150,000 mile Buddy 125!

[scootERIK]

Now up to 109,000 miles, over 36,000 miles on this engine. Engine has been running slightly better, but still gets shaky at WOT. I was hoping to hit 110k this year, but I don't think that is going to happen. I have to give the the Buddy credit it went almost 9,000 miles this year with barely any maintenance but I will need to take care of a few things for next year.

I need to replace my battery since it doesn't have the power to turn the engine over when cold. This will be the first time I have to buy a battery for my Buddy. I think I will try going with a battery like the YTZ10S-BS to get a few more CCA.

Had another spark plug cap fail. I need to find a better replacement.

Wore through my first Shinko SR 009. I might make a thread on these with a review, but for now I will say I was pleased with how they rode and how long they lasted. Though I still think the Pirelli Angel is the better tire for about the same price.

For next year I need to replace all the suspension. The scooter feels ok on smooth roads, but when it gets bumpy it starts moving around. I need to replace the front wheel bearings. Not sure how long they are supposed to last but I don't want to find out. I need to do a full carb rebuild, or at least give it a good once over since it has started to leak gas. Plus, the idle is off and it bogs down occasionally when leaving from a stop. I need a fresh seat, a new seat rides so much better than a worn out one. I need a new headlight since the high beam burnt out. I could probably use a new fuel filter and an air filter cleaning(both have over 36k on them.) I need to replace the brake fluid, I should probably replace the hose while I'm at it. I should replace the throttle and brake cables. A new engine would be nice. I'm going to keep my eyes out for a cheap Buddy 125 to use as a parts bike.

[DeeDee]

Great thread Erik. I sure enjoy following this. What Bando belt do you go with? Stock is 743 20 28. That's hard to find. I see Bando 743 20 30 all over the place. I don't think the 2 degrees would make much of a difference.

[scootERIK]

Great thread Erik. I sure enjoy following this. What Bando belt do you go with? Stock is 743 20 28. That's hard to find. I see Bando 743 20 30 all over the place. I don't think the 2 degrees would make much of a difference.

I am currently running a Bando 743 20 30. I have run both sizes and never noticed a difference.

[JBeasty]

Wow, impressive. Are you ever going to retire this Buddy? You've been through it several times, so I bet it's a piece of cake for you to work on and diagnose problems. That right there is a good argument to keep it going. Most people get rid of their CARS long before they reach 100k. I'll be happy if mine (Rattler) is still running strong with 20k.

[scootERIK]

Wow, impressive. Are you ever going to retire this Buddy? You've been through it several times, so I bet it's a piece of cake for you to work on and diagnose problems. That right there is a good argument to keep it going. Most people get rid of their CARS long before they reach 100k. I'll be happy if mine (Rattler) is still running strong with 20k.

I don't see any reason to retire my Buddy yet, it still has plenty of life left in it. I think most people would be surprised how solid it still feels even after all those miles. I am starting to think I should get a second scooter in the 200-300 cc range to make my long trips a little easier.

I have gotten pretty good at diagnosing problems. With the Buddy 125 it's usually the stator, the rubber diaphragm in the carb, valve adjustment, bad rollers, or a dirty carb.

[BayStateScooterist]

Very impressive scootERIK! Nice to know how well the Buddy can hold up with proper maintenance. Enjoying this thread.

[scootERIK]

110,000 miles! the engine is at ~38.5k (37k I put on and it had ~1.5k on it when I got it.)

It's been a slow year so far, too much snow, too much salt, and too cold. I still have a bunch of maintenance to take care of- oil change, two new tires, carb cleaning, probably new wheel bearing in the front wheel, new battery, new brake fluid(and or new hose,) new fork oil(or new fork,) and possibly a new voltage regulator(I have burnt out the high beam on two bulbs in a short period of time.) One of the many nice things about riding a Buddy is that even if you are a little lazy with maintenance it will keep on running. Also, I need to go through my old seats and find a firmer one since the one I am using has over 60K miles of use and is too soft for me.

I pulled over to take a picture of the odometer and to take a picture of the scooter. I didn't realized how soft the ground was and the centerstand sunk into the ground after I stepped away and the scooter fell over into the ditch(I even accidentally took a picture as it started to fall.) The mirror broke but the otherwise the scooter was fine, just a little dirtier.

110,000.0 miles-


Scooter starting to fall-

[scootERIK]

Up to 111,000 miles. Put on two new tires and did an oil change. I also swapped on a different seat because my other one was getting too soft.

I am starting to think that rubber bushings in the engine hanger might be worn out. I think I wore them out on the first motor too. When I hit bumps there is a small extra clunk/bump from the scooter. On my first engine I just figured it was the shock going bad but now I am starting to think it might be the bushing. I will try to look into it but there is a good chance I won't fix it since I would have to drop the whole engine to replace them so I might as well wait till I replace the engine.

[scootERIK]

Now up to 112,000 miles. Lots of stuff to go over from these miles.

So at 400 miles into this 1,000 the weather was nice so I decided to do some of the much needed maintenance. The first thing I took on was figuring out why my carb was leaking. I removed the carb and gave it a once over to make sure everything was clean. When the carb came out I could see a lots of gas in the intake. My best guess is that I have overfilled the tank a few times and the gas is coming in from the evap system. For the last 1.5 years I have been using a 1 gallon gas can for extra gas so I don't have to stop at the gas station as much and when I get down to the last bit of gas I just pour it in even when there isn't room. I have since stopped doing that and I haven't had any issues.

