Piaggio Beverly 350 - THIS Sounds Exciting!

I'm not sure if they still have it but Vespa of Texas (Houston) had a silver BV 350. You might want to give Chris a call and see if he still has it. Its a nice ride between San Antonio and Houston to bring it home. :)

I bought my Scarabeo 500ie from AF1 Racing a year ago, spent the weekend riding the hill country with my brother and a couple of friends then home to Houston. Lovely way to get to know a new scoot.

That's pretty country...

I too like AF1 and would be willing to wait for them to get one in stock.

Here's the Italian website for the BV 350. It's got a really nice video.
http://www.it.piaggio.com/it_it/Beverly.html

Is there a car in America that everyone considers to be overpriced, has
mediocre quality and everything else seems to last longer and perform
better, usually at a lower price - but everyone seems to be driving one
because they're not "into cars" and don't know better?

(We got VW Golf here for that.)

Why? So you can make a smart ass comparison to Piaggio and their Beverly?

Yes.

Remind me again what they make in Croatia?

This:


Look.
I'm not trying to be a smartass here - I've worked at a scooter shop the
day the first Beverly came out 10 years ago.

I've been around them their entire production span, I know the problems
each and every single one of them had.

People tend to get dragged in these "romantic" video ads and seem to
think it's a God given top of the line scooter, while in reality it's really
mediocre.

The only thing hi-end about it is the price.
Even the Scarabeo that's virtually the same scooter.. is better.

The BV350 might be the exception here until they introduce the 330cc
engine to the rest of the scoots from Piaggio family of brands.

And yes, this "From a guy who rides a Kymco" (as the post said before
editing) - it's actually from a guy who rode most scooters on the market
in the last 10 years, and worked at a couple of shops on them.

The Springfield Armory line of XD pistols are quite well regarded.

I don't know how much the BV 350 sells for in your part of the world but it retails here for $5,500 which, while not being cheap, isn't outrageously over priced.
The new BV has received some pretty good reviews from the European press. It can't be that bad.
But in the end, to each his own.

Reviewers review NEW bikes, not the ones with 15k miles on them.

Really nice review of the BV 350...

<iframe width="640" height="360" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/JPH7bC65Z-w" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

This is a dealer walk-around, not a review, and has some incorrect
information:

1:29 The rear wheel is 14", not 16", hence the storage (like the Scarabeo).
2:01 Piaggio had linked brakes 10 years ago on the X9.
4:31 BV500 had (and still has) 7hp more.
4:45 It IS faster up to about 60mph then the&#65279; BV500 and it does not replace it.

Cortez- you usually have really good and previously unbiased feedback. That said, I'm not sure you are understanding that in the US the scooter selection and dealer availability varies significantly from other parts of the world. We have most of the major brands, but in many cases we don't get the models commonly sold elsewhere.

Honda only sells 1 scooter over 150cc, which requires a jump to the 600cc Silverwing. Burgmans and Silverwings have laid back seating positions that aren't comfortable from some of us older guys, and as a result there is not a great variety of options when it comes to 250cc+ scooters that have upright seating positions.

I really like and respect the Kymco brand as well as SYM. Kymco unfortunately is not as common to find with all models as you would expect- in fact I have yet to see one in a dealership in Atlanta, although they must be around somewhere. The Kymco 300 Downtown is almost the exact same price as a BV350. If your argument is that folks should all go with 50cc less to by Kymco, then you clearly don't understand the value of offering options to consumers. I personally think the Kymco is short on looks compared to the BV.

We do have 2 Vespa/Piaggio dealers, one of which has sold a good number of BV350s, and I've followed the owners on ModernVespa.com to see how they have worked out over time. Go read for yourself, but the real world owners appear very happy- the biggest gripe seems to be the dark red color used for the seats.

Price wise the BV350 is a great value for those in the US. It may not be the right scooter for lots of folks, and indeed complaints about Piaggio parts availability may be legit- I don't have any experience in that area.

