Modern Vespa

Just about everyday riding to work I get ask about how much these things cost because they are looking for one. I tell them what I paid for my used LT150 which was almost 1,800 and that's with the TTL. I get this looks as if I'm a retard or something. Then I tell them what my friend paid for his new buddy 150 which was $3,000 TTL, and I really get the looks. The same thing happens to my friends that ride here in New Orleans.

I know New Orleans is not a booming market but come on.


Does this happen to anyone else? I wonder sometimes what people think a new scooter cost. I guess they must be thinking of those "made in china" scooters or 1970 prices or something.

I've been asked a few times up here in B. R., and the questions are the same: how much? how fast? MPG?

No looks like I'm crazy yet, but I doubt that we'll ever become a scooter town.

Y, just yesterday a well used dodge minivan rolled down the window at a stoplight and ask the usual two questions: what is the gas mileage, and how much does it cost.

My reply of mileage in the 70s got a big smile, but when I revealed the price I was met with a blank stare of bewilderment.

I had this happen to me last week. An older guy came over to me after getting out of his car and said "nice bike". He asked all the usual questions then came to "how much do those "things" cost?" I told him about $4500 and he said "you must be crazy- or nuts". Hmmmm, how polite. I said you could get a Chinese scoot for much less but that I'd be afraid to go over 10mph on it. He smiled and said "good talkin to you" and walked away. Now do you think he would have said that I was crazy if I was on a new Harley Ultra that cost north of $30,000.00???

Bob

when I tell them how much MPG then they say "hmm that's not a bad price"

We were in a parking lot the other day practicing for the DMV test and a lady pulled up, got out, and had a bunch of questions about the scooter. She said her husband bought her a 1200 cc Harley sportster and it was too much for her and she wanted a vespa instead. We told her what we paid and got the deer in headlights look form someone who had a much more expensive motorcycle that she never rode.
Most times that the wife and I ride people ask her about her scoot. Before we got hers I hassled lots of scooter folks about stuff, I may have even asked you some of those questions:D

I see more scooters all the time in NOLA.

ride safe.

I hate when they say you must be crazy.
Monday that buddy 150 and I went out for lunch. We went through a drive up window, ordered our food, and when we went to pay for it these where the 3 question we got ask.

Did we sell bibles? "I guess because we have to where ties to work"

Did we sell scooter? no

And at the same time it looked like the sky was about to drop out, all we wanted was our food.

Then they ask how much where they. So we told them. They said we where crazy and that we must be "high rollers" to just wasted our money away on a scooter.

the whole time i"m thinking who asked you? its not like i was trying to sell them a scooter. I'm just trying to get my food and go.

I guess even going to lunch can be adventure on your scooter.

It's the same 3 questions:
1) How much was it?
2) What kind of gas miliage?
3) where do you get one?

I always tell them
1) About $750.00
2) About 125 mph
3) Ebay. They ship right away and you don't need a license.

I am evil.

I just bought my Vespa S last week... have gotten plenty of questions so far while I'm practicing in the school parking lot, but no one has said I'm crazy yet... I tell them how much it cost me and they say that's not bad. However, they are very suprised to hear I need a motorcycle license ("For a SCOOTER?!?!?) and that it'll go above 35 mph. So maybe they still consider them more of a bicycles than a legal motorized mode of transportation and that we paid a lot for a "toy."

he paddylamb, love your " evil " answers. i might use them next time i get asked.

I've been doing my best Dr. Evil--" One MILlion dollars"(pinky in teeth)

I've been asked a lot about cost, too and most people by and large are surprised how inexpensive a Vespa is. Someone today thought they ran around 10K. Maybe I should have offered to sell it to them....

I get the same garbage from these people.

When I tell them I spen $4500 on my S 150 they give me the you must be crazy line but what they don't realize is this: if money is so important to them if they crunch the numbers what they spend on gas in a month for their regular car is what the monthyly payment would be on a scoot.

I really think that it comes down to our American way of thinking that BIGGER is always better and the LARGER something is the more it should cost.

Oh well just one persons insignificat opinion.

This has happened to me quite a bit.. A situation where my Vespa is worth more than the vehicle they are driving. Gets a little uncomfortable, and I usually dramatically lower the amount I tell them I paid..

