Well, Now, That’s Xciting!
Those who have been keeping up will remember that I mentioned yesterday that I thought that a look at the Kymco Xciting 500 maxi-scooter might be in order. 
Today, I trundled out to MotoStrada in Timonium to have a look, and to park my butt on the machine.
The Xciting 500 seems to have the utility of the big Suzuki Burgman 650 at the price of the smaller Burgman 400, and it’s sized right in between. It retains all of the “big bike” feel of the big Burgman, which I like, and it fairs very nearly as well in the storage department. It also comes in a 250cc “little sister” model. More on that later.
I was quite comfortable on the machine (sitting in the showroom), and it’s balance and weight is pretty similar to the Burgman 400. The seat is a little firmer, and shaped a little differently than many I’ve tried. Of course, it remains to be seen how Donna will fit on the back seat. The warranty period is one of the best in the business — a full two-year factory warranty. The only one better is Genuine’s two-year warranty with one-year roadside assistance.
There’s no backrest available from Kymco, but, a Givi E450 “trunk” box with a seat pad on the back would serve that purpose fine, and add some storage space as well. 
One other annoyance would be the gauge package. Thanks to images found on the web, I was able to show a comparison of the gauges by day and by night. This bike is made in Taiwan, and as such, is geared towards Asian and European markets, so the speedometer is set up to have its primary indication in km/h. Miles per hour is indicated by the smaller, red scale. Red on gray is not a great color combination for daytime reading. Obviously, at night, it’s an easy read, as shown in the bottom half of the picture. Of course, it would be an easy matter to make a speedo overlay. In other words, it’s a minor annoyance, but an annoyance just the same.
It also looks like “very soon” would be a good time if I’m going to buy the Xciting, as MotoStrada are offering a nice discount on the unit they have in stock. Basically, it drops off the “local destination charge” for shipping from the US distributor to the dealer. Once that unit is gone, they’ll be getting in the ‘08 model, which will likely carry a slightly higher price tag.
I was disappointed that MotoStrada did not have a Venox 250 in stock to look at, but that may be just as well.
I also stopped by to visit the folks at Scootertronics, as I wanted to take another look at the JMStar Expressway 250. In all honesty, while the price is attractive, it’s really not going to be a serious contender. At 250cc, it’s not going to be a good machine for cruising on the highway with Donna on the back. Heck, it might even struggle to maintain Interstate speeds with me on top. And, the storage capacity is dismal. There’s a reason they have to give away a trunk box with it. So, despite the fact that I could almost get two for the price of one of the Xciting 500s, it just won’t cut it.
What was interesting in my visit, though, is that one of the principals there is selling his personal motorcycle, a Tank Vision R1, at pretty much a bargain price. It’s one of those 250cc machines that feels like quite a bit more, with a 17hp parallel twin 4-cycle motor with dual overhead cams and four valves-per-cylinder. Wow! And, at just about $2000, it did pique my interest. It has a good feel under the butt, and a nice heft, and only about 350 miles on it — barely broken in. His looks pretty much like this picture, except the bike is black. Of course, it has the same speedo problem as the Kymcos do — km/h is the primary speed indication, and the mph is relatively small on the gauge.
Of course, it is a motorcycle, not a scooter, and as such, it has gears to shift (not a big deal, just not in the original plan). And, in order to make it able to carry anything, saddle bags would be required. Also, it’s really a single person machine, with a maximum payload of just 300 lbs. But, it does look pretty cool, and the $2000 price tag is very attractive. And, it would be good for the option I mentioned before — using a small bike to improve my skills before moving to the bigger machine, whatever that might be (Donna still wants to ride on a Goldwing).
I also received a message from a friend this evening, indicating that I should “hold off on buying that bike … I might have something in your price range.” I’ll be interested to see what he comes up with.
Now, here’s that “more later” bit. Donna, rather off-handedly, asked me “what if I wanted to ride one to work?”
I had to tell her that I really didn’t think she’d be able to deal with taking the MSF course I took. I honestly think that she’d have problems learning the whole “clutch with the hand, shift with the foot, first is down, the rest are up and neutral’s between 1st and 2nd” thing. Not to mention one brake with her foot and the other with the same hand that runs the throttle. However, I do believe she could handle a scooter. Heck, she’d done it, and quite well.
However, in order to ride a scooter bigger than 50cc, she would, of course, need a license. And, in order for a motorized vehicle to be legal to travel on Interstate Highways, the minimum engine size is 250cc. Of course, she’d also need to be able to carry her lunch, purse, briefcase, and the myriad of other things she carts off to work. As I mentioned, Kymco make the Xciting in a 250cc variant, along with a couple of other nice looking models.
The idea is that I would ride for at least the required 3 years. Then, she would get a motorcycle learners’ permit and ride with me (or other, approved [by me]) riders until she felt comfortable enough to take the test, which she could then do on her own scooter. She’d be automatically assessed two penalty points for having an automatic transmission, but, that would be a minor annoyance, compared to the rest of the test.
Or, she could just opt to ride as a passenger with me.
I know you’re jonesing for a new bike, but there might be something good on Craig’s List.
I’ve been watching Craigslist pretty much daily. So far, I’ve seen mostly crotch-rockets (which I hate), junk or bikes that are just plain too big.
I’m trying to strike a balance between something that’s not too big for a beginning rider, but not so small that I’ll tire of it in a short time. I want to be able to get at least a few years out of whatever I buy. I mean, one of my cousins still rides his 1974 Harley Davidson Sportster — on occasion.
[...] that, when the time comes to get the maxi-scooter, I will be buying the Kymco Xciting 500 that I mentioned last week from MotoStrada. It’s not so much for the machine, but for the dealer: Mark at [...]