While removing the carb I inspected the air intake system and noticed a crack in the tube coming out of the airbox so I removed that airbox and got another one out of my parts bin. With the airbox out I gave it a closer look and figured out the crack was in the outer cover and not the tube where the air is so it didn't need to swapped out but I already had a nicer airbox so I just swapped it. I also put on a nicer intake manifold since the old one was missing the little tabs that keep the carb from turning.

After cleaning the carb and getting everything back together I took the scooter out for a quick test ride up and down my street. For this ride I was only wearing glasses, no helmet or earplugs. While doing some tests to see how it accelerated from slow speeds I noticed a strange whirring noise when slowing down from about 10 mph to 5 mph. After few more tests I figured the noise was coming from the CVT. So I went home and open it up and as soon as I got the cover off I knew I had a problem because I could see metal chips. I removed the variator and saw the damage. The "pins" on the movable drive face were almost worn through. I had this happen back in Oct 2018(that time the "pins" were completely gone.) When it happened the last time I assumed I assembled the variator wrong but now I have a new theory. I believe the issue is the NCY CVT sliders(aka slide piece) are wearing out or breaking and when they fail the ramp plate starts to wear on the "pins" on the movable drive face. I went back to the parts bin for parts cleaned everything and got the CVT back together(now with the OEM CVT sliders. Went out for a test ride and immediately noticed the CVT was working much better. After a few hundred miles I now believe that what I thought was the engine failing was actually the variator failing. The top speed is 5+ mph higher than before and the vibrations at speeds over 45 mph are almost gone. Looking back at my old posts my guess is the CVT sliders started to fail around 105,000 miles on the odometer. So the good news is my engine is in better shape than I thought it was(I am still looking for an engine, but it's not as urgent.) I am thinking I might need to keep my eyes out for a used CVT since the clutch is at ~40k and I would like to have a backup variator. I have already gone to the Genuine dealer and bought a new set of PGO CVT sliders since I have never had a set of those wear out or break. I will need to do a better job keeping keeping track of how many miles I have on them.

Damage to movable drive face-


Broken slider-


And 112,000 miles-

[scootERIK]

113,000 miles.

I have now put 40,000 miles on this engine, I believe it had about 1,500 on it when I got it so ~41,500 total. Scooter is running much smoother since fixing the variator. I did swap out the rollers for a set of used sliders just to see what that would do. Plus, I changed the oil and filter.

I missed out on buying a cheap parts scooter by a couple of hours. Back in the day I used to see cheap Buddies for sale all the time that either needed work or had been crashed but now they hardly ever come up for sale and when they do they are sold very quickly.

[scootERIK]

115,000 miles! 42k on the engine. The engine has been running pretty good. There is a very good chance this engine will last longer than my first engine did. Part of me is thinking I should run this engine until it fails just to see how far it can go.

The last 2k were fairly uneventful except for riding home on a very soft rear tire after valve core in the rear wheel decided to stick open. I checked my tire pressure before going out on a ride and I couldn't hear the super slow leak. After about 3 hours the tire was soft enough that I could tell something was wrong. Tire was ok and the valve closed after I played with it. But I had already taken the wheel off to check for holes so I put another rim and tire on. I will be replacing the valve stems in all the wheels I use since they are getting pretty old. I also pulled the NCY exhaust and put an OEM exhaust on.



Rear brake shoes with over 42k.

[scootERIK]

117,000 miles! 44k on the engine. More uneventful miles(at least mechanically.) Oil change about 1k ago and today I cleaned out the variator and swapped the sliders out for a used set of rollers. The sliders were causing a vibration. I assume they weren't sliding correctly.



Turns out I have gone through a few sets of rollers(and this isn't all of them.)

[zino]

Looks like we are neighbors I am from the Oshkosh Wisconsin area
I have seen some of your videos on youtube on your adventures

Over 100k miles s some serious scooting

[zino]

Now up to 112,000 miles. Lots of stuff to go over from these miles.

So at 400 miles into this 1,000 the weather was nice so I decided to do some of the much needed maintenance. The first thing I took on was figuring out why my carb was leaking. I removed the carb and gave it a once over to make sure everything was clean. When the carb came out I could see a lots of gas in the intake. My best guess is that I have overfilled the tank a few times and the gas is coming in from the evap system. For the last 1.5 years I have been using a 1 gallon gas can for extra gas so I don't have to stop at the gas station as much and when I get down to the last bit of gas I just pour it in even when there isn't room. I have since stopped doing that and I haven't had any issues.

While removing the carb I inspected the air intake system and noticed a crack in the tube coming out of the airbox so I removed that airbox and got another one out of my parts bin. With the airbox out I gave it a closer look and figured out the crack was in the outer cover and not the tube where the air is so it didn't need to swapped out but I already had a nicer airbox so I just swapped it. I also put on a nicer intake manifold since the old one was missing the little tabs that keep the carb from turning.

