TheScooterScoop

(“Dude! Did they say they have any Buddy’s left?” – “No! They just sold out of Keeways and they are down to Tank or Rocketta, I can’t tell which.”)

Well, this is something that nearly no one could have predicted just a few months ago. Can you believe that there were distributors with HUNDREDS of 2007 models left over in their warehouses back in April? Today, some of these distributors have to wait until September or October before their 2009′s start rolling in. “It’s madness” I say! Here’s what NBC11 in San Jose had to say about it:

Biafore said the bikes are so popular, some people are willing to take whatever is available. He remembers one weekend last month he called a “feeding frenzy.” Half a dozen people were on the showroom floor asking for bikes.

“It was to a point where it didn’t matter what the bike was, the size or what the capability was,” he said. “They knew they wanted a scooter. They knew it was hot. They knew if they didn’t buy it right then it would go away.”

Biafore said the manufacturer Piaggio has done a good job supplying Vespas during the recent spike in demand, but that it is still a struggle to get bikes. The dealership started slapping signs on its Vespas that said “available” or “sold.”

“I feel like I’m so lucky,” Anna says of buying her Vespa when she did. “Not only did I get the color I wanted, the seat I wanted, I got the style I wanted. And I would imagine that prices might go up.”