BUDDY 125 HUB STRAIGHTENER

Knuckles724 · Post by **Knuckles724** » Fri Jan 10, 2014 11:29 pm

Hello all. I've been a Genuine Buddy 125 owner for a few weeks now, and all I have to say is sourcing parts for this scooter was A LOT more challenging than I had imagined it would be. Even though some retailers show the parts I need on their websites/calling them, as many of you already know, most have to be special ordered from PGO out of Taiwan.

PREFACE: This is what I did only for myself, to use as a stop gap until I could find the right parts. I DO NOT recommend that anyone else attempt to recreate this tool or attempt this method. I absolve myself from any responsibility from any reader of this post doing the herein. I actually left out the visual step by step process for this reason

I have been trying to find a used front wheel for my buddy for a while now, and it has been a pretty exhausting effort. I don't plan to give up, but in an attempt to make sure that no other problems existed prior to registering and insuring this scoot (If more problems were found I would most likely just sell it for parts), I wanted to to be able to at least ride the scooter up to speed in front of my house, an impossibility with the shape the wheel was in prior to this process and the fact that I bought it wrecked and had never seen it ride, though I knew the motor started and ran strong, a plus to move forward with this build.

When taking a second and third look at my buddy"s entire front wheel, I realized that the design of this wheel is most likely the reason for everyone's frustrations with bent rims on this particular scooter (sometimes even from just an awkwardly struck pothole) I noticed that since the actual "spokes" of the rim were only on the "passenger" side of the scooter, that the hub just kind of floats out on the left side, or "driver's" side.

After observing this, I realized that the actual rim was not bent (24 point diameter check with a tape measure, I'm not an engineer nor a mathematician but I was going for close enough) , but rather, the hub inside the rim was tweaked/bent. Since the person who owned it before me had laid the bike down and then the front end struck a hard object, it seemed that the forced caused only the hub to move from its center position.

Since these rims are steel, I set out to figure a way to move the hub back into a more central location. Instead of using a hammer, which most likely would have just done even more damage, I wanted to design a tool that could generate the same types of forces that created the tweak in the first place, but in a much more controlled way.

What I came up with was buying two pre-made 1/8" thick raw steel cutouts from my local steel shop. They were 4.5" in diameter the same as the hub. I then tack welded them together to make the circles a total of 1/4" thick (similar thickness to the hub section where the brake rotor mounts). I then set the brake rotor over the circle, marked the holes and drilled them. After I got my drilled "puck," I test fit it over the hub to make sure I drilled correctly. I then welded a 4 foot long section of .120 wall, 1.5" HREW mild steel that I had left over from my truck build onto the puck.

Once I had my tool built, I attached it to the hub with three 10mm 10.9 bolts (metric equivalent to grade 8 ) and then slowly moved the hub into a more central location by standing on the wheel (brake rotor side up) and using the length of the tool as leverage. I used a tape measure starting out in 4 cardinal locations to get a general idea of the length differences between the hub and it's respective point on the inside of the rim lip. As I moved it I took measurements with each movement from about 12 different spots around the "driver's" side of the rim, from the edge of the hub to the inside of the rim splitting the differences of the measurements on opposing sides.

Even though the rim IS FAR FROM PERFECT(In my hyper-critical estimation) after this, it is still right around 1/32" off from being totally centered, which is right what I expected from the beginning. Hell, who knows how true it was out of the gate from the factory. Depending on how true it stays(it should stay, not expecting metal fatigue since total movement was between a 1/16" an 1/8") I may tack weld a few spots on the rim in the future, just for added peace of mind. Since I don't plan on selling the scooter to anyone ever, the only liability is my own. But I can tell you that the hub was not "weak" feeling whatsoever during this procedure.

Anyway I just figured that I would share my experience so that anyone in the same position may figure out their own solution. Maybe someones rim itself is still okay, but the hub is the problem. Like I said previously though, this is only to share my experience and offer people something to think about. Thanks

Roofaloof · Post by **Roofaloof** » Sat Jan 11, 2014 12:22 am

Very cool, nice redneck fix!

