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Post by sillylittleboy on Jul 15, 2016 17:41:13 GMT -6
And YES... both doubles (martinis). I like mine like Bond, James Bond - vodka martinis, shaken not stirred.
AND that's only after I'm through riding for the day.
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Certified Clinician
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Post by sillylittleboy on Jul 15, 2016 17:30:20 GMT -6
Yea, a replacement tree is far from the end of days, in fact it's $65 for a replacement. In one of those pictures it DOES look like something is bent, but when I'm looking at it LIVE without Memorex - it don't look bent at all.
I'm going to try he bounce adjustment procedure and if that fails, then I'm stripping it all down (the front fork assembly) and doing some flat table reviews of all parts. I just might be ordering me some parts later. The good news there is that they've got the triple-tree stocked in a US warehouse, so I don't have to wait for any slow boats from China.
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Post by sillylittleboy on Jul 14, 2016 20:43:14 GMT -6
Okay, I did some more reading and research and hopefully this method will work for my scooter, too. I watched a video where a guy demonstrated how to straighten the alignment of the forks/front end of a motorcycle. Sure there were a few different parts, but the basics of it were loosening up everything below a certain point on the steering column and then... it was what he did next that I'm hoping will work for me and my scooter.
He got up on the bike and stood on the pegs and pushed downward on the forks (not forward, just downward...until they bounced). He bounced down on them a couple of times and that self-straightened everything up.
Hey, at this point it can't hurt, though it'll have to wait until tomorrow cause it's dark and I'm in need of a nice chilled martini (or two).
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Post by sillylittleboy on Jul 14, 2016 20:14:54 GMT -6
Okay, I must be much denser than I thought. I've loosened everything and tried to straighten out the front wheel alignment, but it's not budging one bit and not straightening one bit. I even removed the front axle to insure it wasn't bent and to try and line everything up and get it straight, but no such luck.
It's at exactly the same angle and at the same number of degrees on the handlebars off from center-line (center of tire). It doesn't look like the triple-tree is bent in any way, although I'm assuming even a small bit of bend could or should be able to be off-set thru some adjustment (that I've just not figured out yet) to make it ride straight.
What am I missing here?
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Post by sillylittleboy on Jul 14, 2016 19:27:48 GMT -6
jct842, it sounds like you may have had your heart broken by a pretty scooter sometime in your past. You're also probably the sound of reason, but I can't help but look at the baby with the low miles and those sleek lines and think, "Hey baby, how you doing?" I'm also surprised y'all can find anything worth a darn on Craig's List. It's a good place to sell things, but my local craig's list sellers are all totally and certifiably insane. A used iPhone 4s for $699? Items listed as "like new" when the only thing "like new" about them are the prices they're asking. I went through six pages of motorcycles and scooters locally and only found two scooters, but this one looks and sounds really nice and the price isn't too bad: 2010 Yager gt 200i desmoines.craigslist.org/mcy/5656983107.html |
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Post by sillylittleboy on Jul 14, 2016 18:58:54 GMT -6
I'm going to go with "Sneezing with a mouthful of paint" for $100, Alex.
But what do I know... I'm just a SillyLittleBoy
(But I'd sure enjoy knowing how a person might recreate such paint patterns)
Anyone? Bueller?
Rattle can and a palm leaf? Is that for real? If so, then is there any way you might elaborate just a bit more for the less informed members of the group? |
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Post by sillylittleboy on Jul 14, 2016 17:52:36 GMT -6
Awesome, this is perfect! I was even sure where to start with this assembly, but your direction got me started and now I'm completely removing the triple tree to inspect it fully. After I loosened those four pinch bolts and the front axle nut, I still couldn't get anything to straighten out. The right fork rotated and moved inside the triple-tree, but I couldn't get the left fork to rotate or move at all (forks relative to me sitting on the scooter).
I didn't want to hammer on the fork to loosen it, cause I was a fearing me damaging something permanently.
