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Post by rcq92130 on Jul 16, 2015 16:45:12 GMT -5
I think you're 100% correct on all fronts. As a practical matter, I have a question. My wife and I closed our restaurant after 5 years on the first of this year. It was a good thing, prefacing a move to San Diego and our intent to open a new one downtown. That has been delayed due to one thing and another and we're doing this now... we're really excited about this! But I digress. Our restaurant was a stand-alone building tucked back in the corner of a poorly lit parking lot as part of a daytime office mall. The landlords, notoriously cheap, refused to fix the ballasts in our sign and instead tried all forms of lighting tricks to illuminate it externally rather than pay to actually make it work. Finally, we got tired of hearing from customers that they couldn't tell if we were open by looking at the building and we bought enough bright LED ropelight to outline every corner, rail and eave of the exterior. We joked when we'd finished that it was the only spot in the mountains that you could see from orbit (except for a forest fire... when you live under constant threat you can get a pretty macabre sense of humor about some things). But over time we started to hear the same complaints from customers again. The lights had grown dim. Whether it was yellowing of the plastic tubing or dimming of the bulbs or, it seems more likely, a combination of the two, the LED lights didn't last for us long term. Have you noticed your lights getting dimmer over time, whether from UV exposure or simply bulb quality? We paid for and thought we had received about the best ropelight we could buy. Spent many hundreds of dollars on the things, only to have them not last long term. I am using waterproof LED strip lighting on my scooter. They sell the large 50/50 type on ebay for about $1.25 per foot, or about $20 for a 15 foot roll. I think the power is about 1/2 to 1 amp per meter if I'm not mistaken. They are quite bright but I can't tell you how long they will last. I would use a good regulated power source for them if possible. They should last several years. These waterproof ones have silicon over the lights, but if you have a waterproof enclosure, you can get ones without the silicon and they may last longer, being able to dissipate heat better perhaps. I would not put the lights in a tube or tight enclosure if I could help it, as it may cause heat buildup and lead to premature failure. There are also smaller lights that use less power per meter of length, but I don't know if that would make them last longer or not. These strips are interesting in that they seem to have some protective circuitry built in. There's no math, no installing resistors, or anything else to worry about. If you hook them up backwards, it doesn't blow them up or anything, and the same strip that lights up with a 12v car battery will also light up, not as brightly, on a little 9v battery. I use the 9v for testing during installation. You want to stick with the proper voltage, 12v. Just saying, these seem to be well designed light strips and they are cheap. You can also buy solderless connectors for them. This is what I used on the trunk - 2 strips with electrical leads already attached to each one (the 2 together were the perfect length): www.ebay.com/itm/2-x-50CM-Waterproof-SMD-5050-Red-30LEDs-Flexible-Led-Light-Strip-DC-12V-/350875231829?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item51b1cb2655And this is what I used for the daytime flashing driving light: www.ebay.com/itm/Vehicle-Car-H3-Xenon-White-68-SMD-LED-Headlight-Bulb-Fog-Light-Lamp-US-Ship-12V-/261508976451?hash=item3ce3264f43And oh by the way for the air horns: www.ebay.com/itm/NEW-12V-CHROME-Twin-Tone-Air-Horn-Dual-Trumpet-Train-Horn-Kit-w-Compressor-LOUD-/141545314837?hash=item20f4c21a15&vxp=mtrObnoxiously loud - as you would like. VERY obnoxious since they also go off when the alarm goes off. |
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Post by rcq92130 on Jul 16, 2015 15:37:39 GMT -5
Just FYI: there is a "C"-shaped intake you can buy from Uni. I ended up having one made at my local muffler shop. Correctly sized exhaust tubing bent to suit me, flared a little on one end to match the Uni, connected to the carb by a 1" piece of rubber auto radiator hose with stainless clamps. The metal, I think, is best for keeping an undisturbed airflow into the carb. H4 bulbs are the tops of all mods! I was wondering if someone sold one. Do you know the website that you saw it on? I cant find one... I do not but GEH3333 does. If I remember correctly, he not only got one for hiumself, but for several other scooter OCD people as well. |
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Post by rcq92130 on Jul 16, 2015 13:45:51 GMT -5
Just FYI: there is a "C"-shaped intake you can buy from Uni. I ended up having one made at my local muffler shop. Correctly sized exhaust tubing bent to suit me, flared a little on one end to match the Uni, connected to the carb by a 1" piece of rubber auto radiator hose with stainless clamps. The metal, I think, is best for keeping an undisturbed airflow into the carb.