Continuing to slam a product that is selling well here and finding satisfied customers when the alternatives are few doesn't seem to be hugely productive.

I'm not suggesting that Kymco is a God given ultimate choice, I'm just
warning people that Piaggio isn't as good as you folks seem to think it
is.

This attitude towards Piaggio that I see here is more or less happening
only on US forums, but even the AF1 forum is littered with issues across
Piaggio owned brands to extent that I haven't seen anywhere else.

I've ridden the BV350 and was shocked at how well it pulled and how
smooth it was, but I didn't fit well on it, even at only 5'11".

Also bear in mind that we get these scoots here a year, sometimes
two before you do and by the time you start discovering them and
asking around, looking at first pictures, chances are I've already seen
a few of them in the shops with first issues being addressed.

That's something that doesn't happen as often with other brands,
not just Kymco and Sym, but Yamaha and other brands too.
(Do you get the X-City or X-max there?)

Other then the bikes in shops, a lot of local (EU) forums, my half-sister
owned 3 Piaggio bikes in last 5 or so years. Two were actually Gileras
(Runner 50 and ST125), and the one she still has is the BV500 Cruiser
(492cc updated, twinspark engine).

That thing sounds like a can of nails going down the road.
It drinks oil, the forks are leaking, the rear shock is leaking, it goes through
belts and roller weights more then twice as fast as some other similar bikes
etc.

We're talking a 20.000 mile bike here, that even when new never
had confidence inspiring handling. And it's a newer version then the BV500
you get there (the old, 'tourer' with 460cc engine that has it's own set
of issues).

Comparing the BV350 to Downtown isn't the best comparison.. Kymco
has the People GTi 300 in it's range that's a direct competitor.

I don't know about the current US pricing, but the GTi300 here costs LESS
then the BV300 (22hp), and does 98% of stuff as good as the BV350.

It's just a tiny bit slower, but is roomier, more comfortable etc.

I just hope Piaggio quality control is doing it's job better now then before
because the new 300 and 350 SEEM TO BE better built bikes then the older
models, but it's still too early to tell.

It's even apparent on the used market here what holds it's value better.
For the price of a used BV500 you can hardly get a Yamaha X-max 250.

One thing that I'd love to have on my scoot that the BV350 has.. is the
clutch. That thing is amazing.

BTW - Are you aware that scooter sales charts in Italy, where you'd expect
Piaggio group to lead.. is filled with Yamahas and other scoots at the top?

The Downtown 300 was in the top 10 last time I looked too.

I'm not here to talk about my scooter though, I'm just here to warn
people not to judge a scooter by the quality of promotional videos,
and think that it has to be good just because it came from Italy, where
it all started.

I won't interfere with this thread any more, sorry if I offended anyone.

It will replace the BV 500 here in the US.

Didn't realize that he was talking about it as an import choice.

It still sounds silly to say it that way, at least to me.

It's not replacing anything, the BV500 is no longer imported,
the 350 is. Would you say the BV125 was replacing the BV500
if that was the decision they made?

You COULD say that the 350 is replacing the 400, because the Piaggio
pulled the plug on the 400.

Just sounds stoopid. :huh

Did you see in one of my posts that I actually looked at one? I think I can make my own mind about built quality based on my own observations...
I posted videos to share with other forum members so we have something to talk about.
If I had my way, I'd buy an X-Max 250 but Yamaha doesn't sell it in North America. But until then, I think it's nice to have options like the BV 350.

So now you're down to semantics? Who cares how he says it! You are really nit-picking here...

By looking at them, no one can.

By owning them or working on some of them with 10, 20, 30.000 miles,
sure, you can.

This way you're just making an assumption based on subjective stuff.
That's how I bought my Kawasaki.
What a mistake.

I realize that was the reason, and I wouldn't have said a word if the
guy in the video didn't miss a few of those points.

Absolutely!

Too bad about the X-max though, even if they do need to update it
a bit, it's a bit slow with some of the newcomers in the past year.