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Post by w650 on Sept 8, 2018 20:05:45 GMT -5
Okay, grumble, grumble. I went on the Helix forum to ask how to change the bulb.....grumble, grumble. "Take off the screws on either side of the access panel and the screw next to the ignition switch". Crap, they're right. It's three screws, the dash panel lifts off and the bulbs are exposed. I didn't do it yet but that looks right. It should be a five minute job. Grumble, grumble.
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Post by w650 on Sept 6, 2018 19:45:00 GMT -5
The scooter is a 2009. CF Moto was clearing them out for years after that so how old it is can be questionable. I've had it since 2012 but when the previous owner bought it is unknown. If replacing it was as easy as my bikes I wouldn't make a point of it. Tearing a scooter apart to replace a signal bulb is just ridiculous.
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Post by w650 on Sept 5, 2018 16:54:31 GMT -5
Scooters suck! My running light bulb on my Fashion has blown. The directional signal still works but the filament in the front light quit. Here's my beef. The little idiots at Honda created a box for it that secures from the inside. You can't just unscrew the lense, like a bike, to replace the bulb it has to come out from the back. So that means either removing the panel around the instruments to reach it or taking off the entire front cowl.
No wonder bikes outsell scooters ten to one. What aggravation. Changing the bulb in my bikes is a two minute job not an all day task. Maybe I should just take it to a dealer and pay the hundred bucks....for a new bulb.
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Post by w650 on Aug 29, 2018 16:00:27 GMT -5
Sorry. If what I'm riding on two wheels doesn't make noise and connect with my soul I'm not interested. If all it does is hum I may as well take the car.
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Post by w650 on Aug 25, 2018 19:10:01 GMT -5
I had this argument years ago and was scoffed at. It's called "Closure Rate". If a 50cc can maintain near 40 mph it would take somebody doing around light speed for them not to avoid you in overtaking. How many times did you do your customary 75 mph on an interstate and come across some...umm...blue hair doing 55 in a 65 mph zone. Nobody hit them even with cars whipping past. Both of the 50cc scoots I owned could do 40 easily. I just hated the shrieking at that speed and backed off.
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Post by w650 on Aug 21, 2018 19:59:16 GMT -5
Sorry, not that great. Two stories. My son's Father in law has a 68 Camaro. I asked him how it was running. "It broke down last week." A capacitor quit and the ignition disappeared. A Capacitor!! A crappy fifty cent part that gave out by the boatloads in the points/capacitor ignition days.
Second. My first Father in Law had a 1957 Chevy Belair. Now everyone goes ga ga over the polished, chromed, restored beauties of that era. Ever drive an average of the day version. A center of gravity about three feet off the ground. Drum brakes on a very heavy car. And handling that's nonexistent on those fifties technology shocks. Plus the bonus of-what-10 to 15 mpg...on the economy straight six.
Nope. I have a 2005 Dodge Caravan. Cruise, ABS real brakes and 22 mpg. No points, real reliability at 172,000 miles which no stock 50s car ever reached without a rebuild Or three.
I won't even bring up my 45 mpg Scion iA. It's a fraction of the cost of a 1957 Chevy in 2018 dollars and rides and accelerates faster than a stock 57 Belair. Nope. I'm happy right here where I don't have to go to the drug store with a bag full of tubes from my black and white TV to get it going again for another week.
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Post by w650 on Aug 14, 2018 15:15:32 GMT -5
Don't get me wrong Pete I wouldn't live there either. I spent six years in Brooklyn with Sara until we moved to the boonies upstate. I rode bicycles in Manhattan with her many times after crossing the Brooklyn Bridge and it was a zoo. Given the traffic there a few thousand scooters instead of cars could only help the congestion and create a boom economy for scooter repairs. There are scads of bicycle shops and a few more scooter joints would be a welcome addition.
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Post by w650 on Aug 13, 2018 14:23:10 GMT -5
NYC lifted the ban on April 18th of this year as they saw delivery companies were deeply entrenched in them. They have made 20 mph as the allowable top speed, although I would like to see them track it. Most 50cc scooters are listed with top speeds of 30 mph to qualify for moped registration. My experience with two 50cc scooters, a two stroke and a four stroke, showed they were easily capable of hitting 40. Frankly I would rather see the streets there filled with scooters and e-bikes than Ford Expeditions.
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Post by w650 on Aug 11, 2018 13:01:49 GMT -5
Let me tell you of an equally stupid City. New York has noticed that vehicle traffic in Midtown is atrocious. Cabs, Uber and Lyft are operating alongside trucks, buses and private vehicles. So they declare that there will be "Congestion Pricing" in the form of tolls for vehicles operating there during peak hours. The AMA saw the plan and noticed that bikes and scooters get no free or reduced rates. The City basically said Tough Beans everybody pays the same.
Think what the traffic would look like if they replaced a bunch of those cars with single occupants with bikes and scooters. But Nooooo.
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Post by w650 on Aug 8, 2018 14:53:01 GMT -5
Love this.
"Together with coal-fired power plants and local heavy industry, Hanoi's 5 million motorcycles – the vast majority of which are 110-125cc scooters – contribute to some of the worst pollution in South-East Asia"
Oh yes, those scooters and motorcycles are really the problem. There would probably be much less pollution if they just switched to Mass Transit. Will they ban those coal fired power plants too?
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Ten Years
by: w650 - Aug 7, 2018 13:48:15 GMT -5
Post by w650 on Aug 7, 2018 13:48:15 GMT -5
I quietly passed a milestone this past week. So quiet I forgot until two days later. On July 30, 2008 I received my Eagle (Bashan) Milano 150 from GS Motorworks. We checked and assembled the scooter for three days and it hit the road on August 1st.
It sits in the garage these days with 9,800 miles on the clock a victim of my oversize fleet occupying my time. It starts, it runs great and deserves more attention than it gets. Even still, for a scooter that was supposedly built during the "Bad Old Days" it still does the job. It was the vehicle that launched my late wife and my noisy daughter onto motorcycles.
It needs a new rear tire to pass inspection but darn, it starts every time I hit the button.
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Post by w650 on Aug 3, 2018 18:27:48 GMT -5
I've heard the stories too and I don't doubt the honesty of the tellers. This past week my Eagle Milano 150 (made by Bashan) just hit the ten years old mark. I finished putting it together August 1st, 2008. It not only still has the original carburetor but also the original fuel and vacuum lines. If ethanol was so toxic the scooter should be a ball of muck by now but it still runs. I'm at 9,700 miles and it purrs like a kitten. I don't get how some don't notice the difference and some are beat up by grain gasoline.
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Post by w650 on Jul 31, 2018 19:39:35 GMT -5
I'm old school so I don't see a 500 as entry level. Harley needs a Rebel sized 300 in cruiser style to draw in new riders. Polaris doesn't seem to lean in that direction.
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Post by w650 on Jul 31, 2018 19:32:22 GMT -5
Where have we seen this before? Can you say XLCR and XR1200? The fifty people who lobbied for it will buy it while the rest of the production run collects dust in the dealer stock room. The Yamaha SR-500 was the epitome of this mistake. People who buy Indians want their feet sticking into the wind Barcolounger style.
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Post by w650 on Jul 30, 2018 17:22:34 GMT -5
The overall question is how something was treated by its owner. Did it get flogged like a rented mule or ridden with respect? Besides, this is the 21st century, how is 10,000 miles "high mileage"? Even a two stroke scooter should be good for much higher mileage before the piston and barrel gets replaced.
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