On The Other Hand, What If I Just Keep The Italica Bulldog 150?

Because, you know, that's always an option. It's an enjoyable bike to ride, it's good for town and reasonably good for "country highway" riding, I don't really see a "freeway" bike as a necessity, and there's room for improvement.

I could swap in a 250cc engine (my guy at the scooter shop says the 250cc engines Italica uses in its scooters fit well with, and into the space for, their 150cc engines). That seems a little needlessly expensive, though.

Right now, the bike handles 55 miles per hour just fine, and it's been past 60 under ideal conditions. I suspect I could get it comfortably to 65 miles per hour by replacing the air filter and exhaust with performance options and adjusting (possibly re-jetting, maybe even replacing) the carburetor. That's probably a $300-$400 project.

To address temperature issues (that may have been what caused the shutdown last week), for another $100 or so (parts and labor, closer to $50 if I do the work myself), I could switch out the stock fan for one that supposedly moves more air, as well as put a "scoop" on in place of the stock fan cover to direct more air at the fan. Another $100-$200 (there are various options including DIY) for an oil cooler.

There are "performance" CDIs out there, but after my experience with a dud one on the old 50cc scooter, I'd want to be very careful about sourcing. The advantage would be getting rid of any RPM restrictions (but of course I'd have to keep an eye on my tach instead of the bike preventing me from burning up the engine). Probably in the $50 range for a reputable/reliable one.

Would that turn the Bulldog into the bike I really want? Maybe. The final step would be slightly wider tires, but that will wait until the original tires actually need to be replaced anyway.

On the other hand, the numbers above amount to a considerable percentage of what I'd spend just buying a bigger bike. Used, but a "mainstream name brand" with considerably more horsepower and a non-Chinese engine.

I'll be thinking about that between now and Friday, when I'll be plunking down $120 for the Bulldog's 3,000-mile maintenance (it's only just past 2,000 miles but I have a big trip coming up) -- oil, gear oil, having the guy go over the variator/belt upgrade to make sure everything's in good shape, etc. At some point I'll start doing the regular maintenance myself, but for now I'm willing to pay to have a real mechanic, who mostly works on these very vehicles, keep things in shape.