2012 Piaggio Typhoon 125

This is a thread I am creating as a follow up on information in my Fly 150 thread. It was indicated that I had ordered a Typhoon 125 in that thread.

The scooter should be here any time now. It shipped late last week and it should be at the warehouse anytime and probably today. It will then have to be assembled and then the delivery company to deliver it to the actual selling dealer. It seems a bit counter productive and adds additional cost to both the customer and the dealer but all the dealers do it this way here. Everything gets shipped to 1 central warehouse (regardless of brand) located in Kent. They assemble and then it goes on a big flat bed truck and delivered to all the dealers in the area. This process alone can take a few extra days.

Latest estimates I am getting from the dealer is Tuesday. this is a bit longer then originally quoted but I am fine with it. The longer they take the longer I have to pay for it.

I had several choices to choose from as Piaggio still had some 2012's in stock. Logic dictates I should go for a 2013 as its newer and will have slightly better resale value however I was not keen on the white or the black. In 2012 they had yellow or titanium. The titanium color scheme is just cool and I managed to get the last one from Piaggio.

Here is some stock photo's











Always a slight chance the deal will go sideways or the dealer just never actually gets it but that is not likely as indicated so far. Looking forward to doing a very unprofessional and lengthy review on it.

I wonder what the performance of the Typhoon 125 will be compared to the Zuma 125? I hit an indicated 61 mph yesterday on the Zuma. I believe the rev limiter cuts the ignition right about there. Right now the white Zuma looks pretty bland, I'm going to get the 2014 orange body panels when they become available.

Jerry, go to motorcycle.com and read the comparison.

I keep wanting to get a Typhoon 125 as well. I don't like the decals they are applying.

I think that off road worthiness would make for fun putting around the desert and it would be slightly faster than my SR.

Looks like they are pretty evenly matched performance wise. I'm sure they feel different. I noticed that the Typhoon has an MSRP of $2700, and the Zuma has an MSRP of $3400, seemingly making the Zuma $700 more expensive. But I got my new leftover 2012 Zuma OTD for just a hair over $3000 from an overstocked dealer. Buying a new Typhoon from the local Piaggio/Vespa/BMW dealer would cost at least $3500 OTD, even though the MSRP is $700 less. This shows just how much things can vary, and why it pays to shop around, unless you just have to have a certain exact model. I would have been fine with either. I do like the fact that the Typhoon is carbureted, eliminating some very expensive electronics, and making it easier to work on. The ECU on the Zuma is $300, the fuel pump is $200, and the oxygen sensor is $200. $700 worth of failure prone parts the Typhoon doesn't have.

Latest inquiry at the dealer is showing Tuesday or Wednesday at the very latest.

I may be doing a 2 Fer. The dealer I do business with is actually pulling Kymco and they are giving all the Kymco's away. I got a cash price on an Agility 125 that is so low its worth it even if I don't need it. Really sweet deal and no freight and no setup. Just a giveaway price plus tax and license is all.

The Agility 125 may end up being my winter hack scooter as the price of entry on the Typhoon 125 is almost double and I would rather trash the cheaper one.

this thread is awesome. a Typhoon AND an Agility!

we could have ourselves a showdown :eek1

I couldn't bring myself to trash a brand new scooter no matter how cheap it was. Well, maybe a Chinese one. I have never bought a new vehicle of any kind for use as transportation. I always get cheap used ones that already have dents and scratches for that.

Perhaps trash is not really the right word. I would not trash anything and I tend to take pretty good care of what I own. I actually take great pride in it.

However our winters are very wet. A bike ridden through the winter here consistently really does start to show the evidence rather quickly. It gets even worse when it starts dropping below freezing at times and they start caking the roads with that liquid deicer stuff. I swear this stuff can rot a bike in short order. Last but not least when it starts to snow and they sand the roads it can take several weeks before they bother cleaning the roads up. This stuff finds its way into everything and can make a mess. Even seen it in my air box of all places.

Scooters are especially bad and not designed as well for the elements. They can take it and continue to provide reliable service but they show it in a hurry when consistently ridden in such conditions.

Hopefully today I get the call. However I hope its early because today is already halfway filled up and if they call early afternoon or later I will have to go in Wednesday morning as I got plans tonight.

For some reason I am actually more excited now for the Agility 125 then the Typhoon however I am sure I will have a blast on both and I am sure the Typhoon 125 has more entertainment value. I just really admire how cheap and good the Agility 125 is.

Call me what you will, but after riding an Agility 50, I was very unimpressed with the quality. Cheap winter basher sounds perfect for what you are looking for.

Someone needs to step up and get a Typhoon already.

One of the guys that works in the complex I work in rides an Agility 50. He let me ride it once. I thought it was a surprisingly strong for a 50 and was as fast as any between 0 and 35. However I think it tops out in the low 40's if that.

