Buddy 50 questions

[gitsum79]

My son is about to get his drivers license. I am going to buy him a 50cc scooter and the Genuine Buddy 50 looks very promising.

I currently own an Elite 110 that we ride double all the time, and in our town we never exceed 40-45 mph.

I have a few questions that I am hoping some Buddy owners can help me with.

1. We plan on derestricting the exhaust and variator. Would it be realistic for a 165 pound rider to cruise 40-45 mph for short distances (less than 5 miles)?

2. When turning the handle bars to a full lock position I noticed the DOT turn signals interfere with my knees. I saw the mod for enabling the original turn signals in the body panel and it looked easy enough. Has anyone completely removed the DOT turn signals from the handle bars and relied solely on the originals? In the videos they seem to function every bit as well as the add on DOT's and look a whole lot better (I'm not worried about the DOT legality).

3. I have owned several 4 stroke motorcycles and scooters and maintained them myself. I understand that the maintenance requirements for a two stroke are different (no valve jobs or oil changes). I guess the drawback is less engine life before a major overhaul. How many miles could we expect before replacing the piston and rings (or anything else besides brakes, belt and rollers or course)?

I found a local shop selling a new 2009 Genuine Buddy 50 for $1600 cash out the door, does that sound like a fair deal?

The also had new 2009 Buddy 150's for $2395 OTD and I had a twinge of buyers regret since my 2010 Honda Elite 110 cost me $3000 ODT.

Thanks in advance!

[jasondavis48108]

1. We plan on derestricting the exhaust and variator. Would it be realistic for a 165 pound rider to cruise 40-45 mph for short distances (less than 5 miles)?

My guess is that you won't hit 45mph actual without a few upgrades but 40mph on flat ground is reasonable for a buddy 50.

2. When turning the handle bars to a full lock position I noticed the DOT turn signals interfere with my knees. I saw the mod for enabling the original turn signals in the body panel and it looked easy enough. Has anyone completely removed the DOT turn signals from the handle bars and relied solely on the originals? In the videos they seem to function every bit as well as the add on DOT's and look a whole lot better (I'm not worried about the DOT legality).

I'm 6' 1" and have never had any problems with the DOT blinkers interfering with my riding. If you want to remove them though its easy enough to do. I have by original blinkers hooked up as running lights and left the DOT blinkers on.

3. I have owned several 4 stroke motorcycles and scooters and maintained them myself. I understand that the maintenance requirements for a two stroke are different (no valve jobs or oil changes). I guess the drawback is less engine life before a major overhaul. How many miles could we expect before replacing the piston and rings (or anything else besides brakes, belt and rollers or course)?

I only have 3k on my Buddy 50 but from discussing this with others it seems like about 10k is about average for an engine rebuild on a 2T 50cc scooter. The Buddy 50 is super easy to work on though so if you have expereince my guess is that you could do the rebuild yourself. [/b]

[jasondavis48108]

oh btw $1600 for a Buddy 50 is a pretty darn good deal. They retail new for about 2k.

[gitsum79]

Thanks for the quick and informative reply!

At this point I'm thinking the Buddy 50 may be the best choice. I'm kind of excited about it for both my son and myself, hopefully he'll let me ride it occasionally

[jasondavis48108]

The Buddy 50 is a lot of fun. It was my everyday commuter for about two years then I got a sh150i. Now the Buddy 50 is my toy that I get to tinker with. Its based on the same engine thats in the Zuma so there are a lot of performance parts available for it. Not sure if thats your thing or not but they are certainly available if it is. Also, I did do a bit of two up riding with my son on the Buddy 50. I was suprised that two-up it didn't really seem to drop the top speed much at all, although I will say it was a bit of a tight fit

[juice]

You might find this helpful : vimeo.com/2575002 .

[TVB]

1. We plan on derestricting the exhaust and variator. Would it be realistic for a 165 pound rider to cruise 40-45 mph for short distances (less than 5 miles)?

Realistically, once it's broken in, he can expect 40mph on level ground, no wind. (That's actual speed; the speedo will read a little higher (but don't tell him that). ) It'll maintain this speed... until he runs out of gas.

2. When turning the handle bars to a full lock position I noticed the DOT turn signals interfere with my knees.

I've never sat on the scoot with the handlebars locked, so it's never been an issue. You can take them off and reconnect the deadlights on the front if you really want to, but I'm not sure why you'd need to.

How many miles could we expect before replacing the piston and rings (or anything else besides brakes, belt and rollers or course)?

I don't know, but I've gone 8K without replacing anything but the front brake pads (plus gas and oil, of course). At my last check-up about 1500 miles ago, the mechanic said everything looked fine, but I'd be due for a new clutch 'round about now.

I found a local shop selling a new 2009 Genuine Buddy 50 for $1600 cash out the door, does that sound like a fair deal?

Very fair. I paid several hundred more than that for mine last year.

[gitsum79]

Thanks again for all the info everyone.

I noticed the Roughhouse 50 uses the same 50cc 2 stroke as the Buddy 50.

I saw a lot of people claim that unrestricted top speed of a Roughhouse 50 was 50 mph. I'm almost inclined to believe that's a little exaggerated considering it is the same engine...

[juice]

The speedometers are up to 10% optimistic . De-restricted my buddy 50 will go up to 50mph on the speedo , but really probably 40-45 mph .

[Lil Buddy]

I could hit 52mph (indicated) on my old Buddy 50. But only under ideal conditions.... no wind, flat ground, 1/4 mile or more of straight pavement.

Once I installed the stage 1 kit, my top end didn't change but I could get there sooner. And hills were less of an issue.

If you do decide to remove the DOT bulbs, you'll need to get higher wattage stock blinker or rear blinker bulbs to return the flash rate to normal. Or install a universal flasher relay (which I have available to purchase, just click my sig below).