After cleaning the carb and getting everything back together I took the scooter out for a quick test ride up and down my street. For this ride I was only wearing glasses, no helmet or earplugs. While doing some tests to see how it accelerated from slow speeds I noticed a strange whirring noise when slowing down from about 10 mph to 5 mph. After few more tests I figured the noise was coming from the CVT. So I went home and open it up and as soon as I got the cover off I knew I had a problem because I could see metal chips. I removed the variator and saw the damage. The "pins" on the movable drive face were almost worn through. I had this happen back in Oct 2018(that time the "pins" were completely gone.) When it happened the last time I assumed I assembled the variator wrong but now I have a new theory. I believe the issue is the NCY CVT sliders(aka slide piece) are wearing out or breaking and when they fail the ramp plate starts to wear on the "pins" on the movable drive face. I went back to the parts bin for parts cleaned everything and got the CVT back together(now with the OEM CVT sliders. Went out for a test ride and immediately noticed the CVT was working much better. After a few hundred miles I now believe that what I thought was the engine failing was actually the variator failing. The top speed is 5+ mph higher than before and the vibrations at speeds over 45 mph are almost gone. Looking back at my old posts my guess is the CVT sliders started to fail around 105,000 miles on the odometer. So the good news is my engine is in better shape than I thought it was(I am still looking for an engine, but it's not as urgent.) I am thinking I might need to keep my eyes out for a used CVT since the clutch is at ~40k and I would like to have a backup variator. I have already gone to the Genuine dealer and bought a new set of PGO CVT sliders since I have never had a set of those wear out or break. I will need to do a better job keeping keeping track of how many miles I have on them.

Damage to movable drive face-


Broken slider-


And 112,000 miles-

For the Buddy Roughhouse golden variator the polini slides part number Part #:242.029
(These are the same ones that go on the zuma variators and the dio and qmb139 variators )
Work real well and hold up better than the stock slides they are meatier plastic than stock or the NCY.

Maybe the Dr pulley slides would hold up better than the NCY and equivalent or better than stock slides

[scootERIK]

I have now ridden more miles on my current engine than my first engine. The original engine failed at 44,611.6 miles. The current engine was installed at 73,000 miles on the odometer(117,611.6-73,000=44,611.6)

I have a ~300 mile ride planned for this weekend that will have me riding past the place where the 1st engine died...

Same miles as the first engine-


1/10th of a mile more-

[scootERIK]

118,000 miles! 45,000 on the engine(+1,500 from previous owner.) It survived a 270+ mile trip the other day, most of which was at 50+ BMPH. In preparation for the ride I threw on two new tires, did an oil change, and swapped in a different spark plug(used but low miles.) For part the ride I was wishing I had a little more top end speed, especially when I was riding into a headwind or up hill. I had to pull over quite a few times to let people by.

On that trip I found out that going 40+ mph on fresh Shinko SR009 tires on concrete roads with rain grooves is a pretty wild ride. The scooter starts wiggling all over the place. It was kind of fun, but I wouldn't want to ride on them for too long.

In other news I picked up another engine. It has about 19k on it but it was rebuilt about 500 miles ago so I am hoping it will last a few miles. The plan right now is I am going to keep riding the current engine until I put 50k on it then make the swap. Part of me wants to run the current engine until it fails just to see how far it can go.

[scootERIK]

119,000 miles! So the day after I took the picture of 118k the scooter decided it didn't want to idle. Any time I slowed down to a stop it would die if I didn't blip the throttle multiple times as I slowed down. Once stopped it would idle for a little bit and then die. I rode for about 30 miles of this. When I got home I put some cleaner in the gas and went out for another 10 miles to get it in the carb. The next day it was running great. The best I can figure is I got some junk in the gas either from the small gas can I used on my long ride or possibly from the gas station(the tank just got filled and that can stir up debris.)

[scootERIK]

121,000 miles, with 48k on the engine. I had a few issues getting through these last few miles. The spark plug cap failed. Normally the metal part wears out and the cap won't hold the spark plug but this time the plastic cracked into pieces. Luckily I had the rubber boot on to hold the cap together. Then a few hundred miles later while out on a 200 mile ride the scooter developed a really bad rattle/vibration between 48-51 bmph. My first thought was a bad roller or belt so when I got home I opened up the variator to inspect the rollers and belt, which wasn't the problem. While taking the variator off I messed up the holes in the outer drive face. So I replaced it with a spare. While testing to make sure the variator was working I noticed the rear fended vibrating. At first I thought it was broken at the small bent piece of metal that supports the fender. I took off the bracket that holds the exhaust and found out that it was worse than I thought. It turns out the bracket that hold the exhaust was cracked. I found one of my spares and installed it and now the rattle is gone. This bracket/hanger might have had over 100k miles(50k would be the least miles, but I am pretty sure this is the original bracket.) At this point I think there is a good chance the fall the scooter took during the 110,000 picture might have broken the bracket but I didn't notice when changing tires. Then add several thousand miles of scooting and the crack got large enough that the tab broke that holds the fender causing the vibration that I noticed.

Cracked spark plug cap-


Cracked exhaust bracket-






120,000 miles-

120,000 mile location -


121,000 miles-

[scootERIK]

123,000 miles on the scooter! 50,000 miles on the engine.