It was definitely a no frills kind of a scooter and in some ways its quality "looks and feels" uninspiring but amazingly they hold up pretty well. Just about every review and forum post I have read is positive and people like them. Some have put a ton of miles on them with zero issues. Because of the nature of the design and price point most of them are not exactly well cared for either. That few that have blown up was usually from something stupid like trying to do 80 MPH downhill.

I don't think I would consider it for the most part and as of last week I was not but then my local dealer is dropping Kymco and since I bought a few bikes already the past few months they are letting the Kymco go for more floor space. I am pretty sure I am getting a deal beyond what some other person would get unless they are a good customer.

Still no call and my day is closing in. So its likely not happening today but hopefully it actually shows up today and I can go in first thing tomorrow morning. I am being extremely patient but at some point I will consider it "too long" and possibly go in another direction.

The problem is its going from Piaggio to the warehouse in Kent to be assembled. You are at the Mercy of this separate company to do that work. Then it gets loaded on a flat bed truck along with dozens of other bikes. The driver makes his rounds to different dealers across the state and this alone can take a few days. So even the dealer does not have a lot of control on the exact day it will show up on the truck.

This could all be easily avoided if they simply had it shipped direct from Piaggio to the dealer and the dealer itself does the setup. Probably cheaper as well. Not sure why most of the dealers do it this way. It seems counter productive and more costly to the consumer and the dealer. Its like most dealers refuse to use its own shop for uncrating and assembly. I am guessing the warehouse down south charges less for the same work the shop at the dealer charges the sales department for. Still kind of silly because they tell me they still have to go through them to make sure they did everything right. If I owned a dealer at that point I would just say "heck with it we will do the assembly as well". I am sure this would be obvious an a cost analysis but it highlights just how most dealers are run! Being mom and pop operations they will go with what is easier and not exactly what is cheaper.

One dealer in the area does not use the warehouse down south. They buy direct from the manufacture and warehouse it themselves. They also do the assembly and of coarse prep. This dealer just happens to give some pretty honest deals compared to others. They don't carry Piaggio though. Aprilia yes but not Piaggio. They do charge freight and setup but its very realistic figure and not super inflated like others.

What exactly was the problem with the quality? It's true the fit and finish of the Agility models is not up to par with most Kymco models, they are made in China. And any 50cc scooter is going to top out in the high 30s speedwise. But did anything actually break? I have heard of Agility 125s with over 50,000 miles on them, which is pretty amazing for a scooter you can usually get OTD for under $2000 even under ordinary circumstances. They (the 125) are faster off the line than a Vino 125. A Chinese 150 scooter seems to last about 5,000 miles, when properly prepped and maintained, an Agility 125 will last 10 times that long, and is faster, for only twice as much. And when you are talking about $850 for the Chinese scooter, twice as much is not that much.

Latest word I got is it will be coming in on the truck at 1pm tomorrow. Problem is I am working tomorrow night so not a lot of time to do the deal and get them home. So I am likely doing the deal Thursday morning with a mid afternoon delivery that day or a delivery Friday.

I did swing by as the shop is not that far. I was hoping to take the Agility 125 for a spin and get the test ride out of the equation but it was currently in the service bay getting its carb cleaned. Apparently it was prepped a while ago and placed on the sales floor. They seemed confident the carb is dirty so they are cleaning it just in case. Personally I would have tried it first and maybe a shot of K100MG but if they want to take it a part then that is fine. Not sure how the Agility is but on some bikes cleaning the pilot and idle jets is actually a 5 minute job.

Its really not that big of a deal but the pure excitement is making it worse. Just another few sleepless nights!

the Agility is a rugged scooter. i think you will find it practical and fun.

change even the back tire and handling will improve considerably. stock tires are sort of odd in profile and some say this makes cornering less confident. they might be right but all in all i got good service life out of mine

I have heard a few other complaints about the stock tires as well. I am far to cheap and disagree on principle to change the stock tires. I was just live with them until they are mostly gone unless they are really really bad. Only bike I changed tires early on was my 06 Kawasaki Concours. The stock tires had little grip and it took a lot of effort to get the bike to turn in. It only got worse as miles piled on and I am not talking many miles here. Like less then a 1,000 miles. In the rain the bike with the stock tires was almost suicidal. In fact I went down before I bothered to change them. So after the bike was repaired I promptly replaced the stockers with Avon's (one of the few orginal size tires that fit) and the grip and handling were night and day difference.

So if the tires on the Agility are super bad I may change them out early but if they seem usable with care then I will just keep them on for most of the service life.

I also changed tires a bit early on my Ninja 500. The stock Bridgestone's just would not die. The crown was not very aggressive on those tires and this limited handling. So finely after 7K miles I installed a set of Pirelli Speed Demons. Things improved so much I wished I had done it earlier.

