mpgmotors.com Blog

Second car? First bike!

January 16, 2008 on 8:24 pm | In Efficiency |

Great customers (and we have a lot of them!) teach us as much as we pass on to them. One family stopped by recently and told us they needed another vehicle. They had a shared car but their work situation had changed and now they work in two different places - not close! They decided they needed another vehicle. What they did that was generally new, neat and different was that instead of looking for a second car, they went looking for a first motorcycle. Why did this make sense for them? It was more than just one reason…

First our customer had been a motorcyclist in the past and wanted to get back to riding. The ability, knowledge and desire to ride was already there.

Second, the bike will get much better gas mileage and was less expensive than a small used car. Insurance was very affordable and they suited up with the savings getting a DOT/Snell approved helmet to go along with the bike.

Finally, the couple had a fallback option, they planned ahead - when the weather prevents riding, they’re going to accept an increased commute time and take the car or the bus and get dropped off at work before heading off to the other work destination. This makes a long commute that day, but not an impossible situation.

The Hyosung GV250 motorcycle, the Hyosung MS3-250 scooter and the Genuine Scooter Company Buddy scooters are great deals that fit this role perfectly. The MS3-250 Scooter is the most expensive of the three. It lists for $4,300. The GV250 has a list price of $3,499 and the Buddy 125cc scooter sells for as little as $2,599. All of these vehicles return at least about 60mpg, have low insurance costs and can go pretty much anywhere in the Philadelphia area. I don’t recommend taking the Buddy out on the turnpikes and large highways. It’s top speed is just about the average speed out there ~65mph. But the two Hyosung’s can easily exceed that with reported top speeds of about 90mph - plenty of speed for your commute.

So, for just about what you would pay for an older used car, you can get a new bike/scooter, save money and have fun!

Speaking of fun, VespaUSA ran a contest and gave away prizes for the best customer-created video. I love the winning video and saw Rex Hermogino (http://www.rexnfx.com) perform it at the CycleWorld show in Manhattan at the end of December! See if this doesn’t dovetail with what our customers did themselves! Then see if Rex’s song doesn’t get stuck in your head!