Modern Buddy

Greetings Genuiners,

I was on this forum many years ago but couldn't remember my old handle but anyways long short just bought myself an old 2008 125 off OfferUp

It's beat up but runs well and I only paid $600. Plan is to get it up to par and deliver food in the downtown Phx area on my days off

Tried to drive the scooter home but no bueno says Jay Leno. First the thing died out on me at 50mph, no sweat tho the sparkplug was loose, popped it back in and I was on the road again

About 5 miles later the back tire blew out on me. Thankfully the seller is picking it up for me and taking it to the repair shop so I should be okay there too

My key issue is someone disconnected the ignition and installed a push button starter. That's not going to work for me because I need turn signals, the brake light, gas gauge and everything else controlled by starter ignition switch

The seller said I could get a GY6 Ignition Starter switch (with keys) off Amazon pretty cheap, and that I'd have to make sure it has the same plug as the one I have on my scooter

Tried to load a pic I don't remember where to save an image publicly so I can post it in here so I made an OfferUp post to share the link

The first pic is when you remove the front face shield, where the ignition switch is located

https://offerup.co/en6j19Ijkwb

Any advice would be greatly appreciated and it's good to be back!

Looks like a good buy for $600. If you're on FB go to the Buddy Scooter Owners page. They were just talking about this, and finding a $20 switch off Amazon. There is a post somewhere on this site (good luck with the new search) about the same thing.
Have you ran the VIN? You didn't buy this from a homeless camp did you?

No it looks like the guy I bought the scooter from is some type of scooter mechanic

The 20 dollar universal bbq grill sold at Home Depot works magic when ziptied with about 20 ties to extend your rack to hold a larger square type food delivery box. It’s what has worked for me over a year on my buddy 170 and roughhouse 50. You use it in conjunction with a 14 by 14 plastic coated square metal office divider. I find the Taiwan version of the official Uber eats bags to work best and were designed best for scooters. They are 40cm by 40 cm by 40cm and although have no zipping slide outs is still able to fit 3 16 inch pizzas with sides flexing back unzipped. If you can’t find a tw version ue bag on eBay there is a very similar version that’s more rectangular slightly larger and just as good but not so much for splitting lanes cutting traffic since it sticks out a little more. That’s all I know.

Install that setup on the rear of a Buddy, and you're likely to end up with your pizzas sitting in the middle of the road at some point. The buddy rear rack and rack substructure aren't very robust.

DeeDee wrote: ↑Fri Jan 06, 2023 2:19 am rear rack and rack substructure aren't very robust.

You're being very generous. Bad design, under-specified materials, and appears to have been welded by an orangutan. I believe the load rating is 2kg. I'm pretty sure I wouldn't transport anything heavier than a McDouble on that rack.

DeeDee wrote: ↑Fri Jan 06, 2023 2:19 am Install that setup on the rear of a Buddy, and you're likely to end up with your pizzas sitting in the middle of the road at some point. The buddy rear rack and rack substructure aren't very robust.

No idea what you’re talking about. My rear rack has been rock solid for over a year and 2000 deliveries. I have done 3 gallons of milk in this bag setup multiple times. Maybe your year had a design flaw in the rack? I have even been up to 65mph with this setup no issues. Once I forgot to put the kickstand down. Fell over. Again. No issues rack and bag has been solid. As you can see it’s a little dirty on the underside. It’s because it’s been mounted there 1 year. Oh yeah here’s the kicker on any given day of the week on fuxing road Taipei city if you take a walk you will be able to count about 10 buddy 125s with this exact bag and setup in one hour and count probably 100 scoots in one hour with this bag setup but specifically you’ll see about 10 buddy 125s zooming around like this except they are called pgo jbubu 125 over there

The Prima rack likes to break at the bends on the cross bar, and snap at the center hole on the cross bar. The forward mounting points on the frame often fail at the spot welds of the caps, or the nut itself pulls through. The rear mounting bracket above the gas tank is cheap pressed metal and likes to break into pieces. I've seen or worked on a dozen Buddy scooters with one or more of these failures over the last 11 years. That's cool your's has held together. I reinforced my gas tank bracket and welded a stronger bar on the rack itself. I removed the top case. I had a rear rack break on my 170i just as I was hiking the scooter up on the center stand. I have no idea why some hold up better than others.

Therealslimshaggy wrote: ↑Thu Jan 05, 2023 3:55 pm The 20 dollar universal bbq grill sold at Home Depot works magic when ziptied with about 20 ties to extend your rack to hold a larger square type food delivery box. It’s what has worked for me over a year on my buddy 170 and roughhouse 50. You use it in conjunction with a 14 by 14 plastic coated square metal office divider. I find the Taiwan version of the official Uber eats bags to work best and were designed best for scooters. They are 40cm by 40 cm by 40cm and although have no zipping slide outs is still able to fit 3 16 inch pizzas with sides flexing back unzipped. If you can’t find a tw version ue bag on eBay there is a very similar version that’s more rectangular slightly larger and just as good but not so much for splitting lanes cutting traffic since it sticks out a little more. That’s all I know.

Freakin awesome

HippieAz wrote: ↑Fri Jan 06, 2023 8:29 pm
Freakin awesome

No problem, I know yourself or someone else might find this info useful. It’s all about helping each other out in the UE gig scooter community.

Okay update

Got both tires replaced because wtf I'm already pot committed

Wanna talk gambling?

Found a dude on OfferUp specializing in the resurrection of recently deceased scooters. For a small fee he'll come jump, clean fuel lines or carbs or whatevs and get it started again. This dude is smart tho, gave me a fair price

BTW the scooter has over 27,000 miles on it. Don't know if I mentioned that but she drives freakin strong, I can do more than keep up with traffic so I don't know what's up with that

Anyways she's being re-wired by said OfferUp guy. Believe it or not my plates and tags just happened to show up today

Dude is a Buddy guy, I like him


I don't know why but she's strong, doesn't struggle but her body armor and odometer suggests many battles

How's the box work out with Uber's inability to vary order contents by vehicle type? I've gotten HUGE grocery and food orders that didn't fit in my Camry and have had to swap out for my SUV more than once. ($100+ tip on those orders every time)