know of are sponsoring any rides, get-togethers, events or anything like that specifically for scooterists.

Thanks.
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[old geezer]

I'll run it by him the next time I am down there.

[boo]

Love to hear reviews from owners of the GT300.

[MassScoot]

I must admit...That the Piaggio BV350 is a much better looking scooter then the GT300i. Has a few more ponies as well. I took a long cruise into Boston yesterday (I'm over 700 miles @ this point) I'm going in for my 600 mile service today. Anyway...I went into the Piaggio dealer (Vespa Boston) & looked @ the BV350. I must admit, I'm having semi-buyers remorse (not really), just that the BV350 has so much spit & polish to her. The BV350 costs $100.00 more then the GT300i, but wait...They charge like $600.00+ in freight & dealer prep!!! That's insane, plus only a 1-year warranty. What is nice is that it comes with a nice windshield as stock.

They had a Silver & Red BV350 there & it's a real looker. The problem for me is that the dealer is 45+ miles away from my house. My Kymco dealer is under 10 miles. My local dealer took my Suzuki TU-250X in trade (They are also a Honda, Suzuki & Yamaha dealer) which made it easy. I think Kymco is a tad more reliable them Piaggio myself, but it is one very nice scooter just the same.   

[leomagnus]

MassScoot,

     When I lived in Rome, I used to have work done on my Honda SH150 in the Porta Portese area where there are a ton of mechanics and shops for scooters. My mechanic told me that the Honda/Kymco were the most reliable and easiest to fix. The Piaggios were more likely to have problems even though they looked nicer and had bigger engines. I prefer reliability over a few HP and some shiny plastic parts. The other issue with Piaggios in the US is finding the parts you need if ever anything breaks on them. They are expensive to boot. The BV 350 is known as the Beverly 350 in Italy. I would wait in see in a few years to see the reliabilty results of this scooter. I am willing to be that Kymco will respond in a year or two with the People GTI 350. We shall see...

[MassScoot]

MassScoot,

     When I lived in Rome, I used to have work done on my Honda SH150 in the Porta Portese area where there are a ton of mechanics and shops for scooters. My mechanic told me that the Honda/Kymco were the most reliable and easiest to fix. The Piaggios were more likely to have problems even though they looked nicer and had bigger engines. I prefer reliability over a few HP and some shiny plastic parts. The other issue with Piaggios in the US is finding the parts you need if ever anything breaks on them. They are expensive to boot. The BV 350 is known as the Beverly 350 in Italy. I would wait in see in a few years to see the reliabilty results of this scooter. I am willing to be that Kymco will respond in a year or two with the People GTI 350. We shall see...

Leo: I always heard "Horror Stories" about Piaggio & parts here in the US. Also...That Kymco is more reliable then Piaggio. Already having owned a Kymco People S200 in the past, had almost zero issues with her. My local dealer is "rock-soild" & that's one of the reason why I went back to Kymco. Too bad the Honda SH150 only made it to the states for one year (2010?) & that the SH300i will never make it over. I was reading a few articles that "most" Americans prefer smaller-tire scoots to the 16" wheels, so Honda yanked it! Not to mention the price was around $4500.00! So...I went to Kymco's Italian website & it's true! Most Italian scoots have the larger wheels! Check it out here:

http://www.kymco.it/

The BV350 is still a real nice looking scooter!

[ludo]

I must admit...That the Piaggio BV350 is a much better looking scooter then the GT300i. Has a few more ponies as well. I took a long cruise into Boston yesterday (I'm over 700 miles @ this point) I'm going in for my 600 mile service today. Anyway...I went into the Piaggio dealer (Vespa Boston) & looked @ the BV350. I must admit, I'm having semi-buyers remorse (not really), just that the BV350 has so much spit & polish to her. The BV350 costs $100.00 more then the GT300i, but wait...They charge like $600.00+ in freight & dealer prep!!! That's insane, plus only a 1-year warranty. What is nice is that it comes with a nice windshield as stock.

They had a Silver & Red BV350 there & it's a real looker. The problem for me is that the dealer is 45+ miles away from my house. My Kymco dealer is under 10 miles. My local dealer took my Suzuki TU-250X in trade (They are also a Honda, Suzuki & Yamaha dealer) which made it easy. I think Kymco is a tad more reliable them Piaggio myself, but it is one very nice scooter just the same.  

MassScoot,
You made the right choice with the GT300i (over BV350).
Like with your S200, you probably will never have a problem with your GT300i.
I saw both at a dealership and it's true that the BV350 is really a beautiful bike (big underseat space, powerful engine) but the People GT300i is IMHO a better deal and scooter overall (reliability, engine, MPG, 2 years warranty, top case).
Add a windscreen, a bigger topcase and you have probably the best scooter (not maxi) sold in the US!
I love my Yager but if Kymco slightly lowers the price of the GT300i.... it will be my next scooter ;-)

Btw, post some pics of your GT300i!!!

[InAFog]

Well, I just have to add my 2cents here. I'm the recent owner (less than 2Kmls) of a Gold (more people like it than don't...me included) GTi300, 20+ other scooters, and over 40 bikes. And I ride the s**t out of all of them. I absolutely love this scoot, it just keeps getting FASTER and FASTER! I'm having as much fun (maybe more..less work...automatic) on the GTi as I have on my tricked-out Suzuki SV650. Decent (not great) rubber, great grunt, +/- 29 horse, and a respectably stiff chassis make for an AWESOME Urban Assault vehicle! If I rode ANY of my bikes like I stealthily RIP around on this I'd soon lose my license. I've (6'2" 230 lbs) had this to an indicated (I know) 96mph and it's nicely planted (385/390 lbs) at those speeds. There's a nice comparison of the BV350 vs the GTi300 at justgottascoot.com and a link to the Biondi windscreen for this. I hope the BV DOESN'T fit me...that's the scoot I wanted. There wasn't a dealer here when I bought the GTi and now there IS...of course.

Mr jprestonian, maybe you should have YOUR prescription checked. I believe YOUR PCX was made in Italy, the new PCX150 is made in China and their seemingly sweet CB250R is made in Thailand. I looked at all of them and my old vision deciphered "not quite a Honda". I'm a fair "wrench" and I find the Kymcos to be just as nice (and sometimes nicer, than the Jap stuff...which I own a ton of). My2c...Ride Safe!

[InAFog]

Duh...and, BTW, I rode a late model People 250 about a year ago and found it to be a nice, capable runabout but I believe the new-from-the-ground-up GTi 300 will ANNIHILATE the 250 almost everywhere... My2c...Ride Safe!

[MassScoot]

Guys....I trying to post some pics, but I cannot get it under the 172KB footprint this forum wants. The smallest I can get is 640x480 that =254KB!

Any insight?

[MassScoot]

Ok...I think I found a way. It will only allow 192K total! So I may post several times.

[MassScoot]

Another one....

[MassScoot]

Here goes....