Long time lurker, new poster

[jprestonian]

... from Gnashvegas, Tennis-shoe.

I've owned three scooters -- the one I had stolen in February, 2007 (Ymoto Vortec... nothing but trouble, the whole time I owned it), and the two scooters I have right now: A 2007 Kymco Agility 125 (Chinese! heh), which is my main commuter ride every day, and a 2004 Yamaha Vino 50 (currently in the shop being de-restricted and having a new belt put on).

Just wanted to say "howdy."

-JP
kymcojones.blogspot.com/
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[strangerdejavu]

Woo! I get to be the first one to welcome you! Glad you've decided to sign up and join the forum. Sounds like you have some experience that'd be valuable around here. Make sure you get a T-shirt, and happy scootin!

[jprestonian]

Thanks -- not a lot of experience, no -- only got the crappy Ymoto the day after Election Day, 2006, so I got almost two months of mostly cold-weather riding (and about a month of won't start/throttle sticking WOT/bogging down/dying) before it was stolen in early February, 2007. But, I was hooked. Saved up $1000, and bought the Vino in April, thinking I could press it into service as a commuter, but it was just too slow, so I used it to get to/from the bus stop and the grocery store, mainly.

Then, I got the Agility 125 in June. It had some initial problems (been in for warranty repair twice, already!), but the origin was ferreted out by KymcoUSA's district service manager, after diddling with it for an afternoon. It was a clamp on a hose going to the intake that was tightening on itself, and not tightening the hose to the intake. Said the bad rap this scooter's gotten for having carb issues may be because of the design of this clamp, and that the various repairs may have hit upon removing and then re-tightening this part when getting to the carb, only the final time, to good effect. May be a service bulletin coming out on that one.

I wish I could do more work on the machines, but I live in a condo, and can barely get away with changing oil in the lot -- they'd have a cow if I had to strip it down to get to something. Besides, I bleed just opening the hood of a car. The Vino's in the shop now, being de-restricted and having a new drive belt put on. Hopefully, it'll haul my 200lbs. aound at more than 30mph on level ground after that.
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[Admin]

jprestonian said:

Thanks -- not a lot of experience, no -- only got the crappy Ymoto the day after Election Day, 2006, so I got almost two months of mostly cold-weather riding (and about a month of won't start/throttle sticking WOT/bogging down/dying) before it was stolen in early February, 2007. But, I was hooked. Saved up $1000, and bought the Vino in April, thinking I could press it into service as a commuter, but it was just too slow, so I used it to get to/from the bus stop and the grocery store, mainly.

Then, I got the Agility 125 in June. It had some initial problems (been in for warranty repair twice, already!), but the origin was ferreted out by KymcoUSA's district service manager, after diddling with it for an afternoon. It was a clamp on a hose going to the intake that was tightening on itself, and not tightening the hose to the intake. Said the bad rap this scooter's gotten for having carb issues may be because of the design of this clamp, and that the various repairs may have hit upon removing and then re-tightening this part when getting to the carb, only the final time, to good effect. May be a service bulletin coming out on that one.

I wish I could do more work on the machines, but I live in a condo, and can barely get away with changing oil in the lot -- they'd have a cow if I had to strip it down to get to something. Besides, I bleed just opening the hood of a car. The Vino's in the shop now, being de-restricted and having a new drive belt put on. Hopefully, it'll haul my 200lbs. aound at more than 30mph on level ground after that.
.

Welcome. That derestricted Vino will haul your ass around at a good 35-40 mph, with an occasional 45 downhill with a back wind. If you can find a really good mechanic with experience in these things, you can get her going 55 or higher. Those mechanics are few and far between.

[jprestonian]

admin said:

Welcome. That derestricted Vino will haul your ass around at a good 35-40 mph, with an occasional 45 downhill with a back wind. If you can find a really good mechanic with experience in these things, you can get her going 55 or higher. Those mechanics are few and far between.

If it'd do 40, I could just about drive it to work...! There's one hill where it might be a chore, but... it'll be a good backup plan, anyway.

This guy said he could do the 70cc kit, larger carb, exhaust, variator... but I'd like to keep it simple. From what I read over at provoscooter's forums, the guys who go this route are forever tinkering and diddling around with tuning, etc., and that's not what I want to do. Besides, the thang runs so solid, starts so easy, I just don't wanna mess with it too much. I have the Agility for commuting speeds... I'll use the Vino for short-range jaunts to the store, etc.
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