Bought the Scooter!

 

Italica Grace. Used. A little scratched up. $848 with tax and tags. Now I just need to get a driver's license and bring it home.

Update, because that first post was from my phone:

I was looking at used scooters online at a couple of local dealerships, as I've been doing, when I noticed two things.

One was that the $900 Binetti I had my eyes on New Scooters for Less had sold. The other was that this used Italica Grace was priced to sell at $599 at Campus Scooters. I dropped by, sat on it (and on another style of scooter just to decide what I liked better), listened to it run, and pulled the trigger.

It's got about 5,500 miles on it. Belt was replaced at 5,000, and it has a fresh oil change. It was a trade-in from a prior customer, who (they claim) brought it in for its regular service, etc. I won't say it was "well loved" -- it's got some road rash or some other kind of extensive scratching on the right rear panel -- but it seems to be in decent shape. I rode it from the sales bay to the work bay so it wasn't on their "showroom floor" anymore, and already like it.

My appointment to get a driver's license isn't until the 28th, but I'm planning to find some way (cough) to get it home tomorrow. Whether it will get additional work before I get my license, I don't know yet. If there's any kind of throttle restriction, that will go. Maybe a better carburetor. At some point it will likely get a "100cc" (actually more like 80cc) bore kit. I want this thing to do 50mph so that it's less dangerous on the local two-lane highways.

I've got a helmet, a motorcycle/scooter cover (we have no garage or carport), and a phone holder on the way. I'll probably also buy a USB charger to install so that my phone can be plugged in when I'm riding.

Black was not my first choice of color, as I like to be highly visible. Part of that, I'll try to address with bright clothing. Maybe some psychedelic stickers and such. And I may even do some "underglow" lighting so that it's more visible at night.

So far, all I really know about this scooter is that it sits comfortably (the "European" style is more of a flat than lean-forward feel than the "tries to look like a motorcycle" style), that it runs, and that it seems to run smoothly. Everything feels nice and tight, which is unsurprising. I'm sure they went over things before putting it out for sale. It has the sort of "industry standard" 139QMB (most people, apparently incorrectly, refer to it as a Gy6) engine, so I shouldn't have to worry about weird proprietary parts.

Update, Friday, 11/17: A little more research, from the VIN. This scooter is actually a 2019 ZNEN ZN50QT. These machines are apparently manufactured (with different cosmetic variations) by Taizhou Zhongneng Motorcycle Co., Ltc. for wholesaling to companies (like Florida's Italica) who put their brand/model name on them and sell them retail. Very nice -- a generic scooter for which parts are widely available!