When love strikes… there’s no waiting.
The moment I saw/test-rode the N1s I knew that I want one – and my dealer just sold the last one. To make things worse, he added “I think we’ll have to wait until next year for a new shipping”.
My heart broke – it’s September now. That would be about a 6 months wait -due to weather conditions- until I could own and drive one 🙁
There got to be a way to get one somewhere else – and a Limited Edition (matte black) would be very nice.
So after some Googling around I found an online scooter shop in Cologne, Germany, which not only expected 2(!) Limited Edition to be delivered very soon but also offered domestic shipping for free!
Boy! After making sure on the phone that they really get them soon (“should be tomorrow…”) this was my fastest and most expensive online purchase ever. Burned a 2699€ hole into my pocket in about 20 seconds.
From then on it was some waiting-drama: The delivery to the dealer got some delay and the shipping to me, too. During this time, the dealer was very patient and helpful with my nervous calls 😉
After a week my NIU arrived! The upside of this waiting was that the COC documents were in my post-box the same day!
As you can see in the photo above the original shipping box is not small. Make sure you have some space before getting this beast dropped onto your pavement.
Yes, shame on me – I could have make a nice unboxing, but I’m not that kind of guy. When am at it, I’m at it – no time for taking bloody pictures.
[The good thing is, others did do a video about unboxing it… so no worries]
Finally, here are some tips I wish I had before unpacking, as there’s no manual coming with it:
- Take your time. It’ll take about an hour to unpack and complete your NIU.
- Get proper tools. There’s a serious aluminum protection frame inside.
- You’ll need some (metric!) wrenches.
- Size 2 philips screw-driver
- A big flat screw-driver to aid as a leaverage
- A rubber hammer can help, too
- Strong pincers
- Protective gloves – there are some mean edges
- If you’re not a Hulk (like me ;-)), a 2nd person to help you yanking out the NIU from the base mount in the end.
- The key is attached to the left handlebar.
- Use it to open the seat-compartment (with lock on steering rod).
- Inside there is the lock for the battery compartment.
- And inside there are the charger, rear-mirrors and – tadaa! The manual… which you don’t need anymore at this point :-/
- You’ll end up with a lot of cardboard, Styrofoam, aluminum bars, plastics and what not. Happy recycling!
If that all worked out, you might be rewarded with this view:
Omg, in the Netherlands they are way more expensive, around 2999€ without being a limited edition. If only I knew…
Sigh… pricing always was and will ever be an insane/unfair thing, just mind Apple or car prices in the US and over here.
Looking at the Chinese prices, you might get an impression how many people are making profit until the scooter is available in the European stores.
Also, pricing depends on the over-all calculation of your importer who also provides the guarantee etc. – there might be differences.
Hey, thanks for the info! I would also like to get one, I live in Berlin and I was wondering if the dealer in Cologne where you got it from took care of the registration and number plates too or did you have to take of that yourself?
Thanks!
Nope. You have to do it yourself. As for Germany, it’s a no-brainer… look for an insurance agency, bring your CoC and ID, roughly 30€ later you have your number plates.
The CoC will be sent separately by the importer, took about 3 days in my case…
Thanks mate. And thank you for creating this cool site for the NIU scooters. Hopefully more and more users will join and share their experience.
Cheers.
Hey Enrico! Nice to hear that you like MyNIU.org – spread the word, like us at FaceBook and participate whenever you found/did something cool or crazy with your NIU 😉