More broken parts, but all in about the same location. About 1,500 miles after the exhaust bracket cracked the exhaust broke at the same bolt hole. It might have been damaged by the exhaust bracket when it failed, or riding around with a broken bracket, or a larger problem. So I pulled out another exhaust and mounted it up. I tried to remove the chrome guard from the broken one but I couldn't get the screws out, the lock tight is working a little too well. So I got out another guard but instead of running the screws I found some 10mm head bolts in my tray of bolts that came off my crashed Buddy and the threads matched so I used those.

All was good until about 25 miles ago while riding down a backroad at ~60bmph I hit a bump and a new rattle started. After a few miles of riding it was still there so I stopped to inspect and saw that the bolt at the same location as the last two breaks was missing. I carry a spare so I tried to put it in but it wouldn't grab the treads. The bolt had broken in the middle. Since I couldn't fix it on the side of the road I kept riding but tried to stay on the smoother roads. I am hoping that I can get the end of the bolt out and put in a new one, if not I have one more exhaust bracket. It's a good thing I have a lot of spare parts or this could have started to get to be a little expensive(I need to find another crashed scooter or two so I can start to restock my parts bins.)

After all these broken parts in the same location I will need to figure out if it was just a coincidence or if something is wrong. I have had a thought that my rear shock is worn out and that might be the cause. I don't have any idea what else could be the problem so I am open to suggestions.

Other than these small issues the scooter has been running pretty darn well. At 50k this engine still isn't smoking. Power and top speed are down especially when going into a headwind or uphill. I wish I have a low miles CVT so I could test to see how much of the performance loss is from the worn out variator, clutch, and belt versus the worn out engine. I was thinking about pulling this engine at 50k and putting in the "new" one but considering how well it is running I am going to keep running it(plus it's too cold to do an engine swap right now.) Another part of me wants to keep running this engine until it dies just to see how far it can go. I will have to figure that out by next spring.

Broken exhaust -




Broken exhaust bolt -


Bolt threads -


122,000 miles -


123,000 miles -

[DeeDee]

Great updates Erik. I'm following along as you head to 200k. On the second page or so, you mentioned finding an aftermarket diaphragm that measured the same as the Buddy. Did this pan out? I'd love to find a $15 alternative. Also, did you find a different plug cap? What is the part# for the one you currently use? Thanks in advance!

[scootERIK]

Great updates Erik. I'm following along as you head to 200k. On the second page or so, you mentioned finding an aftermarket diaphragm that measured the same as the Buddy. Did this pan out? I'd love to find a $15 alternative. Also, did you find a different plug cap? What is the part# for the one you currently use? Thanks in advance!

There is a cheaper diaphragm out there. I bought several of them. A few months after I got them the seller disappeared.

As for the spark plug cap I have been using the cheap ones off of ebay but they are junk. I have been going to try the NGK 8052 cap from Oreily's that you recommended in this thread - http://www.modernbuddy.com/forum/viewto ... =1&t=33033 - unless it isn't working that well. Most of the ones I have tried didn't fit as well as the one that came on the scooter, they will touch the frame when the scooter is unweighted. I keep forgetting to ask my dealer if they can get a PGO one from Genuine.

[DeeDee]

I am using NGK 8052 for about 3,000 trouble free miles now. I was curious what cap was giving you problems.

[scootERIK]

I am using NGK 8052 for about 3,000 trouble free miles now. I was curious what cap was giving you problems.

I bought a bunch of cheap ones similar to the one in this listing - https://www.ebay.com/itm/184196547069

A few of them lasted about 10k and when they started to go bad I had some warning, the cap would pop off and when I put it back on it would stay for a few days. Recently these caps have been failing sooner and without warning. Also, the rubber boots on these cheap ones don't fit right so you have to trim them down or run without. I am currently running with no boot. I also carry a spare since I don't trust them.

It might just be my scooter or the current set up but these spark plug caps will sometimes touch the cross bar in the frame when the scooter is on the centerstand. Which means it might touch every time I bounce off a bump which might be contributing to the failures.

[scootERIK]

124,000 miles! and 51,000 on the engine.

It's been a bad winter for riding in Wisconsin. It's either super cold, the roads are covered in snow and ice, or the road are covered in salt.

At least I made it through this 1,000 miles without breaking anything, though I did have to swap out my carb. The scooter was starting to die when slowing down and wouldn't always idle properly. I was planning on cleaning the carb but one of the screws on the float bowl started to strip and I didn't want to deal with it so I grabbed my backup carb.

[tenders]

I love this thread and am mightily impressed by your maintenance savoir faire.

At some point we will need to debate the extent to which your machine is the Scooter of Theseus.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus

[sc00ter]

I'm gonna read up on this thread. I should have my new Buddy 125 soon so I need to start ordering consumables. My old Buddy 125 had 44,000 miles on it when I last saw it (last summer) and my old baby blue Buddy 125 had 25,000 miles on it. Both were stone dead reliable! I only ride for commuting now, no more grand adventures, but I'll still be putting more miles than most people on my new Buddy. About 10,000 a year.

Wanted a electric scooter on faster ebike instead but still haven't found "the one" that ticks all my requirements. So I went back to what I know, simple Buddy 125.

[scootERIK]

I love this thread and am mightily impressed by your maintenance savoir faire.

