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Post by earlwb on Jul 27, 2013 11:25:50 GMT -5
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Post by earlwb on Jul 24, 2013 14:25:45 GMT -5
On Photobucket, I have seen weird side effects, where I would do a upload of say ten pictures and one or more would appear to be not loaded or missing, but instead it was really there. It sometimes took a while before the missing pics stopped being missing.
That is interesting on the number of views having a limit. I haven't heard of that before. But it isn't surprising though.
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Post by earlwb on Jul 19, 2013 14:00:49 GMT -5
gitsum,
If you buy a Japanese scooter from the dealer, you pay extra for things like warranty coverage and support, the dealer preps and prepares the scooter for you. Plus fixes things that may need repairing if it needs it. the dealer also takes care of doing all the paperwork for title, registration, state inspections too. It is always fun to hang around the store and see them uncrate the motorcycles and scooters too. They have all the same problems with the crates getting damaged in shipping. But they have the benefit of having special truck deliveries made by their brands own trucks though, so damage is usually less of a problem.
When you buy from a online store, you do not get any of these niceties and you have to do it all yourself.
The same thing happens with automobiles too. I remember when I worked at a car dealership a long time ago, all the problems that came with a new car that needed to be taken car of before the car was even put on the lot. Then after the sale was going though all the things that needed to be done to make the car presentable to the new owner too. Plus having to once or twice a week take all the car registration paperwork down to the county courthouse to get the cars titled and registered too. Some of those cars were a mess and needed to be run past the body shop and the repair shop before they even got to the lot for display.
But when you buy online you do everything yourself.
What I don't like is the online stores misrepresenting what they sell, such as selling a Jonway as a Roketa and so on.
Unfortunately this seems to happen a lot nowadays. I guess the online stores can get away with it, as it is pretty difficult to crate it back up and return it after it has been delivered and uncrated. Some states cracked down on the online stores pretty hard a few years ago, but it looks like it hasn't changed them from their shady operating practices.
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Post by earlwb on Jul 16, 2013 20:34:24 GMT -5
Well I guess I am the exception, my 250cc scooter has had four rear tires and two front tires replaced on it already. It is due for a new rear one and maybe a new front one too pretty soon.
Usually the front tire tends to start to deteriorate after a while more than it gets worn out. The rear tires have wear bars in the slots between the tread. When the wear bar shows it is time to replace it.
Now my Harley Sportster has worn out quite a few tires in comparison though. I quit keeping track of the tires.
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Post by earlwb on Jul 15, 2013 21:16:35 GMT -5
The modern scooter engines are all set really lean, right on the razor's edge, so to speak. Anything that affects the air coming in will make it too lean (or rich sometimes too). One thing is the air filter, intake boot to the carburetor. If the large intake boot (tube) comes loose or breaks open the engine runs too lean and it won't develop any power of course. The air intake is somewhat restrictive and they jet the engine's carb accordingly. So if the air intake comes loose, the engine breathes easier and now it is too lean.
Then the rubber intake manifold is the next item that causes it too. The rubber tends to deteriorate almost while you watch. As soon as a crack or cracks get too large and too deep, it lets in air and the engine runs too lean.
Next is the spark plug wire coming loose either at the ignition coil or at the engine's spark plug. The coil has a inverted sheet metal screw and the spark plug wire actually screws into it. The spark plug wire can also screw into the spark plug cap too, but they may have a little metal clip on that end too. The problem is if the spark plug wire is loose for too long of a time, it can damage the ignition coil causing it to go bad. This is due to the extremely high voltage levels as the spark now has to jump a larger gap and that causes the insulation inside the coil to break down.
One can also have loose or bad power connections on the bayonet plugs on the ignition coil. The metal clips are soft and can become quite loose making for a poor connection there causing a power loss.
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Post by earlwb on Jul 15, 2013 16:44:05 GMT -5
It depends on the tires and the rubber formulation used. A good tire tends to stick really good to the road providing good traction. But a good tire will tend to wear out faster though. A cheap tire tends to have a harder rubber on it and tends to not stick well to the road (and can be downright dangerous on wet roads), but the cheap tires seem to wear forever though.
