Modern Buddy

First time scooter rider / owner, 450 miles in and I'm loving it! Life in San Francisco just got a LOT easier. I bought my scooter from SF Scooter Center which I hear has a good reputation here. I was so happy with my experience there I didn't even test ride any other scooters. I ended up with a Red '09 125, G/V case and I had them put on a Brown leather seat from a 150 for $50. I've also done a few of Voodo's light mods (brake flasher and dead light blinker in front) as well as trimming down my center stand bump.

I do have 2 questions which I couldn't find answers to from searching.

1) My front brake is very very weak. I can almost get the bike to move if I push hard enough at standstill (slightly downhill) with the leaver fully engaged. Rear brake is great. Has anyone else experienced this?

2) I wanted to know how many of you ride with your headlight beam on high instead of low. I don't do it all the time but the low beam just seems too dull to do me any good. Especially with city traffic.

3) Are there any mirror modifications we can do? I would love to have some bigger mirrors possibly with blind spot protection. The stock circles just aren't cutting it for me.

Thanks for listening. Here is a picture of the new ride.... And one with the pooch.

Idk much about the 125s, but the brake thing sounds a little wonky to me.
I just wanted to say that your dog is absolutely adorable, still a puppy in that pic?

Congrats and welcome to the board!
Isn't it great getting around the city on a scooter rather than a car? Parking is sooooo much easier when shopping and dining! I especially like riding mine to the ball games at AT&T park and not having to pay $30 for parking.

I can answer your first two questions:

1) Your mileage is still too low to have the brake pads broken-in yet. Give it a bit more time and mileage then see how it works. If after another hundred miles or so and it hasn't improved, I'd go talk to the guys at SF Scooter Center and see if they can help you out. I may be just glazed pads/rotor that needs a bit of sandpaper work to fix.

2) I drive with my hi-beams on during the day and lows during the night and haven't had any problems. I also changed to stock headlight bulb to a brighter, higher wattage unit. A Silverstone Platinum, or something like that that I bought from Kragen's.

AWinn6889 wrote:Idk much about the 125s, but the brake thing sounds a little wonky to me.
I just wanted to say that your dog is absolutely adorable, still a puppy in that pic?

...but I wonder if she has a proper motorcycle license to drive that scooter?....

Welcome aboard!

I ride with my highbeams all day and most of the night figuring that my light isn't THAT bright but at least I'm getting noticed.

It's time for your first service now that you're at 450. When you take it in, they should inspect the brakes. Since 80% of your stopping power is in that front brake - no, it shouldn't feel weak. Make sure to mention when drop off for your first service

In the Arizona new rider handbook for cycle testing from the DMV, they actually state that you should ride with your high beams on during the day. And, it's not a bad idea!

Awesome lookin' scoot by the way, and cute dog to boot

Personally, the only time I go down to low beam is at night when a car is approaching me.

If you want to double the brightness of your headlight get a PIAA HS1 Super Plasma bulb. IMO it's the single best mod you can make to a Buddy.

The Buddy front breaks are really quite excellent and more than powerful enough for the scooter. If yours are not stopping your scooter they are out of adjustment and you should visit your dealer and have them serviced.

As for the mirrors, to each their own. I am 6'1" 200llbs and can see fine with mine. But if you don't like yours there are a number of aftermarket options you can look into.

Don't take this the wrong way, but just to be certain the right lever is your front brake and the left lever is your rear brake. Comparing your description to the quality of the brakes on my Buddy 125 it souds like you have the levers mixed up. My rear brake isn't much good for anything but the front brake is better than the one on my Sportster.

If you do have the levers correct there is something definitely a miss with your front brake.

And I ride with the hi-beam on all the time during the day.

What SuperFly said. That was the first thing I thought of when you mentioned the good rear brake.

The rear brake is cable and can be adjusted. If the front brake is weak it may need to be "bled" to get an air bubble out. Have the shop check for you.

Yes, as others, I run the high beam in the day, and yes the PIA bulb is worth getting!

I totally forgot the high beam/low beam question... I was too distracted by the adorable puppy.
I ride with mine on during the day, all the time, occasionally I get "flashed" by oncoming cars, but whatever, in NY I'm pretty sure it's a law that you have to have your high beam on during the day if you are on a 2-wheel vehicle.
I keep it on at night unless I am very close behind someone (close enough that I can use their headlights for visibility of the road), or if there is oncoming traffic. Even when there is oncoming I sometimes "forget" to turn my high beam off, and sometimes I'm "flashed" for it, sometimes I'm not... sometime's I'm flashed for JUST my low beam... so... yeah.
I have a 2012 170i with the stock headlight, and it is extremely bright, both high and low beam... Eventually I will upgrade it to something snazzier, but it seems more than adequate for now.

Also, I am quite small in comparison to Skootz, at 5' 1.75" and ~130#, and the little mirrors work well for me too. I think it's all about getting the angles exactly right for your body style. I can see both lanes behind me and a decent amount of what would be diagonally behind/next to me on either side, from both mirrors very easily. I'm sure you can find some nice tear drop mirrors to replace them though. I know someone posted some off of a Yamaha that should fit the Buddy... for someone else who was asking about replacements... in another thread... ?


EDIT: Yup, this one! topic20463.html

Thanks for all the replies. Embarrassingly you were right. From my bicycle riding days I thought the left leaver was the front brake. Makes much more sense now. Thanks for the link to the mirror thread, I'll look into those.

rjackson32 wrote:Thanks for all the replies. Embarrassingly you were right. From my bicycle riding days I thought the left leaver was the front brake. Makes much more sense now. Thanks for the link to the mirror thread, I'll look into those.

^^^ No worries...You are new...a year from now is when we laugh at your expense

And hey, thats what a forum is for.

I'm late to the party but here's my 2 cents:

I ride with my brights on all day, and leave my brights on if there isn't a lot of traffic around me at night. The way I see it, I only have one light glaring at them on high, not two like a car- and my one isn't anywhere near as bright as, say, the people who feel it necessary to get those hella freakin bright glowy bluish bulbs for their car's lo-beams. Cars can deal with it if it means they see me.

As for mirrors, I feel the same way about them. Some people get non-stock mirrors, or even bar-end mirrors. Search the forum for threads on it. I'm keeping my eye out for teardrop or oval shaped ones, myself.

Hooray for another fellow SF rider! Barry and the others at SF Scooter Centre are awesome...they've been incredibly helpful for taking care of my needy Stella. Plus, I'm a new rider, and they are really patient with my lack of knowledge as well.

I'm glad you asked about the headlights, I had been wondering the same thing. I did notice that if the street is really dark (like JFK through the park at night), the low beams make a distracting "underglow" while riding. Maybe it's just another thing I have to get used to!

Happy riding!