At some point we will need to debate the extent to which your machine is the Scooter of Theseus.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ship_of_Theseus

I had someone claim it wasn't "the same" once I swapped the engine out. My general take is that the frame is the scooter so once that dies the scooter dies. I have most of the parts to put it back to new, I do wish I would have done a better job labeling parts that I took off because I have lost track of a lot of the original parts. As of right now most of the scooter that isn't the swingarm(engine, transmission, etc) is original minus a few wear items and the seat, underseat bucket, mirrors, and maybe the floor mat.

I never set out to keep it all the same but I do like to keep it as original as is possible. I could have probably kept running the same engine but the cost to do so would have been a lot more than just replacing it.

[scootERIK]

I'm gonna read up on this thread. I should have my new Buddy 125 soon so I need to start ordering consumables.

I recommend a Bando belt from a reputable dealer, Dr. Pulley rollers, the PGO variator sliders(the little U shaped plastic pieces by the rollers,) a 95 main jet(this might change depending on your elevation,) and once you are out of warranty an NCY stator.

And at 10k a year it's nice to have one or two tires on hand.

[sc00ter]

Thank you for the pro tips! I was wondering about the jetting since they (manufacturers) are forced to run leaner and leaner. My friend that bought my old black Buddy 125 did a bunch of stuff to make it snappier, going as far as shimming the needle slide. When I sold the black Buddy I tossed in the service manual, with all my hand written notes in it. Dumb on my end.
Here's some things that I recall working pretty well.
Forget that big valve head, take a stock head and have it optimized for flow and cleaned up to perfection.
The black NCY exhaust is bullet proof! So if the stock one fails replace it with the NCY one, but install the decibel reducer.
I went big baller and ordered the plug and play dead light conversion from Robot even though the Voodoo ones worked great.
I plan on getting an extra rear wheel and have a fresh tire mounted and ready.
I'm either going with the smallest/lightest trunk or a basket. The rear rack, dread is creeping into my soul right now just typing 'rear rack'.
I bought one of those little bearing seats for the torque driver spring. My wife actually mentioned that, and the dead lights, as first purchases.
I gave my old custom folding rear passenger pegs to someone on this site, but I have no plans hauling the ladies around.
We need to start a must do thread one day. Things we found that work and don't work.

Really quick, failing/wear items.
I have mixed feeling about Dr. Pulley sliders. I call them witchcraft sliders.
The NCY stator works great but that extra long wire! Bundle it up and tuck in safely away.
I've had the best luck with OEM belts. Whats funny is I ordered a OEM once and it was a Bando! I also tried the kevlar reinforced belts but they really transfer excess vibrations.
Pull and anti-seize the pad pins on the front brake caliper ASAP.
Hope Genuine quit overfilling the reduction box oil. Will check it over with a fine tooth comb at the 600 mile mark.
Sorry so long.

[scootERIK]

Thank you for the pro tips! I was wondering about the jetting since they (manufacturers) are forced to run leaner and leaner.

I have mixed feeling about Dr. Pulley sliders.

I've had the best luck with OEM belts. Whats funny is I ordered a OEM once and it was a Bando! I also tried the kevlar reinforced belts but they really transfer excess vibrations.

When it comes to jetting- on my first engine I ran the stock 92 main jet and when I took my sparkplug into the scooter shop the guy said it was lean, but only just a touch lean and not worth worrying about. On my current engine I have run the 95 main jet for most of it's 51k miles. I have thought about trying the 98 and 100 to see what happens. Seat of the pants performance testing makes me think they are quite similar. If I was going for all out performance I would run the 92 since it feels a little snappier but since I am interested in longevity I run the 95.

I didn't like the Dr Pulley sliders but I really like the Dr Pulley brand rollers, I use the 11 gram ones. I might try another set of sliders one day but they will be a lighter weight than I ran before.

The OEM belts are the good ones. They used to just say Bando now they say PGO and Bando. You can sometimes find real Bando belts on ebay but sometimes they are fake. My standard recommendation is to buy belts from your local Genuine dealer.

[scootERIK]

125,000 miles on a 125cc scooter! and 52k on the engine.

The last thousand miles were uneventful as usually. It is finally getting warm enough that I can start to work on some of the maintenance I have been neglecting.

I still haven't decided when I want to put the "new" engine in. I can either do it now, ride it to a certain amount of miles like shoot for 55k or 60k and then swap it, or ride it until it won't run. It still feels healthy, but slow, but that could be the transmission.

"Behind the scenes" story- I had a few miles to go for 125,000 and I didn't want to miss it so I went out and rode around town planning to get home with 1 or 2 tenths to go since I left my phone home to charge. Well I miss calculated the length of the one road so I was over .5 miles from home with only .4 miles to 125k. So I pulled over and turned around and pushed the scooter backwards for 2 tenths of a mile to be able to make it home. The thing is I got home with 2 tenths to go. I don't know if I estimated my distances wrong or if there is a chance the odometer on a Buddy can be reversed. I know it doesn't go backwards on shorts distances but maybe it can go backwards if you back up far enough. I will be doing some test this week to see if I can figure it out.

[scootERIK]

127,000 miles! 54k on the engine.

