The mid-sized scooter market is scorching hot right now

"shop-teacher" (shop-teacher)
06/20/2020 at 12:28 • Filed to: two wheels good

I am constantly shopping for scooters, because it’s kind of my thing. Lately I’ve b een doing it with a bit more purpose, as both Birddog and SpecsGTP need scooters for !!!error: Indecipherable SUB-paragraph formatting!!! 2020 this September. Something weird has been happening though. Every single quality scooter in the 125-150cc range is getting snapped up almost instantly.

Take this jaunty orange Zuma as an example ... yes, it’s an uncropped screenshot, and no I don’t care ;). This thing had me contemplating selling my black Zuma 125 and buying this one. $2200 is a very strong number for one of these, but I have seen a few sell in the $2000 range in the last couple weeks, and this one looks to be low mileage and minty fresh. Well, within two hours the listing was marked pending, and by the end of the day it was sold.

Later that evening I spotted this clean Elite 125, that had just had a bunch of motor work done to it. Again, $1200 is a strong ask. I routin ely see these Elite 125 and 150's sell for $900-1000 after they sit for sale for $1200-15 00 for weeks on end.

Well, color me wrong again, because this one was marked sold within an hour of being listed . Check the time listed in the screenshot.

I then pulled up my saved listings to see what else had sold that day. This Kymc o Super 8-150 (same model as my first scooter, just in a different color) had interested me at $1000. However the description of the ad read, “Some head damage from crash, but fixable.”

When I read that, and thought, “ Drrrr ... good luck dude.” I figured I’d save that and watch the price drop over the coming weeks, and maybe score it as a cheap project in a month or two.

WRONG AGAIN! Sold within nine hours.

I have never seen the market like this, not even close. It actually has me contemplating selling my Zuma 125 at a nice profit, and either buying another one for 1/2 price in the fall, or putting the money towards a proper motorcycle.

I probably won’t do it, for a couple reasons. I genuinely love both of my scooters. Every time I ride my Zuma, I think, “ I can’t get rid of this, this thing is the best.” Then I ride my Hooligan, and I think the same thing. I love them both so much, and I’ve been putting plenty of miles on both of them. Also, I promised my best friend, who lives out of state, that I’d make sure he had something to ride if he comes to IdiotFest. He has put it in his calendar, but since he’s in the Army, the government can change that at a moments notice. Such is life. So the Zuma will more likely than not stay in the fleet, but I have to admit that the idea of putting my stock parts back on, selling it at a profit, and them making even more by selling the hop-up parts ... the temptation is real.

I definitely regret not buying the Riva 180 we looked at a few weeks ago in Wisconsin. Sorting that carb would be a total biatch, but for the $300 asking price, I could make a nice profit off of that thing. Oh well!

Another interesting thing, is this hot market is decidedly not happening for the big touring scooters. There are loads of 250+cc Honda Elites, Helixes and Reflexes, Yamaha Morph ouses and Majesties, and Suzuki Bugmans for sale in the $1500-2500 range. Some even cheaper. They’re hardly selling at all.

I bet there will be a lot of cheap scooters for sale in the fall!

DISCUSSION (24)

jminer > shop-teacher
06/20/2020 at 12:42

My guess is a ton of people either looking for cheap transportation or cheap fun in this crazy ass summer.

Gerry197 > shop-teacher
06/20/2020 at 12:45

Yup, prices have gone up. I was looking at used dirt bikes, enduros and dual sports for a while now, and noticed the price jump recently.

You find a good or even reasonably deal on Craigslist, it’s gone within the hour of posting.

To the point I even started looking at new bikes, was at my local bike dealership recently, it was packed full of shoppers and they were selling bikes left and right.

Not just bikes, but used cars in the low price spectrum are going up in price. Trying finding a cheap Miata or other interesting car in the $2000-$4000 range, prices are up!

