Genuine Buddy 125 or Lance Cali/Havana 125?
 

Wife and I are looking for scooters. I can't talk her into lower cost mainland China scooters. The Genuine Buddy costs about $700 more than the Lance. Both are Taiwanese. Is the Buddy worth the extra money? Comparable Kymcos cost about the same as the Buddy.

The Lance is a rebadged Sym. I'd actually trust those more than the Buddy's. I owned a
Buddy and it developed a main seal leak over time that needed fixing. My Sym Wolf has been otherwise perfect besides a few cosmetic issues and after a good desmogging.

The Lance's have Sym's unique ceramic coated cylinders. These engines are known to be some of the most durable scooter engines on the market. Not even the Buddy's can claim the durability of a Sym engine.

I like the Havana better than the Cali classic. The wide bars on those joker copies just don't feel as comfortable or solid as normal scooter handlebars.

Lance was originally made by Znen, but in reading some online commentary, Lance wanted something of better quality from their manufacturer so they switched to SYM.

Hi
I agree
http://www.sym.com.tw/eng/tech/engine.php
Take care and ride safely dear friend
Yours Hank

According to their website, Lance began to partner with SYM in 2009. Sounds like the 2010 and newer are the best, but the price went up accordingly.

I've been tooling around on a SYM Fiddle ll for the past couple of months....and love it.

The SYM made product costs more but it is worth it. :nod:

Thank you all for the info. We bought a pair Genuine Buddies today. They are (relatively) fast and have plenty of storage. We are taking the basic motorcycle safety course next weekend so we can be licensed soon thereafter. I'll post some pics in a new post.

Hi
Outstanding
Your most welcome and congratulations on the new scoots
May they bring you and yours much joy in the years to come
Take care and ride safely my friend
Yours Hank