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Excellent advice - I completely forgot about the valve cores! I'll try that out and let you guys know. Unfortunately they leak VERY slowly - slowly enough not to notice within the hour, but definitely more than they should. How often do you usually pump up the tires? Once a month at the most, right? I feel like tires should hold air pretty well

Last year, I bought TaoTao ATM50-A1 2013 model, and, with some excellent advice from this website, got it running really well. I added a mirror mount phone cradle for navigation. The only thing missing was some sweet USB power to keep my phone from dying. I've used the following components:

• 12V To 5V 3A 15W Duble USB Output Power Adapter DC DC Converter Module from Ebay ($5)
• Wire Tap-In Squeeze Connectors from Radioshack ($3)
• A dremel tool or a heavy duty knife

You don't want to attach the power adapter to the battery directly - even with no device plugged in, it (most likely) draws some stand-by current. At the same time, I didn't want to tap into the headlight circuitry directly - currents and voltage fluctuations there are pretty high.

I've noticed that this light stays off when the scooter is off, but turns on when the key is turned:



Now we just have to figure out where it connects:




You're looking for a 2-wire harness, with green and black wires coming in and brown and green coming out. MAKE SURE YOU CHECK THE POLARITY WITH A METER. On my scooter, on the input, Black was positive and Green was negative. On the output, Green is positive and Brown is negative (??). Also, make sure voltage is 0 when the key is off, and around 12V when the key is turned.

Make sure to disconnect the battery first. Use the wire tap-ins to connect your DC converter to the output part of the harness (if you mess up, it's easier to fix the output instead of the input). Once again, make sure you're connecting the Red wire of the converter to the Positive wire of the harness.

Once you're done, reconnect the battery, turn the key and plug in a USB device - hopefully, it will get power. You don't need to turn the scooter on, since the power is supplied from the battery. I've used 3M VHB tape to affix the converter to the scooter - it doesn't obstruct anything in the location shown in the picture.

Last step is to figure out where you want your USB ports. I've found this place particularly convenient - it's protected from the rain and the USB ports won't obstruct the plastic body piece from going back on your scooter:



I've used a dremel tool to carefully cut out an opening for the USB ports and drill holes for mounting. That's it!

Hey guys,
I live in Massachusetts, so I have no intention of riding my TaoTao ATM50-A1 2013 during the winter. A friend of mine that rides a motorcycle told me that it's best to start the scooter, let it run for a few seconds, then turn it off, pump out all of the fuel, start it again and let it run until it dies. This way, there will be minimal fuel left in the system during the winter.

I've been very busy the last few weeks and didn't get a chance to do this before the weather got cold. I tried this on two different occasions, and on two different occasions the scooter won't start. The first time I tried it, it was 25F outside, so I figured maybe it's just the temperature. I probably should mention that last time I rode the scooter, it worked perfectly - started right away, didn't stall etc.

I waited until today, when it was 34F outside, had a freshly charged battery, tried again, and still nothing. The electric started cranks but the engine won't start. I tried kick-starting it as well, but no luck there. Tried to start it until the battery started to die.

Here's my question. How bad is it to leave the scooter in the condition it is in until it gets warmer? I bought this scooter with intention of learning to work with motor vehicles, so I'm not afraid to get my hands dirty, but I'd rather not work on it when it's near freezing outside.

In case you guys don't recommend leaving it the way it is, should I try something first? I guess something cold-weather specific? I've changed the spark plug, the CDI module, vacuum lines and fuel lines, and also unsealed the carb and adjusted the mixture so it doesn't run quite as lean. I could check all those listed above, but if there's something I should try first that could help get it started in cold conditions, please let me know!

EDIT: Forgot to mention that I recently did an oil change and a gear change for the first time, right before 300km. I used Rotella T 15W-40 for engine oil. I've read somewhere that this oil is pretty viscous and with temperatures dropping, it's probably even thicker now. Could this be the issue?

Thanks for your response mikey! As Alleyoop suggested, I've adjusted the mixture and that seemed to fix the problem. I drilled out the brass plug over the mixture screw, but the screw head was very weird shape - it was round on one side and flat on the other - I guess that's supposed to prevent people from tampering with them. I used a roach clip (a thin alligator clip might do the trick as well) to unscrew it, then took a dremel to it and put a slot on it so i can easily adjust it with a flathead screwdriver. After messing around with the idle screw and the newly-accessible mixture screw, it seems to work a lot better. It doesn't go into the super-low RPMs it used to and I don't stall it when I try to accelerate when it's cold. It still idles a bit better warm, but hey, it was less than $700!

Thanks for all your help guys!