How Long Do U Think A Chinese Scooter Should Last? By straightbangin (Read 8,341 times)

[straightbangin]

I bought a new 2010 Chinese scooter last Sept & it lasted until July 1st of this year ( 10 months ) It was done at about 2,500 miles. It would have cost more to fix it than I wanted to deal with. I really ran it into the ground and made some mistakes with it so I just sold it to a mechanic to mess with and resell.

I bought another new scooter of the same kind but the 2011 model and this time I am taking very good care of it and I am learning to maintain it myself. The only thing is, the screws / bolts are so cheap that they are already stripping with one touch & I'm being careful, using the proper tools etc. I am wondering if I should do the maintenance every " time and a half " meaning like if I should do something every 1,000 miles, do it every 1,500 miles instead to save the screw/bolt heads a little for the ones that are stripping. Obviously I will keep up on the oil changes.

Here is the question though.. how long SHOULD one of these cheap Chinese scooters last if you baby it and provide the proper maintenance? I figured if you buy a new, cheap $10,000 car you should get about 10 yrs out of it with babying it and proper maintenance. Does this mean that a new, cheap $1,000 scooter should get you about 1 yr out of it? Would you use the same mentality that I'm using here ? After the last one I think I will be happy to get 1 to 1.5 yrs out of this one. Actually its a $750 scooter but with tax, registration and title in this wonderful auto-expensive state of FL, the fees I have to pay make it come to $1,000 at the dealership when I buy a new scooter.

Also, has anyone had major problems with bolt and screw heads stripping on cheap scooters? How hard is it to take the screw to a hardware store and find the exact match? I've never had to so I don't know if its possible to match something up just by looking at it

[Alleyoop]

I do not understand what screws you keep taking off and putting back on that they strip?
All you should need to do is just check them for looseness and SNUGE them up that is all.
There is no need to be taking crap off unless you need to get at something that often.

A $1000.00 well taken care scooter should do 10-20 thousand miles that is if you do not beat the crap out of the engine and running WIDE OPEN THROTTLE all the time.
Lefty

[straightbangin]

Wow, that sounds great. I don't really go over 25mph. I'm very careful with bolts and screws, but this is my first time touching any of them and they are already starting to strip a little. Like the gear oil bolt where you put that in started to strip a little and the bolt to take the seat off for the first time started to strip a little. Such cheap crap parts w these Chinese scooters

[turtle8]

The problem I had with screws on my last Chinese 150cc was pretty much my fault. I kept experimenting with various headlight bulbs which meant that the front of the scooter was taken off many times. Eventually the speed nuts would break along with bits of the plastic body.

Just be careful not to lose the screws and replace the hardware when necessary. On my current scooter, the previous owner thought duct tape was better than screws so I had to go to the hardware store and buy some screws. I picked out some sheet metal screws that were a close match, but couldn't find a them in the stainless variety, so they will probably corrode quickly.

-Michael

[straightbangin]

Turtle 8, good to know I can match up some replacement screws / bolts if need be. I have a thing full of random screws at home that I've collected too so maybe I could find some in there before I hunt for them at the hardware store. Ya duct tape sucks

[jct842]

the screws are going to be all metric in size so that can be a problem to get replacements at some hardware stores. I don't quite understand that they are striping right away. i have seen a couple on my chinese that were cross theaded though. just do not force them, they are usualy soft material. any that look stripped should be replaced. if the hole they thread into gets stripped it can be tapped to the next size larger too. with care a small scooter should last 10-20,000 miles easily. john

[straightbangin]

I hope so, they just seem like super cheap material ( the screws / bolts ) and I'm being really careful

[kz1000st]

I've had mine apart a few times and the only screws or bolts I stripped were my fault. You're learning what I call "feel" the hard way. There's a point when you're tightening something when you just know it's enough. Things that have a specific torque rating I use a torque wrench on. Many bolts are strictly "Ok that's enough" and you stop.

[straightbangin]

True. I think I figured out what feels " tight enough " today w/ my work on the scooter Thanks

[sunlproblems]

did you get it running?

[straightbangin]

Yes. Thanks. See the last few posts of scooterdoc.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=150cc&action=display&thread=4561&page=4 for the ending of the story. Lots of help from the boards today, thank God