Milk Crate GET

Today I attached a milk crate to the scoot (fig.1) to hopefully improve its cargo-hauling capabilities. Doesn't look too pretty, but it doesn't need to. I took a look to see if I could figure out why the brake light doesn't light up when I brakes, but I wasn't able to figure it out.

I re-seated one of the main engine covers, because all the wiring and the rectifier were exposed to sunlight and rain, two things that don't seem too good for them (hence my recent difficulties getting the sled started, I think).

Last but not least, I also adjusted the brakes (fig. 2) front and back; there was way too much travel on the levers before the brakes engaged. I finally had to pack it in. It's just too damn hot out there for an all-day fix-a-thon. Steady progress continues. Maybe it'll be back to 100% by the time riding season comes to a close.

More scooter repairs...

Finally got off my ass and worked on the scoot a bit yesterday evening.

While I had the plenum off of the carburetor (to adjust the idle, more about that below), I gave it a quick wipedown, as it was filthy. I'm not sure how much of that is normal wear and how much is the motor oil that had backed up into the air cleaner. Cleaning the plenum reminded me that my breather seperator outlet tube was probably backed up, so I drained that too. I also put back one of the mirrors, now making for a grand total of two. And I replaced a couple of the pieces that make up the floorboards, because my feet were getting tired of resting on the pegs sticking out of the frame. All this plus the usual continued cleaning of the frame and cables.

When I bought the sled, it was missing the battery cover. Yesterday, I attempted to cover the battery with a hacked-up coffee can. It worked like a dream until the coffee can blew off during my trip to work this morning. Time for Project: Battery Cover Replacement 2.0.

Finally (and most significantly) I reached a small driver into the realm of the carburetor and lowered the idle speed; now at idle the scooter sounds... well, like a scooter. Instead of a lawnmower, which is how it sounded before.

All in all I'm happy with the progress, though the reduced idle speed has three immediate consequences;

1. When starting, the scoot sounds like it's about to stall out. After it warms up a bit this is not a problem.
2. There are a lot of little backfires happening whenever I break (or even when I just let up on the throttle). The good news is that this is a well-known and -studied issue with these bikes. The bad news is I have not yet read a definitive answer to what causes it and how to fix it. I'm not sure if it's even something to worry about.
   
3. When accelerating from a stop, it takes a little bit more 'twist' on the throttle to get the scoot going. This is of course to be expected; it needs more gas to get up to where it was idling at before. I will probably end up compensating by just jamming on the damn gas whenever I take off. Bad riding habit, but fun.

Still to do; inspect clutch, belt, and variator. Replace air filter. Flush and fill radiator. Clean (and paint?) frame covers. Full synthetic oil change. Drain and replace final drive oil with heavy gear oil. Replace handgrips. Replace battery cover (see above). New mirrors. Increase cargo capacity (add side bags and a top case).

All in all, progress is slow but steady.

Scooter Status Update

Scooter Status: Naked.

I'm torn between two options; ignoring the work to be done and simply re-attaching all the fairings, or leaving them off in the (possibly) vain hope that I'll finish the work soon.

Either way, I plan on re-attaching at least the floorboards; it's getting tiresome keeping my feet on the two little support struts.

I will kind of miss this look though; it reminds me of my previous scoot, a TNG Baja.