New girl with a Roketa Bali 250 has questions!

[dede4wd]

Hi gang, I'm so glad I've found this forum! I bought a slightly used 2007 Roketa Bali 250 with 1500 miles on it.

My purpose for buying the scoot is because I drive a show truck at auto racing and am tired of "bobtailing" to the hotel and on errands. I got the scoot from the previous owner and have only changed the oil and changed the coolant so far.

The scoot didn't come with a manual and I am looking all over for one online but haven't had any luck so far. I am mosly opening compartments and seeing what's where.

I'm not terribly mechanically inclined, but am really good at troubleshooting and following instructions. I've replaced a piece of hose with a nick in it so far.

I guess my questions are:
1. Does anyone know where I can get a manual?
2. Does anyone know where I can get some Roketa key blanks? Mine bends a bit more each time I put the key under the seat and I tried the Honda dealership and the locksmith near my house, but they couldn't help. I'm worried about busting a key off while I'm out on the road.
3. My company reimburses me for mileage, but the odometer and speedometer are reading weird. Not MPH (less) and not KPH. Any ideas? For instance, I took a trip I KNEW to be exactly 28 miles and the trip meter read 47 miles.
4. 10w-30 oil or something else? 15W-40?
5. Brake Fluid...DOT 3 or DOT 4?
6. I can't find the place to check the tranny fluid.

Thanks so much for this site, I'm learning so much and am gaining the courage to tinker a bit!

D

[Javarod]

dede4wd said:

Hi gang, I'm so glad I've found this forum! I bought a slightly used 2007 Roketa Bali 250 with 1500 miles on it.

I'm not terribly mechanically inclined, but am really good at troubleshooting and following instructions. I've replaced a piece of hose with a nick in it so far.

I guess my questions are:
1. Does anyone know where I can get a manual?
2. Does anyone know where I can get some Roketa key blanks? Mine bends a bit more each time I put the key under the seat and I tried the Honda dealership and the locksmith near my house, but they couldn't help. I'm worried about busting a key off while I'm out on the road.
3. My company reimburses me for mileage, but the odometer and speedometer are reading weird. Not MPH (less) and not KPH. Any ideas? For instance, I took a trip I KNEW to be exactly 28 miles and the trip meter read 47 miles.
4. 10w-30 oil or something else? 15W-40?
5. Brake Fluid...DOT 3 or DOT 4?
6. I can't find the place to check the tranny fluid.

Thanks so much for this site, I'm learning so much and am gaining the courage to tinker a bit!

D

Ok,

1. Check the front page, Dawg offers one, and quite a good one at that.
2. No idea I'm afraid
3. The speedometer _should_ be in MPH and the odometer in KM... emphasize the should
4. Either should work fine.
5. Not sure which, but DOT 4 is backwards compatible with DOT 3, so ifn nothing else, just use DOT 4
6. There isn't any, your transmission is simply a belt and two adjustable pulleys, no fluid to change nor anything to clean, the only thing that it needs is a new belt now and then, and try to change it before it breaks.

Hope that helps, and don't be afraid to keep asking question here.

Oh, and welcome aboard.

[earlwb]

Welcome to the forum. Always happy to see more people involved.
Unfortunately, the Chinese Scooter manuals tend to be more for entertainment and useful information. But Scoot Dawg has a great owner's manual that should help a lot.
it is found here www.scootdawg.com/
Another source of good information is the www.oregonvintage.com website. they do into a lot more detail on things like the pesky weird remote control that some of the scooters have. They show how to check the rear transmission oil etc.

As for the speedometer and odometer. I think they tend to throw on whatever speedo gear drive they happen to have. Thus the famous Chinometers comments you see everywhere. So it would not surprise me to find the wrong speedo gear drive on a scooter. Basically one would need to find a speedo drive gear unit that workds for your tire diameter. Most of the scooters use the same parts, so one could get a speed drive unit from another brand that works better. But check with the owners to see how accurate theirs are first, as they may have the same issue.

I would suggest dividing your odometer reading by 1.678 and that will give you a pretty close match for your actual miles. Another method that some people use is a GPS unit. Or a bicycle cyclocomputer attached to their scoot. The cycle-computer works pretty good actually, as does the GPS units.

I assume the keyswitch is probably common to many of the scooters so....
I went to a professional locksmith shop and they searched through thousands of key blanks, until they found a Taylor #105 key blank for a Kawasaki of some sort. It looked like a perfect match offhand, but when I got home I found that it didn't work. The groove on one side was a hair too thick, so I had to take a jewelers file and whittle down the inner edge a little until it worked. No big deal, just some patience and time.

