Modern Buddy

1 week old, 90 miles on the odo, leaking gear oil... 1st a dime size drop on the floor, then a nickle, now a quarter.

Fixed the fuel sender myself, had to retune the carb, and it feels like it has a bad bearing in one of the wheels. It's in the shop now. Please tell me I didn't buy a piece of crap like my gut is telling me I did... Thank God it's got a 2 year warranty.

Don't really know about yours, but mine isn't and I've had it for 2 years and 10,000 miles.

--Keys

Keys wrote:Don't really know about yours, but mine isn't and I've had it for 2 years and 10,000 miles.

--Keys

How long you been working for Genuine? Just kidding. Good to hear. It's just a toy for my wife, but didn't think it would be in the shop so soon. We'll see how they take care of me...

I'm at three years, 12,000 miles and have had no major problems (knock on wood).

Sounds like they overfilled the gear oil. Empty, then fill with 90cc. Do not fill till it reaches the filler opening. It is not a differential on a car...

Bearing noise??? Which wheel? Front or rear?

I thought about draining it to see how much came out, but I didn't want to crack it open and check. The filler and drain both have paint marks so I left it. Not sure if they care, but I left it in it's original condition. Does it come from PGO filled with gear oil? It's a 2009, so it may have been sitting for 2 years for all I know. A seal may have shrunk... who knows.

As far as the bearings, I can feel it through the handlebars so I'm guessing it's from the front. It's real light and only over 40mph. We'll see what I get back in a few days.

Through the handlebars, could be a wheel balance too. It has been sitting for 2 years, that'll leave a flat spot on the tire. A tire imbalance will become more noticable at higher speeds.

I don't think they ship the bike wet. It should be up to the shop to fill all the fluids. If you fill the transmission like most (till the oil if filled up to the filler opening) that is too much. The weep hole on the transmission is hard to spot, but leaks fluid out in a spot where it'll drip off the drain plug onto the side of the wheel and tire. It took me a while to figure that out when I overfilled my transmission

There is no wobble or shake off the handle bars. You can just barely feel it, but you can feel it.

The tire is dry, but that doesn't mean they didn't overfill it at some point and blow the seal. Oil was dripping from through the big hole in the plastic under the battery box. It's not 2 stroke oil, definitely gear oil. I'm not sure how it got up there. Could have run down the frame and dripped in there. I wiped it down to see if it may have just been a spill, but it was all wet in a day or two. On a week old scooter, I just brought it back for them to fix it.

Here's where it's dripping:

So the scooter shop called and said they had to order the fuel sender and it won't be in til sometime next week... so I went and got it. I asked about the oil and they said they can't find it. They said it was probably overfilled or may have a loose hose. I asked if they drained it to see how much was in it now... they said no.

After I got it home, I drained it. Just a hair under 90cc. It's not overfilled. Filled it back up with fresh gear oil (at 100 miles, ain't I nice). I'll run it all week and let it make a mess of itself before I bring it back.

The location of the leak looks more like they spilled 2t injector oil, or the injector line leaked. Looks awfully far forward for it to be trans oil...

It's too far forward to be anything. The more I though about it, the more aggravated I got. So I pulled the belly cover off to hunt it down. The inside of the panel was covered in gear oil... everything else was dry. No oil trails on the frame, harness, or on the CVT breather hose. I can't see or feel any oil trail or any sign of where it came from. Maybe it's just a spill. I cleaned it up and put it back together. I'll be keeping a close eye on it. What a PITA.

My theory is someone overfilled the injector tank, or a hose was loose, cut or cracked; I realize you beleive that it is "gear oil", however that is extremely unlikely, unless a careless shop person somehow happened to dump oil all over the front of the bike, it seeped in, & was never cleaned out.

Gotta agree on the spilled 2t oil. If you cleaned it and it stays clean, then no worries. Gear oil would have to squirt up there under pressure somehow. It would be all over everything. If its even possible.

It's not 2 stroke oil. Gear oil and 2 stroke oil both have distinctive smells. I also assumed it was spilled 2 stroke oil... until I touched it and smelled it. It's gear oil. It would be tough to get 2 stroke oil up there too. The scooter would need to be standing on it's front wheel to get where is was. Whatever it is, I don't think it leaked out. I think it was a spill. My new theory is that gear oil was spilled on the floor board, which ran into the battery box, through the drain hole, and onto the belly cover. The dealer was too lazy to take the scooter apart to clean up the mess. I also think there was a second spiller on a grassy knoll.

Not a drop today. So my opinion is improving.

There is another possibility... damn Zombies!

Could be. It's been awhile since I've seen any. I usually use my baja bug, but it might be fun to kill zombies on a scooter. If there's anything I hate more than mosquitoes, it's zombies. Someone should set up a zombie annihilation patrol on scooters. You could call it ZAPS!

