My Roketa MC54-250B Experiences at 13,200 miles

[earlwb]

When I got the title for the scooter and transfer it over to me from the original owner, I discovered why the insurance company was having problems with the scooter brand based on the VIN. The title has the "Make of Vehicle" being "SHJM" and the model as "MC5".
So we can add "SHJM" as a scooter brand as well now to our ever growing list of scooter brands out there.
Go figure.

I ran a VIN check and got this information back on it:
VIN LD5TDNxxxxxxxxxx
DECODED 2007 Benzhou Vehicle Industry Group null
Country CHINA
Make Benzhou Vehicle Industry Group
Vehicle Type Motorcycle
Motorcycles Type Scooter
Body Type unknown
Fuel Type
Horsepower
Check Digit X
Model Year 2007
Assy. Plant Benzhou
Production Seq. Number xxxxxx
Engine Type 1cyl; 4-Stroke; W/C
Manufacturer Benzhou Vehicle Industry Group Ltd

[scooterollie]

Earl,
Is the same manufacturer's name of the FMVSS plate?

[earlwb]

The Benzou group stuff is on the plate.
Without seeing it, I suspect the MSO had some strange stuff on it.
The original internet dealer was probably naming it differently as a private label brand for some odd reason.

This scooter was originally purchased from the Valley Scooters, Ansonia Ct. After the sale, the customer relationship quickly went downhill fast.

[scooterollie]

With Roketa, I have found that for the same body style, from one month to the next, the source may be different.

[earlwb]

True, the frame and body style appears to be a generic version of a Honda Reflex. But it supports using both the Yamaha and Honda clone engines.
So it could come either way. Plus they seem to have a couple of different plastic panel designs as well. So no telling what one gets until they get it.

[bcjost]

# 1. You are paying $2000.00 for a 250 cc nice size scooter . What do you expect? Even the the $6200, Honda Reflex have problems. If your not to cheap buy one.
2. Any one knows who has owned a two wheel bike that they require maintenance and repair work even cars do. Half the fun is keeping them running.
3. Any one can work on scooters even a woman with some mechanical ability can there just a simple one cinder engine.
4. Buy a CFMoto For $2800.00 or a Qlink $3400. Honda Helix $6000. the CFMoto and the Qlink are by fare the best scooters coming out of China. If you need you can buy parts from Honda for them.. I specialise in the CFMOTO fashion 250.
5. Goto www.bjspricebuster.com and read my blog.
6. I have four former Honda helix customers that have purchased CFMoto's from me and are very satisfied. Thank you BJ ;D

[earlwb]

But anyway, ranting off, what year Honda Helix is good one to state you have when you need engine parts for your Honda clone 250cc powered scooter?

Is there a year or model for the Linhai 257cc engine clone to use at a Yamaha shop too?

I wonder if Honda, or Yamaha might start tracking VINs and owner addresses like Harley Davidson does too. In this case if you go into a Harley store and to the parts department, they want the VIN before they'll sell you parts. Granted it is for theft prevention with HD's, but it is handy for other things as well.

I don't mind working on a Chinese scooter. But for those who don't know, don't have the time, don't want to learn, they are best served staying with the major brand names, where the risks are much less.

But then I have heard a number of dealers tell customers they can go to any Honda dealer if their scooter needs work as it is a Japanese Honda design. But no Japanese motorcycle dealer will touch the Chinese scooters. The same for the Linhai engine versions a well, as the dealers say you can go to any Yamaha dealer if you need help. When I visited a store out here a while back I actually heard myself as a salesperson tell the customer that same story.

Fortunately for the GY6 150cc engine designs I see that there are many third party vendors for engine parts. But for the 250cc engines not so much yet. So maybe after a while it'll get better.

