Post by bisbonian on Jun 18, 2013 16:52:51 GMT -5
I just moved to the big city and decided that a scooter would be a great way to get around.
I was looking for something in the 125cc range but found what I thought was a good deal on Craigslist for a Kymco Agility 50.
Well actually I thought it was a 125 until I got most of the way home and actually read what the stickers on the side of the body said!
I went in knowing that the thing didn't run, the seller had no real information as to what was going on since he was selling it for a friend but I sort of assumed it would be something electrical.
The guy who had this previously evidently did not know how to stay on two wheels as there is not a single body panel that is not broken or gouged. That's okay as it means that I don't have to sweat it if it gets knocked over.
I started by just trying to start it up and see what happened. The battery was very dead so I borrowed the one out of my KTM and the thing fired right up!
Unfortunately, while the engine ran fairly well it also made a loud hammering noise and I knew that engine work was going to be needed.
Before too long I had the jug off, I got about 1/8" of play in the connecting rod so a total tear down was in order.
Not only was the crank toasted but a closer look at the jug revealed a nice size divot where the piston had taken out some material.
And it looks like most of the metal ended up in the strainer:
It wasn't too long before my "new" scooter looked like this:
All of the black plastic was severely faded and no longer looked gray. In addition, my wife is completely sick of silver vehicles and demanded a change in color.
Engine parts started arriving and I got to work getting it all back together. I determined that the standard Chinese bike parts were going to work so had ordered up a crank kit and 50mm BBK. Along the way I found that the variator rollers had the cross section of a squircle with lots of flat spots and the variator itself had a bit of a groove in the belt face so more parts were needed.
For now I just went with stock replacement parts so that I can see how this thing will ride before I need to adjust. Did I mention that this is my first scooter?
The engine started to go back together:
I ordered a size main jet for the carburetor but this is where I started to find differences between the Kymco and the standard Chinese stuff. The jet I ordered was way too small for the carburetor so I stuck with whatever was in there. The jet face was a bit bunged up so I couldn't read the size, I have a friend with a Buddy 125 who just ordered a bunch of new jets and got a by mistake, I'll see if that fits in my carburetor at some point.
Now it's time to get the thing back together. I really need to start organizing hardware as I take it off because just throwing nuts and bolts in my magnetic bowl does not help me determine where they go!
Here's a picture from the other day:
Gone is the silver and I've decided to have a red scooter. I have to admit that I did no prep work other than spraying things down with my pressure washer. I hate sanding, so I didn't do any.
I've since taken most of the bodywork back off so that I can install the new turn signals when they get here. I thought I could save two signals by mix and matching parts of the 4 broken ones but it was not to be.
I took it out for a quick naked ride around the neighborhood today. That is the scooter was naked, not me. It got up to an indicated 40mph or so in the short straight I had and I expect with a little more space it will do better.
Acceleration is about what I'd expect for a 80cc scooter, now I have to figure out how to get more of it. I have no idea what weight the rollers that are in there are, I'll have to see if I can find a scale and measure them.
I was looking for something in the 125cc range but found what I thought was a good deal on Craigslist for a Kymco Agility 50.
Well actually I thought it was a 125 until I got most of the way home and actually read what the stickers on the side of the body said!
I went in knowing that the thing didn't run, the seller had no real information as to what was going on since he was selling it for a friend but I sort of assumed it would be something electrical.
The guy who had this previously evidently did not know how to stay on two wheels as there is not a single body panel that is not broken or gouged. That's okay as it means that I don't have to sweat it if it gets knocked over.
I started by just trying to start it up and see what happened. The battery was very dead so I borrowed the one out of my KTM and the thing fired right up!
Unfortunately, while the engine ran fairly well it also made a loud hammering noise and I knew that engine work was going to be needed.
Before too long I had the jug off, I got about 1/8" of play in the connecting rod so a total tear down was in order.
Not only was the crank toasted but a closer look at the jug revealed a nice size divot where the piston had taken out some material.
And it looks like most of the metal ended up in the strainer:
It wasn't too long before my "new" scooter looked like this:
All of the black plastic was severely faded and no longer looked gray. In addition, my wife is completely sick of silver vehicles and demanded a change in color.
Engine parts started arriving and I got to work getting it all back together. I determined that the standard Chinese bike parts were going to work so had ordered up a crank kit and 50mm BBK. Along the way I found that the variator rollers had the cross section of a squircle with lots of flat spots and the variator itself had a bit of a groove in the belt face so more parts were needed.
For now I just went with stock replacement parts so that I can see how this thing will ride before I need to adjust. Did I mention that this is my first scooter?
The engine started to go back together:
I ordered a size main jet for the carburetor but this is where I started to find differences between the Kymco and the standard Chinese stuff. The jet I ordered was way too small for the carburetor so I stuck with whatever was in there. The jet face was a bit bunged up so I couldn't read the size, I have a friend with a Buddy 125 who just ordered a bunch of new jets and got a by mistake, I'll see if that fits in my carburetor at some point.
Now it's time to get the thing back together. I really need to start organizing hardware as I take it off because just throwing nuts and bolts in my magnetic bowl does not help me determine where they go!
Here's a picture from the other day:
Gone is the silver and I've decided to have a red scooter. I have to admit that I did no prep work other than spraying things down with my pressure washer. I hate sanding, so I didn't do any.
I've since taken most of the bodywork back off so that I can install the new turn signals when they get here. I thought I could save two signals by mix and matching parts of the 4 broken ones but it was not to be.
I took it out for a quick naked ride around the neighborhood today. That is the scooter was naked, not me. It got up to an indicated 40mph or so in the short straight I had and I expect with a little more space it will do better.
Acceleration is about what I'd expect for a 80cc scooter, now I have to figure out how to get more of it. I have no idea what weight the rollers that are in there are, I'll have to see if I can find a scale and measure them.