Fix for a slowing-down 50cc scooter?

[KelvinAng]

The mechanic fucked up the adjustment. he would have leaned it out after break in period (they have to run richer when new) hes leaned it out too much, thus not enough fuel, thus not enough revs, thus it does not go as fast. the shop may well have a good reputation and he probably is a great mechanic. but we are human, we all make mistakes sometimes. get him to richen it back up a little.

Oh and smack him across the head on my behalf

I'll just leave it to him to sort it out. He mentioned warranty repairs so I think there's more to it than just leaning out the bike fuel consumption. Besides, there's still the burnt out low-beam problem.

[KelvinAng]

An update... turns out the radiator is stuffed and got replaced. I know nothing about these... can anyone tell me what is it suppose to do, and what might be the reason that it break down so quickly (2 months, 1200 km)?

Thing is, I don't think I got much luck with scooters. That day the shop called to say my scoot's ready, the loaner scoot died with a flat battery (prolly with my failed attempt in the morning to electric start it... but I wasn't overdoing it!) and the kick starter wouldn't work.

[dannyy]

Hey Kelvin,

I'm new to this forum...but just this weekend, I was checking out a couple of scooters here in Chch - Piaggio Zip 50 was one of them.

Didn't get to ride one - but heading back to said-shop this week to try one out. It'll be a 4t (4 stroke) model...

After checking it - and the Sym Mio out - I hit Google. Found a fair few reviews, threads, and things about their power..because I'm 110kgs, and want to make sure that these things won't die with me on them!

Taking a SYm Mio for a ride, it was kinda...er... 'OK' Just did 50kms but def wasn't 'snotting' !! Since its a 50cc...with me on it...well...!


Anyways - about the Zip.

One Kiwi review, spoke quite badly about the Zip being really under-powered. Hmmm... I've yet to ride one, so I hope its not disappointing..! I think they're very cool, and the build quality has excellent reviews, as does the economy...(which is why I'm looking at these scoots... $2.00/ltr!!)


About their power...

I read lots of forums about 'un-restricting' them and stuff. Some on these threads said 4t's couldn't be 'un-restricted' effectively. Its illegal anyway, I believe. A couple of posts, mentioned how after the scooter had been optimised, it kept its increase in power for a few months, then lost it a bit. It also seemed like it wasn't a small task to 'optimise' a scooter... "properly."

By the end of it all, as far as optimising a scooter goes - you either have to be 'into it' enough to know what you're doing, or learn about it on the fly...to keep the fine-tuning up...or - stick with it, as purchased.



I know what you mean about feeling a bit jinxed..! I used to own/love/drive european cars. Tens of thousands of dollars later...

Don't feel jinxed mate...its the mechanical thing - not you!



Just my 10cents worth...

I'd really welcome anybody else to comment on my thoughts...for my sake too!

Danny.

[Del Fuego]

It really depends what you are looking for, the Zip is a great bike, well built, looks good, handles... etc, etc... unfortunately it is as slow as a slow thing on a slow day. Would be fine if you are just zapping short, short distances around the central CBD or whatever but if you are actually doing any distance on it.

In comparison the Mio is a pretty cool little machine. if I recall correctly (we reviewed it ages ago) we had a deristricted one and it went pretty well. the shop should be able to sort deristriction for you... Legality aside a restricted 50 is a bit of a menace in real world situations. Have a look at www.thescooterreview.com (probably already have) for a review on the Mio and in a couple of days time a 50cc comparison test that features 13 50's currently available here.

[KelvinAng]

Hi Dannyy,

As far as I'm aware, my Zip 50 is/was at its "optimal" tuning. Yeah she wasn't speedy and acceleration is mild but she does get to about 60km/hr (I'm 75kg) after she warms up. Got her back last night and rode her to work this morning, and compared to the 2-stroke one I got as a loaner, this one is such a pleasure to ride. Smooth (though slower) acceleration, light handling, and is more comfortable and more spacious than the loaner scoot.

If the scoot does only 50km/hr for you then it's highly not recommended. Two weeks ago when my scoot developed a problem (or had been tuned incorrectly, or both...) and would struggle to go past 50km/hr, I find that many drivers would overtake me rather impatiently and while most drivers are kind enough to give you a reasonable amount of space while overtaking, some of them probably think their cars are faster or smaller than it really is.

[dannyy]

Hi Del Fuego :-)

Yes - you're right, I've certainly read the thescooterreview.com reviews...actually where I'd heard the Piaggio was a bit, er, sluggish... Thanks for the pointer about the de-restriction stuff... Going to test-ride the piaggio today infact...and maybe the 100cc version just for comparisons sake. I'll also ask them about the derestriction, but from what I gather, that won't necessarily help with 'gutsy'ness (?) but more about wind-out speed - yeah?

Just for the record, this scooters purpose is just the 5 (flat) kms to/from work... and perhaps the odd fun-adventure over summer. No hills but. :-)

I'll be keen to see how the reviews you guys do compare the 13-odd scoots too...



Gidday Kelvin,

I'm hearing you re:speed/road-presence. I usually mtnbike to work, and there wouldn't be a day where I don't have some idiot driver 'not think' or consider other non-4-wheeled road users... not to mention seeing other people encounter similar people, too.

