Post by gil55 on Aug 15, 2013 14:53:38 GMT -5
I know this thread is old however I just stumbled across it and need to comment. First of all the defamatory comments by JMKJR72 are unnecessary and false. None of what he said is true; well other than the company is located near a bowling alley in De Pere, WI. The small office he talks of is about 10,000 sq. ft. and easily holds a thousand scooters at a time along with a large parts department. Company information is easy to find on their website (including their physical address) and organizational information is available on the State of Wisconsin Department of Financial Institutions website. Google maps show a nice street view of their building should you care to look. The State of Wisconsin open records also show that all the other drivel JMKJR72 is spewing about the owner is completely false as well. So the real facts are…
Propel only sells scooters to licensed “brick and mortar” dealers. If you want one of their new scooters, you have to buy it from an “Authorized Reseller”. They do not sell retail on their website and do not have a retail store. They have thousands of line items “on hand” in their local parts inventory. They currently sell scooters throughout most of the US and have hundreds of Authorized Resellers and thousands of happy customers. As others have noted, Propel scooters are made in mainland China as indicated on its website. The company is an American owned, Wisconsin based company and is not a storefront for a Chinese factory. Propel Imports does self-brand their scooters and USMCDOC is correct that anyone can do this. What you must understand however is when a company does this, they essentially become the manufacturer in the US and as such assume liability for the materials and workmanship of the product. This is an expensive and risky venture unless the company is well funded, properly insured and very sure their product is sound. Without these you would have to be absolutely crazy to self-brand.
The debate about Chinese scooters is a whole new thread. Like them or hate them, the bottom line is that the USA imported $20 Million worth of 50cc (49.5cc) models last year alone. I will be the first to tell you that it is hard to sort the fly crap from the pepper when it comes to these scooters and I do it for a living. I travel to China regularly and visit with all kinds of different scooter factories. There are two major scooter manufacturing areas in China with many many different factories in each area. Most of these factories are really nothing more than assembly plants that buy parts from the dozens of supporting factories that manufacture all of the different components in the bikes. It costs a lot of money to design a new scooter from the ground up. So to keep costs down, most Chinese scooter factories only have a few of their own “patent” models in their scooter lineup. (even these use mostly common parts with existing models) The rest of their lineup is purchased as (body/frame) kits from only a couple of major manufacturers. This is why so many Chinese scooters look and operate the same and this is where it gets complicated for consumers. The components they buy to finish these scooters vary wildly in quality. Even the body/frame kits themselves can be purchased with different quality of plastics and frame materials. To the naked eye consumers can see two nearly identical scooters, when in reality all that is the same is the shape of the body and the way the components are connected together. The important things like carburetors, pistons, seals, bearings, drive belts, batteries, switches, tires and wiring harnesses can all look the same but be of completely different quality. As an example, I can purchase carbs from six different China manufacturers which range in price from under $10 to over $50. They all look identical and the under $10 guys are even OK with putting a brand name logo on it! (whatever one you want) I totally understand comments like REVEEENS that state “all Chinese scooters are pretty much the same” because functionally they pretty much are, but quality is a whole different story. Unscrupulous companies can find a hundred ways to cheapen these products and the China factories will happily build them. Reputable companies who want to stay in business for the long term will use the best parts available, have factory level quality control, sell through a brick and mortar dealer network, have strong parts and technical support and not be afraid to put their name on it.
Sorry for the long post, but there is so much misinformation about Chinese scooters out there. Certainly don’t let one blow hard like JMKJR72 influence you. I know Propel Scooters use the best parts available in China and stand behind their products with superior parts and tech support and have been doing it since 2007. You CAN buy a decent Chinese scooter as many here on this forum have, but if it is my hard earned dollars and I have a problem, you had better believe I want a face to face with the guy I bought it from and not a phone call to a non-English speaking sales rep in a call center just to be told I can send it back as long as I disassemble and repackage it and pay the $200 freight back and a 20% restocking fee. My advice; do your homework, if you want a Vespa, buy a Vespa, if you choose a Chinese scooter…buy local. If that scooter happens to be a Propel…Thank you. Happy scootin’ and a big thanks to the administrators for managing a great resource.
