(NBR) Do your maintenance!

skully93 · Post by **skully93** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 2:56 pm

So I picked up a People 250 from another MB member. I got it for a good deal, knowing it would need a few things here and there eventually.

I've ridden it for the summer when I needed 2 up or faster speeds than my buddy was comfortable with.

Ordered some parts (sliders, belt, oil) and took it to a friend who has some knowledge of Kymco and far more wrenching ability than myself, as well as a garage and tools.

Issues we found:

1) the oil was pretty low, and it was BLACK. no damage though, so I refilled it, wandered around, added a hair more, and now we're good.

2) the front brake pads were toast. Like, metal on metal toast. fortunately my friend is taking a long trip (and he's a large man) so he had just replaced his brakes as a precaution. his old ones should last a while so we put those on the front. I didn't realize how vague the brakes were. fortunately a front/back set is like $25.

3) the rollers were shot (I knew this going into it). The sliders make a lot of difference, at least compared to the trashed rollers, which were very flat in spots.

4) my local shop sold me the wrong belt for my kymco. In their defense, Kymco has several 250's, and 3 different belts. so if it says "kymco 250" on it, still could be the wrong thing. I gave it to my friend as a spare, since it fits his kymco bet and win (crap name...). I'll order one today.

5) the variator bolt was REALLY on there. we used an impact wrench and breaker bar, and it broke a spline off the variator. The bike rides fine and seems like it could care less, but I will replace the variator at some point by spring.

6) The air filter is horrid. like black. They aren't easy to come by so I'll order a pair of those too. I wiped it off to the 'good enough' stage.

I probably won't get a ton more 'high speed' riding out of this year, since it is getting colder, but I have to say the top end went from "eh...I'll get to 70 indicated on a flat road in a year" to easily attaining 75mph. I expect a bit more performance with a new belt, since the old one is like a wet noodle. The shocks will need replacing one day, but they're good enough for now. one is sloooowly leaking.

The mileage is just under 36,000km, so it's done well, just time for some TLC.

BuddyRaton · Post by **BuddyRaton** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 3:55 pm

Good job for going at it yourself! Just a few observations.

Anytime I buy a scooter the first thing I do is go through it, especially before taking it up to 70+ mph. It sounds like this poor thin has been a bit neglected but can be brought back to top shape!

First thing I would do is check the valve clearance and then retorque all the bolts..head, axles, exhaust etc etc then get down to mainanance items. Take your time and do things right. In my experience errors don't add up...they multiply!

If the oil was so bad why not change it instead of just adding? Even if you use the same filter at least you'll get rid of the crud and have all fresh oil.

If I get a wrong part from the local shop...it happens... I just bring it back for the right one.

Not sure how you broke a variator spline...do you mean a fin? An impact wrench should spin that bolt off without a breaker bar jammed into the fin.

Often wiping an air filter makes things worse...jamms up any air flow left in the filter.

Keep us updated on your progress!

RoaringTodd · Post by **RoaringTodd** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 3:57 pm

I had the same experience with my Elite 80. A little there, a little here, and she was purring pretty sweet. I don't think the owner knew what he was selling or he would have asked for a lot more.

VinylDoctor · Post by **VinylDoctor** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 4:25 pm

shows how tough a Kymco is.
a tao tao would be a planter in that condition.
Kymco used to make stuff for honda years ago.

skully93 · Post by **skully93** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 4:30 pm

Yes, I meant a fin! We were just weary so we got careless. it doesn't seem to be doing any harm in there for right now. I'm actually looking to see if my sliders will work with a polini variator, as it it's @ $50 more than buying a 'stock' one, and gives smoother transitions.

The clutch could also use replacing, but none of that is an emergency. The belt isn't going to shred but it sure is stretched! I'll be ordering that NOW.

we did fully change the oil. there isn't a filter in the Kymco, just a screen. the air filter will be ordered with the belt, and maybe a set of brake pads too. Front/back brake pads seem to take @ 20 min to swap.

BuddyRaton · Post by **BuddyRaton** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 4:58 pm

It happens. It took me a long long long time to learn to know when to quit for the day before I started making mistakes. On the CBR I was so fried that I screwed up a clutch rebuild...something I can usually do in my sleep...and sometimes have!

skully93 · Post by **skully93** » Mon Sep 24, 2012 6:10 pm

I'll try to get the pictures of the mangled rollers up this week as examples, but here are a couple of the things that were utterly destroyed...

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =3&theater

https://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid ... =3&theater

because I can't install anything to edit them on the work machine, I sent them over to the public fb page, my apologies for the nonsense this can cause.