The Agility and Typhoon are both all over Beijing ... I know a few guys with the Typhoon and they love them ..... But in that same price point in China 12000 rmb or 1700 US dollars ... I love the Peugeot ... The vivacity and the sixties .... Rock solid ...not sure if they are available in the US....

Unfortunately we don't get Peugeot here in the USA. It would be cool if we did as they make some pretty cool scoots. Plus it seems they have a slightly better reputation then the Italian brands. Probably not much difference now days but a few years ago it was a pretty good sized difference.

I did spot a Peugeot scooter on the road here a few years ago. It was a late model larger displacement model but I can't recall the model. I found it odd as it was never officially imported. I asked some scooter and motorcycle friends about it and I was just not seeing things as they have seen it as well. Somehow someone managed to get one in.

Good to hear the Typhoon is well liked in China. I am a tad nervous about it but I am sure it will be a great scooter.

Export quality will be better then what the guys here in China get ...... That is the other thing buying and living here ... My Benelli has an export quality version and a local quality version. You can see the difference in the plastics and seat materials... Not so sure about all the parts as everything seems the same. The Keeway is the other branding my Benelli is under .....they have also limited the engine speed on the Benelli to 120 kmh .... Most highway speeds are 90 near anyways ....

is this cycle barn? i need to pay them a visit!

Yeah its them. If I dare say it my OTD price was $2,078! This everything out the door including our high sales tax. A few out there have done better but usually in lower tax areas.

The deal is done for both bikes. I test road the Agility 125 and I was actually very impressed with how it ran. It feels faster then my Zuma 125. Maybe not as smooth but it felt faster and it only had 3 kilometers on it. So if the Agility 125 is like just about all my other scooters it will only improve during break in.

Despite the Agility's small stature it actually feels just fine when you ride it. Its really fairly roomy little scoot. It does feel cramped on the show room floor but on the road in the proper riding position its got plenty of room. In fact I would say its got more room then my Zuma 125.

They warned me that the carburetion on these was fairly spotty when cold so I should let it warm up a bit. Of coarse me being a bit impatient I pretty much started it and after about 10 seconds road off. It is a bit choppy but nothing compared to some other carbed bikes I have owned in the past. In fact its not as cold blooded as my SportCity 250 witch is fuel injected. I did get some hesitation when pulling away from a stop the first few blocks but it quickly cleared out and ran smooth the rest of the test ride. I am sure the warm day helped and I can expect more drama when its cold out but overall its just your typical carburated bike.

I thought the ride quality and handling were very good. Its not as abrupt over bumps like the Zuma 125 but its obvious the tires on the Agility are not the best. Granted these are still brand new with the glaze on them. I actually drifted straight in a scary fashion the first turn I went around. However after a few miles grip really improved. I agree turn in a tad slow with these tires but they don't seem all that bad. Granted they are not great but I expect them to improve in the first 100 miles.

Overall I was impressed with the Agility 125 during my test ride. Impressed enough to buy it without second thought. Fit and finish is adequate but its obvious the Agility 125 is built to a certain price point. However it does not feel so cheap like its going to break. Actually when going over rough patches of pavement it feels very solid without any rattly plastic. I am sure being brand new helps and the real test will be if it feels the same with much more miles on it but at least its solid in the beginning.

I would say at its price point the Agility 125 is a better bargain then the Zuma 125. Zuma 125 is a Japanese designed bike backed by a major Japanese player. Fit and Finish on the Zuma 125 is far superior. Just looking at the details on the Zuma 125 its very obvious its well put together. Performance is very adequate on the Zuma 125 as well.

Really its a toss up between the 2. If you got the extra $1,800 the Zuma 125 will provide great service and likely outlast the Agility 125 (maybe). However for the price the Agility 125 is just an awesome scooter.

On to the Typhoon 125. This one had just come off the truck and was in the process of having its PDI. SO I could not ride it. I did get a good look at it unfortunately it has a small amount of shipping damage on the fly screen. Nothing really serious just a few minor scratches that could likely be buffed out with a plastic polish. However they are getting it replaced under warranty. Also interestingly the horn did not work. So they also ordered a new horn under warranty. They seem pretty convinced its the actual horn part and not the switch.

The rest of looks very good and man that Titanium finish with military graphics is just cool. Overall fit and finish was better then expected except for the standard issue Piaggio switch gear. Dang this thing is just cool! You really need to see it in person to really appreciate just how cool it is.

It did start right up. It took 3 cranks because the carb had to be primed but other then that it fired right up. Like any carbureted bike it appears to be a tad cold blooded but its to be expected.

I am looking forward to riding them more and saying more about it. They are being delivered tomorrow morning.