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Hi all,

I recently acquired an Apollo 250 and would like to introduce myself. This is my first membership on any scooter forum and from what I have seen I will not have to look any further, as most other forums I have seen reference scooterdoc I might as well just start here. I am a bit intimidated by the size of the site and if I breech a bit of etiquette please bear with me and politely point it out. I live in Salt Lake City, UT and am currently attending college. I decided to take advantage of the summer heat and get a motorcycle, my first and last one was a Yamaha XJ 650 (good bike), and wanted to go the affordable route. As I am already married and have been for 6 years, after dating for 7, I am not worried about exterior perceptions nor about attracting a mate (In-fact the opposite) to contrast myself with the other Veterans with which I associate myself; I do not need tons of power, loud pipes, eye-catching, gas guzzling, high-speed ... anything. What I need is to save money and have an effective, gas-efficient, sleek, mode of transportation which will afford transportation to and from class, work, and other necessary appointments so that my wife can use our one car to move about as she needs and I can do the same without expending 10k+ on the vehicle and -30mpg on average. Here I have arrived at getting a scooter and making it work for as long as possible.

This is my second scooter, the first was a shenke SunL SL-150-26, I believe it was also an '08. I paid $300 for it knowing it was not top of the line, though in past experiences with automobiles I have learned to cap my overall initial investment on experiments. It had only about 1500 miles on it but had obviously been in some wrecks and the owner had told me his brother had taken it "off road." I had about 3k good miles on what was left of it, had replaced the muffler and the head due to "good advice" from the only real local chinese scooter shop in the area. After 1 wreck which resulted from a pothole swallowing my front 10" tire (we had some decent airtime @ 35-40 mph) and the muffler falling off after one of the two bolts sheared off followed by the exhaust manifold bolts shearing off due to the massive bumpiness of certain SLC roads, I decided to get a newer, more powerful, and sturdier bike.

Within the last week I acquired the Apollo, which I believe to be the standard variety jonway type YY-250-t, but I havent gotten that far into the bike yet. I do know that while the SunL has a fore-facing cylinder, this bike has a 12 o'clock or somewhere thereafter aft facing cylinder. I paid $1000 for it, it was mainly garage kept and rarely left the neighborhood from 1400-2250 miles. They were the second owner. It had evidence of having fallen over a few times, but beyond that there was little evidence of physical damage. Overall a sturdy bike. The stock rear trunk with seat-back is cracked at the latch and until I can find a suitable replacement I will probably rivet a piece of metal on the inside for stability. The second key has been broke off in the seat lock, I can manipulate it as I have pulled the locking pin, so I can pull the whole assembly out and twist it to actuate the one working lock mechanism (the rear lock does not seem to catch.) All gauges seem to work fine, the hottest the coolant temp seems to get is about 50% of the gauge and normal operating temp seems to be between 25% and 50%. When starting "cold" it will not idle properly and needs 2.5-5 minutes to warm up to a self-sustaining idle. In the second fuel fill up I also inserted a 6 oz bottle of gumout fuel system cleaner hoping it would improve performance a smidge. After, it seems to be missing from time to time while accelerating. Not enough to spoil the ride, but enough to know that things are not primo and enough to notice that it was not happening before. I will hope that this is not permanent and possibly just contaminants working their way out of the fuel system. I will also be examining the fuel filter once I locate it, and drain the gascolator. Given the low mounting of the fuel tank I currently have the assumption that an electric in-tank fuel pump might be in use, but that will remain to be seen pending some research; it doesnt seem that gravity alone will supply all fuel to the engine.