Changed the tires and oil and put on a different seat trying to find a firmer one. I tried to clean the carb I had on it a few months ago and put it back on the scooter but it was still running poorly at idle and low speeds so I took the #95 jet out and installed the jet in the carb I have been running. I think the carb that isn't running right needs a really deep cleaning.

I picked up a Prima windshield to try out. I put 600 miles on it to give it a good test. I didn't like it from the start but wanted to see if I could get used to it. I got a little bit used to it but it has too many downsides- it's loud, it shakes my helmet, it's hot when it gets over 75 degrees, can have a glare, and it would even shake the handlebars in certain winds. I want to find some clear plastic to make a really low profile windshield that will cover my hands. But for now the windshield is going on the shelf until the end of October, I think I might good for cold weather riding.

[scootERIK]

128,000 miles on the Buddy 125, 55k on the engine.

This thousand miles was full of issues. At 127,095 miles the belt failed(specifically almost all the "teeth" broke off and the belt stopped working.) The failure went pretty well, didn't lock the back tire up until I was almost stopped. 30 minutes in a guy named Ed's driveway and I was back on the road. I had the tools and a spare belt with me. Ed's driveway had a nice tree by it for shade which was helpful since it was almost 90 degrees and the sun was hot. When I installed it I was figuring the belt would outlast the engine so I didn't properly record the mileage so I didn't realize that the belt was way beyond its usable life(my guess is it had over 20k on it.)

At about 127,350 I installed a used Pirelli SL 26 tire on the back. I wasn't expecting much I just wanted to use it to get it out of storage. But after just a few miles I was impressed, and after 600 miles I am really impressed. The SL 26 is a fantastic tire. It has a nice ride and it is great in the corners. It was solid on wet roads, but I only didn't go that far. Not sure on how long they will last. Compared to the Shinko SR 009 tires I have been running the SL 26 is much better tire. After having run the Shinkos for well over 20k I forgot how much better good tires handle.

I also replaced the valve stem in that rim. My valve stems are all around 15 years old so I will be replacing all of them as I change tires.

At around 127,700 miles the sparkplug cap failed. By the end I was pushing it back on at every stop sign. I swapped the sparkplug out from a different used one but I don't think it is a good one so I need to either get a new one or find a nicer one of my used ones.

At around 127,800 miles I installed an LED headlight since I noticed mine had on the ride how. The one I got was not a plug-and-play one so I have to do a little re-wiring. I grabbed a the adapter/socket out of the crash Buddy I have and cut the socket off and then cut the bullet connectors off the LED light and soldered them together. My first attempt was wrong so the high and low were reversed. Second try was right so I installed it. I was rushing since there was a group ride that night. Later when it was dark I realized I had the bulb in wrong. The low beam was going up and the high beam pointed down so I had to take it apart and fix it. I was a bit of a hassle but the light is pretty bright, though I still haven't ridden when it's really dark out.

Next on the repair agenda is changing the shocks. I also have a basically brand new seat to install courtesy of Modern Buddy member scOOter.

At this point I am seriously thinking about installing the "new" engine at 129k. Part of me wants to push to 133k so the engine would have 60k on it but would prefer to not have it fail far from home.

[350kmi]

I ran SL 26s for for 3 years and like them as well. For reference on how long they last I looked through be maintenance notes and one SL 26s had been run 7350 miles on the front and the other had been on the rear for 1675 miles when they were removed. I was getting 2500-3000 miles on the rear which base on the other tires I have run is pretty good. I usually change then out at the wear bars though - so they could have had more miles put on them.

[scootERIK]

130,000 miles on the Buddy, 57k on the engine.

Nothing too major to report. Replaced the bald SL26 with another used SL26. While installing the exhaust I snapped a bolt off but was luckily able to remove the broken off end.

After my last oil change I not only kept track of the miles but I also set up an oil jug with 500ml of oil to see how much oil I was burning. I ended up burning about 300ml in 3,100 miles. To me that seems pretty good for an engine with close to 60k. Plus, some of that oil is leaking out. I have also started running some STP Oil Treatment(with zinc and ZDDP) to see if that will quiet down the engine a little. Plus, I have decide to go for 60k on the engine since I am only 3k away so I hope the STP will be a little extra insurance that I get there.

Then at 130,052.4 miles it started making a horrible noise... But it turns out it was just the exhaust was falling off. One of the bolts that hold the exhaust pipe to the bracket broke and another one fell out. One of the nuts that holds the exhaust to the engine fell off and the other was almost off. I was riding some dirt roads so the scooter was shaking a lot. I think the bolt that fell out fell out because I got oil in the hole or I just didn't tighten it enough trying not to break another one. I will have to keep an eye on these. But for now it's all bolted back together. I tried to swap the rear shock but couldn't find the right tool. So that might have to wait until the engine swap.

[scootERIK]

132,000 miles! and the engine is at 59k.

At 131,500 I did an oil change and swapped on a used rear tire to wear it out. I also swapped on a different rear shock. It seems to ride a bit smoother on bumpy backroads. At 131,800 I swapped on a different spark plug boot and wire and the little box from the "new" engine that will be installed shortly.

The engine has started to leak enough oil that over night it will sometimes drip off onto the floor. Not sure where it's leaking from but I would guess on the top by the cylinder.