[bcjost]

:DEarl, just give them the year of your CFMoto or Qlink and what part you want. I can get all parts for the CFMoto we have most but if not we can import them from CFMOTO Honda has more parts and are a lot faster but will most likely have to order parts also for you.
I'm surprised that u say Harley's and Honda's need parts after I read your comments it sounds like you think only Chines scooters brake down. The guy across the street from me owns a Honda 6 baggier and 2 Kimosoka (Parton the spelling) and spends as much time working on them as I do keeping my 10 local CFMoto customers running. One had to have its crankcase replaced it developed crack and leak oil that cost him $900.00 he has about $50,000 in motorcycle and now are worth about 15,000 for all three this the nature of two wheel industry no used cycles sell good. U have some helpful repair tips if your cutch get ruff read my blog. Have a good day. BJ

[earlwb]

Yeah you are correct, Harleys break down pretty often, the vibration tends to cause parts to disappear on a regular basis. I came up riding motorcycles back when they were pretty junky in comparison to what we have nowadays. The Chinese scooters sort of remind me of that era sometimes. I have a jillion horror stories for the days long past about problems and stuff with different brands of motorcycles.

My problem is with all those so called dealers who seem to only sell the scooters/motorcycles and offer no support after the fact. Heck they even get suckers to go for the extended warranty program. Now that is a joke. Then you have those other dealers who seem to go out of business every quarter so they can stay one step ahead of the authorities. So we tend to hear a lot from the victims and very little from the happy campers, so to speak.

it is nice to see some dealers trying to support their customers and those who aren't their customers too. it helps give one faith in humanity again.

Thanks

[jennings813]

earlwb,
Great info and pics. I have the MC54 with the honda clone but they are very similiar. I really appreciate the detailed notes and pics. jennings813

[earlwb]

Thanks, you are all welcome.
I think i got most all of the issues, that i am concerned with, all worked out now.
It has been running pretty good for quite a while now.
Knock on wood.

[earlwb]

I was looking at various tires that are available in the 130/60-13" size range for my scooters, as both the 250 and the 150 use the same size tires, which is nice. A year or so ago, about the only tire I saw was the Cheng Shin ones being sold on Ebay. Now we have a good assortment of tires to choose from.
My Fiji 150 had a pair of the Cheng Chin tires on it and the 250cc scooter has the Kenda's on it. Both tires aren't bad, I just don't trust them on wet rainy days, and I don't go bombing through corners either. Many of the roads around here aren't very good and are downright treacherous when wet.
Anyway it is a tough choice between AVON, Pirelli or Michellin for good tires, they all look good.

We have the Kenda's K413 type:
www.cbxmanmotorcycles.com/productinfo.aspx?productid=K413-15&affid=4
The AVON Viper Strike tire of which appears to be pretty nice actually:
www.helmetheadcyclegear.com/cgi-bin/eShop/index.cgi?pid=6799
Then the Michellin brand has a couple of different tires in this size too:
search.ridenow.com/ride/130%2060-13
Pirelli of course has a really nice tire too:
www.motorcycle-superstore.com/5/32/404/5900/ITEM/Pirelli-SL-26-Performance-Front/Rear-Scooter-Tire.aspx
Bridgestone also has a tire as well:
www.motorcycle-superstore.com/5/32/404/5481/ITEM/Bridgestone-ML-50-Front/Rear-Tire.aspx

Dunlop might have a 130/60-13" tire as well, but I couldn't find a example today.

Cheng Shin or Chen Chin also has the 130/60-13" tires, which is commonly put on scooters as a no name kind of brand too.

Shenga seems to make them as well.

For those who are so inclined they also have the tires in different colors as well:
www.tiresunlimited.com/ALL%20TIRES/Innova%20MC/innova_3008_3009.htm
But I don't think these tires would be all that great on wet days though.

[earlwb]

Idiots, morons, embiciles....
I was going to get the spare keys cut on the remote fobs, when I discovered that they had reverse cut the slots in the two blanks rendering them totally useless.
Sigh.

