Does ride quality vary from brand to brand?  By  Deleted (Read 1,941 times)

The t3 rides bad because of the low profile thin tires, i had one.

Don't remove a shock it was designed for 2 and your swing arm may twist without it there. There is no spring preload setting on your shocks?? If no just replace them with one that is adjustable they are pretty cheap...

My 150 has adjustable shocks its a great feature

Right good idea Chinese frames are world famous for their rigid unbendable qualities.

Yes leave both shocks in place. The engines are the same however the frame that they are mounted to may not hold up to the unequal loading and may twist or worse snap when stressed.

Shocks?

Gosh, I guess I got spoiled by ANY form of suspension after years of riding hard-tail Harleys... LOL! My back still hurts when I think back about my pet chopper "Old Blue". With no suspension on the rear, tar strips at 80+ felt like Godzilla was smacking my butt with a piece of Tokyo harbor... A genuine "bump" would often fling the rear wheel two feet in the air, bringing about a surprise meeting between my face and the gas-tank. My first bike with real...? suspension was a mid-sixties BSA 650. Trust me, my current Xingyue 150 is better than that old Brit ride.

Like most of our "budget" Chinese scooters, my Xingyue has no adjustment in the suspension. However, it rides OK for me, at 235 pounds. It's a little hard, but also allows carrying a passenger with no problem. I have recently been shopping (like a girl at a shoe sale...) for a 250.

I love my little 150 but it simply is too slow to ride safely anymore, since local streets have been "upgraded" and cars have gotten faster and faster, and drivers have gotten meaner and meaner. You don't need a crotch-rocket, but honestly, you DO need something that will accelerate from a red light to 65 mph+ VERY smartly to avoid becoming road kill.

In the process, I learned something interesting. At only about 230 pounds, my 150, or a 50, has very little weight to hold it down, except the rider. This phenomenon most CERTAINLY adds to the harsh feel of the ride. The 250's I've test ridden weigh almost DOUBLE at around 450 pounds. Hmmm... They feel MUCH better at any speed. I think I discovered that WEIGHT absorbs bumps better than suspension. I suddenly remember my old science teacher having us hold a cut pine 2 x 4 the size of a brick and whacking it with a bat. Your hand REALLY feels the impact. Now, take a heavy house-brick of similar size, hold it and smack it with the bat. Hmmm.... You feel VERY little impact.

There's something to be said for some extra weight. And (I really LOVE this) unlike a heavy MOTORCYCLE, a heavier SCOOTER is not unwieldy to push around into tight places, and not overly-heavy off the side-stand or stopped at red lights. This is because scooters keep the weight way down low. So, you get a smooth ride like a highway-capable MOTORCYCLE, with the nimble handling of a SCOOTER! Cheesh, talk about the best of both worlds!

I'm sure you could improve the ride of your scoot with adjustable shocks (especially if you don't weigh much) but the miles I've put on test-rides lately indicate to me that 200 pounds more weight in the scooter adds a LOT more "luxury-car" feel to the ride without adding a ponderous, unhandy aspect to the little beasties.

I'd try adjustable shocks, set as soft as possible. I really would not recommend removing a shock. As others have said, your scoot was made for shocks on both sides. While running one shock may (or may not) be safe as for twisting the trailing-arm, it will definitely contribute to the potential for "high-speed-wobble" which Chinese scoots are famous for anyway.

Just my opinion, but it's based on a considerable amount of current rides on any scoot that will run 75 mph. I'm finding that more weight (and longer wheelbase) equates to better ride.

Ride safe!

Leo in Texas

howdy, again i'll jump in where angels fear to tread. the problem with suspension for these machines is that part of the weight of the motor and the weight of the entire transmission and drive system, brake, wheel, tire is all what is termed "unsprung weight" . if you look on a motorcycle , only the weight of the tire , wheel, sprocket, brakes are unsprung. so on the scoot, when you hit a bump and start all that weight moving it produces a lot of force compared to the motorcycle, and you feel it more. someone with better tech explanation can jump in and confirm this. the older motocycle adds when bragging about suspension all mentioned low unsprung weight as an advantage. the scoot doesn't have that advantage.

also just as a frame of reference, when i bought my scoot , it was set on the softest pre-load and the unpleasantness of the ride was the suspension bottoming out. when i upped the pre-load the ride actually softened up. a guy who regularly rides a kawasaki vulcan , rode mine on sunday and commented on how well it handled the bumps, and how smooth everything was.

lotsa miles and smiles to ya
ken