[sc00ter]

I still remember my semi-local Genuine dealer saying most smaller scooters start pissing people off around 30,000 miles. Then, if you type in "How long does a Genuine Buddy 125 last" in Google search it says 35,000 miles. You have the patience of a saint to keep a smaller scooter as long as you have!

I almost bought a used Helix recently. A 2007 (last year for them) but it had only 2500 miles. I passed. How long did it sit and why? I picture corroded carb internals, nasty gas tank, original antifreeze. Plus original tires still on it. And of course no service paperwork. It ran good but not great, if that makes sense. Sitting is the worse thing for any gasoline powered vehicle. I think the guy was just a flipper, probably got it from a deceased family member.

I'm currently just under 3000 miles on my Buddy. Still happy with it as well. My Buddy is so simple compared to the Burgman 200 I had. It started leaking oil, antifreeze and gasoline around 25,000. I literally started falling apart. The oil leak was from a weird screw on the side of the motor. A total nightmare to access. The antifreeze leak was also a pain to access. A rock put the smallest hole in the radiator. I JB Welded that! And the gas leak was from a bad emissions evap canister. I bypassed it. Wasn't worth fixing properly. I like my simple Buddy scooter even more now. Wonder how long I'll have my Buddy for... That's not a challenge by the way!

[sc00ter]

Oh, and I see you mentioned adding STP to smooth out the motor. I found if I add a cap or so of 2-cycle oil to my gas tank after a fill up it "seems" to smooth the top end out. Maybe its just my mind, and my butt dyno, playing tricks on my mind. I only added it to hopefully keep corrosion at bay in the carb while the scooter sits over the weekend, plus I have 2-cycle oil I need to get rid of. The powers that be are predicting a cold, snowy winter this year and I no longer have access to ethanol free gasoline, so I started my 2-cycle oil experiments early to see what would happen. But the perceived smoothing out of the top end seems weird to me.

[scootERIK]

I have been curious about adding some 2 stroke to the gas. I have heard claims that everyone with a scooter should run Marvelous Mystery Oil to lubricate their top ends. 2 stroke oil should work the same. I often think about adding some but never do it.

[sc00ter]

I had a 2001 Ford Ranger with 80,000 miles. I would dump any gas in it. Old stale lawn mower gas? In the tank. Questionable mixed 2-cycle gas? In the tank. "Unknown" gas that "smelled like" gas? In the tank. It was the slug 3.0 V6. That motor never seemed to care.

On my Liberty it had EFI and a plastic fuel tank. I never thought of adding 2-stroke oil to that gas as there was nothing to corrode, that I was aware of.

[scootERIK]

~132,051 miles update - I went around the block with no helmet or earplugs and heard a bad rattle. I was hoping it was just the exhaust coming loose, but that isn't the problem. It sounds like it is in the flywheel area or deep in the engine. I went from think it would easily make 60k to now hoping it will survive the weekend since the local scooter club is have it's big rally for the year and I have to lead about 200 miles of group rides.

I am still going for 60k but I will be babying the engine as much as I can.

[scootERIK]

133,000 miles! 60k on the engine.

The 60k engine is still running but it is getting quite noisy so I finally swapped it out for an engine with ~20k on it, ~500 miles since it was rebuilt. As much as part of me wanted to run the 60k engine until it failed I have some rides I want to do and I would rather not have the engine blow 100 miles from home.

This "new" engine is much stronger than the 60k engine. It has been so long since I have ridden a good running Buddy I almost forgot how good the acceleration was. I assume the worn out CVT is part of why the 60k engine is so slow.

I still have to swap my NCY stator over and do an oil change. But I did 5 miles so far and plan to do a longer test ride later.

133,000 miles-


Oil from the leak-


Engine out-


I also installed the new seat I got from sc00ter, so much better than the worn out one I was using.


And so I know which engine is in the scooter I covered the rear cover in yellow tape. Normally I use the rear cover from the scooter the engine came out of but I don't have it for this engine.

[DeeDee]

Glad to hear the update. Couple of questions please. The only body panels you removed before pulling your engine were the two long skinny rocker panels? Why do you have the silver passenger footpads removed?

[scootERIK]

Glad to hear the update. Couple of questions please. The only body panels you removed before pulling your engine were the two long skinny rocker panels? Why do you have the silver passenger footpads removed?

I had to remove the footpads and the screws around them to get a little more room to get a socket on the large bolts that hold the engine to the frame. There are also a couple of other screws that I removed to get a little more play, the two or three screws behind the back of the skinny side panel, one screw below the footpads, and one up by the seat. I don't know if all of these needed to be removed but it seemed to help.

I posted an update to your "Buddy 125 engine swap" that I think is a little more detailed then my previous post.

In this picture the panel that needs to move up is on top of the screwdriver-

[scootERIK]

135,000 miles!

