This is a guide to upgrading your Buddy 125 headset. I have done all I can to ensure the information herein is accurate, I do not offer any service or warrenty on the work contained in this guide, written or implied. You perform this work at your own risk and agree to hold Modern Buddy, Scooter Works, Genuine Scooters, all related companies and staff as well as myself harmless for any damage, repairs, injury or death as a result of anything within this guide. I suggest you have basic knowledge of mechanics and electricity to use this guide. If you are uncomfortable with this work, I suggest you find a third party you trust do do the work. I also strongly suggest reading the entire guide before starting any work. One last time PERFORM AT OWN RISK!.
Parts List:
These are the older part numbers, if I'm not mistaken, the new part numbers simply start with "P6" instead of "P5", just to be sure, you may want to talk to a rep at Scooterworks before making a final descission, they will know for sure.
P56130001Q0 - COVER,UPPER(DISK) - PINK
P56130002N0 - COVER,UPPER(DISK) - ORANGE
P5613000690 - COVER,UPPER(DISK) - BLACK
P5613030000 - FR.HEAD LIGHT COVER
P56610000004 - HEADLIGHT COMP
P561D0001Q00 - COVER,LOWER - PINK
P561D0002N00 - COVER,LOWER - ORANGE
P561D0006500 - COVER,LOWER - BLACK
Tools Used:
Prepare the scooter:
Pull back the speedometer cable cover and unscrew the connector from the front wheel. Pull the cable out and let it hang.
We'll remove the front cover now as well as all the screws holding the headset together. Don't touch this screw:
Remove the front cover. The only two rear screws you need to remove are the ones in the photo here, then the chrome screw on the front of the cover and then gently push up and set the front cover somewhere out of the way.
Now remove all the screws holding the headset together. Two on the sides and four under on the lower plastics.
Now you can apply pressure on the headset to unsnap it from it's clips. From the front of the scooter, press against the front on the seam where the upper and lower come together and directly in front of the brake levers. There is one clip on each side in those spots and one on the other side in the center just under the instrument cluster.
With the upper and lower now seperated get a firm grip on the upper as close to the center as possible and pull straight up, you only need a few inches. Once you have enough room to get to the speedometer cable under the cluster, unscrew it and then disconnect every wire you see from the harness to the cluster, headlamp and left and right controls.
Now unscrew the cluster from the plastic upper and set the cluster, screws and trim ring aside for later.
Unscrew the gold screws holding the headlamp in place and save them and the clips for later... don't forget the aiming screw under the headlamp.
If you want to change the bulb color, now is the time. You can use an automotive tail light tint or a bulb condom. I'm still trying to source LED bulbs for the cluster, once I do I will make them available.
It's probly been a little bit now so take a break and install the trim ring and cluster housing onto the new upper plastic, then go get a beer or soda and get ready for the next phase.
Refreshed? good
We'll remove the bars now. Loosen the tensioner from the steering column and pull the bars straight up to remove.
Now you can unscrew the lower plastic from the bars and install the new under section onto the old bars. Then slide the bars back onto the steering column and tighten the tension nut. There is a groove in the column so you should feel it drop into place when it's aligned forward.
If you've removed the brake line from it's clip somewhere in this process, you may never get it back in, so remove the clip and cut off the gromet around the hose. DON'T cut the hose or you'll have a very bad day, so be carefull. If you have managed to not need to remove the hose at this point, I commend you!
Sidetrack:
Want to activate your scooters European light functions? Your new headlight has a spot for a citylight, if one is plugged in, you can use it just like they do in the rest of the world. If yours came with a blank plug, you can get handy and make a Eurolight or you can wait a bit for me to make a few and order one when they're finished. Setting up a citylight will require splicing wires.... if you're ok with all this, here's what you do... otherwise skip to the next section.
On the section of the harness that went to the right side controls, you will see a small harness about 4 inches long acting as an Americanizer for your lights. Remove this splice and plug the right side harness directly into the main harness.
To power your citylight, you'll need to splice the harness, either the main section or the right side control section, it doesn't matter.
Splice the citylight ground wire to the black wire in the harness
Splice the citylight hot wire to the Yellow with Black tracer wire in the harness
Pat yourself on the back. Here's the small harness you'll need to remove from the system to make it work.
Now... I'm not sure if this was just me or if this is all Buddies, but my lower headset screws were actually too large for the new plastics. I went to a local hardware store and picked up some self tapping screws and washers to use in place of the stock screws I had. This turned out remarkably well and I didn't feel like I was going to break the plastic getting them in. Here's what I got.
Close it up:
Now we'll go in reverse, you can scroll up or go off memory but either way, I'm going to write it here for good measure.
If your harness is hanging out the front of the frame, pull it up through the center and reconnect all the plugs, it's pretty straight forward, each plug only goes into one other plug. The starter side control has a white plug and the horn side has a black plug.
Make sure the lower plastic is mounted to the bars before connecting wires, I found it easiest to run the wires under the bar structure between the plastic posts and into the center.
With all connections on, reinstall the controls... don't forget to reconnect the throttle cable... to do this, slide the throttle grip onto the bar, grab the catch and slide it into the hole in the grip, now twist the grip a bit until the front and back of the right side controls fits over the grip and the grip moves freely. The cable needs to run from under the bars and when twisted, goes to the front then over the bars. If it's connected any other way, accelerating will be a challenge.
Reinstall the left side control then the new headlamp housing and aiming screw (only hand tight for now). Now grab your new upper and position it above the speedometer cable and screw it into the underside of the cluster.
Now lets test everything before closing it all up. Everything should be connected at this point, so turn your key to the on position and test the left and right brake levers, use the starter button to test that, use the turn signals and hi/low dip switch. If you've gone the Euro route, flip the horizontal switch above the start button and see if it switches you between headlight and citylight. The citylight will turn off when the headlight is on, if it doesn't... you spliced the Yellow wire and not the Yellow with Black tracer, better fix it. Now use the cut-off switch to shut down and make sure that works.
All working? SWEET!
Because the speedometer cable is so stiff, you may need to close the gap in the upper and lower by pulling the cable from near the wheel. Be sure not to get any of the harness wires caught between mounting posts of the upper and lower.
The screws you'll want to do first are the ones that mount vertical from under the headset, these are the ones I had to get new screws for. Once the upper and lower are together, position the headset so the side screws can be installed.
Now put the CDI, flasher relay and horn back on if you've removed them for working room and close up the front panel.
That's it, you can now go out and enjoy being able to actually see things at night and if you've done the Euro mod you can show up the other scooters at your local caffine pumping station.
