So, I went for a ride with several fellow scooterists. One of them had a Hyosung MS3 250. While the build quality did not match my Xciting, it was not a bad looking bike. The guy with the Hyosung noted that the floorboard had cracked underneath. Otherwise, the two scoots were comparable. Both have front dual disc brakes and a rear disc brake for instance. His bike was also about $1000 less than an Xciting. However, he also noted that his MS3 could hit about 85 on the highway. Now I know that his scooter is about 40 lbs lighter than my Xciting, but I struggle to hit 75 at redline with my Xciting. I checked several reviews online and his claim of 85 was supported by these reviews. I'm not saying that I liked his scoot better, but overall not a bad bike for the price - although I will admit the cracked floorboard would be a serious red flag for me. My guess is that since it was a flat floorboard (no hump like the Xciting), the structural integrity was affected by this.
Another guy had a Yamaha T-max. Obviously a very nice bike, but limited storage underneath due to the parallel twin engine set-up. He could not fit his full helmet under the seat. Despite it's size and weight, it handled pretty well at slow speeds. Nice looking, but I was not as impressed as I thought I would be. The build quality was obviously good, but did not seem to be better than my Xciting. The T-max owner was surprised at the similarity of build quality.
There was also a Vespa 250 GTS and a Znen 150cc. Both were beautiful traditional looking scoots and did well on the ride. Overall, though, I was pleased with how my Xciting compared to the other scoots. Nice job Kymco.