If the seat lock is stiff, take it to the locksmith and see if they can lube and adjust it some for you. it may need some tuning to make it smoother and easier to turn.

[dede4wd]

Thanks for the quick responses! I meant to say gear oil, not tranny oil. Still can't find where to check that.

I did download a rather hilarious Chinesenglish manual...Will download the dawg one when I get back to my t1 line! Any other suggestions on things I need to look out for? What other fluids do I need to check/replace right away to better fluid? Also tire pressure, I'm reading tons of things...

[A J]

Welcome dede4wd !

The key may be a real problem.
I have been to all the hardware stores in the area and to a professional locksmith shop with no luck. I have used key making machines in the past and have looked at some of the blanks they have and see where I believe they would work if the shank was ground back a bit more, but none of the "key making professionals" would entertain the idea.

I may try to find the blank that Earlwb says worked for him with a little modification. Let us know how that works out for you.

My manual suggests 15W-40 motor oil.

Tire pressure: My manual says 36 PSI front and rear. Rides like a rock at that. I am using 26 front and 28 rear with no adverse handling problems. See what works for you.

AJ

[Aaron]

Here's alink to Oregon Vintages page for scooter info. Look under Tank 250 same basic design as your Bali.
www.oregonvintage.com/Scooter.html To get to gear oil on this style 250 I believe you have to remove the cover from the drive belt.. he has a section that decribes it. CVT/Gear Oil

Aaron

[banditms]

I'm too late... I don't think I'll be any help... LOL. Here's my shot anyways...

1. I'd go with all the previous suggestions for a manual...
2. EarlWB's plan seems good. We always just install a new keylock set all around. I don't think we can even get key blanks from our supplier...
3. Your Odo registers in Km's... and your speedo is probably MPH. But if you check your actual speed, it probably indicates 10-15% high. So the Odo is recording Km's approx 10-15% faster... those blasted 'Chino-meters'. A new sending gear at the front wheel to match your gauges is required. Or a 20" front tire...
4. 10W-30 for cooler climates... 15W-40 for most applications. Synthetic makes it even better...
5. Everyone got this one too...
6. You do have tranny fluid... and you called it correctly as gearbox fluid. Just call it 'rear tranny fluid' and everyone will say 'ohhhh'. Everyone gave good sources of info on this one as well but I can post a pic as well if you like... ( - ;

Man, I choked on this one...

Later, Jim J...
Bandit MotorSports

[scooterollie]

dede4wd;
Welcome to the Dawg Pound! I have a Roketa Bali 250. The answers you have received are pretty much right-on.

If you look very carefully at the rear of the CVT cover, you will see a bolt head with a washer under it. That is the fill for the final drive. You can't really access it with the cover on. You must remove the CVT cover to access the drain bolt - same ID, a washer under the bolt head. Purchase some 80W90 synthetic blend or full synthetic gear oil with a tapered tip on the bottle. Remove both bolts. After the fluid has drained, replace the lower bolt. Using the tapered tip, very slowly squeeze the gear oil into the top hole until it just starts to run back out. Replace the bolt and you are good to go. All this is done with the scoot on the main stand.

As far as your odometer, by my conversion, the reading of 47 KMs converts to 29 miles. I don't think you have a problem there. Multiply the reading you get in KMs on the odometer by .62 to get miles. I have clocked my scoot with two autos and the indicated mph was just about equal to the readings on the car's speedometers. The size of the tire and the speedo gear set must be matched. My scoot has a 4.00X12 front tire, which matches correctly with the gear set installed so I get a reasonably accurate reading for MPH and Kms.

Both Roketa and the maker of your engine, CFMoto, recommend 15W40 oil, unless you are in an extreme climate - as Jim J. of Bandit indicated. Don't let the "Diesel Grade" designation on the oil confuse you. It is an excellent oil designed for both diesel engines as well as for hard working gas engines.

D.O.T. 4 synthetic is the way to go for brake fluid.

I would recommend Zerex G-05 coolant in a 50/50 mixture. This type of coolant is a low acid formulation and will give superior protection for the aluminum parts in the cooling system.

As others have stated, you won't find key blanks. There is a master locksmith near me who has tried everything possible, without luck. Concentrate on adjusting the double lock mechanism for the seat. Mine did the same thing until I worked on it. A common problem with many Chinese scoots with this style seat.

Search out every hose connection to be certain it has a clamp and that the clamp is tight. Double-check all nuts and bolts.

Finally, go back and read the other posts in this section of the forum to get a heads-up on your 250.