Buddy 170i upgrades - round 1 finished!

pinthea · Post by **pinthea** » Fri Jul 06, 2012 9:47 pm

New to the Modern Buddy community, wanted to say hello...

I've had my 2012 Buddy 170i Pamplona for about a week now... I've loved it so far! My mileage isn't stellar but I suspect as the engine breaks in I'll see some great results as others here have.

I immediately replaced the headlight with the PIAA Super Plasma recommended by others on the forums, I do like riding at night and this made a big improvement. I've previously owned Burgman 400 and Majesty 400 and their headlight upgrades were also a big improvement so it was a no-brainer.

My parts order from Scooter West arrived today and I just finished installing the new rear chrome rack, the Shad 29 top case and the new windscreen.

Unlike some others on the forums, I found that the chrome rear rack had no problem with alignment of the holes for screwing it all down. Nothing was misaligned, though it was helpful to tighten the one side a bit, then the other side a bit, etc. until both sides were tightened.

The Shad topcase install was a little interesting in that like others in these forums I had to go buy longer M6 machine screws to be able to use all 4 of the mounting brackets. But there's a local hardware store in easy walking distance and it's a beautiful day so it was just an added plus that this was necessary...

I ordered the color-matched top case cover for the Shad in the Pamplona red and I must say it really dresses it up... I've had Givi top cases before on my Burgman and Majesty and I have to say that between Givi and Shad, Givi is tops in quality, and not just barely. But Shad seems much better than the Genuine brand top case I looked at, which seemed to me just plain cheap in quality... The locking mechanism on the Shad is a bit cheesy and cheap, we'll see how it goes. The Shad was a bit less expensive than a Givi, but I guess you get what you pay for.

The size 29 is just (and I mean JUST) big enough to store my XL Arai Astral-X (now out of production) full face helmet, which is about the only one on the planet that fits my weird medium oval head, other than the $600+ Shoei 1100... Still looking for a 3/4 helmet that will fit, I've tried on almost every helmet in a 100 mile radius of where I live and so far no luck.

The medium windscreen (it has a Genuine Scooters sticker on it but I understand it's also referred to as a Cuppini Medium?) install was fine, too, found great installation instructions online.

All in all, a very satisfying upgrade day without a lot of hassle or drama. Things generally went together like they were supposed to and I'm really happy with the results. Will try to post a photo soon, but I'm sure it now looks just like everyone else's scooters... ha ha

Got a Xena alarmed disc brake with the cable and bracket, which I really like (so far). This allows me to anchor the scooter in my parking garage to an ABUS anchor that was drilled into the concrete floor for my last scooter (the Burgman). Feel a tiny bit secure that it'll be harder for it to get stolen that way.

Beyond that, I also have a color-matched Gen-U-Bin on the way, I really like the look of it.

Next upgrades planned are LED bulb replacements along with Voodoo wiring harnesses for BOB, a brake light modulator, and a universal relay module. I may get the upgraded YTZ10S battery (the one you don't have to cut down to size to fit) for the added CCA because it just sounds like a good idea.

I figure I'll stay away from the more invasive upgrades like roller weights and other engine modifications while I'm in the 2 year warranty period.

I did see a NCY front disc upgrade and I do love the idea of better stopping power, but that sounds like a bit more work than I might be up for.

Yes, I have mod and upgrade fever, and luckily I have a little bit of a budget to indulge it...

After all, as I heard in a movie once, our ability to accessorize is what separates us from other animals.

k1dude · Post by **k1dude** » Fri Jul 06, 2012 11:02 pm

Nice! Welcome aboard.

You've already done more upgrades than I have in 4 years.

I only upgrade as stuff wears out because I'm cheap and the Buddy works so well stock.

skully93 · Post by **skully93** » Fri Jul 06, 2012 11:08 pm

Congrats!

Your mileage will definitely improve with time. they love the warm weather too! I get tons better mileage in the summer.

I might try out some sliders, but other than that I've done similar stuff. Put on a Genuine top case (and it is cheap, but I got a great price), rack, cowl bars.

Which headlight did you get, and do you have to worry about battery?

pinthea · Post by **pinthea** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 2:33 pm

I got the PIAA Super Plasma one everyone raves about. It's the same wattage apparently as the one that came with the Buddy, so I don't worry about the battery drain.

