Modern Buddy

All week I have been looking forward to riding. Finally it's the weekend and I am like a kid on Christmas morning. I go to start the scooter and instead of it firing right up the starter motor just spins the engine. Disappointment sets in as the scooter always fires right up. I try again and this time the engine kinda makes a starting sound, but again nothing. Try a third time the engine again makes what seems like an effort to start, but nothing. I look down at the fuel gauge it registers between 1/2 and 1/4. So I figured in all my excitement I must have missed a step. So I take the keys out and take it one step at a time and sure enough I forgot to turn on the power at the "kill switch". Duh!

After an hour's ride the tank registers around a 1/4 tank so I stop off at the gas station to fill up. Place the filler in the tank, but the tank does not allow the filler to sit proper so no gas will flow. Standing there dumbfounded for a moment I realize I need to pull back on the vapor boot to release the safety feature on the filler. Duh!

Oh well, lesson learned.

Gotta say that when I rode my partner's Kymco, the kill switch got me too. On the Buddy, it doesn't even attempt to turn over if the kill switch is on, so it's obvious something is seriously wrong. On the Kymco, it'll sit there and crank away but never fire up, so it's not as clear that something needs to be switched on.

pdxrita wrote:Gotta say that when I rode my partner's Kymco, the kill switch got me too. On the Buddy, it doesn't even attempt to turn over if the kill switch is on, so it's obvious something is seriously wrong. On the Kymco, it'll sit there and crank away but never fire up, so it's not as clear that something needs to be switched on.

I was about to say that I had never seen a vehicle where an on/off killswitch still allowed the engine to engage, is that consistent on all Kymcos?

Lokky wrote:

pdxrita wrote:Gotta say that when I rode my partner's Kymco, the kill switch got me too. On the Buddy, it doesn't even attempt to turn over if the kill switch is on, so it's obvious something is seriously wrong. On the Kymco, it'll sit there and crank away but never fire up, so it's not as clear that something needs to be switched on.

I was about to say that I had never seen a vehicle where an on/off killswitch still allowed the engine to engage, is that consistent on all Kymcos?

I have no idea if it's true for all Kymco's, but it looks like it's true for at least the Like (OP) and the People 150 (ours). It seemed very odd to me too.

My Honda Elite did the exact same thing, and the motor turning over but not starting got me a few times.

Lokky wrote:

pdxrita wrote:Gotta say that when I rode my partner's Kymco, the kill switch got me too. On the Buddy, it doesn't even attempt to turn over if the kill switch is on, so it's obvious something is seriously wrong. On the Kymco, it'll sit there and crank away but never fire up, so it's not as clear that something needs to be switched on.

I was about to say that I had never seen a vehicle where an on/off killswitch still allowed the engine to engage, is that consistent on all Kymcos?

Honda is famous for this,too. Sit there and turn the engine over till the battery is dead. All the while the kill switch is engaged. Stupid design IMO

Not bad, but I got you beat in the n00b dept... I went to check the oil today before I took off from the gas station. Unscrewed the oil cap and wiped it off, but not before oil started jumping out of the hole. Yeah, the engine was still running.

viney266 wrote:

Lokky wrote:

pdxrita wrote:Gotta say that when I rode my partner's Kymco, the kill switch got me too. On the Buddy, it doesn't even attempt to turn over if the kill switch is on, so it's obvious something is seriously wrong. On the Kymco, it'll sit there and crank away but never fire up, so it's not as clear that something needs to be switched on.

I was about to say that I had never seen a vehicle where an on/off killswitch still allowed the engine to engage, is that consistent on all Kymcos?

Honda is famous for this,too. Sit there and turn the engine over till the battery is dead. All the while the kill switch is engaged. Stupid design IMO

I was surprised to discover this as well. Not that I am looking for a way out of my dumb mistake.

phatch wrote:Not bad, but I got you beat in the n00b dept... I went to check the oil today before I took off from the gas station. Unscrewed the oil cap and wiped it off, but not before oil started jumping out of the hole. Yeah, the engine was still running.

OMG! Nice to know I am in good company.

My noob moment came when I first started riding, i was fiddling with my gloves at a redlight, when it came time to go my scooter just died. I had to walk it to the side of the road... wait a few seconds then it started back up. The second time it did this I realized that when I returned my hand to the throttle i was bumping the kill switch but didn't notice due to gloves. Yeah... i'm awesome.

About half the calls to scooter shops go something like this:
"Are you holding the brake lever? Is the kill switch on? Uh huh. Glad we could help!"