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > shop-teacher
06/20/2020 at 12:46

If I had a garage I might get my last Vespa running. I do like a Ruckus, we have lots of those in Hawaii.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > shop-teacher
06/20/2020 at 12:48

This is why I gotta as STOKED to find a small enduro for under 2 grand. The fact that I could walk to get it was was a plus.

shop-teacher > jminer
06/20/2020 at 12:58

I think it’s the cheap fun. If people just needed a cheap way to get to work, then those touring scooters would be selling too.

shop-teacher > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
06/20/2020 at 12:58

Nice! Yeah, you had to jump on that, no doubt.

shop-teacher > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)
06/20/2020 at 12:58

I like the Ruckus a lot, but I wish they’d put a 125 or a 150 in it.

shop-teacher > Gerry197
06/20/2020 at 13:01

Yeah, the local Yamaha dealer was almost sold out of inventory a couple weeks ago. They had five 50cc scooters, five dirt bikes, maybe 10 new proper motorcycles, and exactly one used motorcycle. That’s IT. No ATV’s, no jet skis, nothing else whatsoever.

I haven’t been looking at cheap fun cars, but I’m not surprised to see their prices jump as well. Pop-up camper prices have jumped too. I bought a decent used one for a deal at the end of the season last year. I could sell that right now for a nice profit, but then I’d have sad kids.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > shop-teacher
06/20/2020 at 13:03

Well you could probably kit them up a bit, the funny thing is a new smaller 50 cc motor will destroy my old 150cc. They are fast as hell but it’s not a highway bike, Hawaii is different because you can just go anywhere and it isn’t that far. You only need a bicycle reg sticker for 50cc there so everyone gets them.

shop-teacher > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)
06/20/2020 at 13:08

You can kit them up some, although it seems people that want them faster, usually swap in a GY6 ... which ewww. I actually sold the running riding chassis of the Helix I parted out last year, to a guy who was going to swap the running gear onto a Ruckus.

The local conditions being what they are, it makes sense that they’re so popular here. 50cc scooters are popular here, because while they are required to be registered as a motorcyc le, you are not required to have a motorcycle license to ride one.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > shop-teacher
06/20/2020 at 13:12

yeah the swaps on the small Ruckus are ugly and defeat the point for me, I like how they look and how simple they are. There is always the big Ruckus but it isn’t as cool looking to me.

Kinja'd!!!

shop-teacher > 415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°)
06/20/2020 at 13:15

Agreed on all counts.

The Big Ruckuses sell for stupid money too. It’s just a dressed up Helix, and they sell for 2-3 times the price of a Helix.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > shop-teacher
06/20/2020 at 13:16

It had been sitting in the guys driveway for 3 days but was only on CL for maybe a day. I’m probably lucky he didn’t put it on FB. He did say people had offered him 1000 for it. He was asking 1400 and I paid 1300.

HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles > shop-teacher
06/20/2020 at 13:19

I’m definitely seeing more bikes, and scooters running around my small town than I did last year, especially in the last month now that it’s warmed up.

jminer > shop-teacher
06/20/2020 at 13:20

You’re tempting me to browse my listings and look for a big scooter...

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > shop-teacher
06/20/2020 at 13:25

P eople like to be naked I guess. I wish they made a scaled up Ruckus. I woul d probably just get a TW if I wanted something more capable. I don’t plan on riding again anyway, I know too many very experienced riders of all kinds of bikes who have died, almost died, can’t walk or almost never walked again. I came to CA and a couple people in my union have died and one will probably never work again since he is getting older, he had been riding Harleys for forty years or something and someone just turned in front of him without warning. I quit in Hawaii, so many fat braddahs in huge trucks can’t turn their fat heads (plus massive pot holes) !

shop-teacher > HFV has no HFV. But somehow has 2 motorcycles
06/20/2020 at 13:49

That's a great score!

shop-teacher > jminer
06/20/2020 at 13:49

I've been tempted myself :)

shop-teacher > jminer
06/20/2020 at 14:43

This one in particular, is very tempting.

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/1328104167397072/

jminer > shop-teacher
06/20/2020 at 16:01

Holy crap that looks amazing! I would rock that scooter and $1500 seems like a great price for it.

shop-teacher > jminer
06/20/2020 at 16:54

It is. I suspect that one will sell reasonably quickly.

SmugAardvark > shop-teacher
06/20/2020 at 18:17

I keep telling myself to just go out and buy another Ruckus. I loved mine, rode it more than any of my motorcycles. And the reality is than $2,500 for a new one wouldn’t hurt me financially at all.

But then I hear my partner in my head, getting hysterical about me being on two wheels again.

Manny05x > shop-teacher
06/21/2020 at 09:13

I want a Honda Dio so bad...

shop-teacher > Manny05x
06/21/2020 at 10:01

That would be awesome.