[mg]

I noticed the same problem with my key fobs. Haven't been able to find a blank that will work,but I haven't looked very hard either. I'll let the forum know if I find one. Please do the same. Thanks. Enjoy your great posts.

["Big Guy"]

My local Ace hardware matched the key for my 2006 and it worked fine on the ignition, but it wouldn't open the fuel cover or glove box... go figure.

[Gary]

I too had an ignition key made up by my local Ace hardware store - they used a blank for an Isuzu automobile. Works great in all the places its is supposed to. The quality of metal is also much better than the original - showing no signs whatsoever of fatigue or bending.
Gary

[earlwb]

Today the ambient outside temperatures hit like 86 to 90 degrees for my commute home from work. So as soon as I got home, I ran inside and broke out the digital thermometer to check the radiator temperatures.
I performed several readings and got 161 degrees F. as the hottest of the moment. Granted crusing down the road at speed probably runs the temps higher though. Hard to tell, I'll have to do a check on the road someplace when i get a chance and remember to do it.
Also on my temperature gauge, it reads at about 1/8 on the scale for a temperature of about 151 degrees F.

I wanted to check how the engine was doing as this was the warmest of the season so far here in North Texas. Plus the fan pretty much came on and stayed on after the first ten miles on the way home.

Here is the highest temperature that I measured at home so far.


If you look close you can see the faint green glow of the fan is on light.


Anyway, this is the method I am using to perform a simple calibration for the temperature gauge. By checking the engine temps and looking at the gauge, i can get an idea of what would be good and bad later on.
These temp. gauges vary wildly from one to the next, so you pretty much have to individually check what yours is doing using a digital thermometer to see what you really are getting.

[xciting500rider]

Cool Thermometor. How much are they? I should probably get one before I get the CF Moto Qlink Pegasus overheating problems fixed. Starting any day. I just wanted to thank you earl for all the help, and excellent information you have provided on this forum. I plan to orginize a new post after I solve all the problems with the CF-Moto Qlink Pegasus 150 and it is fully and rierously tested out. Why did'nt the factory do that! When I mentioned to the dealor that my CF-Moto Qlink Pegasus 150 was over heating. He just angerly said; Well of course it overheats! I said; Oh come on I know how small engines are supposed to work! He would not do any thing about fixing it because I removed the thermostate to check collant flow. He hastily pointed his finger at me and said; You violated your Warranty. Oh really what warranty! You mean that worthless piece of paper and the false advertising Qlink did! Any way I'm getting excited about fixing it and my wife says she is going to drive it to work. $4 gas before the summer is over. About 10 million people need to march to the whitehouse and demand dimwit president to release oil reserves to bring prices down. Mrs. Clinton says they are up to 97 percent. Her husband Wild Bill did that a couple of times and it worked well. Deisel was $4.10 the other day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[earlwb]

My thermometer is similar to this one here:
www.harborfreightusa.com/usa/itemdisplay/displayItem.do?itemid=91778&CategoryName=&SubCategoryName=
But it has the laser and sensor mounted at the end of a long flexible metal tube, so you can snake it into tight places easier.
Mine is a Cen-Tech Model 94233 Digital Infrared Laser Thermometer, but it appears to not be made any more. I bought it from Harbor Freight a while back when it was on sale and I had a coupon too.

We actually have lots of oil, but because of the dollar weakness and speculators looking for something else besides stocks and bonds to invest in, the oil prices have skyrocketed. Unfortunately, Congress many years ago made the gasoline prices directly ties to the price of a barrel of crude. So we now have higher gasoline prices, and the oil companies and oil exporters don't have a lot to do with it.

