To Do List

1. Change engine oil

• Get 10w40 (due to high temps here), probably dino for now
• get oil tray and funnel

2. Change transmission oil

• get a syringe 
• get some amsoil gear oil

3. Change plug and coil
4. Upgrade all bolts / nuts etc to a decent grade and add locking washers
5. Upgrade lights to LED and Halogen (bulbs on the way).
6. Check Valves

Tyre pressures.

Things hadn't been as I had expected ride wise on the scoot. The front end had been a little sloppy since I got it. I finally got the chance to pickup a tyre pressure gauge. It should be roughly 30 psi front and rear, I had 20 rear, 12 front. All fixed up now! I will be monitoring it more closely from now on!

Update: After a 30 minute ride to check out the new pressures the scoot does ride a lot differently, a lot more squirrely even with very relaxed arms. I might drop a few psi out of the tyres (or tires if thats your thang), the slight gain in speed is still there even though I was riding into a very strong headwind.

The ride home was amusing, I took the quick and fast route and the side winds were very strong, with the new harder ride the bike was skitting sideways which was great fun. Its fair to say I have the aerodynamics of a cathedral which doesn't help. 

Problems starting the scoot

Life with the Chinese scoot is turning out as predicted, a few problems here and there but mostly its a nice piece of work. More care could have been taken to put washers on bolts, use better bolts etc but given I could have bought 4 of these scoots, tools and spare parts for the price of a 'brand' name scooter I am pretty happy with the situation.

The last few mornings the scoot has been reluctant to start, needing quite a few kicks to get it going. I hoped it was just the short trips to work coupled with no excess power to charge the battery. Longer trips to work (what a hardship!) didn't help too much. Off to Ace and one battery tender and charge later it is back to starting first time using the electronic start.

I have also ordered replacement bulbs, taking the opportunity to switch all but the headlights to LED's to improve my visibility, my range of vision and maybe save an amp or two.

No headlights at 5am

Time to start taking the bike to work and I find the second problem. The wiring to the headlights got caught in the forks and cut. After looking at the wiring it was obvious this had happened before and the fix had been bodged. Wires were soldered without individual insulation and shorted against each other. So just after midnight, in the rain I removed the front wiring harness. I replaced some wires, resoldered most of the joins, individually insulated each join and used some spiral wire wrap to protect the wiring. I will post some pictures of the original mess later.

A new scoot

A few weeks back I decided I needed some transport and wasn't going to wait around playing silly buggers with the local driving instructor. Having been on bikes in a different country before it seemed logical to get my bike endorsement and pick out a bike or a scooter. Having survived the rigours of the 25 question multiple choice exam, with permit in hand it was time to pick up a scooter. Clinging onto a volcano in the middle of the pacific has its advantages, a wide selection of cheap vehicles is not one of them. Having toured the local dealers, ruling out harleys, crotch rockets and the big name scooters due to price constraints I decided to 'risk' purchasing a slightly used (221 miles) chinese scooter. Having done my research I realised this scoot would take lots of TLC to keep it running, that it would be fairly basic in design (which is a plus and a minus) and it would be stupidly cheap.

 

Above is a picture of what my scooter (roketa mc75-150) looks like, or at least very close (same model, slightly different paint job, mine has black instead of white and a single tone seat). It's a 150cc gy6 engine, 13 inch wheels and can just about hit an indicated 70mph downhill, 45 uphill.Fuel economy so far is about 70-80mpg. 

After wobbling round some cones I got my full licence (first try, 3 points for skidding a bit on my controlled stop), some insurance and hit the road. 

I found the first problem with the scooter. Going over 30mph indicated resulted in a pop from the exhaust and a drop in power before power would come back. After adding some card cleaner, decent fuel and reseating the air filter all seemed well with the world.