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Post by oldchopperguy on Jan 21, 2015 0:58:59 GMT -5
Yup I saw the covering tape, and I went ahead and punctured it. I shined the flashlight in there the best I could and I can't see anything in there. No screw, no bolt, no hex head, nothing. I talked to the owner of the Kymco dealer in Scottsdale, and he said he thinks it must just be a phillips head screw, but if it is, I sure can't see it. It's a really small opening and I don't have a screwdriver that will fit. I don't want to go and buy a long phillips screwdriver if there's no phillips screw in there. I think tomorrow I'm going to take a ride up to Scottsdale and have the dealer poke around in there and see if they can help me. The low beam is just a bit too high, and the high beam is WAY too high. I'd actually like to lower the beam enough that I can ride at night with the high beam on and not blind the guy in front of me, or the oncoming traffic. The Kymco dealer said the Grandvista or DINK as they call it is pretty rare. He doesn't even carry em. I asked about changing the headlight and he said the entire nose has to come off to get to it. Windshield and all. LOL! I sure hope the bulbs are long lasting. Because that sounds like a full 6 pack of beer job to get done. Scootdude,
I'll see if I can discover the mystery of the bolt... But your dealer should be able to check it out easily. There definitely ARE some slight differences between the Grand Dink, and the Grandvista. The headlight adjustment MAY be one of them. If there's no bolt there, I'll bet there IS a screw of some kind.
My headlight is the same as yours... Low beam's a little high, and the high beam's quite a bit too high. The factory set mine to maximize the low beam for distance, and the high beam shining straight ahead, but not hitting the road. That's one way to do it, but like you, I don't like it. I want ALL the light on the pavement.
I don't think the Grandvista is really too rare, it's just that they haven't made them in years, and the owners LOVE them, and tend to keep them until they are totally worn out... And they DON'T wear out fast!. If I recall, they were made from 2004 to 2011, or something close to that. I believe they were Kymco's first true "touring scooter" even before the term "maxi scooter" came about. They competed with the super-long Yamaha, Honda and others. Riders really liked them, since they were truly highway capable, but still very nimble. Today, the genre has nearly disappeared.
Kymco stuck with the smaller wheels to enhance "scooter-like" handling, and that wasn't thought to be unusual since some other early big road-scooters (even long-wheelbase versions) used 11 and even 10-inch wheels successfully. They surely got the geometry right, since mine DOES handle like a 150 in town, but like an old Harley bagger on the road!
Once the maxi-scooters became sort of "defined" with L-O-N-G wheelbases, large wheels and 300 cc and bigger engines, the Grandvista became outdated as a dedicated highway ride, but remains super-popular as an ideal "general purpose" scooter, great in town, OR on the road.
That's what sold me! Combining flat-floor 150 appearance and handling in tight quarters, yet being fully capable of romping onto the freeway and running 65+ mph for a couple of hundred miles is one SWEET combination. That sort of scooter barely exists today in new form, except for a few from Italy, and a couple of models from Kymco and SYM. Scooters from SYM are great IF you can find them... The dealer I got my Kymco from is also a SYM dealer, but seldom has many SYM models in stock. The ones he does have are VERY slick though!
My missus likes the eagle graphics on yours... She says considering what an old geezer/artist I am, maybe I should paint a buzzard on mine... OOHH-KAAYYY... Think I'll pass... LOL!
Ride safe!
Leo
PS: That seat may "grow on you"... LOL! Hope so! After a year and a lot of miles, I really like mine!
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Post by scootdude on Jan 21, 2015 1:33:46 GMT -5
Wow I had no idea the Grandvista was discontinued in 2011. That's a bummer. It's a cool scooter. I didn't get the chance to go to the Kymco dealer today to help me adjust the headlight, but I did go for a bit of a ride. I had to take the fuel bowl cover off the carburetor again, because I didn't clean up the pilot jet well enough the last time I was into it. This time I used a thin guitar string to get inside the jet and really clean it out. Then hit it hard with carb/choke cleaner to blast out any remaining debris. When I got done with it, I put it up to the sunlight and I could see thru it plain as day. I popped it back in and WHAMMO it ran like a champ and had no more idling issues.
If it does it again I'm just going to order up new jets, floats, and the whole carb kit and just be done with the issue once and for all. I tried to run all the fuel out of it, and I diluted the old crappy fuel with new fresh fuel. I don't dare add any sea foam to it because the lady I bought it from said she added some. I think she probably dumped a whole bottle of sea foam in it. I should probably siphon the fuel out of the tank and just dispose of it all.