Install was more complicated than it needed to be; search the forums for an excellent pictorial and step by step on what screws to remove and what pieces to remove.

The idea to replace the battery would be just to give me a little more headroom, a higher capacity battery doesn't sound like a bad idea anyway.

Howardr · Post by **Howardr** » Sat Jul 07, 2012 4:05 pm

What? No pic?

Howard

Grant H · Post by **Grant H** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 5:43 pm

Voodoo is closed!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I was just looking at the site and ready to buy too....

Demo_Nic · Post by **Demo_Nic** » Tue Jul 10, 2012 6:45 pm

You can order directly from Ethan. His forum name is VSP.

topic22591.html

pinthea · Post by **pinthea** » Wed Jul 11, 2012 1:46 am

OK, promised some photos of the completed stuff. Don't know how many I can attach here but I'll give it the old college try.

MYSCTR · Post by **MYSCTR** » Wed Jul 11, 2012 10:21 pm

Everything looks good other than that bike is screaming for a Prima pipe!

pinthea · Post by **pinthea** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 3:44 am

I installed the color matched gen-u-bin yesterday... I really like it so far, makes the little storage front pocket useful.

pinthea · Post by **pinthea** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 3:49 am

MYSCTR wrote:Everything looks good other than that bike is screaming for a Prima pipe!

The Prima Pipe description says "make your Buddy sound like a Harley."

Why on Earth would ANYONE want that?!!!!

I love scooters because they are, in part, a counter culture to big macho Harley BS...

ScooterTrash · Post by **ScooterTrash** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 2:53 pm

pinthea wrote:
MYSCTR wrote:Everything looks good other than that bike is screaming for a Prima pipe!
The Prima Pipe description says "make your Buddy sound like a Harley."

Why on Earth would ANYONE want that?!!!!

I love scooters because they are, in part, a counter culture to big macho Harley BS...

They don't sound like a harley lol, you're lacking a few cc's and a randomfire ignition

Sidenote - front disc isn't worth it (and I only paid $10)

KABarash · Post by **KABarash** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 4:14 pm

pinthea wrote:
MYSCTR wrote:Everything looks good other than that bike is screaming for a Prima pipe!
The Prima Pipe description says "make your Buddy sound like a Harley."

Why on Earth would ANYONE want that?!!!!

I love scooters because they are, in part, a counter culture to big macho Harley BS...

Why are Harleys so loud?
Because Harley riders are deaf.
Why are Harley riders deaf?
Because Harleys are so loud.

Edwub · Post by **Edwub** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 6:49 pm

KABarash wrote:
pinthea wrote:
MYSCTR wrote:Everything looks good other than that bike is screaming for a Prima pipe!
The Prima Pipe description says "make your Buddy sound like a Harley."

Why on Earth would ANYONE want that?!!!!

I love scooters because they are, in part, a counter culture to big macho Harley BS...
Why are Harleys so loud?
Because Harley riders are deaf.
Why are Harley riders deaf?
Because Harleys are so loud.

MYSCTR · Post by **MYSCTR** » Thu Jul 12, 2012 10:25 pm

We rode a pair of Buddy's to 10,000 before doing any mod's. That way we had time to think about what we wanted. On mine I did the whole engine upgrade including the big bore 171 kit. Without her knowing I traded her used Italia scoot for the brand new version Italia and did a partial body panel swap to dress it up.

topic19773.html

My wife wanted the Prima pipe the moment she heard mine. She said it made her scooter sound ‘tougher’. That is the only engine mod she has on her scoot and our pipes each have their own deeper growl and noticeably louder sound than the factory pipe. Over the past few thousand miles, my pipe has even gotten a raspy throaty sound although the engine has smoothed out and hers has gone the other way at least to me as it seems to be a little more quite than when new. And we do get comments on the way they sound all the time.

Anyway, they don’t make any noise when parked and they look good.

2wheelNsanity · Post by **2wheelNsanity** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 12:22 am

I wish Genuine had the Pamplona color option last year when I got mine

. I don't care for my green one much and have always thought of getting it painted, but I need to get a real job first.

ThreeSheets · Post by **ThreeSheets** » Fri Jul 13, 2012 2:20 pm

Looking great!

Buddy 170i upgrades - round 1 finished!

Buddy 170i upgrades - round 1 finished!

The Pipe