Of the 7 scooters I've owned (Honda Elite 150, Yamaha Riva 180, Honda Aero 125, Piaggio Fly 50, Genuine Stella 2T, Honda Met, Vino 125) the Vino 125 comes closest to being perfect. The Aero 125 and the Stella were more fun, because they were 2 strokes, but they had some issues. I still have the Stella, and will keep it forever. But it is more a toy to tinker with than practical transportation. The Vino is the only one besides the met that never broke down, and has enough power for anywhere but the freeway. The Met was 100% reliable, and I put a lot of miles on it, on rural country roads, out of town. It was a snail off the line, and would get you killed in town. The Vino keeps up with traffic just fine. And it just has a really solid substantial feel to it the others didn't. It runs at full throttle without feeling stressed, and does not squeak or rattle. I fully expect it to pass the 50,000 mile mark.
I'm at 9K miles on my problem free 2007 Vino. First scoot I ever owned, purchased used in 2008 with 200 miles on it. Have since bought/sold 12 other scoots. This is the only one I'll never get rid of. It does everything perfectly (except interstates - like with any small sized scoot). Around here (WI) it takes a distant second in popularity to the Buddy's, heck, to almost all other 125/150 cc scooters. Not sure why its not better respected. I love it.
Nice run on our Vinos yesterday. We took a 130 mile loop through Maine and home. 10$ on fuel and a bit more for food. Easier to feed the vinos than me
had another nice run on the 2 vinos yesterday. almost 200 mi. about 10$ a bike. average about 45 mph with a fair amount of wot. starting to get the hang of it
put the adjustable shock on and the ride is much smoother. now need to order one for kathy. 1000 km on the pirelli.
sorry, not too good with the computer skills to make links. was with scooterworks.com. very easy site to search, just enter your scoot and stuff pops up. hope this helps
Only question I has is is looks aside, what is better about the Vino vs the Elite 150? They's reliable as well, at least just as reliable as a Vino gonna be in 25 years. And powerwise, they do much better. I come from bigger cruisers, and to me the Elite 150 has plenty of acceleration from 0-50 MPH. The Elites will cruise even better everywhere but the freeway IMO. Maybe if they could put a Honda 150 water cooled motor into a Vino for y'all that ain't so crazy about the super 80's space age styling. Not putting down the Vino. I know its a great little scoot. In fact, I came very close to buying one myself. But I got my 86 Elite 150 deluxe instead, mainly due to $ and a bit more performance. Just asking.
would welcome the extra cc. a 250cc vino and i would never need another. just finishing a week in europe [first time], and am thinking i'd like a 300 vespa for longer distances. they sure get some use from scooters over here.
Have a '06 Vino 125 with about 3500 Kilometers on it now. At first I was disapointed with the power. I also have a Suzuki Bandit 1250 (10 times the engine size of the Vino) so that would skew my expectations. After awhile, I came to like the Vino for what it was versus what it wasn't. Just for tooling around it is great fun. A couple of things that help the speed. Make sure your tires are properly inflated. Low tire pressure makes the bike feel sluggish. Aslo, watch you don't overfill the oil. Too much oil also drags the motor down. Put full synthetic in the rear gear drive, lower resistance as compared to dino oil. Small things, but they all help. I am 6' 1". 195, but in a full tuck with neutral wind, it will hit 60 mph. 50 to 55 is more normal, but it takes along time to get there. You learn to anticapate lights on this machine and learn that once you get it to speed, to avoid slowing down unless you have to as it takes a long time to get it back up to speed.
Well the Vino is now up to 24,000 miles, and has been parked. In the living room. Not a single thing wrong with it, and it did not have a single mechanical issue. And most of those miles are at full throttle on all day rides. It has been ridden through 115+ degree heat for full days at full throttle, nothing fazed it. The only reason it is not being ridden anymore is because I got 2012 Zuma 125. So after putting nearly 25,000 miles on it, here's what I found. It's gas mileage is not that great, and it has a one gallon tank. If you plan to actually go anywhere, you will need to take extra gas. It runs empty at around 70 miles. It eats rear tires. I had to replace rear tires around 5,000-6000 miles. front tires last twice as long. I am on the heavy side. It's not quite as fast as the Zuma 125, either in acceleration or top speed, but close. It definitely keeps up with 45 mph city traffic. Belts last a long time. I had just put the third one on it, and they all looked good. Plan on at least 12,000 miles out of the belt. I replaced the rollers at 20,000, they still looked pretty good. The valves simply do not wear. In 24,000 miles I adjusted them once. They are super easy to both check and adjust. Rear brakes do not wear either, it still has the original rear brakes. It's on it's third set of front pads, but they could have lasted a little longer. I changed the oil every 1000 miles with regular car oil. I never found anything in the bottom screen, I never had the other screen apart. The underseat storage area holds more than the Zuma's. I was able to easily carry an extra gallon of gas under the seat. The rear rack/fuel filler design is just stupid. One of the first things I did with the Zuma was install a rack with a top box. One thing I found, after getting the Shad 33L top box for the Zuma, is that you can install the base plate on the Vino, and still get to the gas filler. But you would have to unlock and remove the case every time you put gas in it (or every 70 miles or less) BUT, at least Yamaha managed to avoid using a $200 electric fuel pump. After I initially redesigned the exhaust mounting bracket, it never failed again. I still believe this was an engineering issue caused by Yamaha installing something that was not part of the original design. Yes, the CVT cover can hit the ground, and mine did a couple of times. I guess I was to heavy for it to lift me up. That big chrome headlight cover that I loved so much when the scooter was new doesn't go over so well now. It certainly wasn't designed for use in bright sun. I didn't want to ruin it, so I actually put tape on it to avoid being blinded. That's about it. Nothing on the scooter other than maintenance items shows any wear, and it only has a couple of nicks in the otherwise perfect paint, which I found while removing several thousand miles worth of bugs. It has it's issues, but it has been dead reliable, comfortable, no quirks in it's handling, brakes are fine, even the original battery still works.
