The Bulldog Came Home Yesterday, Nearly Perfect

Nearly perfect, but not perfect, not due to any lack of effort on the part of the shop owner / mechanic.

The bike needed a new key switch, which implies a new key.

The bike doesn't just have one lock, though. It has four: The ignition lock, the gas cap cover lock, the storage compartment lock, and the seat lock.

The scooter shop guy ordered the set.

The set that arrived was missing the seat lock.

So he called the supplier (which is the upstream seller, "Italica Motors," of the bikes themselves). The guy he talked with went and pulled five random boxes of key switch replacement sets off the shelf to check, and none of them included the seat lock.

I suspect I know why: Italica Motors sells mostly "scooter" platform vehicles of the type where the seat is unlocked from the ignition switch. Somewhere along the "we'll need spare parts for this new model" supply chain, someone forgot that this particular model has a separate lock set for the seat, not just for a storage compartment and gas cap cover. Given the newness of the Bulldog model, I might very well be the first owner who needed a replacement key switch, leaving that oversight unnoticed until now.

So anyway, now I have two keys instead of one to keep track of.

No biggie, and more than made up for by the scooter shop guy (who also sold me the bike) covering it, parts and labor, under warranty, even though Italica Motors wouldn't.

I already knew that Dave at Campus Scooters was a stand-up guy, and I intend to continue bringing my two-wheeled vehicles, of whatever make/model, to him for repairs and maintenance.

I also intend to remember that Italica Motors can't be trusted to honor their warranties even on small issues. They tried to nickel-and-dime me, and ended up nickel-and-diming one of their own dealers, on a  minor "of course that's covered, it's a defective part well within the warranty period" issue. If I ever buy another Italica, it will be a used one that's no longer under warranty.