Modern Vespa

I've been looking to upgrade from my BV250 for some time now and have been out looking at various maxi-scooters. Found a sharp Kymco Xciting 500i but wasn't able to close a deal.

No matter though, as I went to check out a 2007 Piaggio X9 Evolution 500 after work tonight and made a deal. I hope to be on the road early next week once the paperwork is done. Here's a picture taken as I arrived to view the bike.

I closed the deal on the '07 X9 Evolution 500 tonight and she's home safe now.

Looks very comfy, enjoy the 500

Thanks. I've had it almost 48 hours now and I've put on 380 kms. It cruises nicely at 120 kph and passing traffic is not a problem. I'm amazed with the amount of storage space between the under seat and the huge rear trunk.

You have my twin, same color and OEM top case. I've got over 52,000 miles on mine and still enjoy riding it. I know you will too.

Does it have the electronic center stand and heated grips?

Mine has the standard manual center stand and no heated grips. All good though.

My two girls, both '07 models, BV250 and X9 Evolution 500.

So, I've had the X9 now since late July 2013 and it's never really run right. It refused to idle properly, stalled at traffic lights and was a pain to start hot or cold. I did some research online and found that there was a recall issued back in 2009 regarding the fuel pump and/or some hoses.

I emailed Piaggio Canada several times and included my VIN to ask if my bike was affected. NO REPLY.

OK, so I call my local Piaggio dealer and provided my VIN and asked them to check. Within minutes the service rep advised that my bile was affected and she opened a work order. Parts had to be ordered and they'd call and let me know. That was on August 15, 2013. I park the bike and wait patiently.

I get a call four weeks later and the bike is at the dealer on September 15, 2013. The work is completed free of charge and I go to pick up on September 17, 2013. When I arrive I find that they've knocked the analogue instrument cluster and broken the blue bezel that fits between the lens and the gauge face. Dealer promises to fix so I leave the scooter and hitch a ride home.

Dealer calls on September 19, 2013 to say the bezel can't be fixed so they remove it completely. The dash still has the back lit blue light and all looks good so I take off for a ride just to be sure. Seemed much better and I decide to fill the tank to be ready to ride the next day. Once full, I turn on the bike but the fuel gauge only reads quarter full. Nothing seems to help so back it goes to the dealer to fix another thing they broke.

I get the call this morning September 24, 2013 that the fuel gauge is now working. Seems they blocked something when they serviced the fuel pump as part of the recall work but that was fixed. I check and double check and everything looks good now.....finally.

I rode her home, gave her a wash and re-installed my rear top case. Looks like I'm mobile again. Whew.

PS: Piaggio Canada NEVER replied to any of my emails and I am definitely NOT impressed. The X9 Evolution is a very nice ride, but when the manufacturer ignores customers maybe it's best to buy Japanese, Korean or Taiwanese scoots.

Looks like this is the final week of riding for me as temperatures have dropped below zero Celsius overnight and it's a bit chilly in the morning. It was zero this morning and the temperature on my LCD display was flashing which I thought was odd and kept flashing the whole time I rode to work. I checked when I got to my desk and sure enough there is something on this in the owners manual.

"The temperature value updates automatically at every variation of ± 1 °C. When the external temperature reaches +3 °C, the display flashes for 40 seconds; the same occurs at every decrease of temperature."

I guess the factory folks just wanted owners to know that it's cold outside, like I wasn't going to notice or something. Too funny.