2018 Kymco Spade 150 Review – First Ride

Asheville, North Carolina has been the scene of several Kymco product launches, and why not? It’s an oddball little city deep in the heart of Dixie that boasts world-class food, fun and roads. It’s kind of an underdog, just like the 54-year-old Taiwanese motor company. Kymco is known (when it is known) for durable, workmanlike products that deliver reliability and value… but not necessarily leading-edge style or wacky arrest-me fun. That changes with this here Spade 150, and Kymco let me ride and abuse the new model so I could lay a brief riding impression on ya’ll (the North Carolina is sticking).

Kymco has clearly decided to get all niche-y on us, with what it claims is “the world’s first production retro-mini motorcycle.” The Spade gets a gutsy lil’ critter of a motor, an air-cooled 149.4cc Single with a four-valve, SOHC head and EFI. Kymco claims it’ll make 11.8 horsepower, which should give you real-world numbers close to (or even better than) the 8-ish numbers we saw from competition like Honda’s Grom and Kawi’s Z125. My butt-dyno indicates it could be so, meaning a top speed of around 60 mph.

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https://www.motorcycle.com/manufacturer/kymco/2018-kymco-spade-150-review-first-ride.html