I have a Vino. It is fine for neighbourhood trips, but it is NOT fast enough to be safe on 45mph roadways. It will go 45mph, but just barely. If you're going to do battle on the freeway, get a bike with a higher top speed. $2000 is not a great deal. There are lots of used Vinos around here for that price. Regards Scott Fraser
Most of the miles on my Vino were on 2 lane rural roads with speed limits up to 65 mph. You can safely ride on such roads, but you cannot ride with traffic. Think bicycle. I ride just to the inside of the solid white line to the right, and if a vehicle comes up behind me (yes you have to watch your mirrors), and there is oncoming traffic (which happens about 20% of the time on these roads) I just move across the line onto the paved shoulder. I do wear a white helmet and an orange reflective vest. Before I got into scooters, I rode pedal mopeds on the same roads, and also used to ride bicycles on them. I have never came close to getting hit. Some think that you have to be able to maintain freeway speed and have some in reserve just to ride on the freeway. That's not the case either. I put 20,000 freeway miles on a Honda Rebel 250 that topped out at about the speed limit, with nothing in reserve, and slowed down considerably when going up even slight grades, or in headwinds. Again I dressed for visibility, stayed in the right lane, and watched my mirrors. Never had any problems. Many times I came up behind some old vehicle pulling a trailer at 50-55 mph when the speed limit was 75. I just fell in behind them, turned my headlight off, and took the opportunity to ride at a more reasonable speed for the bike. I made 3 trips from Phoenix to San Diego and back on I-8 on my Vino 125. That's over 800 miles, with speed limits of mostly 75 mph. But it is also a mostly deserted road with mostly truck traffic, and you can see for miles ahead of you. While climbing mountains, the Vino got down to 30 mph, but I never felt like I was in any danger except from the cops. I am planning to buy a new scooter in the next few days that will not do 75 mph. My main reason for buying it is the engine is big enough to be freeway legal. I don't plan on a lot of freeway riding, but some is unavoidable if you are actually going to get anywhere. I know it won't keep up with left lane traffic, and I will ride accordingly. Many places out west it is legal to ride bicycles on the shoulders of freeways, simply because there is no other way to get somewhere. Now, on the urban freeways, like the 101, 202, 60, and 51 around metro Phoenix you would have to be crazy to get on one of those with anything that won't do at least 100 mph, and reach it quickly. Unlike wide open cross country interstates, traffic on these is like a stampede, 6 lanes wide bumper to bumper (think LA) there is no slow lane, and speeds vary from 0 to over 80 mph, often changing back and forth every few minutes. LOTS of rear end collisions and even pileups due to cell phone impaired drivers. I try to stay off these roads even in a car.
Jerry you are a brave man! 800 miles of illegal driving!!! lol!!! The vino was a scooter I once consider, it had that vespa smell and look but made in Japan so I translated it to a more efficient and trouble free scooter. HOw ever they are not sold in Mexico so just to have it legal would be like 600-900 USD so I figure I would but a Mexican scooter and save me that money for GAs for a 2-4 years! what scooter do want to buy now? Damasovi
Probably just stupid. I have no idea what the fine would have been, or how I would have gotten the scooter back had I been stopped. But law enforcement has become much stricter around here than it was even a couple of years ago, so I'm getting a little paranoid. Just 25cc more and I would have been legal, even if not any faster. Not going to take that kind of risk for because of 25cc anymore. I could not find a Blur. One dealer said he could get me one, but it would be full price with fees. I got offered a new Buddy 170 he had on the floor for $3199 OTD. That's $200 under MSRP, and includes everything. He has 3 left. I will most likely be back in after it on Tuesday morning. Something about the Buddy just seems to fit me, and it is small, the 170cc is pretty much the same size as the 50cc. The fit and finish is better than the Vino and the Zuma. Only thing I didn't like was that oil cooler mounted down low right under the front wheel. At least it had a guard around it.
I just did a 310 mile trip around the southern part of my state recently, 90% of it on roads with a 65 mph speed limit, and had no issues at all, other than CARS being too slow when I got close to a town. It easily maintained 50 mph, and I occasionally got it up to an indicated 60 mph down a couple of long hills. I also passed the 25,000 mile mark today, with no issues other than regular maintenance. It still feels just as strong now as it did when new. The old farm house where I grew up in the early '70s is still standing, though a bit worse for wear. This is the post office where we used to wait for the school bus back in elementary school. Still looks basically the same.
Looks like the additives didn't stop the gas from gumming up the carb over the winter. It will start and idle but won't take any throttle w/o dying. Any carb cleaning tips or ideas specific to the Vino out there?