H4 bulbs are the tops of all mods!
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Post by rcq92130 on Jul 16, 2015 12:19:44 GMT -5
Have not.
BUT
LED lights are notoriously unhappy about "dirty" voltage, such as that produced in a scooter by the stator and crappy chinaRegulator. I think it should be ex[ected that they will not see as long a lifetime in a scooter as they would in a car (with better charging system). Also - my brake lights only come on when the brakes are on - a small eprcentage of overall riding time.
I was more concerned about the vinyl tubing I used as a housing, or the clear silicone to fill around the LED strip. I DO think the silicone has yellowed a bit, but that has not affected the light output as far as I can tell. If you were to actually "invent" this as a commercial product for sale to your customers I'd suggest something other than the vinyl tubing. Best would be something that is lightly "chromed" - enough to conceal the LEDs inside but transparent enough so the light from the LEDs would shine thru. I didn;'t do an exhaustive search for that but looked and came up empty - but such a thing surely exists.
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Post by rcq92130 on Jul 16, 2015 0:20:01 GMT -5
These things are all good profit margin items for you (or should be) and can easily double what you keep from the sale of a scooter - and they should be pretty easy things to convince most customers about at the time of sale (if they have cash). What's cool about being able to offer financing is that the lender will typically allow for "hard adds." The upsells you're talking about are easier when they finance because they don't cost a whole lot, but add real value to the bike and the banks will allow them in the loan. I was really surprised that the tach wasn't included in the Heritage cluster. It is on the 260, I'm almost positive. Your lights look GREAT! I was looking at an aftermarket trunk that had lights built in earlier. T'was on eBay, I'm pretty sure. I'll look in a little while and see if I can't find the link. But the BMS scoots come with a trunk (depending on the model). Mine did. The standard ChinaTrunk is a 2-piece clamshell (upper and lower) joined in the middle with little screws. A plastic chrome stirip goes around the thing to cover the screws (and the i9ndernt where the 2 pieces meet). I couldn't find an aftermarket LED strip and had to make my own. An LED strip from a china supplier (about $15 deliverd to USA). Then a piece of clear vinyl tubing from Home Depot, cut into 2 shells lengthwise. The LED went into a shell and clear silicone was added. Then the OEM chrome strip was pulled off (just 2-sided sticky tape) and the LED assembly glued on. Maybe $20 plus labor - if you hired a college student you could make up 50 or 100 in a day's work. I think this would be a GREAT dealer add-on - something you could easily charge $50 to $100 for and tell the customer "it just might save your life" (and mean it). Oh - and the flasher is $20 your cost. I think a dealer should have a bunch of these on hand, plus a showroom model so you can show on a real scooter how they work. Hard for me to imagine many would pass the thing up. So, if you are making $300 on a scooter sale your profit just went up by 1/3 or so. Same with air horns. The financing idea is an out-of-the-ballpark winner. |
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Post by rcq92130 on Jul 15, 2015 22:47:47 GMT -5
If this works, I should be able to show you three short videos: 1. Here is the LED BRAKE LIGHT I added: View My VideoAs you can see, I have a flasher unit that greatly enhances the brake light effect. Flashes for a bit then goes solid light a regular brake light. The flasher is a cheap $20 part from EBay (I added a relay just in case I'm drawing too much power because I have a more powerful incandescent bulb in the standard brake light socket). I also added a short LED strip ABOVE the taillight that just augments the normal taillight (not the stp light). Here is a pic showing where the LED stop and tail lights are:  2. Flashing driving light: View My VideoThis is a daytime flasher so you are visible to other cars. It's a 64-chip LED behind a flasher unit. The light output from this (if it was on steady) is WAAAYY not enough for nighttime driving, but it's eprfect for a daytime flasher and draws almost no electrical current. 