by Max Marbut
Staff Writer
With a family and children involved in sports and other activities, Ken Watson just couldn’t justify trading his SUV on a smaller, more fuel-efficient vehicle.
“But the rising gas cost really got me thinking there’s got to be a way around these high prices,” he said.
For Watson it was the World Wide Web to the rescue.
“Most of my errands are 10 miles or less and I had seen some motor scooters around, so I got on the Internet and found a local dealer.
“I test drove one and it literally sold itself. After buying it and riding it around for a couple of weeks I decided I needed to sell them. If I would buy one, so would a lot of people,“said Watson.
Last week he opened the doors of Jax City Scooters on Ocean Street between Bay and Forsyth streets. He has about a dozen scooters in stock and said the first time he opened the dealership and let customers in to see the Chinese-made motor scooters, his suspicion that a lot of people are looking for a way to save money on gas was confirmed.
“In a half an hour, I had two scooters pre-sold,” said Watson, who added his goal is to sell 12 units a month for the first year and then steadily increase his sales volume.
“People have been riding scooters forever all over the rest of the world,” he said. “It’s a primary means of transportation for millions of people in Europe, Asia, India and the United Kingdom. The world market is being flooded with scooters because the market is there.”
Watson’s scooters are manufactured by Chuanl Motorcycle Manufacturing Company, Ltd. It was founded in 1989 to manufacture full-size motorcycles and all-terrain vehicles (ATVs) and now employs 1,500 people in Zheijang Province. The company exports the scooters to a distributor in Texas that supplies Jax City Scooters and other area dealers.
Watson stocks two sizes of scooters with 50 c.c. and 150 c.c. four-stroke gas engines. Prices range from $1,300 for the smaller unit to $1,800 for the large displacement model.
As for fuel economy and performance, Watson said the 50 c.c. models have a top speed of just over 40 m.p.h. and get 100 miles on a gallon of gas while the bigger engines can hit a top speed of 60 m.p.h. and get 80 m.p.g.
That puts Watson’s scooters at less than 50 percent of the cost of a Vespa, the Italian two-wheeler that since the 1940s has become the most famous motor scooter in the world. While the brand he sells is admittedly not as well-known as Vespa, “I’m hopeful most people don’t want to spend $4,000 on their first scooter,” said Watson.
He also said the motor scooters have a reputation for being durable and easy to maintain. Even though the scooters have smaller engines and price tags, they are like any motorcycle.
“The scooters come with a one-year power train warranty from the factory with no limit on mileage and we offer an additional 60-day bumper-to-bumper warranty. If you take care of it – change the oil and the gear fluid and the spark plugs – it will last a very long time,” said Watson.
The rack Watson installed on the back of his SUV that allows him to take his scooter wherever he goes will also serve another purpose for the dealership, he said.
“We’ll offer free delivery and check out the buyer on how to operate and maintain their new scooter,” he said.