Lots of wrenching happened in the last 2k. "New" engine went in and I started riding. I usually go easy on new engines to make sure they are running right and this engine only had about 500 miles since being rebuilt so it was still breaking in. Within a few hundred miles I did an oil change and put a 95 main jet in. At 735 miles in I went on a ~350 mile trip. I don't know if that was the best idea but I did it. It ran well except for one small issue that I had been experiencing for a few hundred miles. The issue was if I went full throttle for a while (usually more than 10 seconds) and hit ~60+ bmph when I let off the throttle the scooter would engine brake hard for a second. Plus, sometimes it would jerk a little when given gas after or during the the engine braking. Other than this tiny issue it ran great. No lean popping on deceleration, even with an NCY exhaust pipe. I had some ideas so I started trying to fix it.

I started by checking the spark plug, it looked good, but I swapped in a low miles used one just to make sure, but the spark plug wasn't the issue. Next I checked the valves just to be safe and they were fine. Then I opened up the CVT. The variator is a Dr. Pulley one. The ramps have deep cuts in them from tips of the variator back plate. So I swapped in a used oem variator. Again the problem was still there. But the scooter is slower of the line and up to 50 bmph, but it does seem to go a bit faster. While I was in there I added a kickstarter back in since the battery is dying. Next I swapped in my used NCY stator. Again problem still there, but the battery is charging more.

Only part left to change was the carb so I swapped on my other good carb and that fixed the problem. I haven't figured out exactly what the issue is. The carb I swapped in has an #92 jet in it but I don't think that is the issue. I went to test but I broke the jet so I will be testing it later. Maybe the carb has a bit of crude in it or something else is going on. I didn't do a lot of full throttle riding before I swapped the #95 jet into the carb that came with the engine. I will be cleaning the carb and getting a new #95 jet and doing so testing to see if I can figure out exactly what was going on. If anyone has a theory let me know

Luckily I have extra parts to test with and some of these would have been done even if the scooter ran perfect. I am a little bummed with the damage the Dr. Pulley variator has. I want to write company but I can't seem to find the official website. The performance of the scooter with the Dr. Pulley variator is really good, I mean really good. The 5-50 bmph acceleration is great. I think I might be able smooth out the cuts and round the corner of the back plate then put it back in. The sliders were in good shape so the cuts didn't mess them up but I think the cuts might have hurt the high speed performance, it would often only go 56-57 bmph. While now I am getting 60-62 bmph with the oem variator.

135,000 miles-


Deep cuts in Dr. Pulley variator-



Bonus picture-
I got a better look at the 60k engine when I took the stator off, just a little bit of oil leaking out.-

[scootERIK]

138,000 miles! 5,000 miles on the rebuilt engine.

It seems everything is good now. Lots of trouble free miles. As usual I do have some maintenance things to take care but it doesn't seem to mind.

136,000 -


137,000 -


138,000 -


And a little bit of fall color -

[scootERIK]

139,000 miles, 6,000 on the rebuilt engine.

More trouble free miles, or at least mostly. The valve stem is failing in the rear wheel. All the air leaked out over a week on sitting in super cold weather. It worked enough to fill it up and go for two rides, but on the second ride the metal stem part started to come out of the rubber part. I was able to fill it up and ride ~5 miles home but it will need to be fixed for the next ride. Last year I started to replace my valve stems since most are about 15 years old, I just hadn't gotten to this rim yet.

139,000 miles-


Bonus picture- my Buddy next to the World's Largest Glass Christmas Tree-

[sc00ter]

I'm digging that glass tree! I just hit a whopping 6000 miles. I should be close to 7000 miles at my 1st year anniversary. I checked the valves and both were in spec. Usually the exhaust side would be a snug on my old Buddy 125. On my current Buddy the plug looked a little lean so I need to either raise the slide and/or upjet the main to the next size. Gotta just stop being lazy (and the weather needs to get warmer!).

Isn't it weird how a Buddy worms its way into our hearts? I was gonna get a Royal Alloy 300 but can't fathom not having a Buddy 125 for daily use. I don't have room for 2 scooters anymore. If I can only have one it needs to be the most useful I can find. The Buddy does daily workhorse and weekend missions so well.

Glad to see your Buddy be the test bed for durability and still running strong. Only scooter I ever kept past 45,000 miles was a Honda Helix. Usually something comes along that steals my heart and makes me get a new scooter, or I crash the Helix. But me coming back for a 3rd Buddy (2 new and 1 gently used) means Genuine must have got something right.

[scootERIK]

Isn't it weird how a Buddy worms its way into our hearts? I was gonna get a Royal Alloy 300 but can't fathom not having a Buddy 125 for daily use. I don't have room for 2 scooters anymore. If I can only have one it needs to be the most useful I can find. The Buddy does daily workhorse and weekend missions so well.

Glad to see your Buddy be the test bed for durability and still running strong. Only scooter I ever kept past 45,000 miles was a Honda Helix. Usually something comes along that steals my heart and makes me get a new scooter, or I crash the Helix. But me coming back for a 3rd Buddy (2 new and 1 gently used) means Genuine must have got something right.

I will always have a Buddy 125 in the garage, but I am looking for a second scooter that can run 60+ mph all day. The Buddy 125 is the best for cheap, simple, and reliable scooting but for some rides my 52 mph(GPS) top speed just doesn't work especially if there is any headwind or hills where top speed can drop to under 48 mph. I have been looking at the Royal Alloy 300 and used Vespa GTS 300.

[sc00ter]

Did you watch Robots review of the Royal Alloy 300? I watched it again and I might have to make space in the garage.