I guess I could just post a sign on back of my top case with the "3" questions and answers in a master card commercial format!

My GTV with a top case was just over $8700 with tax. I bought it at The Transportation Revolution http://thetransportationrevolution.com/ on Baronne here in New Orleans. So, they are getting close to 10K -- but worth cent.

Some day people may come to the realization that vespas aren't toys.

I get questions every day and get reactions from both ends of the spectrum when it comes to price. I think people are either comparing to a car or to moped. I tend to give people a range, because they are usually asking about scooters in general, not my specific brand/engine size/model/year. Imagine if someone who'd never really seen a car before randomly picked a BMW owner and asked them how much a car costs.

Cute thread. Good ideas, and has convinced me to have answers ready. When asked what was paid, I think the best tact is to tell them that it was a gift and didn't know what the price was, (don't need to elaborate and say it was a gift to myself, nor will I remember the exact, to the penny, price paid).

Or, maybe, I'll just respond with a query about how much money they make at their job.

You are brilliant! Inspired.

Interesting that you would choose the BMW since the Vespa is often analogized to be the BMW of scooters. Following that analogy might the Yamaha Vino 125 be the Lexus of scooters, or the Kia or Toyota?

In any case, like the BMW, the Vespa is priced to sell to a market that has prestige as one of the buying criteria, and therefore may be considered not worth the money. The Vino, too, is overpriced, given a similar set of needs a buyer might have.

I never stop hoping that someday we might get a change of attitude here in the USA.. But I'm thinking that will only be possible if as a people our greed for $$ and power lets up? -Because the advertisers will almost always continuously brainwash us that more is good, bigger is better, and power reigns supreme! -It's where the most $$ can be gotten the fastest..!

Why do you think the USA auto industry is slowly sinking now? Because their very ignorant execs have no foresight, and have shown only the most stupendous greed by going for the quickest and biggest buck that they could get with the SUV's!! -Vehicles that could be slapped together cheaply onto pick-up trucks chassis and then sold at premium prices!
But IMO almost any fool with a lick of sense could see that the future belongs to energy-conserving vehicles, and successful people making the other kinds would gradually become as extinct as their gawd awful fuel wasting dinosaurs!

Hummer anyone? NO? -But why not? They've gotten much cheaper, while scooter prices have not... (I wonder why, hmmmmm?)

your answers are good too (though nothing's sacred anymore, half the population is more than happy to discuss their income, and their medical symptoms, with you)

my answer is always, i borrowed it from a friend. don't know how much it cost. to which i will now add, um, i think it was about 750 bucks.

I get asked about mileage and cost of scooter all the time. The older folks are shocked by the price, as one guy told me he paid $800 for a Vespa after WWII. Most folks however are pleasantly surprised by cost of scooter (with add ons) and mpg.

It never ceases to amaze me how incredibly rude people can be. That being said, I like the "it was a gift", idea.

Perception is reality.

When it starts to become more expensive to drive a car (like in most of Europe), people will start to see the value of a $3-$8k+ scooter or small motorcycle. At some point -- let's say when gas here in the USA hits and average of $5/gallon -- people are going to have to ask themselves is it better they have a $7,000 GTS that gets them to their job and back for less money a week in fuel and insurance than it does to buy a used car for $7,000 which will cost significantly more to fill and more to insure.

"Bigger is better" is only valid here in the USA because it's not totally impractical yet. I don't mean Hummers vs. Honda Accords. That ship has sailed. I'm talking about Accords vs. scooters. When it REALLY starts to hit people's wallets to fill and insure an Accord is when most folks here in the USA will start to take scooters and small motorcycles seriously, as REAL transportation alternatives. Why? Because they'll have to. They can't build light rail or add more buses fast enough to fix the sh!t we're in. No way.

In fact, I'm so fired up about this very idea, that I went as far as to create a t-shirt about it.

Don't sweat the people out there who cringe when they hear how much a scooter costs. They'll get it eventually. Consider yourself ahead of the curve.

I've been riding out here for years so i just get "you were smart" Living in the country is cool. When i (god forbid) take the cage or walk they ask where my scooter is 8)

Vespas are a little pricey in the realm of scooters, but when you compare it to a vehicle, and all of the other costs involved, its a no-brainer.

I rarely get shocked looks except from people who really don't know what they're looking at.

