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I just read a article about rattlesnakes and their rattles. According to the article you can not just count the rings and see how old they are. A young one is born with a smooth button. Then each time they shed the start a new button. The snakes can shed once, twice, or three times a year. Also they can have their rattles harmed so then they end up with a rough end to the rattles and the round button will be gone.

I am sort of like you. I really don't want to hurt a snake but with two little children at home I found a coral snake and finished him off. I also looked for stinging caterpillars and poison frogs. We had the kids pretty well aware of natures evils while living in south Florida. That was many years ago, about 45 years ago.
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OK, look to the illustration above. To the upper left corner you will see a tube with a slot in the end. Slip this tube with slot down over the core. Slowly rotate the tube till the slot drops down over the core. Now turn clockwise to tighten, if it will. To remove the core turn counter clockwise and work the core up out of the stem.

Those tire stem caps that I mentioned have the slotted top on them that acts just like this special tool.
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My goodness, where do you live. Most areas I think of the lockers are big enough to hold books, back pack, winter clothes and coats, whatever they may need for the students comfort and safety. When I was a young pup and in school we had half height lockers so two high. Now maybe if you consider width or depth they may have been too small, don't know. So you have a sad situation. Wear a full face helmet that won't fit your locker or buy a smaller helmet like the police have that you could fold up the leather sides and push into the headpiece and then set on its side and likely fit into a smaller locker diagonally. If they have DOT approval they meet the necessary requirements.
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In states that require helmets there must be a DOT logo on them to show acceptance to the motorcycle laws. I don't know it that is found on bicycle helmets. Maybe yes, maybe not. Maybe some company could build better ventilation in their helmets and steal the market.

Those bicycle helmets are meant for folks going at 20mph or most likely much less when their heads hit the pavement. Motor cycles are usually going way much faster when the head hits the pavement.

Well, I have not had a new kidney yet. But I am having a lot of kidney stone problems. A while back I had kidney stone surgery session and in two weeks more I will have another kidney stone surgery. That and that I had shingles last summer and an eye surgery for growing cataracts. Far too many times in doctors offices and taking medicines with narcotic pain killers. My scoot is now 1 1/2 years old but only 78 miles on it. I hope to see the doctors less after this next kidney operation. I sure would like to get more miles on the thing.

Good to see you are back and doing well. I am now 79 and occasionally I do have a bit of balance problems. I don't know if it is age or some of the medications I have been taking. By fall I should be done with the medications and then we will see how things go. I have been thinking of one of the multi wheel machines. There are tricycles, the ones with two up front, and another that has a narrow rear wheel setup and a windshield over the thing.
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2008 MC 54 250B, Jonway 244cc, built by Shanghai JMStar

The location and repair of the lock not working problem.

As I worked on this problem for a week I tried different ways to fix what I thought was the problem.

1. First was to reinforce the cable holding fingers on the side latch assembly. After shutting and noticing that the rear latch was not catching the seat I noticed that the fingers were getting bent further toward the middle of the side latch. So I bent them back and reinstalled on the frame. That did not work but for a closing or two. Then no more latching at the back and often I had to use a long screw driver under the seat to release the side latch.

2. Next I determined to reinforce those tabs by adding some heavier steel to stop the bending. I used some spare file key lock pawls and glued them on with JB weld. One on the outside as shown and another on the inside where the cable guide is mounted. Seemed like a good idea but still the latch works sometimes and fails other times continued. That is a slow fix as each time I use JB weld it takes 24 hours till usage for maximum strength.



3. Then I noticed that the side latch was slow to respond to the turn of the key. Often not working and sometimes works on the second or third effort. Usually I had to work under the seat with a long screwdriver to release the seat.

So, again, I took the side latch assembly off and removed the spring, and both cables. Now I could freely swing the mechanical parts, but the one element was not free as I expected it to be. This I could see had been dragging on the upright part of the assembly as it was becoming scratched. I took a heavy screwdriver and put it under the part that was dragging and lift it a bit. Now that element was free to go where it needed to go. So I then sprayed graphite lube into both the side and rear latches.



4. Successful test next. I reinstalled the latch assembly with both cables now attached. I closed the seat, both side and rear latches caught. Turned the key and the seat popped up. Repeated this many times with no failures. Went to bed and restarted the testing this morning with still no failures. It seems to be fixed.

5. In the process of reinstalling all the plastic parts, the battery, the lights on the rear, and finally the outside skin. When that is completed I will be able to install the seat and trunk. Then it should all be set to go riding again. Final test will be to lock the seat and determine that the latches are working fine.

6. Finished assembly today, finally. I have had the covers on and off several times yesterday and today. I dropped a nut and could not find it with my eye's, my magnet, my wife's eyes. Had to go to Lowe's for a matching nut. Then found that a snap on speed nut was missing, back to Lowe's for some of those. Today I dropped a screw and could not find that so back to Lowe's for that. Now I have the machine together and some spare parts.

7. How the latch works. As the loop on the bottom of the seat enters the side latch it pulls the front to back cable and that allows the back latch to lock. So it is important to make sure the back loop is entering the rear latch as, or before, the side loop enters the side latch. So I found that pulling the rear part of the seat down smartly does make the latches more reliable. Much better latch today. Sometimes might miss the back latch but one more effort seems to work.






The red arrows indicate direction of the cables when locking. When the key is turned it reverses the cable action and pulls the side latch locking component toward the front to unlatch it and that then allows the spring on the rear latch enough slack for it to unlock.

This is only for the latch look see and repair. I will also post the machine tear down photo's later.