Tuesday, November 13, 2012

The Fly Scout is Back (sort of)!

Remember the Scout by Fly Scooters? The company went out of business in 2010, having just introduced the Scout earlier that year. I, for one, didn't act fast enough to get one. Well, here it is again, available in the USA once more! It's the exact same bike as the Scout, re-christened as the "Metro" and sold under the BMS brand name. The Scout was warmly received by the Honda Cub enthusiast community, partly due to its closer resemblance to the classic Honda C100/C102/C70/Passport of earlier decades compared to the (albeit much better made) SYM Symba, which is the only other "Cub" style motorcycle currently available in the USA. Although this particular "version" of the cub costs considerably less than the Symba ($1600 delivered, vs $2400 MSRP (not including dealer prep/delivery)), don't expect it to come even close to either Honda or SYM in terms of quality. A Fly Scout owner went over the bike very thoroughly and found some pretty flimsy welds in places (such as the front fork stem) that, if they were to fail, would cause a crash and potential injury or death for the rider. The Symba is made by SYM, a world-class manufacturer of scooters, motorcycles, and automobiles, and is distributed in the USA by Alliance Powersports through a network of authorized dealers.  The Metro is sold direct to retail customers, albeit through "dealers" (like this one).


Monday, March 19, 2012