Buying a motorcycle....help!

A friend in Texas just bought the Vespa Italian Piaggio MP3 250cc Trike Scooter and she loves it. Little over $7K and can be financed. It's mainly special order unless you get lucky. 70 mpg and goes 70 plus mph. She feels safe and where she lives in Texas it rained just about every day and she still drove it. Bought Frogg Toggs raingear. She came to Hot Springs for her vacation. Everywhere we went, she was stopped. It sure collected a crowd. Two wheels on the front and one on the back. Automatic.

I drive a 150cc scooter now. Love it. Average 85 mpg and it does 55 Plus mph. I go 4.5 miles to work and back and go into Hot Springs 2 to 3 days per week (35 mile round trip) for groceries and such. I have a carrier on the back and storage under the seat. Enough room for my needs. It rains hard and I'm just driving 4.5 miles I don't worry but long drives and I'm not safe.
The MP3 will be used for longer trips, winter, and hard rainy days. See it's looks here...

http://www.womenridersnow.com/Public...?ArticleID=411

While the scooter you mention has some style, it would be safer to not ride it on a high speed roadway due to its smaller engine displacement.

I hit 56 to 59 mpg with my KLR650 and can hit over 90 mph with the standard final drive sprocket ratio. It was $5,195 from the dealer.

Where most scooters have some benefits are leg protection, lower center of gravity, automatic or CVT shiftless transmissions, lower seat height with step-through frames. Having an automatic or CVT on a two wheel vehicle does help as the power to the rear wheel is constant rather than momentarily interrupted by disengaging and reengaging the clutch to shift gears.

On the downside, scooters lack the larger wheels and suspension travel of motorcycles which can increase ground clearance and give a smoother, better handling ride. For what you get, they are slightly more expensive than a motorcycle of the same displacement.

I believe for a 3 wheeler the price is good. They have 3 wheelers which has 400cc and above. Just haven't came to U.S. yet. Tires are much larger.

Yes, with my 150cc, the tires are not made for heavy rain. Very dangerous.
It's much cooler in the summer without a motor in between my legs.

I like 150cc scooters because they are easy to control, automatic, not noisy,
has a central stand and can kick start if needed.

I drove it this winter and I had Carhard overalls, boots, warm gloves, and full face helmet and wasn't cold.

What do ya'll think of a 2006 Kawasaki vulcan 750? The dealer has got one with 4,000 miles on it(out of the 'break-in' period...yippeee). This bike fit me really well. Most of the other bikes weren't right because my arms were too short.

I've been reading the opinions on here, opinions on some motorcycle forums and listening to my motorcycle safety course instructor. I'm definately getting at least a 600. I was at a motorcycle dealership today and there was a guy there that had bought a new 250 a couple of weeks ago and he was there to trade it in on a new bigger bike(1100). I was a bit intimidated by the bigger bikes until I sat on one. They aren't as heavy as I thought they would be and they balance well. Where I live I have miles and miles of uninhabited road. Most of it is 80mph. Only thing you gotta watch for is javalina and an occasional mule deer. I definately need a full size bike to ride the roads out here. If I end up with this bike the problem will then be finding a parking lot to practice in.....don't have parking lots here

I took a quick look at some on E-Bay, and it is a great looking bike for sure. It's a shaft drive too, which should ease the maintenance headaches...I think.

Here is my take on a Kawasaki Vulcan 750.

Financial: The bike will likely be a poor investment. Especially if you're purchasing one from a dealer.
Dealerships sell these bikes at top dollar, and 3 seconds after you ride the bike off the dealership lot, its price has dropped $1000.....probably more.
Kelly Blue Book price for this type of bike is $5050 retail and a paltry $3480 trade in price. I'm very inclined to think these prices are WAY too high and not reflective of price reality.

Mechanical & fit:
This bike is of the cruiser style. It is unquestionably styled after the Harley Davidson, where the operator sits (at least somewhat) low to the ground. This allows people to feel comfortable handling the bike, especially, when they are starting/stopping and pulling up to stop lights/stop signs.
At 483# empty, its on the light side of bikes. Its a water cooled, shaft driven motorcycle with disc brakes front & rear.
Over at www.bikez.com this bike fares poorly in every category. (based on ratings by 39 persons) This is extremely alarming for a bike to receive such poor ratings. Especially alarming are the low ratings for engine performance, reliability and problem free driving, fun-factor, value for money, and repair & maintenance costs.
Given human nature, and ones tendancy to speak highly of currently owned vehicles, these ratings indicate that this particular model is very undesirable. I've seen lots of these ratings, and I don't think I've seen any this low.

Other:
The "you are what you drive" factor works against this bike. Whether you desire it or not, you will be the "poster child" for the Kawasaki version of a Harley clone.
Resale value on this particular make/model is horrendous. Not just a little horrendous, but major league horrendous. I always like to search Ebay to see what particular bikes ACTUALLY SELL FOR. There is little demand for this make/model bike and I'm inclined to think one would have to seriously discount the sale price to actually find a buyer. And as we all know, one should always think of resale.

My take on this bike is that it should be avoided. The high maintenance costs, low reliability, and underpowered engine are serious issues. Add in the horrendous resale and its a no brainer.

There are lots of excellent bikes out there today. This make/model is not one of them.

cool bike, ebay says 4500 or there abouts ...should do you well ...I still vote for the KLR ... you have all that great desert ... but the vulcan should zip you back and forth and to and fro with no problem.

Yeah, but the link that Hoop shared was troubling. I haven't been able to spend much time navigating within it to find out specifically what was wrong with the bike, but the numbers there are much lower than for other models. Edmunds maintains a similar site where people can rate their cars, but it is much more specific with comments by the individuals who are rating them.

I ended up buying the vulcan. I LOVE IT!! First day I got it home I only had about 30 minutes of daylight to ride in. Got up to 30 mph. Second day I ended up working an absurdly long day and only had about 30 minutes....got up to 45. Yesterday was the 3rd day. I'm zoomin around doin 70 with this really stupid looking grin on my face. This is soooo much fun. Only problem is there is nowhere to put anything. I went and checked the mail. Had to drive back with the mail tucked under my shirt. I've got to order some saddlebags and a tank bag. Absolutely gorgeous bike. I hate to cover it up with bags....sigh.

Have fun and send pics when you can!

very cool ... congrats!