Just waiting now for a buddy to stop over to help jack up the front of the scooter high enough to allow the triple tree to slide out the bottom. I'm taking some photos and videos along the way so maybe my learning as I'm doing will help someone else with a similar problem.
Thanks again, Cyborg. I know I'm well on my way towards a resolution. Even if I have to get a new triple-tree, I've already priced one for my scoot at $65. And the police officer who responded to my accident handed me an accident report in the hospital where he estimated the damage to my scooter at $1500. A couple of body panels ($45 and $30) and maybe a triple-tree ($65) will bring my total to less than $150.
Maybe the officer just forgot a decimal point with that estimate.
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Post by sillylittleboy on Jul 14, 2016 16:37:02 GMT -6
Maybe something got lost in the translation, besides the octane levels. Here in Iowa the best we can get is 91 octane. We used to have 87 (regular), 91 (ethanol 10%), and 93 (premium). Our state has recently been flooded with 84 octane gas, which it is illegal for stations to sell or provide. So this means the gas distributors have been mixing the 84 with ethanol to bring it up to 87 or mixing it with premium to bring it up to 91 (probably just above 90). So me using premium isn't saying much.
No, my real issue is in the process of putting gas into the scooter. My scooter has a pretty small opening and a pretty small tank (1-1/2 gallons). So whenever I use the gas pump at my local convenience store and place the nozzle into the scooter's gas tank (using the only opening), no matter how light I am on the gas nozzle, I end up getting some splash-back right away. Even with an empty fuel tank, I still get the gas splashing up and out and around the fill-er-up opening in the fuel tank.
I was thinking that maybe I need to use 2-3 gallon fuel cans (plastic cans) to fill up my tank. The gas comes out slow and steady without any splashing or back-up onto the bike or areas outside of the gas tank or gas tank opening. It's just not very convenient for me to keep a can of gas sitting around available. I live in an apartment and don't want to keep it in the apartment or in the car AND there's not really any place outside where I can put it where it won't get borrowed, stolen, or tampered with in some way.
OR maybe I'm just doing it all wrong, but that's because I'm just a...
SillyLittleBoy
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Post by sillylittleboy on Jul 13, 2016 23:12:00 GMT -6
Way to smell it out, Cyborg. What would motivate a man to take such a ride... over and over again? Only kz1000st can truly say, but I can recall back in my wandering days how I once took a Greyhound (bus) from Iowa to Buffalo, NY to meet up with a beautiful young lady. We had five lovely days and night and I even took her out of the country. We were in Buffalo, so naturally we had to go see the falls AND if you want to see the BIG horseshoe-shaped Niagara Falls then it's Canada or bust. A walk across the Rainbow bridge took us into Canada and back then we didn't need no stinking badges (or passports).
As we left US soil and crossed over into the great white north, the Canadian's were like, "How's it going, eh?" They didn't even ID us. Of course returning back into the US we did have to show our state driver's licenses.
Oh... and...
I will always ride with a DOT approved helmet...
I will always ride with a DOT approved helmet...
I will always ride with a DOT approved helmet... on my head...
Cause I know how very lucky I was and even though I've got a really hard head,
I'm not going to be hard-headed about this.
