I see a ton of folks out there searching on this term and landing on my site. I guess the cost of gas has sent people scrambling to find a solution. Well, I sure like mine and for a Chinese knockoff of the Honda Reflex, I have to say it was a good investment so far.
I have ridden mine back and forth to work now since I got it in May and have put over 400 miles on it so far. I don’t have a long commute, so it really hasn’t been hammered as others have due to the miles they need to cover on a day to day basis, but again, it is holding up fine for me.
Here are the few things I have noticed and are things to consider if you are leaning this way:
- The Viva seems to be made of mainly plastic and aluminum (ha ha) and while it looks nice from a distance it will look a bit cheaper the closer you get.
- After a month, the metal bracket that you kick down on to get the scooter rest to come down broke off. I have been told it can be welded back on, so that is a project this winter.
- The odometer stopped working at 99 miles. It is stuck and if you reset it it will work again until 99, then stop turning over. Might be something simple, just haven’t wasted any time figuring it out yet.
- Small number of squeaks and noises that might be as easy to fix as some lube squirted in a few places, but again I just haven’t cared enough to take the time to find them.
- And the biggest issue I had was that the rear view mirrors were not bent down far enough for me and didn’t work right until I took them and put them in a vice and bent them both down about 3/4″. Now they are perfect and I don’t have to adjust them each time I ride.
- UPDATE: I filled up the scooter yesterday and found out that I am getting 56.7 mpg… YES, 56.7! I was hoping for 50-55, so this is a very pleasant surprise.
So, there is it so far. For $1800.00 delivered to my door, it has been a good investment and a lot of fun. While the scooter isn’t fully broken in, I am getting right around the 50 56.7mpg so that alone has been a very pleasant positive in all this.
You can see my images from the un-crating here. I will also update new images in the same Flickr set just to keep them all under one roof.
If you are feeling the urge to become a “scooter commuter”, go ahead and dive in. The water is just fine.
UPDATE: Wow, I just read the date I posted first about the Viva and it was exactly 4 months ago. How strange is that. I never checked it when I published this, but I must have had my brain on the 4 month plan!!! ha ha ha.