Modern Buddy

I'm probably (past) due for the first valve adjustment under my ownership. One of the first steps in the manual is in the title of this thread. Okay, but HOW does one remove the intake pipe?? I don't see any obvious method. Thanks.

Okay, never mind. I forgot to remember that sometimes in Chinese > English translations, "pipe" sometimes means "hose". I went with the assumption that one simply removes the hose from the nipple.

When you go to lift the valve cover out of the way, have your scooter on the side stand. The weight of the bike rotates it slightly giving you a bit more room to lift it out.

Well, I finally got around to finishing. Turned out I didn't have a feeler gauge thin enough. So everyone knows, Harbor Freight has a $5 feeler gauge set that includes .0032", which is plenty close to .08mm.

And I'm glad I did it. The valves had ZERO clearance. Couldn't even get a .0005" feeler in there! Perhaps the valves have never been adjusted before, and the scoot has ~6300 miles, so it was clearly due!

Also of note, my 9mm wrench was a very sloppy fit on the lock nuts. 11/32" worked much better, for some reason.

This is a looming little project for me too (27k miles, no adjustment made since about 14k miles). Did you notice a performance difference after the adjustment?

I did my 2009 Buddy 150 valves at 4K. The valves were a bit tight. Didn't notice any performance improvements although it made starting it easier. While I was at it, did my wife's new 2019 Buddy 125 valves at 600. Only one of the two needed some adjustment.

Oops! Apologies for not getting back to this sooner. As BSS said, starting requires a LOT less cranking now. A couple revolutions of the engine and it fires right off, as opposed to the 5-10 seconds of cranking it used to take.

As for performance, the butt dyno tells me the scoot has more poop at the top of the rev range. I can really feel it in the pull from 45-55mph range. Is it real or imagined? I'm not scientific enough to know.