new, first question....

[rdhood]

I just purchased a 2013 Pioneer 150T (origination doc says Jonway QT-150). It has 300 miles, has not been ridden in 6 months. I'm gonna treat it like I unpacked it from a crate yesterday and do all of the things suggested to make a scooter run, as well as the things that I know are wrong with it.


The good news: it cranks! I know that the battery and/or electric starter are in need of repair because it will only kick over. Nonetheless, it starts/idles.


Here is a problem that the owner showed me that I would like advice on:

When he puts the bike up on the kickstand, the front wheel will flop to the right rather than stay in the middle. He said that the bike will have a tendancy to pull to the right. The original owner said that the shop quoted him a $100 fix. So... what could be the problem? BTW, I am VERY mechanically inclined and have sufficient tooling to perform most any repair. I am just totally a newbie for scooters... my winter project is to make this thing run as reliably as a Chinese scooter will run.

[kz1000st]

Are you pulling in the brake when you hit the starter button? The wheel flopping is not an issue. At worst the steering head bearings need a little adjustment to tighten the steering.

[blueboy5000]

The steering bearings (headset) are set up identically to a common bicycle, and are serviced the same way. I would clean and re-pack the bearings with high-temperature wheel bearing grease, and tighten the lock nuts much tighter than what you would do to a bicycle. With a bit of creativity, you can clean, and re-pack the bearings without removing the forks.

[rdhood]

Originally Posted by blueboy5000

The steering bearings (headset) are set up identically to a common bicycle, and are serviced the same way. I would clean and re-pack the bearings with high-temperature wheel bearing grease, and tighten the lock nuts much tighter than what you would do to a bicycle. With a bit of creativity, you can clean, and re-pack the bearings without removing the forks.

Bingo. I picked up the scoot today. rolling it down the ramp when I got home, it had that characteristic headset clunk when applying front brakes. I have ridden bicycles for 25 years/100k miles. Wrenched them all, and probably installed two dozen headsets in just about that many bikes over those years (bought a headset press in 1992 or so). Anyway, when the headset is loose it will clunk... back and forth.. when applying the front brake. This scooter does exactly the same thing. I'll give it a try, though it is hard to clean and examine the inner bearing cup races without removing the fork. Looks like a pain to get to, though.

My thoughts: The guy lost his license for a period of time, and purchased a scooter. He, by his admission, took the "1" off of the "150-T", and rode it without a tag for 300 miles. The headset loosened up, and the scoot became dangerous to ride. He got his license back, and abandoned it (because he did not need it, because it was broken, because it is illegal to ride it without a tag) for the last 6-8 months (it is a 2013, made in June 2013 according to the manu tag). He sold it to me with helmet and scooter cover for $400.

p.s. I do have the cert of origin so that I can tag it.

[rks]

Originally Posted by rdhood

Bingo. I picked up the scoot today. rolling it down the ramp when I got home, it had that characteristic headset clunk when applying front brakes. I have ridden bicycles for 25 years/100k miles. Wrenched them all, and probably installed two dozen headsets in just about that many bikes over those years (bought a headset press in 1992 or so). Anyway, when the headset is loose it will clunk... back and forth.. when applying the front brake. This scooter does exactly the same thing. I'll give it a try, though it is hard to clean and examine the inner bearing cup races without removing the fork. Looks like a pain to get to, though.

My thoughts: The guy lost his license for a period of time, and purchased a scooter. He, by his admission, took the "1" off of the "150-T", and rode it without a tag for 300 miles. The headset loosened up, and the scoot became dangerous to ride. He got his license back, and abandoned it (because he did not need it, because it was broken, because it is illegal to ride it without a tag) for the last 6-8 months (it is a 2013, made in June 2013 according to the manu tag). He sold it to me with helmet and scooter cover for $400.

p.s. I do have the cert of origin so that I can tag it.

Sounds like a bargain to me. Do a complete PDI on it, I doubt that the previous owner did one....if he had you wouldn't have a headset problem. After completing your PDI, you will have a much more dependable scooter.

My 150cc Jonway, is almost 3 years old, has just shy of 5800 miles, has all of it's original ignition components, (except the battery), has never failed to start, and has never stalled, bogged, lost power, etc. etc.......ZERO breakdowns. It is a great scooter..it gets better mileage, and has more power now, than it did after the first, and second seasons of riding.

I attribute the lack of problems to the comprehensive PDI done before stating for the first time. It is time well spent, and will return many, many miles of trouble free scootin'...