[kens97sto171]

xciting500rider said:

Cool Thermometor. How much are they? I should probably get one before I get the CF Moto Qlink Pegasus overheating problems fixed. Starting any day. I just wanted to thank you earl for all the help, and excellent information you have provided on this forum. I plan to orginize a new post after I solve all the problems with the CF-Moto Qlink Pegasus 150 and it is fully and rierously tested out. Why did'nt the factory do that! When I mentioned to the dealor that my CF-Moto Qlink Pegasus 150 was over heating. He just angerly said; Well of course it overheats! I said; Oh come on I know how small engines are supposed to work! He would not do any thing about fixing it because I removed the thermostate to check collant flow. He hastily pointed his finger at me and said; You violated your Warranty. Oh really what warranty! You mean that worthless piece of paper and the false advertising Qlink did! Any way I'm getting excited about fixing it and my wife says she is going to drive it to work. $4 gas before the summer is over. About 10 million people need to march to the whitehouse and demand dimwit president to release oil reserves to bring prices down. Mrs. Clinton says they are up to 97 percent. Her husband Wild Bill did that a couple of times and it worked well. Deisel was $4.10 the other day!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Diesel is higher than gas because we are importing it, in its final form. Due to federal regs, and the invirometal idiots, we have not built a new oil refinery in 30 years...Gee are we using more gas/diesel/propane/natural gas than we were 30 yrs ago??? YEAH. we are...
Its basic economics.. people.. high demand from the USA, China, India.. and a limited supply due to OPEC, and our own stupidity for not building refineries and also not drilling in ANWR and off shore, ... makes for high prices... Economics 101 Supply vs Demand.

In the short term all we can do is control the consumption side... and riding a scooter is a good start.

Believe me .. I feel the pain at the pump more than most.. I drive a box truck...

1100 miles a week, at 8MPG, = 137.5 Gal @ $3.92 = $539

Then my $405 a week for lease,insurance, etc.
on top of that...

The big rigs are payig a lot more than that. closer to $2000 a week just for fuel.

Ken

[earlwb]

The idea or concept is to ride to all the cities you can find in your area and get a pic of your scooter and something that shows you were there. I like the idea of City Limit Signs, esepcially as the signs are something of a vanishing icon any more, especially in crowded urban areas.

I have a reasonable list of cities already done with pics of my scooter posing by the elusive "city limit" signs. The city limit signs are becoming something of a lost icon nowadays, especially in the crowded urban areas. I have a few extra pics of other cities as well.

So far on my list is:
Addison
Argyle
Arlington
Bedford
Carrolton
Cedar Hill
Coppell
Coppell-Dallas
Dallas
Dalworthington Gardens
Denton
Euless
Farmer's Branch
Flower Mound
Fort Worth
Grand Prairie
Grapevine
Haltom City
Highland Park
Hurst
Irving
Justin
Keller
Lewisville
Mansfield
Northlake
North Richland Hills
Pantego
Roanoke
Southlake
Trophy Club
University Park
Venus
Westlake

here are some of the farther out ones so far:

[xciting500rider]

Thanks Earl, For the info on the temp gadjet! More of my 2 cents on gas prices! Exon Mobil reported the highest earnings last quarter that has ever been reported by any company before!!!!! Hey that's what they reported. I wonder what the real truth is? As if that was not alarming enough! I'd like to see at least half the scooters and motorcycles in the country ride to the white house and complain of gas prices! But nobody's got the time or money and ability to risk taking the time off, because it is too expensive to travel! $10 to fill a scoot! A few years ago I could fill my car up for less! One good thing about allof this is, it got me back to riding! I had almost forgotten how much fun it is! I just kept thinking I can't afford a motorcycle, I need a car! Well I don't need a cage anymore and am happy about it! I just use the wife's when I'ts 10 degrees outside! And I think that is over for a while!! Had a wonderful joyful ride today! It always cheers me up after a good ride!!!!!!!! Got a new digital camera, and will probably bore you all with pics when It get's a little greener outside!! Well this thread has definatly gone off topic! Oh well!! ;D

[earlwb]

Thanks.

