MOPED ARMY

i would be one of those people that thinks your nuts. however, i heard an interesting story the other day about how people in the 70's would fly to germany, buy VW cars there, drive them around for two weeks and ship them back -- all for the same price as just buying the car in the US. It was mentioned that this was possible because of the value of the American dollar at the time.

So maybe if the dollar goes up again you could afford to make it into a vacation.

Personally I'm holding out for the 2001 model...

What simon is talking about is European delivery. I know that some manufacturers still do that today.

Well of course.. you are nuts..but.....

Yeah... check and see if they already sell them in Canada.. Canada USED to get all the cool European motorcycles we couldn't get.. it wouldn't be all that hard to get one across the border as a used vehicle... brand new is a different story.

You might also try looking in an internet directory for a Canadian motorcycle importer in Toronto who does what is called "gray market" importing.. and ask what the chances of getting a Ciao would be.. the easiest way to get it into the US is as a used vehicle.. so what they can do is sell it to his wife and then sell it to you as "used".. it'll cost you more though.

One word of warning...... be careful at the border... they won't hesitate for a second to toss you in jail if they think you are trying to pull a fast one on them.. and they will do it just to teach you a lesson.. and then you get to pay some fines.. and your Ciao gets more expensive.

It wouldn't hurt to call BOTH US Customs and Canadian Customs first and ask them the rules........ I got in trouble this summer at the border trying something similar.

What I want to know is what makes this Ciao so special?

Got any links to a picture?

Well, I don't want to have to put it back together. I want the whole thing. As far as I know, they aren't available in Canada either. But I could check. Another way to avoid customs would be to bring it by boat ... so now I need a person w/ a large boat (perhaps not a "yacht") to bring it through the Great Lakes. Or I could try to ride it across the border myself ... I'd do it at Windsor and pretend that I'm just visiting or something ... but I don't have Canuk ID ...

Why is the Ciao so special?! WOW! Check out the Piaggio website for details <piaggio.com> and you can see the pics. Also, there are pics of the 2000 model on the Moped Army site. Basically, it has THE classic moped/Ciao look even today, but it has some nicer frame metals and things ... such as floating shocks (so it doesn't look like it has shocks!). The bike rocks.

My preference is for the "espresso" (coffee) colored Ciao. But I'm sure I would be happy w/ any one if I could only get my hands on one. I'm thankful for the ideas ... now I can develope multiple strategies. If you could also give me names of possible contacts, that'd be great also.

Yeah, I checked w/ torontomopeds.com, but they sell Tomos. But I sent them email inquiring about the Ciao. I've also emailed Scooterworks in Chicago, which is a Vespa dealer. I'm still waiting to hear from them. I also (again) emailed Piaggio and Piaggio-USA.

But I want a 2000 Ciao!!!!!!!

You've got to be kidding me! No disrespect to the Honda PA-50 ... but the Ciao is much more supreme. Did you see it on the Piaggio website? You surely must. ;-)

what's the email address? i could go to the site, but i want to make sure that we're all emailing the same address so that the same eyes see it over and over again.