Viva 250 In the house

[sailsunfurled]

Well the freight truck brought it today. Took about an hour to put the windshield, battery, floor boards and check all the fluids. Nothing was scratched or dented in shipping. I was missing 3 screws for the windshield. The left hand grip was bark-ed up a little from the shipping clamp.

She started right up. Had to give everyone a ride! Now if I can just keep it below 20MPH :-) for the break-in. 11 Miles on it now.
I will get more time in the next few days to explore, ride and look under the hood to see if there are any problems.

I think from 1st impressions this will be a good buy.

[12string]

Check out this break-in procedure.
www.mototuneusa.com/break_in_secrets.htm

[scooterollie]

Sailsunfurled;
Welcome to the Dawg Pound and congrats on your new scoot!

If you have read through posts here, you know that we highly recommend changing out ALL fluids ASAP. Some Chinese scoots seem to come with acceptable quality fluids and some don't. The coolant is particularly suspect. Doesn't seem to have much in the way of corrosion inhibitors. On draining, it often looks very murky, like it has been in there for years, and evidence of corrosion can be seen inside the system.

[Gary]

Hey Sails -
Congratulations. I have an older Viva 250 Tourer (10" wheel in back) that's doing just fine with 7,000 km on it. In addition to checking/changing the fluids, check your valve stems. My scoot came with what looked like 30-year-old stems - badly weathered and cracked. I replaced mine.

By the way, I used the so-called 'hard break-in method' and everything seems to have turned out fine.

Cheers,
Gary

[sailsunfurled]

Thanks Guys. My uncle was the person that would buy a new truck every year and taught me the 'seat the rings' thing. I did that already.

I plan on changing the fluids this weekend as I have read on here. This site is what gave me the courage to buy this scoot sight un-seen from the Internet. After reading on here before making the buy, I felt some of the un-knowns in my mind were more known. One of my main reasons for the scooter was the price of gas now and in the near future, see the www.theoildrum.com/

Looking at the economics of buying a $5,000-$6,000 name brand scooter versus a $1,600 scooter...at $5,000 it would be a long payback on gas savings versus a shorter payback on gas savings at a $1,600 outlay.

I have always had a dirt bike growing up and the occasional Honda 360 fixer-upper as a teenager and am not new to motorcycles. So a few months ago when a neighbor was moving they gave me a Honda Aero 80 that was setting in their garage for a few years doing nothing. I rebuilt the starter and carburetor then installed a new battery and got it running. It's a two stoke and top speed was 35 down-hill with a tail wind and a blue smoke trail. The bug to for a larger scooter was lit with anticipated gas prices and the need to at least go above 35 :-) I started looking around. I liked riding the little scooter for close errands and mounted the proverbial milk create on the back for grocery runs for milk and bread that we would normally take the F150 gas hog.

So that's the evolution in my mind and reasons and motivations. I would say we could afford as many $70 tank fulls in the truck, but my question to myself was why versus a $5 per tank in a scooter. And hey, the scooter is fun to drive :-)

[rerun2]

It is all about the ride is it not!!?? Heck, I feel like a teen again! Of course my Lexus is totally pissed off about being ignored, but she can deal with that on her own!

[sailsunfurled]

I hear you rerun!
Was a nice day to ride yesterday and looking like a fine day today !


Yesterday I changed out the the motor oil, gear oil and radiator fluid. The motor oil and the gear oil had an off color...a gray-ish/white tint. Not milky but not as translucent as the new oil I put in. The radiator fluid seemed ok, no contaminating from rust or anything when I changed it.

The only issue I have seen so far is the temperature gauge is not working, I took some time and troubleshot. The sending unit resistance changed as the engine heated up and I had voltage at the temp gauge that rose and tracked with the increasing engine temperature. Not knowing what the internal resistance of the temperature gauge coil, but it appears to be open. So I will request a new gauge. The fan cycles on and off so I feel that cooling systems is doing it's job.

[sailsunfurled]

I finally used enough gas to refill a gallon and check my mileage...62 MPG! Which is great now that crude hit $94 a barrel today and the pump price has jumped about .20 cents this past week.

I had an email that the missing screws would be on the way in 2 weeks. Got my Bill of Sale to get the temp tag until the MSO comes. Took my driving test to get my motorcycle endorsment..PASSED!

No major issues to report with the scoot...there is a noise like a heat shield that vibrates harmonically from 2,500 thru 3,300 RPM as your driving that I would like to locate. Maybe add a rubber bushing or something to dampen the harmonic. Its not loud...its just there :-). Tried recreating by reving the engine while stopped but it would not act the same...this noise may be hard to find.

[T W I S T E R]

sailsunfurled said:

I finally used enough gas to refill a gallon and check my mileage...62 MPG! Which is great now that crude hit $94 a barrel today and the pump price has jumped about .20 cents this past week.

I had an email that the missing screws would be on the way in 2 weeks. Got my Bill of Sale to get the temp tag until the MSO comes. Took my driving test to get my motorcycle endorsment..PASSED!

No major issues to report with the scoot...there is a noise like a heat shield that vibrates harmonically from 2,500 thru 3,300 RPM as your driving that I would like to locate. Maybe add a rubber bushing or something to dampen the harmonic. Its not loud...its just there :-). Tried recreating by reving the engine while stopped but it would not act the same...this noise may be hard to find.

Go around beating on it with a hammer. You'll find it eventually.