The lady who owned it before me bought it new in 2006 and only put 3750 miles on it. She probably put most of the miles on it in the first year or two that she owned the scooter and then let it sit in her garage gathering dust and letting the fuel turn into varnish. I'm going to toss some new tires on it in the next week or two. I'll bet those are the original tires from the manufacturer. I'll take your advice and put some P rated tires on it.
When I was out and about on the scooter today I was getting lots of strange looks from pedestrians. LOL! Probably looking in awe at the fat, grey bearded guy on the pointy nosed, cherry red feathered, green beaked and purple sided scooter. I just rode on by and enjoyed the ride. Ha! It's amazing what a fella can get away with when the young kids think he's a goofy old dude. But seriously... I think I really AM a goofy old dude. At least that's what my wife keeps telling me.
I really appreciate your efforts to help me look into the whole headlight adjustment thing. Between the two of us, we're bound to figure it out.
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Post by scootdude on Jan 22, 2015 22:34:44 GMT -5
Okay guys. I couldn't take the purple feathers, the green beak, and the stupid chicken eyes anymore. I did some goofball engineering. I used a little all weather red tape, some reflective tape, and black tape on the purple fender, and down the undersides below the footrest to conceal the purple feathers. What do you think? I don't care if it looks like hillbilly engineering. I'd rather it looked tacky than look like it's Ru Paul's personal scoot.   |
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Post by scooter on Jan 22, 2015 23:09:02 GMT -5
Okay guys. I couldn't take the purple feathers, the green beak, and the stupid chicken eyes anymore. I did some goofball engineering. I used a little all weather red tape, some reflective tape, and black tape on the purple fender, and down the undersides below the footrest to conceal the purple feathers. What do you think? I don't care if it looks like hillbilly engineering. I'd rather it looked tacky than look like it's Ru Paul's personal scoot. Nice save. You made it manly plus you can still give your wife the bird. You are happy, the wife is happy, it's all good!  |
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Post by novaraptor on Jan 23, 2015 11:16:26 GMT -5
Well, I probably would have put some pigs in space helmets somewhere on it.. What?? No one plays Angry Birds anymore?? Just me??? really???
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Post by SylvreKat on Jan 24, 2015 7:57:32 GMT -5
nova, I play it some. But mostly I play Sheep Launcher. More pointless, more fun.
'dude, I think you came up with the best solution. Now you're happy the next year or so, and then off comes the tape and your wife is happy with her chicken. Creepy eyes and all.
I did keep thinking it was a shame to paint over such a well-done custom job that could not have been cheap.
>'Kat
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Post by scooter on Jan 25, 2015 0:19:33 GMT -5
The lady I bought the scooter from said she paid $2,800 to a custom paint shop called Deano's or something like that. She had the money to burn, so she did it up all fluflu. I really wish she'd have just left the factory paint on it. I don't want to waste a dime of my money repainting a 9 year old scooter. So the all weather tape will do just fine. I think it has more character now all taped up. 
I hope it doesn't take paint off when you remove it. |
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Post by oldchopperguy on Jan 25, 2015 1:19:27 GMT -5
Woo-HOO! Nice fix...Many of us FORGET that those seeing our scoots see them from a distance and don't notice "less than Chip Foose" quality cosmetics... LOL! That tape is a doggone-good color-match, and the black fender looks fine with it. If you want to do it differently later, a little wet-sanding and filler/primer will make way for magnificent rattle-can magic! I've just got to tell you, my first attempt at flames on an early Harley looked MUCH worse than your chicken ever did... LOL!Dang, I LIKE these 250's in RED! I think they ONLY came in red, white or blue. The white is by far the most common, and amazingly is actually pearlescent. I have not seen a red or blue one, so I don't know if those colors were also pearl. One day, I'd like to do mine in either yellow, or black... But... the original paint is in excellent condition, and white is really popular nowadays, so it may be a long, LONG time before I mess with any major paint work. At my age, riding is higher priority than painting... I'm betting you will enjoy your red "bird" for many years to come! And, your creative use of tape beats Red Green's efforts by a mile! 
Ride safe!Leo
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Post by scootdude on Jan 25, 2015 12:40:57 GMT -5
Hehe I really don't care if the tape pulls the paint off. I really hope it does. I'll do like Leo said and do a little sanding and masking and repaint the thing myself. I bought it to be a commuter, not a beauty queen. And all the paneling is plastic, so there's no worry about it rusting. If my wife inherits a beast rather then a beauty than oh well. She can go out and paint it up however she wants it when it becomes hers!
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