Modern Buddy

I have one of those Dowco scooter covers. It says it's super heat-resistant and all that, but I can't get myself to leave the cover over the exhaust.

I have the Buddy 125, and the cover (if you want to fully cover the scoot), you have to hook it under the exhaust. Then the cover is directly touching the burning hot exhaust. I can't get myself to walk away from it like that, as I imagine the Buddy bursting into flames and exploding!

I end up tucking it behind the rear wheel fender, so it doesn't touch the exhaust. I'd like to cover the whole thing though. If I have time to kill, I usually let it cool down a bit and then cover it over the exhaust.

bimbom wrote:
I end up tucking it behind the rear wheel fender, so it doesn't touch the exhaust. I'd like to cover the whole thing though. If I have time to kill, I usually let it cool down a bit and then cover it over the exhaust.

I have that same cover and, though I don't use it anymore, that's what I used to do. If I had time to come back and cover the exhaust I would but most days I just left it exposed.

I believe the Dowco cover has a heat shield that is supposed to be ok touching a hot exhaust (or maybe I'm thinking of another cover) but I never trusted it as it wasn't a very big patch.

I've used a couple of different covers and just threw them over the scoot when I parked. Never worried about the exhaust. I never had a fire, nor is there even a scorch mark on any of my covers.

Just sayin'

Howard

Have a Dowco and put over hot exhaust everyday I drive cuts down on the sun damage to plastic. Plus Dowco has a lifetime warranty. Had one for motorcycle and they replaced with brand new one.

bimbom wrote:I end up tucking it behind the rear wheel fender, so it doesn't touch the exhaust. I'd like to cover the whole thing though. If I have time to kill, I usually let it cool down a bit and then cover it over the exhaust.

I'm with you on that. I don't have one of those, but I'd be inclined to do what you are doing--let it cool down a while, then cover it.

Even if they are designed for that, one would think that doing it your way would make the cover last longer.

I have the over priced Prima cover for my Buddy 125 and it has NO heat resistance to it anywhere. If it comes in direct contact with the exhaust pipe it'll instantly melt. But with the stock pipe and little chrome heat shield I could put the cover down over the pipe with no problem. It worked out where it would contact the heat shield and just the tip of the exhaust pipe which never caused a problem. The cover would have to be pulled down far enough and I do have a couple melted spots where I didn't quite get it right and it melted holes where the pipe turns to go under the scooter (or there abouts).

I now have a Prima pipe and have never put the cover over that pipe because there is no heat shield to help protect it.

So long story short, you should be fine putting a heat resistant cover over the OEM pipe with heat shield. If you have an aftermarket pipe you may run into problems.

Condensation....

Just an update on this.. I've been tucking the cover away every time I park, to avoid touching the hot exhaust.

I've noticed as a result, I'm getting tiny bits of rust on the exhaust (when it rains, water gets all over the exhaust because it's not covered). Is there anything I should do to stop this from spreading?

I have had the hot exhaust burn through my cover, not flames or smoke just wrinkle and make a hole in it. so I keep my cover tucked over the plastic fender, between the real plastic fender and the top plastic fender that doesn’t really do anything that the license plate is on. I use a silver prima cover. all the rest of the bike is covered, when the exhaust is cool I can cover the entire scooter.

I ended up cutting the burned part completely out of the cover and then re-sewing the elastic band. It resulted in the cover not being able to go down enough to touch the hot exhaust. However, I have noticed the little rust spots as well. Not much to be done, as it's going to get wet through the holes or get wet from not being covered.