Is This Likely?

[isellscoots]

Hello,

Question for you all. I had a customer who complained about his brand new scooter not going over 15 miles per hour on a flat surface. It is a 50cc Tao Tao scooter. I asked him if he had this problem with himself riding or with a passenger. I got a few different answers on this one. He also stated that his scooter would drastically slow down while going uphill. Again, could not get a straight answer as to if this was with a passenger or not. It seems to me that the scooter even with a passenger should not slow down to 15 mph. Maybe I'm wrong.

When we took a looked at the scooter and test drove it, we were able to get it to go about 40 mph on a flat surface and about 20-30 uphill. We could not find a problem with speed but we did not test it with a passenger.

When the customer came back to pick it up the scooter he test drove it and he got it to about 40 mph and he took it up a hill and asked if it should slow down to 35mph when going uphill. Well... I told him of course. The customer's weight is about 160 and his passenger about 130. Forgot to mention that.

Well... my question is we did notice that the rear tire is rubbing against the back mud flap. Also looks like the shock is bent and the tire seems to be not centered. Would the customer had caused this problem or is it possible that Tao Tao sent it out this way? The only reason I am even questioning if Tao Tao may have sent it out this way is because the customer had complained about the speed of the scooter a few days after purchasing it.

I want to make my customer happy and I'd be glad to correct the problem, just wondering if the customer is being upfront with me. What do you guys think. I guess sometimes you just never know right?

Thanks

[inkyben]

Its not too likely to be tao tao's fault however I dont have alot of faith in anything chinese. What kinda boggles me is if it came that way wouldnt you guys have noticed it during the PDI? Sounds like the customer is likely at fault if you did a thorough PDI.

[hardd1]

sounds like a new shock should straighten everything out...how much weight is the scoot rated for/

[greg]

maybe take a few pics of each scoot before you sell it. right if you did a pdi then you would of known.

[isellscoots]

Hi,

Thanks for your response. I just took another really good look at the scooter again and it seems to me like the shock is not bent just looks the fender is rubbing against the tire to me. Well... maybe I am wrong. I am going to have my mechanic guy really take a look at it Tuesday.

The weight cap is 225. We always do a good PDI so I was surprised he'd mention that. Pictures are a great idea.

[justpassinthru]

He overloaded it with his passenger.

Unlike with American pickup trucks...the weight limit on scooters, Chinese or other, is pretty much written in stone. I'd messed about with a 50cc Ruckus; that's what got me into this...and I was about twenty pounds over capacity. Which had me bottoming out the rear strut.

Stuff can bend and break EASILY on Chinese scoots.

As for his initial problem...I'm guessing there's grease on the clutch. You may not notice it; the customer may have no problems by himself. But overload it, and add some slippery goo...and it's just spinning.

[teddy554]

i ride all the time double and never had any trouble, also considering i am 250 myself i would exceed the max payload but again i dont own a tao tao brand but a vento and cpi, i have put two crated tao tao together and test drove them with no issues with my weight i did notice the very cheap tires do have alot of wobble in them and could be a cause for the tire and shock contact

[isellscoots]

Hi,

Well... I am pretty surprised that these scooters start to bog down with just a bit above the weight capacity but I guess it was not just a bit over. Again, the passenger himself was about 180 maybe a bit less. With a passenger of at least 130 it was way over. I have customers come in all the time the weight over 225 wanting a 50cc just because they don't want to get a motorcycle endorsement. I guess I am just going to have really, really make sure that they understand the weight capacity thing. The scooter I have been referring to is the Tao Tao VIP 50cc. It is a bigger scooter so my backwards thinking was that this scooter could support more weight yet not thinking that this scooter may weight more therefore cause more stress on the motor. On the Tao Tao website I believe they say this scooter weight is only 174 pounds I wonder if that is a misprint. The ATM50-1 they say weight in at 250 pounds and it looks like a smaller bike. Hummm...just not sure on that one.

Wonder why the obvious is always a Duh moment when it is too late!!! Lesson learned!

[Carolina Fun Machines]

A weed eater has a 25 or 33cc engine. So a 50cc scooter that can weigh 170 to 200 plus pounds is going down the road with an engine twice as big as what you cut weeds at home with. That it moves a 170 to 200 lb scooter plus a XXX pound person down the road at any speed is a great surprise to me.

[mainepeace]

I've said this time and time again. The 50cc scooters cannot handle riding two up. Things start breaking. Really, the weight limit is around 200. The seat bucket starts cracking at the mounting points, the panel tabs start breaking, not to mention the excessive wear on the clutch and belt while trying to pull all that weight up a hill at LOW RPMs when there is almost no low end torque.

If you want to pull the weight, then fine. Just make sure the RPMs are in the powerband with proper CVT tuning.

Greg

[isellscoots]

Hi,

Seems like no matter what you tell some customers, they seem to expect to much from the 50cc scoots. Last email they sent me they were upset because now they say the scooter won't go over 30-35 miles per hour. Geesshh... I just can't seem to get the real story from theses guys anyway.

Thanks for the input. Really going to stress the weight capacity limit on all my literature. I thought that I was doing a good job of that. Well... maybe not.

[jdikov]

WOW! 30-35 MPH for a 50cc 4 stoke. Just about right unless you have one with the preinstalled 72cc kit which I think some of the importers are doing again. This happened about 6 years ago. One started doing then when others got complaints about their scoots being too slow almost everyone was doing it. Well finally customs decided to check. I know one guy that got pinched. They crushed about 20 containers of scooters. Made him pay a $1000 crushing fee/scooter and a $1000 penalty per scooter. Needlesss to say he declared bankruptcy. They also traked down each dealer that he sold to and every customer he sold to and confiscated those scooters and crushed them. There were many angry people out there (LOL)

Buyer beware. Is it worth it?

[wile]

Jul 12, 2012 16:10:24 GMT -5 isellscoots said:

Hi,

Seems like no matter what you tell some customers, they seem to expect to much from the 50cc scoots. Last email they sent me they were upset because now they say the scooter won't go over 30-35 miles per hour. Geesshh... I just can't seem to get the real story from theses guys anyway.

Thanks for the input. Really going to stress the weight capacity limit on all my literature. I thought that I was doing a good job of that. Well... maybe not.

Tell them that is what the 50cc will do 30-35 if they want to go faster they need a 150 they will to 50mph(ONE UP--HEHE).
Wile

[hardd1]

Jul 15, 2012 20:02:06 GMT -5 jdikov said:

WOW! 30-35 MPH for a 50cc 4 stoke. Just about right unless you have one with the preinstalled 72cc kit which I think some of the importers are doing again. This happened about 6 years ago. One started doing then when others got complaints about their scoots being too slow almost everyone was doing it. Well finally customs decided to check. I know one guy that got pinched. They crushed about 20 containers of scooters. Made him pay a $1000 crushing fee/scooter and a $1000 penalty per scooter. Needlesss to say he declared bankruptcy. They also traked down each dealer that he sold to and every customer he sold to and confiscated those scooters and crushed them. There were many angry people out there (LOL)

Buyer beware. Is it worth it?

jeez, sure would be a mess if Tao Tao and /or Peace Sports got caught importing the 'secret' 63cc scooters badged as 50's....dunno how they get them through inspections

[skuttadawg]

Yes a 50 will never perform like a 150 or motorcycle . I have seen 50s with pileon and the rear tire and suspension sagging . I went to warn them that the rear tire was too saggy and poof it blew out on them .

[hardd1]

we use 2 stroke Adly's in our rental fleet....plenty of power for 2-up riding

[skuttadawg]

Yep a 2T is way better as I love mine . No oil changes or valves to adjust as well