The Scooter Dozen
April 24, 2012
As you may have guessed the scooter has finally reached twelve trips to work. It has a whopping 6600 miles on it, about to be 6700. I recently came across something that I wrote at the beginning of February stating it had 6100 on it which only heightened my understanding of how mild this winter has been. Last year at this time I was only beginning to ride and if I had one hundred miles on my two wheeled fleet, that was alot. Today is more winter-like with temperatures in the low forties with wind chills in the thirties. There's even flurries sprinkling the air adding to the winter feel. Better days ahead,
As time goes on the issue of buy cheap, get cheap becomes more apparent with the Chinese scooter. The other day I was riding to work when I hit a small pothole. As soon as the shock passed through the machine the engine died. I coasted to the bottom of that hill expecting it to be some deep seated electrical misconnection and discovered the spark plug wire had fallen off. When I reconnected it I could tell it didn't seat as tightly as I would have expected. Later at home I found that the plug wire had dried out at the plastic cover that fits over the spark plug. It was cracking and not fitting tightly on the plug anymore. It hasn't fallen off again lately but I avoid bumps and holes until I'm sure I find a cure. When I bought it one of the first things I read about these scooters was cheap rubber and plastic drying out. Mine has held up well so far but as it approaches four years old many of the predictions about "Cheap Chinese Rubber" seems to be coming to fruition. The engine, though, seems to run better all the time and with almost 7,000 miles on it I have to be careful with the throttle to keep it at 45 mph to preserve the motor. Low engine speed spells high mileage with these and I want to put big miles on it.
In the meantime the Yamaha seems to be becoming a more reliable means of transport. I've used it to go back and forth to Town successfully a few times and a longer run is imminent. I have a short trip in my head that will allow me to see if it can be trusted. Plus the trip will be in cell tower range in case I have to call for help. I'm just waiting now for better weather. If I have to wait for a pickup truck to come and retrieve me I want it to be in weather I'm not shivering in. Once it succeeds at something like a fifteen or twenty mile ride I'll have a useful engine in my stable. It's no W650 Kawasaki but it has character and it's much easier to push around than all the bikes I've had for the last forty years.
As time goes on the issue of buy cheap, get cheap becomes more apparent with the Chinese scooter. The other day I was riding to work when I hit a small pothole. As soon as the shock passed through the machine the engine died. I coasted to the bottom of that hill expecting it to be some deep seated electrical misconnection and discovered the spark plug wire had fallen off. When I reconnected it I could tell it didn't seat as tightly as I would have expected. Later at home I found that the plug wire had dried out at the plastic cover that fits over the spark plug. It was cracking and not fitting tightly on the plug anymore. It hasn't fallen off again lately but I avoid bumps and holes until I'm sure I find a cure. When I bought it one of the first things I read about these scooters was cheap rubber and plastic drying out. Mine has held up well so far but as it approaches four years old many of the predictions about "Cheap Chinese Rubber" seems to be coming to fruition. The engine, though, seems to run better all the time and with almost 7,000 miles on it I have to be careful with the throttle to keep it at 45 mph to preserve the motor. Low engine speed spells high mileage with these and I want to put big miles on it.
In the meantime the Yamaha seems to be becoming a more reliable means of transport. I've used it to go back and forth to Town successfully a few times and a longer run is imminent. I have a short trip in my head that will allow me to see if it can be trusted. Plus the trip will be in cell tower range in case I have to call for help. I'm just waiting now for better weather. If I have to wait for a pickup truck to come and retrieve me I want it to be in weather I'm not shivering in. Once it succeeds at something like a fifteen or twenty mile ride I'll have a useful engine in my stable. It's no W650 Kawasaki but it has character and it's much easier to push around than all the bikes I've had for the last forty years.
Posted by Jim Zeiser.
If you wish to comment my e-mail address is h1500e@hotmail.com. I'd like to hear anything-good or bad-that anyone would like to say. As they said in college, we're all lifelong learners.