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Post by sillylittleboy on Jul 13, 2016 20:30:24 GMT -6
Sounds like good advice, cyborg, since I'm sure the quality of the bolts and parts used on these Chinese scooters are not the best or made from the best materials. There's just one little problem. I'm not entirely sure what I should be looking to loosen/remove. I got all the plastic parts removed so I can see the column and fork. I did a lot of reading around the internet and many places talk about this misaligned front wheel being an easy fix, even when the alignment is due to an accident (curb strike or such). Many places suggest just cranking the steering to the opposite side that it's bent towards (if handlebars face a little right, then turn steering to the left). They suggest just pushing very hard against the stop and it'll straighten the steering up. Now maybe that works on Vespas or other higher end scooters, but mine didn't budge one bit. As far as I can tell there's nothing really bent. The front wheel spins freely and doesn't rub on anything, but as you can see from these photos it's anything but straight. I'm thinking that there's maybe some adjustments that can be done to straighten this out. Here's what it looks like:     Should I be removing everything from the triple-tree to insure there's nothing bent. Any guidance or guide that someone can assist or point me towards would be MOST appreciated. I even looked in the Scooter Doc manual and there wasn't ANYTHING showing the front fork assembly or how to tear down, adjust, or anything. Once I track down the necessary documentation photos with circles and arrows pointing to the correct parts and areas, along with a paragraph on the back of each one explaining what to do (or a nice video showing you what to do), then I'll post it as part of Scooter Doc's manual (or wherever it could/would be useful. Now I can see where it would be rather advantageous to have a second (or third... or more) scooter to reference such things. But that's just me and I'm just a SillyLittleBoy |
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Post by sillylittleboy on Jul 13, 2016 20:16:20 GMT -6
The cross bar is the limit to fill. Best way to fill up is use GASOLINE, not crapahol. Filling too full with some of the scooters with a canister will result is bad performance due to plugging the canister with fuel. Yea, that's what I use - GASOLINE. I definitely do NOT use ethanol, which I believe you were referring to with the "crapahol" moniker. My scooter manual said to use Premium grade, so that's what I've used from the very first fill-up. Plain and pure (as can be gotten) gasoline with the highest octane rating I can get in Iowa - no special additives like ethanol or crapahol.
But none of this helps me with the problem I'm experiencing at the pump. No matter how light my touch is on the gas pump control, the fuel comes out of the nozzle so fast that it often strikes the inside of the fuel tank causing pools of fuel to form in rings around the gas cap or fuel tank opening. No matter how careful I am or how slowly I try to dispense the gasoline, there's always much of it that splashes back up and out.
Maybe I am just a SilllyLittleBoy, cause I sure can't figure out what I'm doing wrong OR what I should be doing to correct/fix my splattering gasoline issue. Let me know if anyone has any kind of hints, tips, or "you're doing it all wrong" comment to help out one SillyBIGBoy, then I would be very grateful.
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Post by sillylittleboy on Jul 10, 2016 19:12:26 GMT -6
I can't imagine this HASN'T been brought up before, so if it has then my apologies but it is probably worth resurrecting. My issue that I'm having is filling up my tank at the pump. My first fill or two came out of a plastic gas container, which allowed me to truly regulate the flow very delicately. When I go to a regular fuel pump to fill up I find that even when I'm very cautious and slow with the handle and flow of gasoline, I still get a little fuel that flies back and up and around the fuel tank. I always have to be ready with a handful of paper towels, but I'm thinking there's GOT to be a better way. Maybe I just need to get me a plastic fuel container and fill THAT up and use it to fill my scooter's tank.
Any other suggestions? My tank only holds like 1-1/2 gallons and the fill-up hole is small with a cross member right inside the hole that creates a lot of the problems. |
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Post by sillylittleboy on Jul 10, 2016 19:06:29 GMT -6
Will do... thanks! Now I've just got to get the right tool(s) to tear it all down and inspect it right.
Thanks again!
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Post by sillylittleboy on Jul 10, 2016 17:31:07 GMT -6
I don't know if the regular gas vs. premium will cause this issue OR cure it. Once I read that I should use only premium gas in my scooter's tank, that's all I've ever fed it. The fact that my scooter uses very little gas (1-1/2 gallon tank) just makes it easier to keep feeding it only the premium grade fuel.
Of course once you do fill her up with premium, you'll probably have to burn through a little to get that fuel permeated throughout the fuel system.
Hey, it's a cheap fix and can only help.
P.S. I think our premium is like 91-92 octane. |
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Post by sillylittleboy on Jul 10, 2016 17:20:58 GMT -6
Good suggestion. I've learned that when troubleshooting it's not always about finding out exactly what is the problem as it is finding out what isn't the problem.
As Sherlock Holmes so famously said, "How often have I said to you that when you've eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth." OR the solution.
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