Your rim should still be plenty strong.

Have you checked the steel for cracks? This would compromise the rim.

Knuckles724 · Post by **Knuckles724** » Sat Jan 11, 2014 12:30 am

Haha! Thanks man! ... Nope, no visually apparent cracks or stresses whatsoever. Pretty pumped how it turned out!

BuddyRaton · Post by **BuddyRaton** » Sat Jan 11, 2014 12:36 am

Nice job but honestly...you only have 2 wheels...fabricating your own "far from perfect" may not be the best idea. You know that this one has been torqued up from a wreck. There really is no problem with Buddy wheels...the problem occurs when they hit an immovable object. Just buy a new one. Parts are actually pretty easy to obtain.

http://www.scooterloungeonline.com/buddy125frontwheel

http://www.scooterworks.com/frt-wheel-r ... tCR5rREWs0

http://www.af1racing.com/store/scripts/ ... duct=59814

Knuckles724 · Post by **Knuckles724** » Sat Jan 11, 2014 12:53 am

thanks for your viewpoint. I do value it, and I know all about two wheels as opposed to four because I own 4 two wheel machines all together, including a 2007 CBR600RR that is regularly put through its paces...it's possible that you missed the part in my post about how this was just a temporary stop gap and that online retailers must order the parts from Taiwan which is easily a 3-4 week time lapse for shipment. That I wanted to be able to test ride the scooter prior to insuring it (for the year with no full refund if cancelled) and titling and registering it, if it was gonna be a junk scoot that I would have to part out, because that would be wasted money, not to mention in AZ you must transfer ownership of a title within 15 days and I'm coming up on that deadline fast to make a decision.... I don't plan to take this scooter on a cross country trip or anything while waiting for parts, but to the grocery store two blocks away?.. I should be okay, should be..... I have also contacted all 3 of those suppliers you mentioned. Just an FYI for your records, as I don't how recently you contacted "Scooterworks" but they no longer sell OEM Genuine parts (according to the fellow 3 hours ago on the phone). AF1racing is so unorganized they never returned my call to "see if they could get the part" and Scooterlounge has to order their parts from Taiwan as I mentioned....THIS IS TEMPORARY. but thanks for your concern! I know it comes from an honest place that we as two wheeled riders share this common bond.... and 1/32" is far from perfect for me because I'm a perfectionist, but really who knows what the factory tolerances are. I know most houses are built with the theory that 1/8" is close enough, and most don't fall down lol

BuddyRaton · Post by **BuddyRaton** » Sat Jan 11, 2014 1:08 am

Oh I understand and it's your choice and you do nice work. Scooterlounge is generally 2-3 weeks..to me...once a PTW rim has been damaged...it's done.

Knuckles724 · Post by **Knuckles724** » Sat Jan 11, 2014 1:20 am

no problem man. My ego is normal sized and I also have a mild to medium case of OCD, so there is probably no way that I would trust that rim for longevity in this situation( even though its probably fine for around town or more) and it would actually eat at me if I did.(hell, I even want to fix the welds on that tool I created and I will never use the darn thing again). When I bought the scooter, I did not think that "I" would have as much trouble finding the parts I require (case and point: the under bracket (triple tree) is no longer sold by itself) as finding ANY parts for my Piaggio is breeze! I only paid $100 for the whole scooter, so maybe this is a bit of a challenge to do a budget build of sorts, or maybe even practice for a post-apocalyptic world where the internet and scooter retailers cease to exist haha jk.... Either way I'm not too stingy to buy the new parts, and I will as soon as they are available. BTW. that's a nice list of vehicles you have there in your signature!

BuddyRaton · Post by **BuddyRaton** » Sat Jan 11, 2014 1:29 am

Nice score for a C note! I had one like that and went the same way...trying to see how cheap I could get it running.
The big hit was the starter, I tried to rebuild it but it was shot.

Keep us updated!

Knuckles724 · Post by **Knuckles724** » Sat Jan 11, 2014 1:31 am

Thanks! Will do!