3. Headlight flasher: I have a very bright H4 bulb in where the puny little ChinaBulb normally sits that is a wonderful upgrade for nighttime driving - very bright! But it draws a good deal of current, so I only use it at night. In addition, I added a high-current flasher that can handle the current of the H$ bulb so I can, if i want, run the H4 in flashing mode instead of the LED driving light. It's much brighter: View My VideoThese are all safety features you should be able to sell to new scooter buyers. 4. The other SAFETY FEATURE i recommend is a LOUD horn like these air horns, available on EBay and elsewhere:  5. It's probably a tougher time-of-purchase upsell to get your customer to buy a tach, but they really are essential for anyone who upgrades the engine or carb and needs to tune. I actually have 2 (one analog and one digital - bottom left and right corners of this cluster) "just because". The digital one is useless during the day while driving (can't see the readout).  These things are all good profit margin items for you (or should be) and can easily double what you keep from the sale of a scooter - and they should be pretty easy things to convince most customers about at the time of sale (if they have cash). The safety features are so the rider is not killed - kind of an easy sell; much easier for a new scooter buyer to go for than an engine or CDI upgrade (which they will come back for, but after 6 mos or a year). Hope this is of some interest. |
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Post by rcq92130 on Jul 15, 2015 18:36:29 GMT -5
Thanks again, RCQ! Here's the video I saw of the LED taillights: We totally agree with you about really good mechanic. Not sure that 'part-time to start scooter mechanic' pays well enough for a cross-country move, but George, if you're interested... As to warranty, one of the reasons we're so adamant about having a great mechanic is that BMS actually offers a full year parts and labor warranty and requires dealers to be able to service any/all bikes under warranty whether they bought them from us or not. Their reimbursement rates for the labor is REALLY low, however. I also see all over that the guys doing online sales are in violation of that dealer clause by offering only parts, or selling the 'extended warranty' for up to 12 months. We do plan on offering F&I products like extended warranties, but they would be good for time and things not covered under factory warranty which, while not as good as Sym/Lance, is I believe comparable to Piaggio/Yamaha/etc. It almost seems like the distributor is trying to do the right thing but is being hamstrung by a non-compliant dealer network. Also, their reimbursement is in credit not in cash, which makes for a less-than-profitable service side. Here's a link to their reimbursement rate page if you're interested: www.bmsmotor.com/warranty/flat_rate.htmlAm I wrong in thinking that's really low? Interesting video. That guy has TWO LED strip lights - one to augment the tail light (always on) and one to augment the brake light. His upper strip (along the trunk) looks like it's the same kind of thing I did. I don't know how/where he put the lower strip (brake) - on my Heritage i couldn't find a very good place down there, near the bumper. I'll try to get a video of mine for ya. Interesting that BMW has a 12 month warranty. I bought mine online (company in Texas) and they said it was only a 3 month warranty. So, with a full year your concerns about parts breaking and you losing money having to replace them makes much more sense. The reimbursement rates they offer are a total joke. Maybe those rates would work for work done IN CHINA .... not here. Better than zero though. As a sales pitch for new customer sales I'd emphasize the PDI and that it must be done by prof. tech. for the warranty to be valid. online retailers of course don't do this (generally). The target market for scooters around here (iI think) is younger people, so maybe you can get a college student to work part time as your mechanic - someone who has a scooter himself. I was confused by BMS dealer terms - do they require 2 units a month or 6 a month (saw both these listed in different places). R U looking for places in Sorrento Valley? To me that would make a lot of sense. |