Good tires go about 4,000 miles or so for the rear wheel and around 6,000 to 8,000 miles or nore even for the front wheel. Cheap tires tend to go 4,000 to 8,000 miles on the rear and 8,000 to more than 10,000 miles on the front. The scooter tires tend to wear like motorcycle tires do do the amount of wear you get for the miles is about the same.
But with that said, some poeple do replace the stock OEM tires right away will much better quality brand name tires too. Some of the OEM tires can be really bad, out of balance, off center, poor improperly cured rubber, lumps and not even round for that matter.
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Post by earlwb on Jul 14, 2013 10:55:47 GMT -5
I would maybe try the conversion with a 250cc or larger maxi-scooter, as from 250cc on up they are about the same size overall. Doing the conversion from a 50cc aircooled engine to a 400cc liquid cooled engine means you are going to have a lot of things to make, convert and fabricate for it to work. Plus you have the disadvantage of the 50cc scooter being built really light and it may not be up to the task or stresses involved.
Also i would concur do not try to do this conversion to your regular everyday transportation ride, or you will be walking after you start the conversion.
But if this is a second ride then it can be a huge amount of fun seeing if you can do it and succeed with it too.
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Post by earlwb on Jul 10, 2013 10:33:52 GMT -5
I remember a couple of my friends in the military at the time being extra curious and they would drive or ride out on a dirt road up to a fence line on military reservation (from outisde the base not inside), and on one day they were met by some heavily armed security folks who told them it was a secure area and to turn around and go away. They went down the road about 20 miles and turned back in on another dirt road and went back up to the fence line and surprise surprise they were met again by the same security guys and they were definitely not amused that second time. My friends wisely quit messing around out there.
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Post by earlwb on Jul 9, 2013 7:07:24 GMT -5
I think those are quite popular in Florida in the large retirement communities there. If they are electric, and the speed is under 30mph then they don't have to be registered as the government considers them golf carts. There are some other states where one could use them like that too. it depends on the laws in the states. The owners have to stick to the low speed limit residential roads though.
With a internal combustion engine the little cars would have to meet the Federal and State laws on safety and emissions, so it is doubtful they will make them to sell over here. As electric golf carts they can pretty much ignore all the laws.
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Post by earlwb on Jul 8, 2013 21:44:19 GMT -5
Here in the USA the motorcycle cage of death used to be a popular attraction a long time ago.
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Post by earlwb on Jul 6, 2013 22:09:45 GMT -5
A whole bunch of rear view mirrors might do the trick. In the UK they used to deck out the scooters with numerous mirrors. Plus quite a few of them put on extra lights too. This was when they used to have the "Mods" in the UK. In many larger cities they still have "Mods and Rockers" meets in the downtown area in the UK and here in the USA too.  |
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Post by earlwb on Jul 3, 2013 11:14:58 GMT -5
I have sprayed painted motorcycle seats in the past using the special vinyl paint before. It does actually work fairly well. But since it is applied to the surface it will wear off after a while. I did this a lot when I lived in Arizona where the summer heat would make the seat so hot it would burn you when you sat on it. I used to paint them white and that worked pretty good at keeping the temperatures down to a tolerable level. But it would wear off over time and I would need to reapply the paint later. But usually it lasted the summer though.
I have tried the vinyl repair kits before to repair holes or tears and they work for a while too. But not good enough to make it a permanent repair.
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Post by earlwb on Jul 2, 2013 17:33:23 GMT -5
No I didn't see any. But the military base is huge and covers a lot of real estate. No telling what all they had going on out there.
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Post by earlwb on Jul 1, 2013 9:53:18 GMT -5
Yes the Joshua Tree National Park makes for a great ride. Many years ago I was stationed at TwentyNinePalms USMC base, and I went home on holiday a lot using the park as a shortcut on my motorcycle. The roads were pretty good, but you still have to be really careful as a dust storm could spread dirt or sand on the road and in the corners that can be really bad on a motorcycle. But the ride is quite scenic and the road at that time was a maze of twists and turns with very few straights.
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Post by earlwb on Jun 28, 2013 22:00:42 GMT -5
You will be Ok if the helmet liner doesn't disintegrate in the wash. If it does disintegrate that means you went too long without washing it. '  |
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