What needs to be done: I intend to remove and inspect all of the body pieces, some will be necessary to remedy the seat lock, and make sure they are all fitting well. The front turn-signal lighting units are not well attached and might have been loosed during a fall. I will be looking into stronger LED lights as they do not seem to shed much light during the day and hardly stand out with the high beams on. I normally run with the high beams on, but have been using low recently because I have been having some battery issues. The previous owner claims to have purchased a new battery this spring, but indicated that the remote-start/alarm system might be leeching power. If it doesnt start in the first 5 seconds, it slows to the point where it wont likely start at all. I am looking into mounting an ammeter/voltmeter so that I can keep track of this at my leisure. The mp3 player is currently non functional, though the wires seem to all connect, I will first source the control pad as it seems to be in the worst condition. Might it be cheaper to replace the control pad or the entire system? Are there better systems out there now? Are there any hacks that have been used on this "wide body" scooter that might replace it altogether? The windscreen seems a bit loose, not loose enough to cause bodily damage by disconnecting at an inopportune time, but loose enough to squeak incessantly at certain speeds on certain roads. I will have to attend to that at some time. Helmets... not so necessary with the 150, but I will be needing a L and a S helmet preferably with bluetooth intercom and cell/gps link. As I said before, the rear trunk has to go. Is anyone familiar with any primo XL trunks out there? If there is nothing to suit my needs I might make my own with fiberglass (a bit of a hobbyist am I) and I intend to look into placing two outward(downward) opening similar cases on either side. I hate wearing a backpack on the scooter. Any information on these types of establishments will prove very helpful. As currently the battery is low on charge, I will be needing a charger. Any recommendations would be helpful. I also was looking at wiring a jumper into the glove box. Not sure how practical this might be, the charging plug is protruding from just under the seat, I am not opposed to using that, I have just always wanted to put a "cigarette lighter" in that hole that seems to be in every glove box. I saw a system online which gives the battery an offshoot of the charging cable, and a female "bmw" or cigarette lighter plug, it then came with a 5' male 2 male chord with the same characteristics, and then another terminal nearly identical to the first for connecting to another battery, though I think it also had alligator clips for versatility. I figured with the plug in the glove box I might be able to charge my cell while on long trips, especially if using bluetooth and/or gps, pandora... etc. Knowledge of the charging system will come in handy here, but if it is possible, the ammeter will let me know how close to full load I am getting.

So storage will be covered by the three trunks ( I am fielding an idea for starting a courier service ) and the replacement of the locks for access to the under-seat area. The charging system/battery seems to be the only detrimental aspect currently and that will be remedied soon, any advice as to why the engine wont idle soon will be helpful, and as to the sputtering. I would like to now address performance. I do not intend to race this scooter, I am more looking into the efficiency aspect. It seems to run its best between 40-50 mph at around 4k to 4200 rpms. What I have learned from a more vast collection of experience from larger engines is that I can improve performance by having a stronger and more precise spark, a proper fuel/air mixture, good compression (sometimes regrinding cams), proper valve adjustments, timing timing timing. I have noticed that around the 5k+ rpm range and at anything 55 and over the engine seems to be running poorer and a bit shakier. The nincompoops at the local chinese parts store tell me that none of the performance parts or adjustments work except for the performance exhausts. Is there any truth to that? I know that for the most part the stock wires are fine unless there is a breach somewhere in the insulation, but a hotter coil and a multipoint plug should technically improve performance. If the CDI is not optimized for higher revolutions, then performance will be hindered. I have not reached any rev limits, but at the 5k mark, it seems that the timing is being exceeded by the engine speed. Are there any performance exhaust systems recommended by the group that have any merit? The one I purchased for the 150 had a mounting bracket that did not fit the bike at all and I had to have a custom one welded for it. Beyond that, the engine was running a bit rich which created a bit of an afterburn inside of the can. This actually increased the back pressure instead of reducing it!

Next we have aesthetics. As the paint is fine, and I am fine with leaving it, I was thinking of adding some aftermarket lighting such as the LED turn signals. I have also fancied the LED light strips and various kits. I do not want to make the bike gaudy, but was looking to increase my night time visibility. Things like a LED break light on the top trunk, and extra turn signals on the side trunks I will be fabricating. Possibly longer amber light strips wired in with the turn signals running the length of the belly to illuminate the road and the side of the bike when turning, possibly shorter strips along the mirrors... etc. Any information on these types of mods would be helpful.

I will be riding this bike until the roads begin to get covered with ice here, I have seen heated riding gear and want to know members opinions on them and if the bikes charging system can support them. Even with the roads free of ice, the temperatures can get down to below 0 here and I want to use the bike every day it is physically possible, so I am interested.

Lastly I would like to know if anyone uses solar panels connected to a trickle charger for their battery, possibly mounted on the trunk lid or otherwise. I have a friend who works for GoalZero and might use some of their equipment, but want to know if anyone in the group has done this.

I appreciate anyone who is reading this and has made it to the bottom. I know it is a bit long winded, but I figured I would get all of that out and we can move forward with shorter posts in the future. Anyone who is upset about the book I have been writing on here will do good to know that this post is 11228 characters long out of the 60,000 characters allotted, so be thankful I was not feeling overly loquacious today

Thanks for everything in advance,

Boris

*Originally posted in 250cc and larger... my mistake*