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Post by rcq92130 on Jul 14, 2015 19:52:47 GMT -5
Thank you both, GEH and RCQ! RCQ, we're actually not very far from you... if your name is also your zip code, we live just over the 5 from you (though the shop will be closer to town... I'll let you know more when we have things a little better locked down). GEH... my concern-- and it sounds like you know a great deal more than do I about such things, no question-- but my concern is that aside from being beyond my personal skill level at the moment, that making changes to the CVT would void the factory warranty. It sounds like something that would be fun to learn how to do, but that might diminish the perceived value of the bike because the warranty would no longer apply. Is this a safe assumption or am I totally out in left field? RCQ-- did you by any chance post a video of your LED lights? I saw a video of LED lights on the back of I believe a Heritage 150. They were pretty! Made a huge difference in the visibility of the bike, lit up the sky like a Harley tail. As far as thinking ahead, we have been doing so. We looked at Yamaha, but man that's a major commitment we're not yet able to make. They want a ton of space and a lot of inventory on the lot... I would too if I could command such a market. The list you made is great, though, and it made my wife and I start looking around at our little place to figure out exactly where "Parts" are going to go. (I'm assuming, btw, that BBK is a bore kit, yes? I've seen that acronym used here several times and I was guessing from context). Thank you, again! Shantyhag 1. Yep. Del mar 2. Have not yet posted an LED video, but will do so (for another person also). Important beyond anything else to be visible and heard. 3. ChinaWarranty is only  days. Not exactly a big deal. It will be 6 months or so before your customers want to monkey around (other than "spruce up" things like lights & air horns) 4. There is no legitimate ChinaLawnMowerScooter dealer or repair station north of San Diego. Big market need. Motorcycle repair places like FBC and small independants don't want to mes with our chinaLawnMowerScooters. 5. Didn't mean to start in with Honda or Yamahahahaha right now - just think ahead so you have an evolution strategy from day 1. Biggest mistake anyone makes is to not grow with your customers. 6. you REALLY need to track down a good mechanic. GEH is insane living in rural Pennsylvania - get him to move out to where there is no snow. 7. BBK is Big Bore Kit. Pretty much everyone who gets a 50cc or 150cc chinaLawnMower wants a bigger piston. The supplier I use is in Puerto Rico (Taiwan manufactured parts - much higher quality than china factories) and much lower prices than in the mainland. Shipping is free - almost always is only 2 days from order to package on doorstep. Great place. With delivery that fast you can avoid investing in inventory and save cash. Here is their Ebay adv: www.ebay.com/sch/m.html?_odkw=spring&_ssn=gy6racingteam&hash=item2c96128766&item=191496357734&pt=Motorcycles_Parts_Accessories&_osacat=0&vxp=mtr&_from=R40&_trksid=p2046732.m570.l1313.TR0.TRC2.A0.H0.X.TRS5&_nkw=&_sacat=0 Welcome! |
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Post by rcq92130 on Jul 14, 2015 12:22:35 GMT -5
Here is a diagram from a GY6 shop manual of a typical gearbox fluid inlet & drain:  and a photo in real life:  |
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Post by rcq92130 on Jul 14, 2015 11:38:41 GMT -5
Just for reference and to clear things up! Edit: today i saw some fluid, either engine oil or gear oil drip a few drops from the hose in question. I had the engine upside down while drilling out an exhaust stud for a few hours yesterday. Left side of scoot. Gy6 4stroke single side swingarm. Tire can be removed from right side of bike after taking off exhaust. Bike is 2011 gmw m1 model. Also labeled as Wolf brand in the US.   Ah ha! So it's in the BACK of where the CVT cover is and the bolt is the drain for the gearbox oil. The nipple looks like it can only be going into the gearbox, and where it's located is too low to be a normal vent (it would be under the level of the oil in the gearbox. Usually the vent is on the TOP of the gearbox. Is there a hose of some sort coming out of the top? Weird! INTERESTING! |
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Post by rcq92130 on Jul 14, 2015 0:43:27 GMT -5