I'm thinking of the 100cc + too - so I'd more readily become part of the laned traffic. But then, the point of this exercise for me is to squeeze the very most out of the dollar - so....


The place we're looking at is just near my work - off Madras street. I'd checked out a couple of other places - Manchester st area - but the service seems more personal and positive at this place off Madras, so... Sounds like it might be the same place you went.. and your experience sounds fairly OK so far service wise, aye?


Anyone;
The one thing I can't be bothered with is ongoing troublesome warranty work, and weird - unexplainable problems. (Remember my Euro car experiences??? Well...Toyota - no problems. Euro - 'we're not sure why...' bla bla blah)

So I was wondering.... If the Piaggio's are now manufactured in China, under Piaggio design specs....but the Mio is designed and manufactured in Taiwan - is the Mio a slightly better bet regards assembly and mechanical integrity?? Or am I off the mark entirely?

Can't wait for afternoon test-rides!

[KelvinAng]

Yeah the scooter shop in town has pretty good, friendly service. I enjoy talking to all of them, and in my recent experience with getting my bike fixed I find it to be smooth. By all accounts I've heard this shop has a pretty good reputation, and a mate of mine like them enough to have his Suzuki bike serviced by them.

Personally I don't like the handling of the 2-stroke scoots especially when stuck in a 10km/hr start-stop traffic. They're very "jumpy" in my experience. I was so glad to have my scoot back when she returned. She's smooth as. One good thing about Christchurch is how flat it is aye. I thought about riding a bicycle to work but the freezing cold mornings quickly pack that idea away

[dannyy]

Hey Kelvin, (et al).

Welllll... the afternoon rides...........

The first one I rode was the Piaggio Zip 50 - like yours Kelvin. :-)

Felt good! Didn't feel plasticy at all...nice and solid, strong feel. I felt totally safe with it. Smooth too...

Next the Mio 50. And...I gotta say, I nearly can'd off (Brett - hope you're not reading this) cause of the unexpected extra oomph it had compared to the Piaggio (sorry K!)

Might sound stupid - but I just didn't think the oomph factor at the take-off would be so different.


Then tried the 100cc versions of both. If buying a scooter wasn't a cost-saving's exercise (including WOF and Rego) I'd be doing the 100cc. Just because they go faster (& I do have my MC licence anyhow)!!!!


Having said that, the 50cc Mio comfortably reached 50k/hr with my 110kgs on it, down the short block of Allen Street (chch) (in both directions!) It was plenty fast-enough for me, for scooting around Chch. And I believe it'll get a littttle bit better over time?

I doubt that they'll lose too much value if for some reason I decided I want to do 80k/hr at a later stage and go to sell it...


Del Fuego... I asked the fella there about de-restricting. Rightly so, advised it wasn't really the 'go' anymore, as LTSA have advised recently - ie last week I think?, they're going to start clamping down hard on this. Just stating what I was told. Think I'd still like it DR'd though. Would have to wait and see I think.


Oh - should say too I tried a Kymco 50cc 2t.

Kelvin - with you mate re: 2t. I didn't like it. It was ...er... un-refined, and noisy, and smokey (ok, zero kms on this shop floor model) but still...didn't like the noise, or tinny-ness of it. AND, it didn't go any faster, or quicker than the Mio50. :-)

Either the Mio50 is a smart 4t scooter, or, my expectations are low!!

I think I'm going to go with the 4t Mio 50... *ahem* in black & white, and maybe get white-walled tyres. Is that ...er... too ..um... you know. *ahem*. Yeah - that....

D.

ps - yeah, i'm gettin over the mtnbikign/chilled-sweat/cold/dark travelling thing...

[KelvinAng]

Glad you found something suitable! I haven't got the chance to ride the Mio 50 but I reckon Sym scooters shouldn't be too bad. Yeah I was told the scooters perform a bit better after 1000km but I haven't noticed it in my Zip 50. I guess any "worn in" performance boost on a 50cc scooter is rather negligible!

I think quite possibly your Mio 50 has been successfully tuned to provide better acceleration. When chatting with Allen, he mentioned that he is always looking out for ways to get a little more power out of these scoots. Just before mine developed those problems he has apparently tried to increase its acceleration speed. I couldn't feel the difference however.

I've got a 2t Kymco as my loaner. It has almost 6000km on it and so I can safely say that it wouldn't be any better off from your experience with that brand new one. Nice and speedy, but not very enjoyable.

[Del Fuego]

Hey, glad you found one ya liked. I have to agree the Mio 50 really is a gem of a bike, relatively peppy and it feels nice and solid too.

In Black and white they even look relatively un-girly haha... dunno bout the whitewalls... might look cool. I saw a Honda Today rolling them.. looked pretty cool actually so may work on the little SYM haha.

The engines are supposed to wear in a bit around the 500 - 1000km mark they definately feel a bit better after some riding if nothing else the brakes feel a bit less like a plank of wood etc.

Shouldn't have too much loss in the resale stakes... scooter sales continue to go through the roof so that should mean prices stay high for a while.

Oh and just regards to fuel etc on a bigger scoot you will find the bigger capacity 4 strokes are still pretty frugal. I get around 32 ks per litre outta my 125cc suzuki and I can even do some motorway driving and whatnot but the reg/wof etc is a bit of a pricey excersize