hello folks. new guy from St. Louis By thxcuz (Read 782 times)

[thxcuz]

I was looking for a new project. I built one of those motorized bicycles from a Chinese kit and had fun building it, it ran well (I had no problems with the kit, the bike was another story) but I took it as about as far as I can go with it. I put it up on Craigslist so I can trade it for an old moped or something. Someone offered me a Chinese scooter and I am going to take him up on it.

I have a few questions

1) are they really as bad as I have read?

I can fix about anything so that's not really an issue. I have heard nightmarish stories abut these things but I also see people riding them around the city. are the people complaining expecting too much or just too lazy to take proper care of them?


2) are all scooters the same?

I hear a lot about the "GY6". Is that engine in every Chinese scooter?

3) are parts readily available?

One complaint people tell me is that "you can't get parts for it" but my research seems to tell me different. Who's right?

I've never dealt with a 4 stroke engine, from what I understand they are just as fast just not as "Quick" 
anyhoo...I hope to be getting it today if the guy calls me back. Wish me luck. 
Also if there are any riders or clubs in St. Louis for Chinese scooters, give me a hollar. The moped "gang" may or may not be scooter friendly, I've never bothered to ask. I'm sure the Vespa club would throw stuff at me

[jerryscript]

1) most complaints are from those who a-expect a rolls royce for the price of a scooter, and b-don't maintain their scooters

Once you have yours, clean the carb, set the valves, and check all hoses and wiring/connections. Toss in some seafoam gas treatment, and change engine oil and tranny oil.

2) Most chinese scooters are gy6, but not all. Look on the lower left cranckcase for the gy6 engine stamp, standard ones are 139qmb fir 50cc and 157qmj for 150cc, additional letters sometimes indicate versions that are more difficult to get parts for, but that is rarer these days.

3) There are tons of good parts dealers, our banners at the top of the page are dealers who also participate here from time to time, good people.

2strokes are a bit quicker off the line, but adjusting your cvt on a 4stroke will give the same results. Performance parts are cheap, and installation is easy, these are not hard engines to work on, body panels come off easily giving you full access.

Welcome, and good luck with your scooter!

[Alleyoop]

Jan 12, 2016 13:42:37 GMT -6 thxcuz said:

I was looking for a new project. I built one of those motorized bicycles from a Chinese kit and had fun building it, it ran well (I had no problems with the kit, the bike was another story) but I took it as about as far as I can go with it. I put it up on Craigslist so I can trade it for an old moped or something. Someone offered me a Chinese scooter and I am going to take him up on it.

I have a few questions

1) are they really as bad as I have read?

I can fix about anything so that's not really an issue. I have heard nightmarish stories abut these things but I also see people riding them around the city. are the people complaining expecting too much or just too lazy to take proper care of them?


2) are all scooters the same?

I hear a lot about the "GY6". Is that engine in every Chinese scooter?

3) are parts readily available?

One complaint people tell me is that "you can't get parts for it" but my research seems to tell me different. Who's right?

I've never dealt with a 4 stroke engine, from what I understand they are just as fast just not as "Quick" 
anyhoo...I hope to be getting it today if the guy calls me back. Wish me luck. 
Also if there are any riders or clubs in St. Louis for Chinese scooters, give me a hollar. The moped "gang" may or may not be scooter friendly, I've never bothered to ask. I'm sure the Vespa club would throw stuff at me

Welcome to the Forum glad to have you on here. If you can handle the two stroke motor you slapped on the bike you can handle the motors on the scoots. Only difference is they have a CAM with a INTAKE VALVE and a EXHAUST VALVE and now and then have to be adjusted. They have a carb which is very similiar to the one on the 2 stroke and has to be adjusted as well.
The other thing is the SCOOTS have a CVT which your bike did not.

So onto your questions:

Q1. Are they as bad as they say.
A1. No, not really you can get a very cheap scoot and of course the quality is not there, but the motors are pretty much all have the same motors. So if you can work on one you can work on any scoot, it being a 50cc, 150cc, 250cc.
It is just that the parts may be just a little different but they all do the same thing.

Q2. Are all scoots the same.
A2. Let me just say they are pretty much the same under the skins.

Q3. Is the GY6 engine in all the scoots.
A3. Pretty much YES(FOR THE 50cc and 150cc SCOOTS) it is a honda clone motor which they haven't changed in Decades.
There are several versions of the motors the motors that start with 1P39???, 1P57???, 1P52??? parts may be harder to find but they do have them. Your most common motors are: 50cc-139QMB, 150cc-157QMJ, Helix-244cc, Linhai-250cc etc..

Q4. Are parts readily available.
A4. Yes, parts are readily available for the chinese scoots.
What you may have a problem finding are the SKINS, they make so many models and change them almost every year that the skins for a specific scoot may be hard to find but some are very common and are easy to find. So it all depends on which chino scoot MODEL you buy.

Hope this answers your questions
Alleyoop

[thxcuz]

Thanks folks.
I'll be hoping to do a few upgrades. If I don't want to install a big bore kit (though I may) what's the cheapest way to boost performance? Like everyone else I'd like to keep up with traffic without losing low end. I had a puch maxi that was fast but just plain dangerous at stoplights due to slow starts.
The scoot I'm looking at looks pretty common. I'll post a picture. It may need a panel fixed. I plan on rattle canning it just because I can never leave well enough alone.

[Alleyoop]

TO keep up with traffic you need at least a 150cc scoot. If you get a 50cc scoot they are only good for 30-35 mph and would need a lot of upgrades and bbk to get it to do 40mph or a little better.
The 150s stock do 50mph or a little over and with some minor upgrades you can get them to do almost 60mph.
Alleyoop

[thxcuz]

Got it this evening. Can't wait to tinker with it. The guy said it was a kymco but I don't think it is. He had another kymco but it was in peices. I got it to be a project so it's going to need some work. It needs a cdi and a battery and he didn't have the key. No biggie I'll make it run and have fun in the process. Then get bored with it and move on to wood working or stained glass or gardening or some other hobby.
Seems to be how I roll

[Alleyoop]

So it's a 50cc scoot, parts for those are readily available. Have fun getting it up and running and tinkering with it,
Alleyoop

[thxcuz]

Yep its a 50. I checked the numbers. It turns out it's a tao tao. And it's got some peices missing. Some important parts.
It doesn't have a gear case cover (if that's what it's called) so I have no way to jump start it. No key and it looks like it was hot wired because some wires are cut. I hooked a green and red wire to a battery and got dash lights, blinker lights and brake lights and when I hit the start button I hear a click but It doesn't turn over. I recon I better address the electrical issues first. I'll take pictures of what the wiring or lack thereof looks like.

I like a challenge.

[Alleyoop]

Find the Solenoid just follow the thick red wire from the battery. The clicking is the solenoid.
The solenoid is what activates the starter . One terminal on the solenoid should go to the positive post of the battery the other terminal on the solenoid should go to the STARTER.
The NEGATIVE post on the battery should go to the FRAME GROUND same with a GROUND wire from the motor to the FRAME.

JUMP THE TWO TERMINALS ON THE SOLENOID and see if the starter spins and maybe starts the motor.
Alleyoop

[thxcuz]

I had a car where I had to do that.
Will this work without the ignition installed?
My hope is to get it wired back to stock but this should work fine for testing
Thanks again.

[thxcuz]

By the way the number on the bike does indeed read 1p39qmb. Hopefully it's not an issue. From what I've read they are pretty much identical

[w650]

The P indicates it might be a "Secret 62cc" engine. Otherwise it's all the same.