In Ontario we are having a little "experiment" with electric bicycles and those electric mopeds that look like small scooters. Since that started, I've had a couple of people as me about my "scooter thing".

The people who have a clue about what they're looking at express more surprise at me using the major highways around Toronto on a regular basis than they do about the cost.

In fact, a neighbour came to talk to me about the scooter yesterday - he's considering an MP3. I mentioned that they can be a bit expensive. he said "ah $12K, not so bad for something like that".

Most people are given pause by the need for a motorcycle license. The hassle and bureaucracy seems to be more of an issue than the cash.

[quote="robotribe"] Sweet!


*shoot... no black ones...

I have no problems answering the Three Questions.

I tell them the list price. It's available online so it's not like it's a secret.

Some people are surprised but I think there are two reasons.
1. They remember when vespas were under a grand.
2. They are small and cute so people equate them with toys.

They get interested when I tell them my milage and that I can go about 85 MPH on the expressway.

The usual response is "No Way!!!!"

I always tell them to buy a name brand scooter and only buy one for the fun factor.
Savings are a side benefit.

I don't usually mention the other benefit is yacking with my peeps on MV!

I have found that the number one question I am asked is:
"how fast dem der things go?"

Number two:
How much MPG?

Number three:
How much you pay for that?

Number four:
Where to buy one?

Number five:
Do you ride that thing on the sidewalk?

My answers:
1. 100 (I don't say Kilometers, thats what my speedo reads is Kilos)
2. 85mp(when I'm taking it easy on the throttle)
3. $2,000 is what I paid for mine
4. Vespa shop
5. only when I'm parking in the french quarter

I've gotten kinda used to the questions, but I try to answer if I got time, if not, oh well. I gave up trying to educate the general public, they are just too ignorant, and I'm not a vespa salesperson.

Chas

I don't like telling people how much I've paid for the scooter when I'm parking. I'll say instead 'Oh it was a present from my wife'. I've had some minor vandalism in the past, possibly from jealous jerks overhearing those conversations. I'm happy to talk to folks when I'm leaving.


Regards
Harvey

same here!

how fast?
mileage?
and price?

and 99% of the time its the deer in headlights response when they hear the price. i then tell them they can start our for about 3k with a buddy or kymco as another good reliable choice, then they have a look of relief. unfortunately, people still think they are toys instead of a mode of transportation.

I tell them that I bought my scooter for $ 50.00 at a yard sale and almost everyone has believed me.

I get this! I am so sick of people saying, "You could have bought a car for that!"

Again: No shit, numbnuts. I wanted a scooter and you have a 1984 Dodge Caravan.

That or I tell them I have no idea, I won it in a drawing. But that is starting to seem silly, because it makes it seem like I didn't want it. But I was initially uncomfortable with telling people how much it cost.

funny should mention an 80's car. A guy in a similar car was riding my ass after work tonight up a residential road in the east bay hills. I was doing 30 in a 25 mph. I came to a 3 way stop, then he quickly went to the left into the neighborhood speeding, which was parallel to the road I was on, so he was trying to get ahead of me at the next stop.

Well, I just had to open her up and waited for him at the next stop at the top of the hill. Once I made sure he stopped, I turned right in front of him legally and led the way with him behind me for the next mile or two when I turned off to go home.

I could tell he just gave up with his piece of shit car and was surprised I was at the stop sign well ahead of him.
8)

Fear not, scooters are starting to be accepted here in Canada. I'm even getting thumbs up from HOG riders.

My parents gave me a Lambretta for Christmas in 1958. They paid $225 for it at the Army Post Exchange (PX for anyone with any military experience), so I'm wondering if $800 isn't a little high for a post WWII Vespa. Seems to me that my dad's 1952 Chevy cost him a little less than $2000.

Before I got my second big motorcycle, sold it and got a BV 200 I was selling my Yamaha Riva.

A couple of months later I ran into a guy that stopped in to look at the Riva. He told me he'd bought a new Vespa. He said he'd paid $6,500 for it. Well I paid $4,000 for my '02 Volusia and he must have seen the look on my face because he said with a sheepish look on his face. "Well the Vespa does have a lot of chrome on it"

Since I've got a Piaggio BV 200 now. I understand why he got a Vespa.