I totally forgot to mention earlier what i did to fix the missing centerstand rubber bumper.
As without the rubber disk the center stand rybs up against the bottom of the engine crankcase.
I figured that if the rubber bumper was there before, it probably deteriorated and fell off shortly after the original owner took possession of the scooter.


First when I removed the screw, I find that it is a shoulder screw and there is a spacer that acts like a roller for the rubber piece. In this case I took a couple of grommets and jammed them onto the spacer. But the grommets are still too small in diameter for the bumper to work correctly.


So then I took a old bad bicycle innertube, and cut a thin strip out of it. Then I smeared on a thin bead of "GOOP" adhesive onto the rubber strip and proceeded to wrap it around the grommets, until I built it up nicely into a larger rubber bumper.


here is is all installed and ready to do work.

[magnaman]

Good "fix" for your missing piece! I also always have a tube of GOOP on hand, that stuff is amazing.

[motomech]

scooterollie said:

Earl,
.... I have been wondering just how many of our scoots out there have or will develop this problem. Not just poor assembly and/or wear but poor quality bearings. Most I have had so far is steering not centered.

I'm assuming that they are tapered rollers and in this application, they would be OK. Even with "soft" races, the rollers have enough area to avoid "notching" as long as they are not used with a loose headset.
What would concern me more, would be the quantity and quality of the grease. Now that I think about it, one would have to wonder about all the brg.s on the machine that take grease. Scary thought I would probably check the frt. whl. brg.s at a minimum.
I guess the saving grace for these scooters is the fact that most are not ridden regularly in the rain and over their life span, won't accumulate many 10's of thousands of miles.

[motomech]

A little off track, but this subject got me thinking about the original Japanese scooters of the '80's.
As I recall, that was pre tapered roller bearing usage, ball race bearings. The Japanese races are pretty hard and I don't recall more problems than small motorcycles would have for the same mileage. Except for the ubiquitous Honda Sprees. They had those goofy forks like a no-ped, no oil, just springs and a couple of tablespoons of grease. They would get hammered loose and the students would keep riding and eventually, the threads on the steering stem and handlebar mounts would get all mushed out.

[kens97sto171]

xciting500rider said:

Thanks Earl, For the info on the temp gadjet! More of my 2 cents on gas prices! Exon Mobil reported the highest earnings last quarter that has ever been reported by any company before!!!!! Hey that's what they reported. I wonder what the real truth is? As if that was not alarming enough!

The earnings are a record because of the high price for oil, but you have to look at the % of profit they made... I am not trying to defend the oil companies,.. but you have to compare apples to apples. Saying that they earned 10 billion.. means nothing if it the proffit at the end is low... they are running at less than 10% proffit... Less than your average bank, grocery store, or restauraunt makes. and nobody is bitchin about the money they make... it is easy to get pissed at BIG OIL.. when the product they sell is a neccesary evil.

We think its bad here??? In Great Britain a gallon of gas is $8 and has been over $4 for many years.


Just my .02

Ken

[scooterollie]

Ken,
You are absolutely correct!

Add to that the "NIMBY" folks who have fought new refineries for many years and the market speculation on crude oil futures and the current price is much more that just oil co. profit.

[earlwb]

Well way way back in 1974, when we had the Oil Embargo, the oil companies had "windfall profits" because of the spike in gasoline or oil prices. Congress took exception to the profits and besides taxing the profits heavily, voted to have the gasoline prices tied tom the price of a barrel of oil. So actually the oil companies have little to no control over the price of gasoline. That was set by congress based on some kind of a weird formula. before then the oil companies would price gasoline based on market conditions and demand just like in a free market capitalist system.

Since then oil company investments in refineries and such was very low key. So now we still have the same refineries in use as there were way back in 1974, as they haven't built a new refinery since the 1960's. There are huge penalties and opposition in place to prevent any building of new refineries.
So you can blame our congressmen as they did it to us.

[natemcclure517]

Does anyone know how much gear oil a 2006 Roketa MC54-250B holds.