Bikes I Might Want, But Might Not Be Able To Swing Right Now

Locally, I found a lightly used Vitacci Clash 200 EFI for $1,300. Top speed in excess of 60mph, stock, and it gets very good reviews as a scooter. It's a "bought it for my wife, she just doesn't ride it" situation. I could buy a new Clash for about $1800 including shipping ... and then I'd have to assemble it, etc. ... and the reviews on Amazon, etc. regarding shipment, assembly, missing or defective parts, etc. aren't that encouraging. This one is "broken in" and supposedly just fine functionally. Which is how I want my bikes, especially if they're Chinese scooters, as customer support seems to be a major issue with those.

I'm waiting on a quote for a used Kymco Like 150i (very reputable Taiwanese manufacturer) from a dealership. I suspect I'd like that one even better than the Clash, and I'd be titled/temp-tagged leaving the dealership instead of spending another couple of hours dealing with DMV.

Either of these bikes, stock, would be great for town riding and country highways, as well as reasonably short freeway rides.

BUT!

$1300 or more cash, plus taxes/tags, turns out to be something I can't manage at the moment after all. There was some ... family miscommunication ... about money I thought was being set aside, and it would crater my personal cash reserve to that media-touted "a $400 emergency would drain me completely" point.

My alternative is "turn Bitcoin into gift cards, or finance with monthly payments, and risk the Amazon/Walmart 'shipped partially assembled' thing that seems to generate most poor reviews."

As you may be able to tell from the above, I'm leaning back toward a scooter rather than a motorcycle, for a few reasons:

1. Lower learning curve. Yes, I passed the basic rider course on a Honda Rebel 250 and was able to accomplish basic shifting, etc. But I'm not good at it yet, and it would take me some time to get good at it and be comfortable riding. I've put about a thousand miles on the small scooter, and the only thing that scares me about it is not being able to get to a 50mph minimum to "keep up with traffic." Which, of course, a bigger scooter will fix. Feet on the floor instead of handling shifting and rear brake means I can pay more attention to the road. I'm not wanting to go racing, mudding, etc. I'm wanting to ride the roads on both business and pleasure.
2. Wheels. Most of the motorcycles in even my highest conceivable price range have large wheels (I prefer to sit lower), and old-fashioned spoked wheels at that. Spoked wheels require tuning and, I suspect, are more prone to bend/collapse in any kind of collision than smaller alloy wheels. I'd like to keep it at 14" or under, alloy.

The only up side I'm seeing to a motorcycle is that most of them offer easier access to the innards, so that you don't spend half an hour taking off the outer panels to do modifications. And I expect that any bike I get will end up being modified -- maybe not a bigger bore, but various little things that offer at least slight performance benefits. Since getting in there is a drag, I'd be tempted to do multiple things at once instead of taking it a step at a time. But I'd resist that temptation. Baby steps, you know.

If I get a scooter that can do 60+ mph stock, it's plausible that I can eventually -- eventually, I'm not in a huge hurry -- boost that to 70+, maybe with the ability to cruise at 60 without straining the engine ... which would make longer freeway trips a doable thing.

Again -- right sidebar links if anyone would like to help me get to "I can fork over $1600 or so, including taxes and tags, to buy something in person locally."