Modern Buddy

This is my first scoot. I purchased a 2007 buddy 50 with 2200 miles from the second owner. It was cheap and I bought it not running in good condition. It had a fresh battery, no leaks, and the engine sounded good solid when I kicked it through. I cleaned the carb and it started first kick, i let it warm up and then went on quick shakedown run. It ran good and got up to 30 ish. It had a flat spot in the midrange and beyond but I expected that with the airbox off. The next morning I reinstalled the airbox and all the trim on the bike and went for a short ride about 3 miles waited 2 hours and rode back. Bike was running good easily running 35mph with 275lbs on board. I noticed a low idle when I got back I tried adjusting it but the idle screw had no effect. I rode another 3 miles to a friends house and the idle was so low it barely stayed running. Removed the carb and found the pilot jet was clogged. Restarted still low idle. Tried adjusting mixture screw, still no good. Idle seems low, rich and smokey. Pulled the carb apart again and carefully inspected every component I found one tiny hole in the carb throat next to the needle that I missed. I also found that the barrel of the carb enrichment solenoid was missing pieces around the pin/spring guide(see pic). Why is this part $88 and would it cause my idle problems??

That is the "electric choke"...It common on scooters and some ATV's these days. There is a small round brass barrel and a needle missing from what you have. It may be stuck in the hole or it got corroded from ethanol gas ...Either way you are going to HAVE TO replace it. I'm sure air is leaking past and the idle circuit isn't sealing properly without it.

There is a little bi-metal heater in there and a it heats up the needle moves and closes the cold idle circuit. Yours can't "close". Good new is that should fix your problem.

I have the brass barrel, pin and spring. I'm just annoyed at the prospect of spending $90 for what appears to be a $5-10 part. I'm not sure that I should't just replace the carb as this may not fix it. I'm researching a chinese replacement.

There are SEVERAL different sizes of these out there. Make sure you get the right one. Yeah, I'm suprised its that much..I figured 30 bucks for something like that. The carb probably won't come with a new choke.