I've never seen that before. What does the other side look like ? Is it going into the CVT or under it ? Ummm, i dont really understand your question, but the clear hose is about 2 inches long and doesnt connect to anything. I dont know if it ever did. Just trying to understand what we are looking at. my GUESS was the photo was taken from the left side (variator side), and the part of the wheel that is visible is the lower front of the wheel. If that is true the nut should be the oil drain. but maybe the photo is taken from the RIGHT side (muffler side). |
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Post by rcq92130 on Jul 14, 2015 0:39:19 GMT -5
Im installing a 100cc bbk. Will a 53mm piston ring compresser work, or do i need a tool 50mm or less? Use a stainless steel clamp (the kind you will get at Home depot). The bottom of the jug is tapered, and in theory you can just (gently) work the piston/rings up with sufficient assembly lube (I've doe so). But it's risky with the flimsy rings on these things, so better to use a clamp to compress them. |
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Post by rcq92130 on Jul 13, 2015 23:31:07 GMT -5
Looks like a hose barb that leads into the oil pan. Maybe someone had an oil cooler hooked up and removed it / plugged the barb before selling to you. That nut right behind it is the oil drain ... right? No, that nut is not the oil drain. I havent changed the transmission fluid yet either since buying it. Can't tell from the photo. Is the nut in front of or behind the rear axle? |
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Post by rcq92130 on Jul 13, 2015 23:15:37 GMT -5
What is it? Its on the left side, located beneath the Kickstarter and in front of the rear brake cable.  Looks like a hose barb that leads into the oil pan. Maybe someone had an oil cooler hooked up and removed it / plugged the barb before selling to you. That nut right behind it is the oil drain ... right? |
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Post by rcq92130 on Jul 13, 2015 23:09:58 GMT -5
Since I've doubled the original cost of my BMS Heritage in changes and upgrades, I might be able to shed light.
1. Comes with a Bando belt, as you said. Chage it out for a kevlar belt. You can sell the Bandos on EBay
2. Go to tvnacman's site and get advancing angle CDIs (NOT advancED agngle CDIs, which will trash the starter gearing).
3. Hardware is all stainless, so that's OK
4. Stock real tires. I got 2,000 miles off my first rear tire
5. Check with geh for headlight upgrades. The chinaBulb that comes with these things is an actual road hazard at night. These upgrades are cheap but wonderful. Also thinik aboud adding an LED tail strip. Mine was pretty much invisible from the rear at night with the OEM 0.00000001 watt tail/stop bulb.
6. Stock a full range of performance upgrades so your customers are not forced to cultivate internet suppliers. GEH can give you a list, but they include 1. Uni filter & air tube; 2. Bigger carb & intake manifold 3. Exhaust that is not intended for a lawn mower 4. variators & sliders 5. clutches, though i think most customers get to this after the other mods 6. shocks
7. Think of addons to the initial sale to suit customers' tastes. I have air horns, radio, tach, a row of on/off switches, manual choke, electric fuel pump, an LED strip on the trunk for better stop lighting, flashers for headlight & stop light. I think you will be able to talk customers into at least some of these at the time of initial sale as they are safety issues (you want to be seen & heard so you don't end up a pancake).
8. At least get a good supplier lined up for BBKs and a mechanic to install them for your customers. Again, GEH has the name of a very good supplier of Taiwan product at a very good price, 2 day free delivery.
9. Though it may seem early, think downstream and understand your customers WILL want to upgrade after a few years. Don't force them to go elsewhere. Think about a migration strategy yourself so in a few years you are ready with larger or better machines (Honda, etc.).
Hope this helps. You didn;t say where you will start this company.
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days. Not exactly a big deal. It will be 6 months or so before your customers want to monkey around (other than "spruce up" things like lights & air horns)
