I Can't Imagine The Italica Bulldog 150 (and Analogs) Won't Be a Hit

At the web sites of various Florida scooter shops, I see the Italica Bulldog 150 listed at prices ranging from ~$1,800 to ~$2,200 (interestingly, one shop wants $300 more for the version with yellow fairings like mine than for other colors even though the only obvious difference is the color of those fairings). So far as I can tell, it's a very new product line, at least in the US.

That pricing is comparable with the Honda Navi, of which the Bulldog is a fairly obvious "clone."

BUT!

The Bulldog has an ABS disc brake on the front wheel (drum on the rear), while the Navi runs drum brakes front and rear. That's safer.

AND!

The Bulldog boasts a larger engine (150cc vs. 109cc), although it claims the same top speed (55mph) stock. Both bikes can be modified for increased speed, of course, but more displacement means more potential to work with.

AND!

I intended to buy a 2023 Navi -- "new old stock" -- at my local Honda dealership. It was on sale for $1,396. It was gone when I got there, but the sales guy assured me they could find another for "about the same price" ... "$3,000 or so out the door."

Because, see, "dealer fees" and "freight charges" aren't included in the listed price. Title/tags aren't either, but that's understandable. The "dealer fee" / "freight charges" thing is a bait and switch. They advertise price X, but when you get there the real price is approximately X*2.

The scooter dealer I work with (Campus Scooters of Gainesville, Florida) doesn't charge "dealer fees," and apparently freight is just priced into the list price. I did get a $200 "return customer" discount, but my price "out the door" -- scooter, title, tags -- came to less than $2,200. I'm under the impression that most scooter shops are more honest with their pricing than traditional motorcycle (or car) dealerships.

So if "something like the Navi" is what you're interested in, but you're not made of money, the Bulldog is probably the better deal.

FINAL AND!

Italica is a scooter company and moves its product through scooter dealerships.

The primary market for scooters, at least in college towns, is college students who need something to get around campus and nearby areas on.

Lots of people love the little "euro-style" scooters modeled on the Italian Vespa. I love them myself. I've got one.

But let's think about the student market segment for a moment.

More than 40% of undergratuate college students are male. 

And 40% of all college undergrads are 18-20 years old.

That has implications.

You're an 18-year-old male and an incoming college freshman.

You arrive on campus, with Mom and Dad there to help you move into the dorm. They notice all those scooters whizzing around town and say "hey, we should get you something like that so you don't have to walk to class and Uber to the grocery store" (the bar scene is likely left unmentioned). "Let's hit one of the local scooter shops and get you set up!"

So, do you want a low-riding, big-rear-fender, baby blue euro-style scooter?

Or do you want the high-riding "motorcycle" with bold, sexy fairing colors ... in the same price range, and featuring a top speed that doesn't give Mom the vapors?

I'm not in the "college student who needs to get around in a three-mile radius" market. But the Bulldog does serve that market segment about as well as the more sedate "scooter" market, and it does so more in The Wild One style than in Roman Holiday style.

Yes, your average 18-year-old male can pick up chicks on the Vespa clone. But he probably at least thinks he can pick up wilder chicks on the Navi clone.

I'm pretty sure the Bulldog is a "new" bike, at least in the US market (since it's a Florida-company "rebrand" of a Chinese bike made by Zhilong, it will presumably be sold under other make/model names -- I'm pretty sure it's a US "upgrade" of the Italika BiT 150 sold in Mexico for at least a couple of years now).

I'm not seeing much out there about it, but I'm expecting to start seeing a lot about it. It's a great platform for testesterone-heavy college kids, and for entry-level motorcyclists, and for "modify Chinese scooters/motorcycles" hobbyists.