Oh we are here but we go by the name of S.P.A.Z

A preexisting organization that I just thought up? Awesome.

Maybe we could use a powerful beam weapon called a "laser" to destroy them...

Packing a lazer like that would be bulky. I prefer a 45 JHP cranio-ocular shot cause shooting twice is just silly.

Meh, a 22LR will do for that...

maybe for the not dead, but not for the undead.

I only got another 20 miles on the scooter but not a drop of oil anywhere... but now I have a flat tire. Went for a ride and it had that butter feel to it. The rear tire has a hole in it. Only 110 miles of scootin around the neighborhood. I can't win with this scooter. Maybe the zombies are back, I'll check the bushes. brb.

Feces happens...

Fixed it. Tires pop off easy. These tires are really thin too. Can't wait to see what happens next!

Damn bro hang in there

Raiderfn311 wrote:Damn bro hang in there

It's just my luck. Don't stand too close or it'll rub off. Once the dealer gets the new fuel sender installed I'm hoping for better scooter experience.

I bought it for my wife last month, but she's only ridden it around the block less than a dozen times. She still needs her M1 license for good old Cali. I've been riding it around here and there. To be honest, I didn't think I would like it. I rode motorcycles for 10 years, but gave them up when all my friends died on theirs. That was 14 years ago. My wife wanted a scooter and nagged until I get her one... and she never rides it. I wouldn't mind a little more umph out of it, but it's cool. Gets me around. I may need to get another one otherwise she'll never venture out beyond our street on her own.

Lotrat wrote:

Raiderfn311 wrote:Damn bro hang in there

It's just my luck. Don't stand too close or it'll rub off. Once the dealer gets the new fuel sender installed I'm hoping for better scooter experience.

I bought it for my wife last month, but she's only ridden it around the block less than a dozen times. She still needs her M1 license for good old Cali. I've been riding it around here and there. To be honest, I didn't think I would like it. I rode motorcycles for 10 years, but gave them up when all my friends died on theirs. That was 14 years ago. My wife wanted a scooter and nagged until I get her one... and she never rides it. I wouldn't mind a little more umph out of it, but it's cool. Gets me around. I may need to get another one otherwise she'll never venture out beyond our street on her own.

Welcome back to the two wheel lifestyle. Be safe

Had a rear tire blow out on Sunday. A tear of two inches right across the tread. This at 40 mph. The Roughhouse uses Cheng Shin tires speed and load rated 61J in the rear.

86 miles on it...sheesh. I'm still shaking.. Does not look like a puncture. Walked back up the street and saw nothing sharp.

I hope the Pirelli SL 60's hold up better than these. Good deal on them delivered for $95 per set.

My Rattler has Duro tires. They are pretty thin IMO. When the time comes I'll be shopping by tread depth. The Roughhouse has "off-road" -ish tires don't they?

Yep they do. Externally they look more substantial than they actually are. Very thin. And to think I was doing 50+ down a long winding hill minutes before the rupture.

We'll see how the Pirelli's stack-up. I do believe they will.

Just to close the loop here. The Pirelli's are on and yes they are a stiffer construction. Harder material and deeper treads as well. Either the scoot feels better now or I'm just trusting these tires more, whatever it is I would reccomend these for the dual-sport scoots.

Lotrat wrote:1 week old, 90 miles on the odo, leaking gear oil... 1st a dime size drop on the floor, then a nickle, now a quarter.

FWIW, my first Rattler exploded after 500 miles - bad luck or bad build. My second one lasted over 8000 miles of some of the most insane abuse anyone has ever put a scooter through, when I was expecting it to pop at half that. The rebuild motor did another 6k of intense abuse and held together fine, when I checked it at 16k on the chassis after arriving back home from my trip compression was still great.

Re: Gear oil leak - if you overfill the gear oil, it spills out all over the rear tire. Really obvious, and really dangerous. I rode thousands of miles like this because I'm lazy about measuring.

I've been gone for the past 2 weeks, but its still dry. Must have been a spill that wasn't cleaned. I hope to take it for a ride tonight.

Time to close this for now.
No oil leaks, it must have been a spill.
Fuel gauge is working.
Tire is holding air.
Vibrations sync with engine speed. I'm feeling the 2 stroke... stroke.
185 miles on the odo... Hope that's all the issues I'll have for awhile.

And... ther was much rejoicing.

...and dancing in the streets.

--Keys

900 miles on the odometer and I have a hole in the muffler. I keep it in my garage and it's never been wet. It's never even been washed. I noticed that it was pretty rusty looking when I got it. I brought it by the dealer to see what they think. They said they'd call Genuine to see if they'll replace it under warranty. It looks like it's gonna split. You can see the rust bubbles along the seam. I'm only 9 months into my 2 year warranty so I have plenty of time to let it get worse if they don't want to replace it now.

Strange...