Modern Vespa

So, in anticipation of all the logistics falling into place, I bought a 2012 Kymco Downtown 200i to ride the Cannonball 2020 on. I do have Vespa's that would qualify but this gives me the option of selling at the end and flying back as I do not want to part with my Vespa.

Anyhow, I found the Kymco user's forum, posted an introduction like I did here and 5 days later, not one welcoming response unlike this forum. Not sure if the Kymco forum is not as active or maybe the intro and welcome is unique to this forum.

Another reason for joining the Kymco forum was to be able to tap into the collective experience of the user's to learn more about the scoot. I am not as hopeful on that.

Bottom line is that it shows how wonderful this forum is and how active everyone is.

A big kudos to all on this forum!

The Kymco forum is not as sociable as this one; that is there's not so many "welcome aboard", "best of luck", etc. posts, but if you have a specific technical issue that members are able to help with, you'll get plenty of responses.

Yup, I went there and I got the same response.

I thought that it was just me.

Good to know that someone else got the cold shoulder.

And no, I didn't go back.

Bill x

Let me make up for it.

Welcome fellow Kymco owner.

I'm always here if you need someone to talk to.

Let's face it, I need all the friends I can get.

Bill x

When I owned a Kymco I was an active member there. Not so much anymore. They have a core group of contributors that are a helpful and friendly bunch, but yes overall the forum isn't anywhere as inviting or established as the MV community.

That's why I come here every day. It isn't even about what you ride that qualifies you as a scooter owner here. I've seen too many places on the web and Facebook of scooter groups are that almost hostile.

I agree with this, whole-heartedly. When I owned a Can Am Spyder, I was a member of spyderlovers.com. I guess I still am, sort of like here at MV . Incidentally, I ran into hollybry over there, which was a real bright spot.

Anyway, totally different feel to it. There are certainly a core group of posters, but I didn't fit in with it. No one here (that I recall) gave me any real grief about having the Spyder. Over there though, any mention of scooters was met with immediate, and negative, response, often from that core group.

Still owning my NC700 I occasionally go to a forum related to that model. Not nearly as social as MV, but also not nearly the negativity or at least square peg in round hole feeling, as I had over at the Can Am forum.

Nope, I'm an MVer all the way.

On the other hand . . .

Kymco Forum post reflects a very experienced scooter rider that has NOT actually made a worthwhile research effort!

Sooo many slacker "chain-yankers" reposting similar queries . . just got this whatever and consider ALL previous discussions to be irrelevant and unrelated to MY time line.



Just NOT seeing much initiative on your part!

Re-grease front wheel bearings, connect exhaust header pipe nuts with silicone hose (vibration may loosen them), run some Lucas Fuel Treatment . . reference.

You registered on the Kymco forum on Thursday. This is Saturday.
You asked for maintenance tips and long distance riding tips from other DT200i owners. Not sure how many of us have done much of either on your scooter.
Sorry you weren't welcomed promptly enough....
Since we own Kymcos - we've been out riding.

O.S.

I was going to crack a joke about the Kymco Forum being quiet because they havn't got anything to complain about but that would be in poor taste.

Bill x

Here's how to modify a Kymco for the Scooter Cannonball.

Put 15% taller rear gears in, put 8.5 grams of 0.6 micron tungsten disulfide in the engine oil and 1.75 grams in the gear oil, pump up your tires to 40 psi, put in 1000 RPM clutch springs, and drop in a Pulstar HE1HT9 spark plug. It'll hit 85 MPH and *still* get ~75 MPG. If you take it easier on the throttle, you'll be getting in the 90 MPG range. Drop 200 ml of acetone and 200 ml of water in with your fuel, and it'll have more than enough power for anything you want to do (only do that with E10 gasoline... with straight gas with no ethanol, you have to use less water).

If you want to get fancy, drop in ceramic or hybrid-ceramic bearings in your wheels and rear gears to lower friction... the thing will roll so easily it's not even funny. You can still cut bearing friction a good bit just by mixing in tungsten disulfide with your grease, though.

....alchemy..?

I don't know if you have understood it but I am in this forum also for the people who attend ... if there was teleportation I would come to meet you all.

Or a plane.

Bill x

just another song

Yeah.

I don't think I'll be going back at any time soon.

Actually because it was so frosty in there I think I may have flounced off.

This place is far nicer.

Bill x

You get a better class of insult.

Oh yes.

I'm clutching my pearls in expectation.

Bill x

... you joke us but your comments are one of the my reasons why it is fun to participate in this forum ...

Well I'm glad that someone appreciates them.

You have to have a sense of humour don't you ?

Don't you ?

I often get in trouble for saying the wrong thing but hey ho, someones got to do it.

Bill x

My engine on the BMW is made by Kymco. Does that get me in to the cool kids club?

I'm not convinced that either of us are approaching cool so I won't be submitting my application.

Loner is more my status.

Bill x

"Better class of insult!"
Love it! Acerbic humour!

So the OP got little more from here than he did m the Kymco forum other than a few feel good posts and some feeble attempts at humour.
Oh yes MV is much better than the Kymco fourm.

To be fair, there are probably far fewer Kymco owners/experts on MV than on the Kymco forum, by its nature. Feel-good posts and feeble attempts at humour are pretty much all one could expect from us.

Worth the price of admission and then some.

Hard to beat free but yes. Hell owning a Vespa or even a Piaggio product isn't required. Though a lot of non owners have owned them in the past and participate in the Vespa specific threads.

This place really has become more a community than a Vespa forum. However it is THE best place on the Internet for Vespa info. Hell it's probably one of the best for any motorcycle question as there are a lot of us here that have experience with other bikes. Crotch rockets maybe not so much but we pretty much have everything else covered.

And no insults and no know-it-all posts so I consider that a win for the OP.

That was so subtle I almost missed it.

Bill x

Well my intention in writing this post was to point out how nice this forum is and how active it is. It seems that people here take the time to acknowledge and welcome new people which encourages those people to participate in the forum. This is what keeps a forum alive.