With an already long list of models available, Kymco has added five new scooters to its lineup, and I tested four of them. Charleston, SC, provided us with plenty of city and country riding, and the cobblestone roads gave us a feel of the scooters’ suspensions, especially after some good low-country cookin’.

This past fall, Kymco USA debuted their entire 2010 product line in Asheville, North Carolina, and RoadRUNNER was there to get a first-hand look. Though the Taiwanese company's offerings range from 50 to 500cc, we naturally gravitated toward their flagship model, the machine most suited for the open road.

The Kwang Yang Motor Company's roots in the powersports industry can be traced back to the Taiwanese company's founding in 1963. Today, it manufactures over 500,000 motor scooters, motorcycles and ATVs each year at five plants in Asia, and exports products to over 70 countries. KYMCO USA, headquartered in Spartanburg, South Carolina, serves over 600 U.S. dealer locations.

Let's see, my driveway is right at ten miles from the parking lot here at the palatial RoadRUNNER towers. Simple math indicates that I'll ride Kymco's People 250 right at 100 miles every week just to get to my keyboard. Throw in a couple of errands and an occasional long-way-home jaunt and I may actually burn close to an entire tank of high test in a week. The cool thing is, the tank only holds a splash over two gallons.

Still kind of new to this scooter thing, I have to constantly remind myself to temper my skepticism. I know for a fact that 250cc motorcycles do just fine as commuter machines and can hold their own on the open road. Why, then, am I so quick to scoff at a 250cc scooter? It's called ignorance, and the cure for that is education. Come on, let's go to school.