145 miles on the new scooter and 2 important questions!

[nwscooterboy]

It's been nice here this weekend and I've had the opportunity to start breaking in the new Tao Tao Roman 150.

I have 2 completely different questions that I'd like to throw out there. The first one I'm very concerned about.

1. When I first received the scooter I noticed the front axle was slightly bent. I showed it to my landlord who has some background in fixing cars and what not and he thought it wasn't too bad to be concerned about. You really have to look closely at it to see the bend. Rolling it on a table top reveals the bend a bit easier. I can put down the center stand and spin the front wheel and notice a slight wobble...the front tire should look like one straight black line while it's spinning as far as I'm concerned but you see a bit of bumps here and there while it's spinning. I'm wondering if it is contributing to something that I experience while riding.

It's been a long time since I've been on a 2 wheeled motorized bike but I did ride a small motorcycle quite a bit when I was a kid. What's happening when I ride this scooter is it feels like I'm always fighting to keep it in a straight line. I can shift my weight even slightly in a horizontal fashion and it affects the scooter's ride a lot. I never feel fully comfortable and have rarely felt completely relaxed because when I do I have to make some correction to get it back the way I want it. And this is happening on straight, non hilly and smooth terrain. I've been chalking it up to I'm a newbie just learning the feel of the scooter...that the wheels are smaller then a motorcyle so even slight movements on the handlebars will affect it greatly but now I'm not so sure...I'm wondering if the axle IS bent enough to be causing this issue.

2. The last 2 times I've pulled it out of the shed to go for a ride, it's taken several starts of the electric starter to get it started. It cranks over fine....and I can aid it by turning the throttle a bit to get it running. If I ride somewhere and turn it off...get gas, something to eat, etc and come back out...starts up just fine and the idle speed seems great. I still have the crappy battery that it came with in it and I know that they suggest you replace that almost immediately but I haven't yet....and as I said it seems to crank just fine but maybe it is the battery?

Thanks again for all your input...I know I've been blowing up the forum with my stuff but I'm really excited to discover this...um...hobby? LOL and it came at a perfect time in my life!

And I believe I'm due for an oil change...since I'm at 145 miles. Tomorrow! : )