Mark G.
President, Propel Imports, LLC
Propel only sells scooters to licensed “brick and mortar” dealers. If you want one of their new scooters, you have to buy it from an “Authorized Reseller”. They do not sell retail on their website and do not have a retail store. They have thousands of line items “on hand” in their local parts inventory. They currently sell scooters throughout most of the US and have hundreds of Authorized Resellers and thousands of happy customers. As others have noted, Propel scooters are made in mainland China as indicated on its website. The company is an American owned, Wisconsin based company and is not a storefront for a Chinese factory. Propel Imports does self-brand their scooters and USMCDOC is correct that anyone can do this. What you must understand however is when a company does this, they essentially become the manufacturer in the US and as such assume liability for the materials and workmanship of the product. This is an expensive and risky venture unless the company is well funded, properly insured and very sure their product is sound. Without these you would have to be absolutely crazy to self-brand.
The debate about Chinese scooters is a whole new thread. Like them or hate them, the bottom line is that the USA imported $20 Million worth of 50cc (49.5cc) models last year alone. I will be the first to tell you that it is hard to sort the fly crap from the pepper when it comes to these scooters and I do it for a living. I travel to China regularly and visit with all kinds of different scooter factories. There are two major scooter manufacturing areas in China with many many different factories in each area. Most of these factories are really nothing more than assembly plants that buy parts from the dozens of supporting factories that manufacture all of the different components in the bikes. It costs a lot of money to design a new scooter from the ground up. So to keep costs down, most Chinese scooter factories only have a few of their own “patent” models in their scooter lineup. (even these use mostly common parts with existing models) The rest of their lineup is purchased as (body/frame) kits from only a couple of major manufacturers. This is why so many Chinese scooters look and operate the same and this is where it gets complicated for consumers. The components they buy to finish these scooters vary wildly in quality. Even the body/frame kits themselves can be purchased with different quality of plastics and frame materials. To the naked eye consumers can see two nearly identical scooters, when in reality all that is the same is the shape of the body and the way the components are connected together. The important things like carburetors, pistons, seals, bearings, drive belts, batteries, switches, tires and wiring harnesses can all look the same but be of completely different quality. As an example, I can purchase carbs from six different China manufacturers which range in price from under $10 to over $50. They all look identical and the under $10 guys are even OK with putting a brand name logo on it! (whatever one you want) I totally understand comments like REVEEENS that state “all Chinese scooters are pretty much the same” because functionally they pretty much are, but quality is a whole different story. Unscrupulous companies can find a hundred ways to cheapen these products and the China factories will happily build them. Reputable companies who want to stay in business for the long term will use the best parts available, have factory level quality control, sell through a brick and mortar dealer network, have strong parts and technical support and not be afraid to put their name on it.
Sorry for the long post, but there is so much misinformation about Chinese scooters out there. Certainly don’t let one blow hard like JMKJR72 influence you. I know Propel Scooters use the best parts available in China and stand behind their products with superior parts and tech support and have been doing it since 2007. You CAN buy a decent Chinese scooter as many here on this forum have, but if it is my hard earned dollars and I have a problem, you had better believe I want a face to face with the guy I bought it from and not a phone call to a non-English speaking sales rep in a call center just to be told I can send it back as long as I disassemble and repackage it and pay the $200 freight back and a 20% restocking fee. My advice; do your homework, if you want a Vespa, buy a Vespa, if you choose a Chinese scooter…buy local. If that scooter happens to be a Propel…Thank you. Happy scootin’ and a big thanks to the administrators for managing a great resource.
Mark G.
President, Propel Imports, LLC